Practice targets ideas

[Yard Dawg]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this thread but was just curious what everybody uses for targets.
Whenever I shoot I'm with at least one of my kids and I try and make it interesting and challenging.
Our latest idea involves soda cans.
We tie some string between to tree limbs and then use the tabs on the cans to hold them in place.
Like so.....




We'll also do some excercises where we'll call out a brand to hit and the shooter has to identify the right can and aim quickly.
With teenagers in the house, soda cans are plentiful and the hits are easily seen.
Although it's difficult to adjust your aim since misses aren't visible.

Anyway, we enjoy it and I was wondering if anyone else had creative target ideas as well.

Steve

[Randall53]

I like the idea. I was thinking that you could also drill holes in plastic water bottle lids and do the same thing but have smaller targets.

[cj0e]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGBrfpWc4oQ[/media]

 

Watch through, easy, simple, cheap.

[hipower]

Shaving cream cans are a blast! Of course you usually only get one hit, unless you can hit them on the fly as well.

[peejman]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this thread but was just curious what everybody uses for targets.
Whenever I shoot I'm with at least one of my kids and I try and make it interesting and challenging.
Our latest idea involves soda cans.
We tie some string between to tree limbs and then use the tabs on the cans to hold them in place.
Like so.....




We'll also do some excercises where we'll call out a brand to hit and the shooter has to identify the right can and aim quickly.
With teenagers in the house, soda cans are plentiful and the hits are easily seen.
Although it's difficult to adjust your aim since misses aren't visible.

Anyway, we enjoy it and I was wondering if anyone else had creative target ideas as well.

Steve

 

 

 

That's awesome!  I've been trying to think of some sort of simple, reactive target for my son to shoot with his BB gun.  This should perfectly!

[DWARREN123]

Fruits/veggies since they can be eaten by animals. Large jaw breakers/candy, egg shells.

I like things that do not have to be cleaned up but that do not hurt the environment.

[Ugly]

Anything but paper :)

[Yard Dawg]

We'll do pretty much anything but glass.
Cleaning up is just part of the exercise.

And I didn't mention that we mostly practice pistol.

[KaNaPaPi]

I like repurposed used bush hog blades. 

 

[musicman]

Golf balls, bowling pins. Only use more powerful stuff on the bowling pins. 357s are good, but a light 38 will bounce back and hit your shin. No 22s.

[gr8smiles]

Propane tanks
Paintballs on a golf tee
The big bucket of cheese puffs from Sams or Costco
Peeps
And the best.... Tannerite
https://vimeo.com/125492722

https://vimeo.com/125492979
https://vimeo.com/125493110
https://vimeo.com/125493284
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Edited April 20, 2015 by gr8smiles

[bigun]

Great idea the grandkids are going to love it.

[cj0e]

Use a some clothespins and playing cards hung from a string or coat hanger - shoot out the hearts/spades/clubs/diamonds. Fun, and a deck of cards is cheap!

[gregintenn]

I like shooting things I can eat: Deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits, etc.

[Caster]

Hippies.

[musicman]

Hippies.

Zing!

[Yard Dawg]

Hippies.

 

[A.J. Holst]

How about some WWII technology:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete

[Grand Torino]

There's some pretty darn good ideas there. :up:

[leroy]

If ya want to learn how to shoot and shoot well, pitch a bunch of clay birds out on a berm about 30 or 35 yards away and go ta shootin with your postola... If it's a rifle, stretch it out a bit... The clay birds will break when hit well and then start on the smaller pieces... 

 

leroy

[JWC]

Hedge apples or walnuts...I'm cheap

[analog_kidd]

I usually fill a few 2 liter bottles with water and freeze them. The ice blasts out of the back of the bottle and makes a nice visual. And, unlike water that leaks out as soon as you hit the bottle, the ice keeps for several shots.

[Jonnin]

so many places want paper only, so paper is all I shoot anymore.   But if you want fun for the kids and don't mind making a mess (pieces of metal, plastic, glass, etc? at the downrange location...  the little sharp bits add up after a while ..)  there are tons of fun things you can do.

 

any container full of water, with at little airspace as you can get in it, is fun.  Even medium sized cartridges will blow a 2-liter into 2-4 pieces if it was full of water and capped.    If you don't cap it, it will shoot a jet of water into the air.    A can can't easily be sealed, but they will blow apart anyway, even a .22 LR can split one in half without sealing it.  Sealed, they do even better (you can get canned water, or if you like bees and bugs you can shoot cheap offbrand soda).

 

Anything on a string or skewered will spin.  My wife puts playing cards on a metal kabob and they spin when you hit them on the side, its cut in half and the attached bit is spinning, its funny.    Guy we used to shoot with had an eye screw, a string, and a golfball to make a target that would wind up on the string when hit by a .22.  

 

2-liters etc again, we used to shoot the caps off.  If you hit them on the side, they unscrew so they fly straight up (stabalized by the spin)

 

water balloons, or balloons in general

 

If you shoot bigger cartridges, those bouncing ball targets can be fun, they roll around on the ground as you shoot them so its sort of a moving target if you can do it fast.   But even 9mm barely make them move on rough ground, and you would be shooting AT the ground which requires a more carefully selected range (don't want to bounce shots up and off into the distance).   You can make home-made versions of this with a variety of things, just need something that can be kicked around and take a few hits.