Unusual targets

[Restorer]

Alright, it's time to 'fess up to the weird stuff you shoot. We all need something other than paper, bowling pins, clay targets or plates to inspire us to shoot better. Call it transference, motivation or stress relief if you must, but whatever you call it, sometimes the novelty helps keep it fun.

What prompts me to ask is that today, my wife cleaned out her shoe closet (closet, shelves, chests, etc...lot of shoes) and thus provided lots of material for my shooting pleasure. I confess that my first thought when I saw what she was doing was "I wonder what I can do to that sandal at 25 yards?" I got to spend a lot of money for her shoes, now I can spend more to destroy them in creative ways. This way we both get to wear out her shoes. I love it. Hey, I'm an American....blowing stuff up is in my blood.

In a previous career I worked for a BMW dealer. On my range days (lunch break on Wednesdays) I would buy several of the little stick-on wheel emblems and put them in the 10 ring. Did wonders for my concentration. I was shooting the problem cars by proxy, I guess.

How about it?

 

[NeoSpud]

Russets.

As long as you don't go back to the range for a while (they ripen a bit in the heat), they make for a great, super cheap "reactive" target.

 

[JWarren]

Let's see...

-- Cantelopes. Frozen Cantelope.

- Paint Cans. Filled them with water. I recently painted my house. I have PLENTY.

- Political Signs. I've worked on a few campaigns and had some left over.

- Golf Balls. Hey, its a challenge. Get the used ones at a proshop by the bucket.

That's all the unsual ones I can think of at the moment.


-- John

 

[FieroCDSP]

Did in a 33 1/3 Shaft soundtrack vinyl record once. With a Mosin 91/30, sticky bolt and all. Stuffed animals are fun. I also like to use an SKS to take trees out of season.

 

[kcshooter]

My old computer was about the most fun I ever had shooting at something. Tower and monitor both.

God that felt good.

 

[RancidSumo]

I try 22 shells but usually fail. It is fun when you get a hit.

 

[Mil-Spec45]

I've seen people blow up propane tanks and running lawn mowers on youtube, but for something safe but fun, I'd say stuff like an old TV or computer monitor, an old car door, a 50 gallon drum filled with whatever you chose (i.e. water), fruits and veggies are always fun, pillows, or action figures.

 

[juk]

1. Computer monitor with buckshot and slugs
2. old pots and pans with the 308, 45, and 22. They all make a nice metallic clang
3. Pieces of cinder blocks go to dust when hit
4. I have been known to push an old junky boat in a pond and sink it...
5. Can't forget the door almost blown in half by a new Mossberg 12 ga.

 

[Tomahawk674]

My PC's power supply unit died, so I'm saving it for the range, I just hope it doesn't fragment much for the cleanup.

 

[don]

I love to blast holes in campaign posters; the kind you see stuck in the ground. After the election of course and after I liberate them and take them to the range.

 

[evan price]

For fun, try shooting the keys off of old computer keyboards. Extra points for doing it in alphabetical order. It's great!

 

[General Geoff]

hard drives are a favourite of mine. Hydrogen-filled balloons are also great.

 

[rockinrussky]

Golf balls are fun for handgun practice. Double points if the backstop is sloped and you can keep the ball from rolling all the way back down.

 

[redraidermgr]

Bottle caps off soda bottles. I usually fill the bottle up 3/4 with sand or water to anchor it and set them on the berm. at 25 yards its not that hard but try it at 50 to 100 yards open sighted or at 300 with a scope. It is alot of fun and you really get to test yourself with any caliber you have available. I usually just use 22 it is fun to plink with.

Bonus points if you unscrew it and not destroy it (catch the little ridges on the side and it will spin right off )

 

[Dksimon]

when i was young i would throw an empty pop can as far as i could and shoot it with the BB gun. I wouldnt stop till i cut the can in half.

More recently.

Spent shotgun shells, aim for the primer.

an old filing cabinet

Old desk chair.

Old microwave

old vacuum

anything that is garbage and looks fun to blast

 

[Probasco]

i like helium ballons on 20 ft of string on a windy day. ballons and helium at party stores. bowling balls and pins are good. i actually bought a frying pan set at an action so i could have a good gong.

 

[armoredman]

Cockroach taped to a target. It was a bad day.

 

[jrfoxx]

litle green plastic army men
old laptop
stuffed animals
old dishes
old license plates
cans
old books
spent shotshells
spent (non-reloadable) brass

 

[woolfam]

I like to not have to clean up afterwards. We've used eggs (good reactive target), Ritz crackers (good hits leave bullet holes in them), hard cinnamon candies (hang them by the wrapper and shoot into the wind - a good hit will powder-ize the candy, it will blow back to you and you can smell it).

The most fun we ever had was setting a slop bucket (bait) in front of a honey-smeared target (about 12 - 15 yds away) in the summer and picking off the flies and bees when they landed on the paper. We were using our tricked-out 10/22s. Man, that was fun.

 

[PotatoJudge]

I spent quite a bit of time with a Daisy Red Ryder and some little green army men when I was a kid.
Golf balls are fun. A good hit on the lower 1/3 can really send them flying.
I wonder how a cast iron skillet would do as a gong... (though I'd hate to waste a good bit of cast iron).

 

[bogie]

Acetylene-filled soda bottles.

Cars.

Appliances.

Necco wafters at 300 yards, with money...

 

[sharkhunter2018]

Many things have been dispatched at my range.
- Several computer monitors and towers
- Lots of keyboards.
- Ceramic tiles, as well as art from my old high school. One of my friends used to get any ceramic bowls, pots, vases etc. from the ceramics teacher when we were still there. All of it was stuff that was never claimed by the students. He knew what we were doing with them too.
- two dryers and a washer. Would shoot the dials off them.
- One of those stove/microwave oven combos.
- An empty 55 gallon drum. Was already rusted and had a few small holes in it so filling it wasn't going to work.
- A few old mufflers

Probably a bunch of things I am forgetting. I quit taking old junk just because I got tired of cleaning it all up. Now that it is summer, I will have a good load of squash and tomato. The plants produce more than we can eat.
In the spring its always fun sitting in the back yard and shooting the seed heads off of dandelions with a .22. Its a good challenge. Then in the fall, I love shooting the walnuts off the walnut trees behind my house. There are several trees below the house in the backyard and field. Plus there is a mountain directly behind there, so its not like I am shooting up in the air. Among other things, we've shot plastic bottles filled with water, golf balls, political signs, soda cans, frying pans, VCR tapes (its cool seeing the spools fly off and un-wind flying through the air), spent shotgun shells, spent rifle casings, pumpkins.

 

[misANTHrope]

I really want to get some life-size printouts of the King from the BK commercials. I figure that ought to motivate me to really make good shots.

 

[chris in va]

No one mentioned Tannerite yet?

 

[mnrivrat]

Dragon Flies !