Favorite plinking targets

[Kingcreek]

One day I was in a salvation army type resale store and saw some cheap ceramic figurines and knickknacks. My grandaughters were going to be visiting for a week. I took a few up to the counter and the volunteer looked at me and asked what I wanted those for. I told her targets for my grandaughters to plink. She laughed and said wait, she went in back and brought me a whole box of them, some chipped or cracked etc.
I set up a gallery behind the barn on concrete so cleanup wouldn't be bad and the girls helped me clean it up anyway.
They had a ball shooting up a bunch of old .22 longs in my grandfathers old Stevens model 66 and some .22lr in a buckmark pistol.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

Charcoal briquets….

Boy haven't thought about those in years (ty). Used to do this. Take a couple old news paper pages and lay them out. pour the Charc Brq out on it. Orange spray can both sides. doesn't take long to dry. BANG...poof! HEHE

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

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.

Old or Bad grapes hung of those 10in' hook leaders and a cross dowel rod. bang ..... spluut!

 

[Armored farmer]

I almost forgot these late-summer favorite targets.......the plentiful zuke.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

We have discussed this before.

Water froze in party cups. Add food coloring if you want.
Run water over cups, take the ice to your range in a cooler.Leave cups at home.
No clean up needed!

BUT, if you want a little bit more of a reactive target, try this.... WITH CAUTION!
Best done in Winter if you have snow.
Fill your plastic bottle then sealed container with gasoline, place a lit road flare a foot or so away from jug of gas.
Shoot the container!
The faster the bullet, the bigger the "flare".

 

[ms6852]

When I'm plinking it is normally 22lr or 22 magnum. What I like to use as my targets are paintballs glued to cardboard. That is why I have all of my 22's with the higher magnification riflescopes mounted on them. For me it gets hard to see the paintball at 100 yards. I found out pretty quick that it is best to shoot from the bottom first.

 

[HollowDawg]

I used to cast my own lead soldiers. Made great pellet gun and .22 targets. Shoot em up, melt em down, recast, go again. Still have the molds just lazy now. I do have an approx 1.5 ft x 1.5 ft flat of lead(heavy!!) I cast and propped up on the bank that I shoot pistols and .22 rifles into. Seems to captures a lot of the lead so I guess I'm recycling. Eventually I'll have to melt it down and start over.

 

[sanpitch]

Walk'n in the hills, shoot'n white rocks and sheep turds. Larger rocks at longer range with a big bore handgun. Walked up to a rock I'd shot at to check my hits and sadly saw I shot a Thunder Bird.

 

[.45Coltguy]

Here's one I'm saving for a special occasion.
View attachment 1146621

This reminds me of when my son gave up on that creature, I think age 3-4. Took those toys to a local range and became a hero that day. Can't think of a single adult who likes Barney.
So I say to Dirtybob; Please, carry on!

 

[jmorris]

Surely some of you have stuck pieces of corn Cob to the barbs on a barb wire fence!?

Not corncobs but have used trash shotgun hulls, it’s fun until someone hits the wire. After that they seem to be more fun, sinking them in a pond no one ever swims in. Near misses makes them harder to hit as they get lower in the water, due to nearby splashes.

 

[rg1]

Eggs make a nice target! Spool of sewing thread and bottle of Krazy Glue. Gel works best Cut a length of thread and glue one end to the eggshell. Tie or tape the other to something so that it hangs freely at the range. Good way to get rid of expired eggs. Some groceries will save you expired eggs?

 

[Bwana John]

Dum-dum suckers
22 kyl racks
2 L bottles, add a Schrader tire valve stem to the cap, pump them up to ~135 lbs

 

[hso]

cookies

 

[Appalachiannative]

Eggs make a nice target! Spool of sewing thread and bottle of Krazy Glue. Gel works best Cut a length of thread and glue one end to the eggshell. Tie or tape the other to something so that it hangs freely at the range. Good way to get rid of expired eggs. Some groceries will save you expired eggs?

Sounds like fun but I don't do edibles at the home range in account of the dogs. Don't want them eating a bunch of junk not to mention lead poisoning

 

[jmorris]

I’ve seen dogs eat cow poop before but never seen them eat bullets.

I’ve shot lots of stale crackers in my past, most as a kid. Only target that I‘ve used that brings in more potential targets, except gut piles…

 

[Hasaf]

I like the rubber "ground bouncer" targets. I set them at 50 yards and somewhat time myself as I shoot them to the 100 yard line with a .22 bolt action.

not my picture

 

[jmorris]

Oh, I used to love shooting golf balls, someone gave me a bucket of range balls a long time ago chunk them out, then drive them away until you can’t hit them anymore and repeat.

 

[tubeshooter]

Some good ideas here.

One thing I have started doing, what little I get to plink, is to save pizza boxes and condiment packets. Along with a box of thumbtacks, you have a challenging setup that is relatively easy to clean up afterwards. I keep an old 4-way lug nut wrench to backstop the box top, but you can use a random twig/small branch just as well.


I also like resealable 16 oz. aluminum beer cans; the thicker grade of aluminum holds up much better than a standard beer/soda can. I still hold on to old laundry and bleach jugs as good medium-to-long range rimfire targets, even though I have steel I could use at this point. Force of habit, I guess. Fitting a smaller soup can filled with dirt inside a larger can is great for rimfire bullet recovery if you want to achieve that.

 

[film495]

I like the rubber "ground bouncer" targets. I set them at 50 yards and somewhat time myself as I shoot them to the 100 yard line with a .22 bolt action.

not my picture

these are good. I use them differently though. where I shoot there is a large natural hill/backstop and I put them up on the hill so when you hit them they'll roll down the hill.

 

[Bronco72]

Rocks on a frozen lake. Tried to see just how far you could push them across the ice.

 

[Chuck R.]

Sounds like fun but I don't do edibles at the home range in account of the dogs. Don't want them eating a bunch of junk not to mention lead poisoning

I'm in the same boat, not to mention the other critters it's attract.

So I plink on boring old AR500 plates.. I did just buy a set of NRL22 TGTs and a KYL Rack for practicing. The 1/4" tgt at 50+ yards is a challenge.

 

[theotherwaldo]

I've shot a lot of 3" lead soldiers, mostly with .44 cap-and-ball.
Then just gather up the pieces of lead and recycle them... .