fun shoot target ideas

[enfield]

:confused: I know from reading the posts here that there is a wealth of knowlege out there. our club has about 4 fun shoots a year and I usually am the one to come up with the targets and shooting format :Fire: what do some of you guys do for targets and scoring. we try to mix a little luck and skill and people will bring anything from a .22 to a .577 snider so it's a bit tricky pleasing everyone. thanks for any ideas.

[RayinNH]

Enfield, a few things come to mind, baloons with a bit of a leash on them, harder to hit if there's a bit of a breeze, clay pidgeons are always fun too. At closer ranges charcoal briquets and eggs are a kinda fun...Ray

[twoworms]

Gummy Bears at 7 to 20 yards with a 22rimfire are a blast. If its warm outside they will stick to about anything.

Clay birds at 50 to 100 yds, I shoot them with my 500S&W and M1, my 13 year old girl shoots them at 60 yards with a 22.

Back to the Gummy Bears, I wonder how many of the guys shooting bigbore's can hit one at 7 yards?

Soda can's make a big splash when hit.

Paint a milk jug black, don't put water in it, see how long it takes for the guy shooting to find out he hit it.... :)

Hang a soda can from a string, cut the string... Its hard at 7 yards with just about an thing to cut the string the first shot.

Good luck, :Fire:


Tim

[No_1]

I cut angle iron into targets. Just lay it in the cut off band saw and cut it to uniform lengths. I use 2x2x1" wide for .22's out to 100 meters and 4x4x3 for other rifles. I use 6x6x6 for pistols. I paint them white. They stand on their own, can be placed anywhere and really fly when you hit them with something big! Keep a couple of 5 gal buckets for transport and use a hand truck to roll them out on the range.

Robert

[enfield]

great ideas ( that was fast ) keep em coming. do you just stick the gummy bear to a target holder? what happens to the gummy ( I assume it just diappears ) . no 1 is the angle iron 2"x2" and 1" long ? (that's small at 100 m ) and 4" x 4" x 3" long or am I not understanding. I'll keep an eye out for cheap soda pop ( I would probably get hate mail if I used beer ,ha ) thanks for the reply's

[Bullshop]

A playing card standing edgwise. A nick or slice scores 5, or cut clean in two scores 10.
A double bitted ax ( or improvize) stuck in a wood block with a clay bird hanging on each side. Each bird is worth 5 points. Try to split the boolit and get both for 10.
An x of string across a wood block. Each string is worth 5 points. Try for the x and cut both strings for 10 points.
Theres a few for ya. Anybody here ever go to the dynamite shoot outa Superior MT.? Now thats fun!!!
BIC/BS

[C1PNR]

Get yourself a bunch of junk golf balls (you know, with slices, nicks, etc.,) and some nails (we used roofing nails). Pound a nail into each golf ball.

Now cut some string, etc., about 2 to 3 feet long and tie one end to the nail. Tie the other to a cross bar so the golf ball is hanging down 2 or 3 feet. Set it up so each person/team has XX balls to knock off, shortest time being the winner.:-D

Muzzle loaders and handguns at 50 yards, centerfire rifles at 75. Just wait until someone only creases one. The ball is now swinging and is one HECK of a hard target to hit![smilie=1:

[twoworms]

I have put on the top side of a 2x4 board, and the shoot them off the board. Key is to not hit the board with the shot. I have shot the ears off them, then the head then blast it off the board. Sometimes they sit after a shot sometimes they take one hit. Kids like to shoot gummy bears, just don't let them eat all the targets.

Or stick them to the top side of a cardboard box, they will stand there a long time before you shoot them off at 7 yards offhand with a 22cal handgun. Put one in the middle and one each side, the outside one's are no shoots. Its fun to make a game out of it.

Place some at 100yards, shoot them with 223cal or PDog guns... Lots of misses on a gummy bear at that range...

Put a time on 5 shots with the bears at 7 yards... (Hand gun, say 60 seconds, or less) Ask the bigbore guys to hit one in under 5 seconds, at 7 yards. Its bad when you miss a sitting bear at 7 yards by 2"... [smilie=1:

Good luck,

Tim :Fire:

[shooter575]

We shoot breakables in team events.A timer with stopwatch times each event.Along with the other things mentioned.

1]Plastic bottles.H2o,soda,milk.Easy to come by. water can be colored with food dye for contrast.

2]Wood blocks. 2x4 scrap cut sq. Use a staple to attach wire. 2x4 x 3/8 endcuts work well also

3] ceramic floor tile. I made a jig to drill about 4 at a time with masonery drill on a drill press for hanging wire. [drill from back side]

4] Beer cans. fill with water.Hang wire from pull top. They blow up nice.

5] Bowling pins.Lanes around here change them every year.I getem free.

6] Clays. we drill them for wire, Got to do it from the back though.

7] Stake event. Hang a board horzontal and have team try to cut it in half. 3"or 4"
wide is enough. I use fine 3/4"partical board as each piece is about the same.

[carpetman]

how about cats? Any range.

[Hi-Performance Bullet Coatings]

I have a 13" steel plate, bored a 7/8" hole thru the center and hang a clay target behind several feet back from the plate. Placed at 100 yds. using a .22 rimfire.

Hanging the clay back from the steel helps prevent "near hits" or half bullets/splatter from breaking the clay.

[waksupi]

One of our favorites, is the lids from canning jars. Stick a string to them, with some tape, and hang them up. They spin in the slightest breeze.
Another we did a couple years ago, was to get an old excercise bicycle, and you had to shoot as you peddled.
Shooting from the opposite shoulder is fun.
Small plastic balls of flour, or charcoal briquets also make challenging targets.
Small suckers stuck in drilled holes are also fun.
A piece of concrete re-enforcing rod, hung verticle and/or horizontal, is also good practice.

[wills]

http://users.mtrx.net/funnypics/content/-rdm1-ABCD1234-rdm1-/2005/2005-08-23-0002/013.jpg

[shooter575]

Hey Wills,That kid just dont look happy!

[sundog]

Somewhere that ants won't be a problem -- ANIMAL CRACKERS! Just gotta keep the grandkids from eating all the targets.... Solid hit = explode on impact. PETA would love it.

If the kids are a little standoffish about the animal cracker thing, then saltines and cheez-its. Good hit = disappearing reactive target.

Next time out (prolly by yourself), same place, ground squirrels. Yea, the ones eating all the crumbs from the saltines and cheez-its, especially if the critters are a nuisance. Again, PETA is just gonna love ya.

[No_1]

the angle is 2x2" and cut 1" wide. Yeah it is small but the 13 y/o has no problem with the .22's. I line up about 40 of them on the railroad tie that is at the end of the 100 meter range and she just starts at one end and works her way to the other. She usually does not miss many times once she figures the range. The others are 4" angle cut 3" wide. Make sense?

Robert


great ideas ( that was fast ) keep em coming. do you just stick the gummy bear to a target holder? what happens to the gummy ( I assume it just diappears ) . no 1 is the angle iron 2"x2" and 1" long ? (that's small at 100 m ) and 4" x 4" x 3" long or am I not understanding. I'll keep an eye out for cheap soda pop ( I would probably get hate mail if I used beer ,ha ) thanks for the reply's

[KevMT]

For rimfire we shoot at "goldfish" crackers and pepermint candies at 50 yards. I heard about tapeing paintballs to a paper covered board so when they are hit they make a big SPLAT on the board.

[Slowpoke]

You guys are to tame, a fun target to me is a Guinea in an armored box with a hole for his head to stick out set at a hundred yards, no benches.

good luck

[flintlocknfur]

Potatoes and moose poop on a toothpick are my favs. eggs are pretty cool too.

Radish setting on top of your best knife will tell you who can shoot and whos a wuss...

Ive shot waksupi's excercise bike.....sick...very sick..

[testhop]

i like carpetman idea
but how about poker chips drill a hole in them tie a string throgh the hole and you pick
the range or a grove in a board and stand the chip[s in the grove

[wills]

Tie a washer on a string, glue a piece of paper over the hole. Put the boolit through the paper. Or toss the washer up, shoot through the hole.

[725]

I run a kids summer black powder range and when the paper gets boring, I hang a water filled jug off the target frame. They always perk up because it's different.

[unclebill]

weve never done this at a fun shoot but my buddies and i have tied a helium balloon to a cheapo remote controlled car.
one guy drives while the other tries to hit the balloon.
then we switch.
this is REALLY hard to do because your buddy is driving as erratically as possible and the balloon is bouncing all over the place on it's string.

make sure you have a good backdrop!

p.s.
i use my yugo sks!

[TexRebel]

Here is a fun one to try, skeet with a 22 cal SAA, when you get real good, switch to draw and shoot

[Crash_Corrigan]

Ya take your baloon and put in some chalk dust and staple it to a 2 x 4 plank.

Suspend the plank between two cinder blocks and at 200 yrds have at it.

You can put a dozen or so balloon onto the plank and have a reactive target on the cheap.

If you want to get fancy fill them with helium and chalk dust and tie them to different lengths of string to the 2 x 4 at whatever range you want.

[RL550B]

One of my best old school favorites is Christmas tree ornaments. You can find used one's dirt cheap at yard sales and thrift stores (and even eBay). Hang them all over trees, cactus. Suspend them from string stretched between trees. They are ideal for any distance or light level.......They make a hell of a mess though.

[Calamity Jake]

Clay pedgons on a string, old bowling pins for man on man, 2 kids with 22's and 5 pins each, first one with all 5 down wins.
2X2X4ft stake vertical in the ground, distance from shooter 5-7 yards, on the side tape a close pin, in the cloths pin a playing card so the shooter see the edge now cut the card in half.

Team shoot, as many shooters as you want but 5 is good with 10 rounds per shooter, from 7-10 yards a 4 ft circle drawn on the ground with powdered chalk in the center 25-35 golf balls, fastest team to empty the circle of GB's is winner, or the most empted when all ammo is expended
Change up # of shooters, round count and ball count as needed

[JeffinNZ]

Beer can rise.

Two empty beer/soda cans. Fill one with water. Set the other on top of it. Two man team; one rifle, one shotgun. Have the rifle shooter with a decent caliber and load shoot the water filled can. This launches the empty can into the air for a shotgun shooter.

Obviously the punchier the rifle/pistol load is the higher the empty can goes.

[Triggerhappy]

Do be careful when shooting bowling pins, especially with .22s. I've seen a .22 go in the pin, around the inside of the jacket and back out the hole it went in. Strange things happen with pins.

[Triggerhappy]

Someone told me recently that he shoots pool chalk. You can get it cheap, in different colors and it throws a colored cloud when hit. He uses them at 100 yards and says it's obvious when someone hits one. They're 7/8" square so it's a challenge.

[GS1458]

TestHop & CarpetMan: How about we put your ### in a cage with a few Tigers and let them chase you both around a bit: Comments like that give gun people a BAD name GROW UP !!!!

[lunicy]

That plaster statue was fun. It was old and on the curb. My kids broken toys are fun too.

Pennies at 75yds (iron sight w/ .22) are fun. Pretty cheap too. (Paint stuff orange so you can see it)

Junk tools suspended are fun. (cheap rounded or cracked wrenches, cracked pry bars, etc...)

Cats don't stay still long enough to shoot

A can of spray foam was fun

[carpetman]

GS1458---You are correct, using cats as a target gives gun people a bad name. But cat owners have a good name. In my town last year animal control picked up over 12,000 cats and was able to adopt out about 360 of them. The rest they euthanized. In my neighborhood several ferral type cats roam. I do trap some and have hauled off by animal control (part of stats given above).How horrible the thought of using a gun to shoot one. I should have said dont use them as a target--just euthanize them with a gun. To make it more sporting maybe launch them with helium balloons and shoot the balloons. It would take a larger balloon to launch a tiger.

[Red River Rick]

GS1458---You are correct, using cats as a target gives gun people a bad name. To make it more sporting maybe launch them with helium balloons and shoot the balloons. It would take a larger balloon to launch a tiger.

Carpetman:

Do you think this would work for Moose? Well actually................the decoys..........they're to heavy to carry around and I'm thinking I could float them around with the balloons.

[carpetman]

Red River Rick----There was a picture on the internet of a moose that got caught in a power line as it was being installed--the moose was hanging of a powerline pole. There is another picture of a whitetail buck humping someones decoy. I'd be careful carrying around a load of moose decoys--watch your backside.

[Red River Rick]

Red River Rick----There was a picture on the internet of a moose that got caught in a power line as it was being installed--the moose was hanging of a powerline pole.

I saw that pic........................what happened? Did his balloons break and he fell on the power lines? That was probably a big OWIEEEE! How did the hunter retrieve his moose?

Maybe this BALLOON hunting isn't for me!

[wiljen]

Take a 2x4 and a router and cut a 1/4" deep slot 1/4" wide along the middle of the 4" surface lengthwise and then place El Cheapo Antacid tablets in it about every 4 inches. Makes a great 22 target for the kids as they disappear in a puff of smoke when hit and the things cost about $1.50 for a bottle of 100 when on sale.

You can drill a hole at either end and stake it into the ground if you dont want a hit to move the whole board.

[sundog]

has anyone mentioned dirt clods? what can be cheaper than dirt? and enviro-neutral, too. a good hit gets a nice puff of dust.

[markinalpine]

I save up my almost empty shaving foam cans. You know, when you push the nozzle and soupy foam comes out.

Whatever you use, please pick up after yourself.

[carpetman]

dried cowpatties on water(where there is no riccochet hazzard) splatter pretty good and you get smaller targets the chunks.

[Triggerhappy]

My wife got me a few hundred used golf balls. I run a 1" self tapping screw into them, then hang them by a string at 200 yards. Usually have to paint them orange. I usually use a .223 which goes right thru. Sometimes they'll take a chunk out but usually it doesn't even leave a hole, just a smudge where the bullet goes in and out. FMJ's. Gets them swinging pretty good though. lots of fun.

[Dean D.]

Waksupi and I saw a challenging set up at the Libby Rendezvous; A 2X4 with holes drilled along the edge, golf tee's stuck in the holes and peanut M & M's placed on top of the golf tee. Not many M & M's missing before or AFTER we went thru LOL.

[waksupi]

Waksupi and I saw a challenging set up at the Libby Rendezvous; A 2X4 with holes drilled along the edge, golf tee's stuck in the holes and peanut M & M's placed on top of the golf tee. Not many M & M's missing before or AFTER we went thru LOL.

Whuddaya mean? I'm SURE I hit mine!

[Kskybroom]

Take some copyer paper, staple to target frame, spread honey or jelly on target. Honey for bees jelly for flys. Bring out the rifles,You thunk up the game so you make the rules. With the right buds it be a hoot,,,,,

[Storydude]

Tannerite.


Nothing else is needed.

[Dutch4122]

Tannerite.


Nothing else is needed.

:holysheep

I was an "innocent witness"[smilie=1: to just such an incident back in August.

All I can say is set it out there about 100 yards and wear double hearing protection.:bigsmyl2:

[45 2.1]

:holysheep

I was an "innocent witness"[smilie=1: Ya...Right to just such an incident back in August.

All I can say is set it out there about 100 yards and wear double hearing protection.:bigsmyl2:

It wasn't that loud............... Almost fun as Bruce screaming over Mike's hot barrel exercise.

[Storydude]

Tannerite makes grown men giggle like schoolgirls.

[Farmall 1066]

Staple fast food ketchup and mustard packets to a piece of cardboard for splattery rimfire fun!

[mroliver77]

My pal taped a couple bottles of tannerite together and then to a galon of gasoline. We put it in an old outhouse on my bosses property. He was having bible study so we got everybody outside to watch. I shot it through the door. WOW!! The OH blew to smitherines in a large fireball. We had to run put out the fire it started in the woods! The spectators were awed to say the least!! I giggled like a school girl.;) Amazing what Tannerite does to a 76 Chevelle when a pint is shut in the doorframe and shot. After we launched the trunk lid over our heads..... Good thing I always wear safety glasses!
Funnest targets I have shot are marshmallows floating down a straem. We burned up massive amounts of .22 ammo doing this and my offhand shooting improved tenfold.
Jay

[wiersy111]

Old cans of spray paint that seem to collect in the garage make for great fun on the range, especially on a snowy day!

Clay pigeons at 100 yards with the rifles until the pieces all disappear can keep me entertained for hours.

[jnovotny]

DIME STORE SUCKERS... Drill some holes in a 2x4 for the handles to set in and shoot away . You can use any caliber at any distance you choose.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
For our Military rifle matches I have used bowling pins at 50 m& 100 yards. Ther 50 yarders are reasonably easy. At 100 it gets real interesting. I have 10 pins at each distance and 2 minutes to do the job. Least time with the least rounds. Shoot the iron sights against the iron sights.
Then if there is enough willing we devide into squads and repeat as a squad of 2 or 3.

[bbailey7821]

I'm think'in mother in law... Hee Hee!