Milk Jug uses

[357maximum]

Gearnasher's thread on shotshells for revolvers got me to thinking about all the stuff a used plastic milk jug is good for.

Let's see how big a list we can compile eh? Does not neccessarily have to involve a gun....just something the kind of person that loves guns will likely find useful if he/she has not thought of it yet.

1. Boolit testing
2. Just plain fun long distance shooting
3. Making shotshells for revolvers...Thanks Gearnasher
4. catfishing:oops:
5. Making blowgun dart funnels.......with a steel plumbob and your propane torch you can make some really nice blowgun dart funnels. heat till it starts to clear...press the bob into the jug slowly...hold till cool. Cut to shape/size on sharpened pipe the same size as your blowgun...insert nail/spike/wire...hot melt glue it in place.
6. Storing bulk bought walnut media from the pet store.
7. Storing large batches of moose milk


Your turn

[Shiloh]

Last year, watched a friend shoot one filled with water at 25 yards. A Thompson Contender Encore in .45-70

You get a white cloud of vaporized water around 10 feet round and the jug is in pieces.
300 gr Sierra hollow point.

I fired two rounds, that was plenty. What a beast!!

Shiloh

[Kraschenbirn]

I've cut off milk jugs...both gallon and half-gallon sizes...right below the molded "handle" and use the "top" end for a throw-away funnel. The "bottom" section, trimmed into a "scoop" shape, works just fine for spreading stuff like ice-melt, oil-dry, etc.

Bill

[geargnasher]

Now I like that blowgun dart skirt idea, gotta try that one!

Gear

[MT Gianni]

As a kid I milked in to a plastic jug with part cut out just opposite the handle. It handled 2-3 goats or 2 for a cow AIRC.
They make OK bail buckets. I would not use for long term liquid storage as the plastic can brreak down and leak.

[edsmith]

you are right about not storing liquid in them,I was using them to store water,had 10 of them,6 of them leaked within 12 months,I use them to tumble lube my boolits,works great.

[2Tite]

Punch wads out of 'em.................................

[Rocky Raab]

Strips cut from milk jugs make great replacement light diffusers for your chronograph.

[crowbuster]

I use jugs filled 3/4 with water for tarp weights on wood piles or outdoor equipment, if they freeze they don't bust if not full. Cut the top front out leaving the handle and we put water in it for the dogs when they are outside. Top cut of they are good for covering plants in the garden from late frost, make sure to take em off early in the morn or the sun will roast them. You guys are right though there best use is for targets near and far, fun to hang them swing em and shoot em as well. And when they are used up throw em in the recycle bin.

C.B.

[Pepe Ray]

I really appreciate the new info too.
I never had much respect for the milk jugs 'cause they do break down in sunlight and fracture. So I use the clear large juice containers for water storage or freezing.
It's good to know that the milk jugs have a good reaction to the heating as discribed by Gear, This opens new possibilities. Thanks.

QUESTION for Gear;
In designing the sleeve, did you try cutting it long and folding it from the bottom of the cup to up both sides, instead of slitting the one side?
I guess it would look sorta like a butterfly bandage.
Pepe Ray

[Cloudpeak]

When I was a kid, the feedlot manager at our family's feedlot (10,000 head capacity) bought some liquid vitamin "A" in one gallon jugs------- a semi load. I had a blast shooting water filled jugs at all sorts of ranges with rifles and handguns. My favorite thing to shoot was my Ruger 44 magnum (6 1/2" barrel, fluted cylinder, three screw flat top) out to 300 yards (sitting). I got good enough to hit jugs at 100 yards on a regular basis and hit a surprising number at 300 yards after a lot of practice.

[44fanatic]

I use the 1/2 gal jugs as ice blocks for my coolers. Fill em about 3in from the top and stick em in the freezer prior to going camping.

[TORCHrider]

ballistic testing line em up and shoot into them. Measure how far the bullet penetrated and recover a neatly mushroomed bullet or a solid bullet depending. :-)

[jim4065]

Great to read about blowguns again. I found two of 'em in the barn last week. One is about 30" long and the other is (God help us) an 18 inch "carbine". At least they're not camo "Hunting Blowguns". Whatever induced me to buy the damned things? :redneck:

[Johnch]

I use them for 1 time anchors for a small boat or canoe
Just fill with sand or gravel and add a line

When done fishing
Cut open to dump the filler and put the rest in the trash or burn

John

[Blammer]

water storage for when the electric goes out an the pump don't work, use it to flush the commode. :)

[geargnasher]

I use jugs filled 3/4 with water for tarp weights on wood piles or outdoor equipment, if they freeze they don't bust if not full. Cut the top front out leaving the handle and we put water in it for the dogs when they are outside. Top cut of they are good for covering plants in the garden from late frost, make sure to take em off early in the morn or the sun will roast them. You guys are right though there best use is for targets near and far, fun to hang them swing em and shoot em as well. And when they are used up throw em in the recycle bin.

C.B.

TARP WEIGHTS???? I have never heard of anyone being so hard-up for a few good, old fashioned ROCKS :kidding::kidding:


Gear

[smoked turkey]

I cut a "hole" opposite the handle, use a large black marking pencil to note the size brass and throw my fired brass in the appropriate jug. They line up real good on my shelving in the loading room.

[waksupi]

Am I the only one who has cut a hole in them, and used them for a toilet in cold weather camping? I hate going out in the snow to pee in the middle of the night! And the older I get, the more use they see!

[geargnasher]

Am I the only one who has cut a hole in them, and used them for a toilet in cold weather camping? I hate going out in the snow to pee in the middle of the night! And the older I get, the more use they see!

I use a LARGE mouth :bigsmyl2:, 32-ounce Gatorade bottle for that, no cutting holes to allow spills when it gets knocked over in the middle of the night.

Gear

[hoosierlogger]

I cut the bottom off of a 1 gallon jug and use it for giving the coon dogs and rabbit dogs some water when we are out hunting. If you cut the bottom 2 or 3 inches off, a full jug of water will nest in it and keep the bowl from blowing away while driving.

[BSkerj]

I use them as a firestarter in my woodburning stove at home..place on top of wood and light kinlin, they slowly melt over the wood with a nice flame.

[Pepe Ray]

For Waksupi;
Check out the cheap laundry detergent jugs.
1. Wide mouth
2. Large caps easily marked for ID
3. Very tuff. Withstands much abuse in the rear of the truck.
Some of the more expensive brands (Tide) are a little more dificult to modify but will work if that's all you have.
From a satisfied user of many years.
Pepe Ray

[Cloudpeak]

TARP WEIGHTS???? I have never heard of anyone being so hard-up for a few good, old fashioned ROCKS :kidding::kidding:
Gear

Hey, Gear, there were no rocks within a 100 mile radius from where we used to live in Nebraska. The first time we took our little girls on vacation, they were bound and determined to load the trunk down with every rock they found. They were so excited.

[jimkim]

I use a LARGE mouth :bigsmyl2:, 32-ounce Gatorade bottle for that, no cutting holes to allow spills when it gets knocked over in the middle of the night.

Gear

Tell ya what works even better is a Bisquick pancake bottle, small jug, big opening.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000IOJTS2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_2?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0010VO7ES&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1GJ65D999SBWX3DMWYVA There are all kinds of uses for these jugs. Buy some and make your wife pancakes for breakfast.

We used to use milk jugs(cut out part across from handle) for planters. You start your tomatoes in them.

[Wayne Smith]

Any rocks you see around here are shipped in - usually as ballast in the old sailing ships. All the rip-rap got here that way. Hard up for rocks - well, can't go out in the back yard and get any!

[MT Gianni]

I use a LARGE mouth :bigsmyl2:, 32-ounce Gatorade bottle for that, no cutting holes to allow spills when it gets knocked over in the middle of the night.

Gear

It fits in a sleeping bag too.

[redhawk44]

I clean my guns by clamping the barrel (s) into the padded jaws of a vise on my loading bench and the cleaning fluid makes a mess when the brush comes out of the end of the barrel.

Cut a slot of the appropriate size so the barrel will enter the jug and the problem is over.

Handguns are a little short for this, but it works great for rifles and shotguns.

[Jon]

I clean my guns by clamping the barrel (s) into the padded jaws of a vise on my loading bench and the cleaning fluid makes a mess when the brush comes out of the end of the barrel.

Cut a slot of the appropriate size so the barrel will enter the jug and the problem is over.

Handguns are a little short for this, but it works great for rifles and shotguns.

That's a great idea. I've always hated the spray from the brush poking out the end of the barrel.

[32ideal]

They make great flash diffusers for small cameras and vary in transparency, have several 4x4" pieces in my camera bag.
32ideal

[PDshooter]

I just like to fill them with "WATER"........And blast them!:drinks::drinks:

[fourarmed]

Drop an overripe banana in one, add water and vinegar and a little molasses, and shake it up. Hang it in a fruit tree before bloom time. You will be amazed at the number of destructive moths and flies it will collect. If you don't like to spray insecticides on your fruit trees, this will help your fruit production a lot.

[ghh3rd]

Drift fishing the grass flats... get a fish, drop a milk jug with a string and weight... circle around so you drift over the same place again.

[leadman]

Here in Arizona we have plenty of rocks. The milk jugs and antifreeze containers filled with sand make good anchors.

Attach the rope to the handle, if the anchor gets stuck in the rocks it is not too hard to pull the rope thru the handle.

Have had to do this many times.

[mousegun]

Cut disks with a 7/16" hollow punch from Harbor Freight.
44 gas check wads for my 429421s!

[Russel Nash]

with the half gallon jugs, I can get 25 pounds of #7/#7.5-ish homemade birdshot into each jug.

If I am delivering the stuff to the customer, I always make it a point to duct tape the cap down to the jug. Then I always carry the jug by both the handle and the bottom.

I also use the same 1/2 gallon jugs for my own homemade chopped up corn cob media. I think I can get just 2 pounds of corncob media in a jug. Then I take the jugs with me to USPSA pistol matches and sell my media there. It kinda offsets the price of the match entry fee.