cheap, easy, homemade reactive targets

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peetee32

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im looking for some new target ideas. i am spending a weekend at my friends cabin, where we shoot all day, grill, drink and play poker all night.

normally i pack a bunch of shoot-n-c paper targets, some balloons, i have a .22 spinner target, i bring a bunch of large paper targets, etc.

im looking for some fun things to shoot at besides paper and cans that are reactive. im looking for cheap easy and fun, and hopefully easy cleanup. (i hate cleaning up balloon pieces!)

-various fruit and veggies? (fun but wasteful)
-envelopes/paper bags filled with flour? (puff of smoke when nailed)
-ice blocks
-eggs

i'll be shooting my .357 S&W 686p, my Ruger 10/22 and Savage 30-06 but we'll have all kinds of guns showing up im sure.

any ideas/tricks out there?
 
Crackers are good to use. No mess to clean up cause the critters will eat up the leftovers.
 
With the price of clays these days, I almost can't stand to buy a case to shoot. Most places are $9 - $13 for a case of 90!! That's insane!

Pine cones work, especially when they aren't open all the way.

If you don't care how your range ends up looking, you can also go around on trash day in a truck and pick up all sorts of stuff off the side of the road. We used to shoot all kinds of children's toys, and once found a box full of soccer trophies. It's fun to shoot the man off the pedestal.
 
"various fruit and veggies? (fun but wasteful)"

The produce store near me has compost bins around the back that are available for the public to rummage through. They are good about separating stuff that's probably still edible, and welcome people to take whatever they want. I go there and get greens for my chickens and half-rotten tomatoes/lemons/squash/etc. for shooting at. See if you could find somewhere like that, because then you'll have an endless supply.

Josh
 
Charcoal briquettes. Spoiled fruit (hey, it was going to be thrown away anyhow). Neco wafers.

On the more expensive side, I've always wanted a duelling tree, and somebody to shoot with.
 
Golf balls - both real and plastic - can be made to travel when you hit them. I just toss a handful out in front of me at the range and go to town with my Buckmark or my S&W22A. It's a nice warmup for the pepper poppers and the real guns.
 
How about "off brand " gas station soda pop ? Seems they usually have a ! Case for 4 Bucks ! sale going on at end off season ...

Shake 'em up real good and zap em with the biggest fastest round you own.
Afterwards you can plink the blown up empty cans with your .22's
 
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Crackers are good to use.

ha ha ha.....I'm guffawing out loud!

That's a good one, cracker's WILL work, come to think of it. They explode, and squirrels like'em too!

We're using crackers next time for sure! Perfect little

.22 targets you betcha.:neener::neener::neener::neener:

Imagine useing an entire Box of Loose Cracker for a 12 guage target!

/
 
I like the plastic soda bottles, they don't break up into tiny pieces, can take lots of hits and react nicely when hit. If you hit the dirt below where a two liter bottle (empty) sits with a .308 you can launch it 30-40' feet in the air and do it again where lands next. Great fun and visually appealing to the bystanders.

--wally.
 
Paintballs (cheap ones from Wal-Mart)

Lots of fun when hit and not to pricey. Also they are enviro safe!
 
1. Empty two liter pop bottles - Shot a LOT of those when I was in the Army.

2. Empty plastic milk jugs.

3. When I was in the Army, I bought a set of miniature iron silhouettes, pig, turkey, etc. You don't want to shoot them with jacketed rounds going too fast, but they'll stand up to .44 Special and Magnum cast bullets all day long, with only lead smears.

4. AOL type free CDs. They're shiny and blow up well. A guy in usenet made himself a rig that would release them down a track made in a board, when he pulled on a lanyard. It's a good way to get rid of country and rap CDs if someone should give you one as a gift.
 
Unless they've changed the material (possible now than 56X drives started breaking disks) I was very disappointed by the lack of reaction from a pile of CDs I'd set out as targets at our Y2K shoot-a-thon. Little more than cardboard -- holes appeared, that was it.

--wally.
 
I met a guy once that swears by gluing Vanilla Wafers onto sheets of cardboard for targets. They're small enough to be a challenge, they explode well when hit, they're biodegradable and require no cleanup, and when you hit one the others stay put becasue they're glued in place.

Of course, the BEST in my opinion is water-filled soda cans. I could shoot those all day long. Tend to scatter debris though.
 
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