Plinkin' is still fun!

[Murphy]

I'm blessed with enough .22 rimfire I can still occasionally go out and plink. I never disclose just how many of anything I have. Be it dollar bills, primers, .22 rimfire rounds, pounds of powder, or firearms. But that's just me.

Any ole' way. Shortly after lunch today, a long time friend dropped by and the next thing we knew, we were loaded up and headed for the sticks for some fresh air and plinking. I turned 68 last Saturday, this sure isn't the first time my friend of 40+ years and I have gone out and done such. It was a tad windy out but it didn't discourage us any, worse than two juveniles. When the wife asked where we were headed, I told her we were off in search of rowdy tin cans and miscreant dirt clods in need of a good killin'. We did manage to find a few rowdy, low down crows to take pot shots at. But distance and the wind was in their favor, this time around anyway. Some cans and dirt clods have now ended their days of a mislead life. All in all, a successful excursion.

The two firearms I chose to take were an old Remington 510 single shot, which is more accurate than I am these days. Along with it, a trusty old Smith & Wesson K22 of 1948 vintage. I managed to score 5 out of 6 shots with the K22 between 10 to 20 yards. I was more than happy with those results.

All in all, it sure was good to get some trigger time in, the smell of gun smoke up my nostrils and the kick of watching can's and dirt clods get rolled around. Fella's, if you're comfortable with your current stock of ammunition lasting a good while, don't sit and fret over the current situation. Get out and let a few rounds go now and then, it doesn't matter if it's 50, or 150 rounds. It will brighten your day much more than you may realize.

Murphy

[Winger Ed.]

I told her we were off in search of rowdy tin cans and miscreant dirt clods in need of a good killin'.

Cool.

If you don't get a good, clean kill shot, you'll need to tag 'em a few times to be sure they'll bleed out.
I've heard they drag off their wounded.

[tazman]

Cool.

If you don't get a good, clean kill shot, you'll need to tag 'em a few times to be sure they'll bleed out.
I've heard they drag off their wounded.

Absolutely correct!
A light rain would hide the blood trail and make them hard to find.
Don't want a wounded one waiting in ambush later on. They can get mean.

[dale2242]

Having a bad hip that will soon be replaced has kept me from doing any 50-100 yd. target shooting .
It hurts too much to walk that far to set up targets.
I fine a local rock pit or landing that has been used as a shooting range.
I get off the road and sit in my pickup and plink away at empty shot shell s with my MK 4 with a red dot sight.
A mans gotta do what he`s gotta do to keep shooting.

[Ithaca Gunner]

Plinking at dumps has always been a favorite of mine. The random distance I feel teaches one to range things and keep in good practice, anywhere from a few yards out to 75-100yds with a .22 WILL keep you sharp. For a real challenge and fun, try a .22 at 300yds on a 20'' steel plate!

[TNsailorman]

When I was very young there was a city garbage dump about a mile or so from our house that covered probable 12 to 15 acreas. It was an open dump like most of the dumps in the 40's and 50's. Since the garbage contained foodstuff from restaurants and people refuse, there seemed to be thousands of rates in that mess. Late in the evening they would come out and be scurrieing everwhere. It also attracted more than a few people with .22lr's and the shooting would begin. Hitting a moving rat in the twilight is not any easy task.
One evening we were shooting and someone called the city police and a couple of Officers came to the dump to check out things. They ended up shooting rats with us and were using their S&W .38's. I don't think they hit a single rat but they sure had fun with the rest of us. They stayed until they ran low on ammo and the wished us good shoolting and left. I miss those days when the world had far more common sense than it does today. I am a few days short of 80 and I would like to see common sense return before I die. james

[G W Wade]

We started playing with 22's again this year. Had a couple of 3/16's plate. Cut squares 1 1/2, 2 , 3 , 4 . 6 and 10 in. Hung with heavy wire from a conduit cross bar at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards. Been great fun remembering the lowly rimfire, GQ

[Bigslug]

I'm foresighted with enough .22 rimfire I can still occasionally go out and plink.

Fixed it for you.

[georgerkahn]

When I was very young there was a city garbage dump about a mile or so from our house that covered probable 12 to 15 acreas. It was an open dump like most of the dumps in the 40's and 50's. Since the garbage contained foodstuff from restaurants and people refuse, there seemed to be thousands of rates in that mess. Late in the evening they would come out and be scurrieing everwhere. It also attracted more than a few people with .22lr's and the shooting would begin. Hitting a moving rat in the twilight is not any easy task.
One evening we were shooting and someone called the city police and a couple of Officers came to the dump to check out things. They ended up shooting rats with us and were using their S&W .38's. I don't think they hit a single rat but they sure had fun with the rest of us. They stayed until they ran low on ammo and the wished us good shoolting and left. I miss those days when the world had far more common sense than it does today. I am a few days short of 80 and I would like to see common sense return before I die. james

You have me beat by six years, James (TNsailorman) -- by the way, HAPPY UPCOMING BIRTHDAY!!! -- and I cannot agree with you more re common sense returning! Bion, we used to drive to dumps to scavenge great usable items others had discarded; watch the bears who would generally be there most times for snacks; and -- target shoot/plink on whatever those with you challenged you to shoot... and hit. The game we played -- one old Mossberg .22 for us all to share -- would to aim at the challenge, and if you hit it -- continue on to another... and another... until you missed. Then the Mossberg would be passed to the next shooter in line... We'd generally burn through about 60 total .22s -- mostly Eley shorts which a local grocery store had on shelves at a good price -- and in retrospect, was really quite the safe, fun, afternoon/eve...
geo

[Iowa Fox]

When I was very young there was a city garbage dump about a mile or so from our house that covered probable 12 to 15 acreas. It was an open dump like most of the dumps in the 40's and 50's. Since the garbage contained foodstuff from restaurants and people refuse, there seemed to be thousands of rates in that mess. Late in the evening they would come out and be scurrieing everwhere. It also attracted more than a few people with .22lr's and the shooting would begin. Hitting a moving rat in the twilight is not any easy task.
One evening we were shooting and someone called the city police and a couple of Officers came to the dump to check out things. They ended up shooting rats with us and were using their S&W .38's. I don't think they hit a single rat but they sure had fun with the rest of us. They stayed until they ran low on ammo and the wished us good shoolting and left. I miss those days when the world had far more common sense than it does today. I am a few days short of 80 and I would like to see common sense return before I die. james

Those were the days. I'm just glad I was a part of it. It must have been about the fourth date for my now wife and I. I took her to the dump to shoot rats with a single six, she enjoyed it and was a better shooter than I was.The part I'll never forget is one of the old guys from town pulled up and started to shoot the breeze with us. I knew him and both of his grandsons were in school with me. He told us he was leaving for Canada in the next few days to go bear hunting and needed a container to put his homemade bear bait in. He told us HOLD YOUR FIRE and jumped over the edge of the junk which was almost straight down for about 35-50 feet. Sheet metal, tin cans, bottles, cardboard broken glass, and smelly rotten food. After a while he hollered I'm coming up, we helped him up over the edge with a old Styrofoam cooler. He was all smiles. We got a chuckle out of him after he left as he was one of the oldest and well off guys in town.

Yep those were the days. Everybody dressed up to go to town, people were polite, a new model of car out every year, the girls were pretty and skinny.

We'll never see those days again

[waylonrocks]

"Fella's, if you're comfortable with your current stock of ammunition lasting a good while, don't sit and fret over the current situation. Get out and let a few rounds go now and then, it doesn't matter if it's 50, or 150 rounds. It will brighten your day much more than you may realize." Good advice, this! A lot of us on this site seem to be geezers, so while it's great to leave our treasured guns to our heirs with a supply of ammo so that they can enjoy the gun, nevertheless, we should enjoy our guns, too! I agree heartily that is very prudent to stock up on as much ammo/reloading supplies as possible, yet what good is all that if we can't put it to use? I find sharing my guns/ammo with others brings great joy in itself and reminds me why I bought that particular gun in the first place. It seems that all of us here have some truly classic guns that we should expose new shooters to since in most cases, they are being brought up shooting rather bland, CNC produced firearms that are accurate and reliable, but lacking in personality, in my opinion.

[Texas by God]

I plinked with .40 S&W, 44-40, 30-30 and 12 gauge today- all with fun, light loads. Oh yeah, I blew the cobwebs out of my sons Remington 597 .22 auto, too. I love not going to work.

[Jedman]

Those were the days. I'm just glad I was a part of it. It must have been about the fourth date for my now wife and I. I took her to the dump to shoot rats with a single six, she enjoyed it and was a better shooter than I was.The part I'll never forget is one of the old guys from town pulled up and started to shoot the breeze with us. I knew him and both of his grandsons were in school with me. He told us he was leaving for Canada in the next few days to go bear hunting and needed a container to put his homemade bear bait in. He told us HOLD YOUR FIRE and jumped over the edge of the junk which was almost straight down for about 35-50 feet. Sheet metal, tin cans, bottles, cardboard broken glass, and smelly rotten food. After a while he hollered I'm coming up, we helped him up over the edge with a old Styrofoam cooler. He was all smiles. We got a chuckle out of him after he left as he was one of the oldest and well off guys in town.

Yep those were the days. Everybody dressed up to go to town, people were polite, a new model of car out every year, the girls were pretty and skinny.

We'll never see those days again

Sadly there were no dumps in the area I grew up in. My father was born in 1923 and the only gun he ever owed was a Win. M 67 and it was his rat gun. I heard there were several places in the city that you could shoot rats with 22 shorts and no one really cared. I would have been in rat heaven!

Jedman