Informal Shooting Games

[PerpetualStudent]

I got an old book of games from a goodwill last week. It was published in the early 1940s and it has your standard card games and croquet and party games etc. What I found really interesting was that they included shooting games (archery, .22 rimfire, and shotgun). They have instructions on making a backstop and the formal shooting games but also some informal games to play. I thought I'd share the rimfire games and ask you guys what informal shooting games you've played.

String Shooting: hanging a box of candy on a string. Everyone shoots to cut the string. Person who cuts it, gets the candy.

Crayon Shooting: Stand white crayons up in holes bored in a 2x4. 1 crayon per person, each person gets five shots, person who breaks the most crayons wins.

Wand Rifle Shooting: a 3/8 in dowel is placed in the ground. 5 Shots each, 1 point per hit.

Candle-Out Shooting: Five lit candles placed downrange, each contestant gets 5 shots to extinguish the candles. Hitting the candle counts as a miss.

Tack-Driving Shooting: 5 large headed tacks are lightly tacked into a board downrange. Each contestant gets 5 shots, whoever drives the most tacks wins.

Match-Lighting Shooting: 10 non-safety matches set up downrange. Each contestant gets 10 shots. Lighting the match wins; ties are shot off. If no matches are lit the high score goes to the player breaking the most matches.

Pendulum Shooting: A block of wood 4 in square hung before the backstop on a 3 ft cord which is then started swinging. 10 shots each, 1 point per hit.

Balloon Shooting: Hang balloons at various heights in front of the backstop. 5 shots each, taken in turns 1 shot per turn. [they also mention letting some float 20-100 ft and shooting at those for a challenge! Obviously if you don't live in the desert that's a bad idea.]

Wooden Bird Shooting: 4 in wood block tossed into the air in front of the shooter by an assistant standing behind the shooter, not more than 10 ft high. 10 shots each, 1 point per hit.

Tin Can shooting: Tin cans placed in front of backstop. Goal is to knock the cans off the board. Each hit is 1 point. Each can knocked off is worth 2 points.

These sound familiar to anybody? What other informal shooting games do (or have) you played?

[Not sure if this is the right place to put this but I couldn't think of a better forum. Feel free to move the thread if I chose wrong.]

[Paper Puncher]

I never did manage to light a match. Shot up 3 or 4 of those big boxes of kitchen matches. Putting out a candle (without hitting the candle) I was able to do two or three times out of lots of candles LOL. The candle wax sure makes a mess when you hit the candle. Used to peel the tin foil off the cork in beer bottle caps and use them as a target (tells you how long ago that was). Increase the distance to the target if you hit it.

Hit a tin can try and make it jump then hit it while it was in the air.

[starmac]

Never tried the first three, but some version of the others were and still are common.

[B. Lumpkin]

We like these at the 200 yard line: https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Targe...A2-Target.aspx

Super fun and loser buys lunch!

[DerekP Houston]

man I wish I had a range that allowed such things. In 10 years I will have my own berm/lead mine and start these fun ideas .

[runfiverun]

we do 300 yd egg shoots where you hang an egg off a string put a dollar in the pot and shoot it.
all those who hit the egg shoot at a 1/2" X.
closest one to the center of the X wins the money.
we also shoot 1/4 sized coke bottle cut out's at that distance, go 5 for 5 and you get to shoot at the X again.

[country gent]

We used to use golf balls for targets, start at 15 yds with a 22 pistol offhand for each shooter, person who drives his golfball the farthest with 5 or 10 shots ( decided before starting) wins.

[MaryB]

When my nephews come for a few days we get out the bounce targets and either pistols or the 22 rifles. ! point for every hit until you miss one then your turn is over. 2 points if you get it in the air, 3 points for 2 air hits in a row. We go 5- 10 rounds and whoever has the lowest score gets to clean up after supper the rest of the week.

[woodbutcher]

Animal crackers make good targets too.No clean up after shooting.Leave em lay for the birds and the bugs.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Pipefitter]

we do 300 yd egg shoots where you hang an egg off a string put a dollar in the pot and shoot it.
all those who hit the egg shoot at a 1/2" X.
closest one to the center of the X wins the money.
we also shoot 1/4 sized coke bottle cut out's at that distance, go 5 for 5 and you get to shoot at the X again.

Our egg shoots were a fundraiser for the club. Take 4 dozen eggs and hard boil half of them. Have someone who does not know which are cooked and which are raw place them at the target line, mixing them up in the process. When you pay your money for the relay you are assigned an egg to shoot at. Hit the egg and you are done, miss the egg and you have the option of paying for another shot or eating the egg that you missed. Trouble is you didn't know if the egg was hard boiled or raw........

[Johnch]

Try Golf Trap
Use FREE pick up balls
Person 1 hits the golf ball with a club of his choice and person 2 shoots it with his Trap gun
We have person 1 on the other side of a earth berm for safety

A good hit on a ball with a 1 1/8 oz load of #7 1/2 shot makes the ball explode
Sort of like Sporting clays ...but with a twist
switching between a driver and sand wedge adds a lot of fun

John

[mcdaniel.mac]

I have a few.

"El Presidente"
-requires two shotgun shells of the same dimensons, one of a different color or size. Place all three on a board or shelf in a line, with the unique target in the center and no more than 1/4" from the others on each side. On whistle, fire one round to dispatch El Presidente without hitting his entourage. Can be done as a draw-and-fire exercise as well. Hitting anything other than the center shell disqualifies, and the winner is the shooter who is fastest, or failing that, manages not to DQ. Failing that. The winner is the one who curses his miss in the most entertaining way.

It's reverse, the "Harrison Ford"
-same set up, only instead of assassinating el prez, you are saving the POTUS from captors! With two shots, knock down both bookend shells without disturbing the center shell.

Matching Game
-Using a target with an array of colored and numbered shapes (e.g. a red triangle with the number 3, blue circle with number 5), you commence an old-fashioned duel in the style of the "simon says." The referee will call out a number, shape, or color, combination or series of combinations (e.g. "Blue triangle, red three, square two!) and the player or players will quickly hit each called target with one round. Stray rounds do not gain a point. This may also be played as a draw-and-fire game. If you want more fun, have certain combinations repeat on the target (e.g. a red square and red triangle both with the number 4) requiring the shooter to hit all targets matching the combination. The simplified version of this game has the referee call one attribute (number, color, or shape) and the shooter his each target that applies with one round. Simplified, but tougher.

Another favorite of mine, given appropriate back stop, is something of a Kim's game. If you haven't read Kipling's book "Kim" you should, it's an interesting story. Featuring in it is a game that the military udes to practice observation, especially for intelligence, STA, and Designated Marksmen. In Kim's game, he is shown a group of marbles briefly, and then after a period of not seeing them, he must recount their color and positions. For our purposes, the referee will show the shooter a group or series of targets (perhaps a specific type of soda can, a particular playing card, whatever is appropriate) and then take the targets away. The shooter then does some other activity, perhaps a couple of slow-fire strings for accuracy. Then, go back to the full range, which has a large number of informal targets scattered around. The shooter must recall from memory the series of targets, find them on the range, and hit them accordingly.

Much less complicated, but requiring equipment are dueling trees and clay racks, which make shooting against a partner fun.

[w5pv]

How bout tying a turkey down behind a log and shooting his head when he raises it above he log,use to be a pretty good money raiser when it was allowed at the turkey shoots.I think now it is who can place a # 6 shot bb the closest to the center of the X on the target using the events shot shells.

[waksupi]

I like the candle snuffs. My .62 comes in real handy for that, moves lots of air!

[mcdaniel.mac]

I like the candle snuffs. My .62 comes in real handy for that, moves lots of air!

It doesn't count if the muzzle blast blows it out!

[dragon813gt]

One of the ranges I belong to has a balloon shoot the first Sunday of the month. All shooting is offhand. 50 yard pistol / open sight rifle and 100 yard scoped rifle. The balloons aren't blown up much. They also put out paintballs at 150 yards for meat tray prizes. The paintballs are pretty challenging. You can use whatever firearm you want so there are no caliber restrictions.

How bout tying a turkey down behind a log and shooting his head when he raises it above he log,use to be a pretty good money raiser when it was allowed at the turkey shoots.

One of the ranges I belong to still does this. It's the last one in the state as far as I know. They're protested every year but there is no place to park outside the gate and the range has a long driveway. The protest doesn't do anything. I'm sure they will talk about this years shoot at the next meeting. They have no intention of stopping it.

A bunch of the firehouses have flying board shoots every weekend from September thru April. They're held at a different firehouse each weekend. Lots of guys make a good bit of money and fill their freezers w/ meat because of the shoots. They throw up a 4"x4" board w/ an X on it. Closest pellet to the center wins. Oh yeah, you use a 12ga w/ no restriction on chokes allowed.

[OS OK]

Fun pistol game…shoot faster and more accurate too.

We shoot on a private range, so we can come up with fun pistol matches that improve our shooting skills and tap into everyones competitive nature also. (we are tired of bulls eye targets)

These two targets are hand made at the moment, doesn't take too long but I would suppose that a silhouette target bought at a store could be modified to work the same.

They are 24" high X 20" wide, made from a roll of poster paper from the office supply.

* We each shoot 5 rounds @ 5 different distances, each shooter shoots and then scores, (mark your shot holes with a slash into the hole) then the next shooter does the same until all shooters have shot @ that particular distance.
* Then we move to the next distance and repeat until all the 5 distances have been shot. Sometimes we shoot from close and move progressively farther back, sometimes reverse. The distances are up to you.
* The idea is to put 3 rounds into the single target on the left, then the remaining 2 rounds go into the hostage target on right.
* You have 5 seconds to fire all 5 shots. We don't use the shot timer everyone just keeps track in their heads and if they get too slow aiming/shooting they get a 'razzing' from the other shooters. Great fun 'razzing'.

@ the first distance…shoot 2 rounds to chest & 1 round to head,
then shoot 2 rounds at the hostage target any where you want.
@ the second distance…shoot 2 rounds at shoulders & 1 round to head,
then shoot 2 rounds at the hostage target any where you want.
@ the third distance…shoot 3 rounds to the head,
then shoot 2 rounds at the hostage target any where you want.
@ the fourth distance…shoot 3 rounds at the shoulders,
then shoot 2 rounds at the hostage target any where you want.
@ the fifth distance…shoot 3 rounds at the chest,
then shoot 2 rounds at the hostage target any where you want.

…End of Game…add the totals and 'razz' whoever you want while the winner enjoys a temporary high.
Notice that for each game each shooter only expends 25 rounds but the shooter is under some pressure to make them really count. That makes good shooting habits develop.
* The single target is pretty simple and has small hi-point zones that develop your moving/aim-point and developes your aim/small to miss/small skill.
* This hostage target is another 'critter' all together…if you hit the hostage you get a 'zero' for both those shots. Everyone loves to 'razz' the hostage shooter!
You notice the 40 point oval areas on the arms of the gunman…we call them tattoos, 'tats' for short, those are tempting to gain points in the competition but deadly to the score of the shooter…that 'zero' can bite you in the 'butt' real quick. It takes a gutsy shooter to go for those spots at 15 yards and greater.
*This is not a training game for responding correctly in self defense or LE training...it's only a game to learn to shoot fast and where your looking.
It's only for fun and practice and most important...razzing the competition.

[OnHoPr]

@ woodbutcher, that sounds pretty good. You don't have to track, gut, drag, skin, hanging, cut up, sausage, and package your game. You just have to get home and have a large glass of cold milk to go with the game you brought home to munch on while reading forums.

@Johnch, I must be missing the picture. I would like to see that. You buckeye boys must be pretty quick. A golfer with a driver standing 20 ft away next to the trap shooter on the same line? The golfer hits the ball with the driver, then the trap shooter shoulders his gun at PULL and shoots at the golf ball before the golf ball gets to far away and out of golf ball size pattern range?

I like being in the barn when I am trying to hit the broadside of it.lol

[dale2242]

Necco wafers at 100yds. If you can find them.
No clean up....dale

[KYCaster]

I've never been able to strike a match by shooting at it, and I've never met anyone who has done it or has seen it done. I'm willing to be convinced that it is possible, so if you have any proof I'd really like to see it.

Animal crackers are fun. Various crackers, candies, Tums, aspirin, depending on the shooter's skill, and nothing to clean up.

A favorite at our annual fun match/picnic was split a bullet on an axe to break two clay targets. Start at 5 yds. and move it out to 10 yds. to separate the shooters from the boys/girls.

For kids who like to see things blow up, try ice. Add a bit of food coloring for visibility and freeze in Dixie Cups, soda bottles or milk jugs, depending on range/caliber...cut away the plastic container first.

Jerry