The joy of plinking

[bjamesM1]

What a great thread!

The range we go to has a lot of steel options to shoot. I almost never shoot paper. I often wonder if I should with everyone talking about MOA this and MOA that. But, I find that shooting the variety of steel targets from 35 - 100 yards at the pistol range, with my 22's or pistols is so much more fun. My father-in-law was visiting and brought his M1 Carbine with him. We were able to shoot that on the pistol range. I had so much fun slapping away at all the steel targets in the pistol range with that gun, I found one and bought it. I had planned on buying a .223 (Mini 14) or something next, but when I found out I was able to use the M1 at the pistol range which as a gallery of at least 100 steels I was sold.

The payoff of the gong, or klank with the swinging steel is just so much more satisfying than shooting at paper.

On the rifle range, I've set up targets here and there, but always prefer to throw out blaze orange clays on the 100 yard berm and swing away at those, or aim out to the 200, 300, 400 yard steels with my Mosin and Mauser.

Recently, while I was letting my Mauser cool off, and to slow the cost of the day, I pulled out my 10/22. I had set up a target at 50 yards and figured I may as well shoot at it. I got bored quickly. I was looking through the scope and moved down to the black zip tie that held the target at the bottom of the pvc frame. Plink - gone! I instantly thought of how gratifying that was when I was reading this thread. I couldn't believe I hit it. It just vanished. I looked at the one holding the target on the right. Plink - and it was gone again. I was practically jumping up and down inside. I was beside myself. I went for the one on the left and missed. I gave my son a couple tries and took the rifle back. Hit it again on the first shot. How fun is that?!

I'd rather be plinking on some of your farms, but I am making the best with what we have here.

 

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

Original Post sounds like a GREAT shoot! sooo many .44 rounds -drooool-



i also like to get whatever beverage is cheapest at wallyworld, which is not always water! cheap shaving cream makes for very fun skeet shooting!

also, I don't drink and shoot at the same time, but I do like a nip of whiskey every now and again, and i always save my nip bottles, as they are very fun targets for any caliber. Plastic is always better because broken glass can be hazardous.

+1 to whoever said shooting at objects vs paper will teach you more about shooting

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

I prefer shooting plastic bottles filled with water as you get a great explosion if you hit them with a high velocity flat nose or hollow point bullet. .357 mags work great as do M-1 Carbine rounds, high velocity pointed rounds generally pass through to fast for a good explosion. I also like shooting spent shotgun shells with pistols and the commercially available swinging targets for .22's and other pistol rounds. .357 mags are bad on most of those though.......

 

[Owen Sparks]

I like reactive targets and something behind them that tells me where I missed.

 

[Krogen]

Use to go up in the hills around here and plink in the gravel pits. In addition to smaller stuff we'd occasionally "plink" with a .458 and water-filled 5 gallon paint cans. 500 gr slugs would go right through. The 350 gr soft points never made it through, and would usually blow the lid off along with a geyser of water. Plinking....

 

[twofifty]

plinking = gateway to practical marksmanship

 

[Ignition Override]

For those who can use any safe object, have you tried a concrete block (sprayed with big orange blobs) from about 100 yards?
On a dry day you see the dust puffs.

If you can drag it up onto the side of a large dirt heap, you can often see whether any shots miss the block. If not, dusty ground might work.
These are nice for casual shooting with an Enfield or Spanish FR8 etc. from a sitting position. My guns have only iron sights.

After you crack a block into two or three pieces, this is a fun challenge.
My only regret is not having acquired my first Tech Sight (SKS) until Christmas.

 

[elano]

I love "plinking". Just never knew that's what it was called.

 

[ledheplin]

I like to use rubber ducks and old laptops. Or some of those reactive exploding targets, now those things are fun!

 

[Serenity]

Our range has bowling pins to put on barrels. That also causes us to get some exercise trotting back and forth to set them up.

They also have re-bar tripods to hang steel plates on, but they don't leave the plates out so I bought 3 and set them up to practice switching targets. They are SO satisfying. Also get some exercise trotting out to repaint them, as well.

 

[Bigtime Sexy]

I just picked up a new Ruger 10/22 yesterday. Today it is pretty much a prepper necessity, but back in the day, it was just pure joy to shoot them. We would go out to cow ponds that had a large berm on one side and toss a bag or two of marshmallows out on the water. With a scoped 10/22 they aren't that hard to hit, but if you hit right where the leading edge meets the water, they will go under then shoot ten or fifteen feet into the air! Hit them too high and they go under and bob back up. With a thirty round magazine and good skills you could make it rain marshmallows! Lots of fun and excellent practice. Make sure you shoot towards the berm though as the rounds will often ricochet off the water.

We would also plink at the heads of the snapping turtles that liked stealing our fish off the stringers!

 

[92GreenYJ]

Another fun target I use with my bb pistol.

Take a balloon and squirt a few blasts of carpenters chalk or baby powder into the balloon before inflating. When they pop you get a nice dust cloud depending on how much you use.

Is have GOT to find a place I can go shoot stuff like this around San Diego. I am tired of punching holes in paper at the indoor ranges

 

[HarcyPervin]

I always like to shoot at a family friend's place. He has a dedicated "glass shooting area" where thousands of bottles have met their end. It's always fun to get shooters lined up and race through 20-30 bottles/cans etc....clean up is easy enough, too....a few times a year, just rake up the debris or clean it up with the bobcat....loads of fun

 

[pazz]

The joy of plinking

This and a good .22lr is a joyous afternoon for me.

In fact I have been shooting more rimfire lately and
giving all the other calibers a rest.

 

[ol' scratch]

I like to shoot expired canned goods, old plush toys and junk. The expired canned goods can be a lot of fun and very reactive. Sometimes I plink with the .45 loaded with 230 grain LC bullets at 25 yards and they EXPLODE .

 

[iLikeOldgunsIlikeNewGuns]

@Bigtime- Never heard of that before, sounds hilarious and fun! Can't wait to try it

@Harcy- ahhh man I'm jealous , soon as I have a spot of my own I look forward to a dedicated bottle-slaying area

 

[we are not amused]

I have a small farm pond, which I throw empty pop cans on and shoot the heck out of them with a 10-22 or mini-14. With the .22, the challenge is to see how many times you can hit them before they sink, with the .223, it is how high in the air you can blast them. Another fun thing, is to float a two liter plastic bottle out on the pond and using either gun, try and to smother it with rapid fire hits.

Another challenge is to use my pistols to try and hit the above targets, my Kel-tec .380, Star 9mm, CZ-52 and 1911 all get a workout this way.

By the way, the person who mentioned the necessity of shooting toward the ponds retaining dam is absolutely correct. Bullets will skip off the surface of water, if it hits the water at a shallow angle, potentially very dangerous if you are not sure of what they will hit. I am fortunate that my pond is in a narrow deep gully, with two of the three sides rising steeply out of the water. I can shoot down at the pond at an angle which precludes the chance of a bullet skipping across the water, with a tall backdrop to the bullet anyway. Plus the fact that no one lives within two miles of the pasture.

 

[JFrame]

I truly envy you folks who can go out in the backyard, or drive a few miles, to do casual plinking on myriad targets of opportunity, to your heart's content.

I live in a fairly built-up area, and even going back to the early 80's, it was already becoming well nigh impossible to find a place to plink without driving a couple of hours (or more) outside of the city limits -- unless one were fortunate enough to know a farmer, or someone else with a wide expanse of property...It always seems to come down to whom you know!

I'm lucky enough to be 15 minutes from a decent indoor range when I get the shooting itch...But for plinking, I generally have to make ends meet with my RWS 52 air rifle and Beeman P1 air pistol.


.