Favorite plinking targets

Appalachiannative

Appalachiannative

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The Beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains NC
Idk if this should be here or general but the last time I talked about backstop in general they moved it here. Anyway I thought it be fun to share some of our favorite things to shoot when plinking. I enjoy a disposable cigarette lighter. A spent one of course or one that has proven unreliable. Also get quite a kick out of spray paint cans and who aint never shot a jug of water? Especially when you were a kid recycling BBs
 
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Rocks, clay pieces and other and berm trash mostly. I dont like adding litter to the range, so i usually shoot whats there then pick up the left overs if i have the range to myself.....which hasnt happend in a long while.
My favorite target USED to be golf balls, but at our current range its too easy to chip one over the berm and not be able to recover it. I like plinking at my 10" plate at 100yds with my handguns also.
 
baloons attached to a board. two liter bottles hung on a line with a shotgun is entertaining. as the water runs out each consecutive shot moves it more. anything carbonated in a can nobody wants to drink. 6" steel targets hung on a stand with cord - they bob around a bit and you have to time it better, and it gets practice shooting at motion. anything free.
 
LoonWulf said:
Rocks, clay pieces and other and berm trash mostly. I dont like adding litter to the range, so i usually shoot whats there then pick up the left overs if i have the range to myself.....which hasnt happend in a long while.
My favorite target USED to be golf balls, but at our current range its too easy to chip one over the berm and not be able to recover it. I like plinking at my 10" plate at 100yds with my handguns also.
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I do my plinking at my home range so if I wanna trash the place, which I don't, I would but I didn't think of that. Way to be the guy that does what everyone else is too lazy to do heck yeah man. I'll have to try some golf balls. That is if I can get some for free no one wants. I'm no golfer and like you I don't like shooting useable things.
 
.38 Special said:
I enjoy clay pigeons quite a bit. I also like soup cans - as opposed to drink cans - because they tend to react quite well to hits. On the whole, though, I am probably the most commited pine cone hunter who ever lived.
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Idk how many times I've shot at a soda bottle full of gravel tossed into the air. That was always our white trash hooligan version of sporting clays when I was in my late teens early twenties
 
film495 said:
baloons attached to a board. two liter bottles hung on a line with a shotgun is entertaining. as the water runs out each consecutive shot moves it more. anything carbonated in a can nobody wants to drink. 6" steel targets hung on a stand with cord - they bob around a bit and you have to time it better, and it gets practice shooting at motion. anything free.
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Oh yea younz are giving me plenty of ideas for the home range keep em coming
 
Appalachiannative said:
I do my plinking at my home range so if I wanna trash the place, which I don't, I would but I didn't think of that. Way to be the guy that does what everyone else is too lazy to do heck yeah man. I'll have to try some golf balls. That is if I can get some for free no one wants. I'm no golfer and like you I don't like shooting useable things.
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After hours at the indoor range where I used to live my life, the employees would hang tennis balls from the ceiling and we would have at them. One day someone had the bright idea to hang a golf ball. You know that scene in Star Wars, where they are caught in the trash compactor and Han Solo fires his blaster? Good times.
 
I enjoy plinking at empty shotgun hulls. Soup cans.

Coke cans that are filled with water do quite well when paired with a 22 rifle using hollow point ammo.

A stick stuck in the ground is pretty good, so is a weed, if you're close enough or good enough.

Water filled jugs of course are pretty good on occasion.

But I think my favorite is cowpies. They make a satisfying thump and a nice splash when hit with a 22LR HP, or something higher power. Just don't stand too close when plinking or you start to get that cow pasture camouflage.
 
Clays set up at different ranges at the gun club. And the steel they have set up. Out in the bush spots. Trash folks dump. Mostly cans and plastic bottles i pick out. When im done the cans and bottles go in a recycle bin. I take them in with our home recycle items. I often burn the trash too. But it's been dry so no burning.
 
If I'm out on a farm, which is where I do most of my plinking, I like biodegradable stuff. That way, I don't have to pick up my targets. Oranges, grapefruit, heads of lettuce or cabbage, etc. Those will either decay, or something will eat them. I still pick up my casings, ammo boxes, and anything else that's not biodegradable.
 
For outdoor use only: my favorite was a 5lb fire extinguisher. That was a reactive target and lots of fun. Spray foam cans with something bigger than 22 are also fun, but messy.

For biodegradable ones, One year I used a couple of old cantaloupes. I ended up with about a dozen more in a couple of months! The seeds managed to be dispersed and took root. I'm thinking about trying it again and calling it "Ballistic Gardening"
 
My all-time favorite is the 6-oz tomato paste can…small enough to be challenging, and really reactive either on the ground or suspended by string or wire.
Years ago I had a couple of friends with extremely accurate .223’s…they would shoot out the hearts, diamonds, etc. on playing cards @ 100 yards.
They also had a game where they would set up 10 m&m’s and take turns, the first to miss had to walk out 100 yds. to set up the next 10…I was amazed to see how often it got down to a coin toss because neither missed !
Oh, and Necco wafers are pretty awesome as well, you know when you hit it, and nothing needs to be picked up.
 
Appalachiannative said:
get quite a kick out of spray paint cans and who aint never shot a jug of water?
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So you are the one I am cleaning after with all different funky colored targets/trash! :D

I always do a clean up after shooting at local BLM shooting spots and use plinking targets that are easy to clean up which do not leave any lasting mark.

I use small water bottles/aluminum soda cans at 25/50 yards and 2 liter bottles at 75/100 yards. I also use PVC/wooden stands to hang targets so they become reactive moving targets not needing reset. When I am shooting for accuracy/groups, it's cardboard backing with taped copy paper targets with 1" grid squares - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?resources/inch-square-grid.22/

After shooting, all brass cases are picked up for reloading and steel cases/trash put into separate bag/box for disposal. Local Sheriff Deputies/Forest Rangers comment on how well the shooters pick up trash and appreciate the clean up efforts of shooting areas. One time, I arrived at the shooting area filled with trash and shotgun shells leftover from shooting and when I started picking up trash, several cars/trucks stopped to help me clean up and within 20 minutes, the shooting area was spotless. No, I did not know any of the strangers who stopped to help.
 
LiveLife said:
So you are the one I am cleaning after with all different funky colored targets/trash! :D

I always do a clean up after shooting at local BLM shooting spots and use plinking targets that are easy to clean up which do not leave any lasting mark.

I use small water bottles/aluminum soda cans at 25/50 yards and 2 liter bottles at 75/100 yards. I also use PVC/wooden stands to hang targets so they become reactive moving targets not needing reset. When I am shooting for accuracy/groups, it's cardboard backing with taped copy paper targets with 1" grid squares - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?resources/inch-square-grid.22/

After shooting, all brass cases are picked up for reloading and steel cases/trash put into separate bag/box for disposal. Local Sheriff Deputies/Forest Rangers comment on how well the shooters pick up trash and appreciate the clean up efforts of shooting areas. One time, I arrived at the shooting area filled with trash and shotgun shells leftover from shooting and when I started picking up trash, several cars/trucks stopped to help me clean up and within 20 minutes, the shooting area was spotless. No, I did not know any of the strangers who stopped to help.
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That's sweet they have those there. The public range closest to me makes you shoot threw a tube to cut down on noise so I never use it. I clean up my home set up when the cans are so full of holes they fall apart
 
Years ago when I ran a NRA junior smallbore program, when we had fun shoots I went to the Crayola Crayon website and download the free coloring pages. Thanksgiving had turkeys and stuff, Christmas had snowmen trees and stuff, rest of the time it was general stuff animals, balloons, flowers, etc. They aren't reactive but the kids liked them especially when I used a random grid to score. Even the poor shooters had a chance to win a big bag of M&Ms.
 
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