Shooting golf balls & stuff for fun

[ACES&8S]

What do you guys shoot just for giggles?
I have hundreds of recovered golf balls a friend of mine sold me for 25 cents each
and we have a "ball" with them.
You would be surprised how many times you can shoot a golf ball with a 223 & even
higher calibers. I just thought = try one of my 45/70's on one!
My Nephew holds the record for "called shots" . With a bolt action 223 Rem 700 tactical,
he shot the T from under a ball & shot the ball before it quit rolling at 100 yards!
We use lots of playing cards of course but the kids love to shoot small bottles of colored
water we make with food color.
Tennis balls with flour, colored chalk inside things, and the exploding canisters of course.
Note: never let an adult try to out do a kids great shot, remember that, leave it as is.
Let me know what you guys use.

 

[Legionnaire]

Disclaimer: Whatever you shoot, clean up the trash.

Reactive targets are the absolute best for introducing new shooters ... and kids. I like tiny groups at long range, but kids don't. I like to buy a couple of cases of the least expensive soda at Sam's Club. Shake the cans well. Hit them squarely and they explode. Hit them toward the sides and they pinwheel nicely. Kids love 'em! (... and so do I.)

 

[GBExpat]

I bought my 3" 629 NIB on 24Feb89. A lady at work said that she had access to a bunch of old discarded/lost golfballs ... ... so I taught her (and a couple of others) how to shoot the .44 in the sandpit down the road behind the property.

More often than not, when we hit a golfball it would ... DISAPPEAR! ... and sometimes be heard a half minute, or so, later arriving back on planet Earth.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

I've talked about ice a while back(as someone else recently on another thread), whether blocks or cup shapes leaving containers at home, brought to the range in a cooler (DUH). No mess to clean up! Will not do golf balls again, at least at close range as they can spin back at the shooter or others behind the firing line quickly!

 

[Varminterror]

Disclaimer: Whatever you shoot, clean up the trash.

This was my exact thought on reading the thread title. I love shooting “stuff,” but I hate picking up the mess - especially with foodstuffs. I got a deal on a ~40gal dumpster of “recovered” golf balls from a water hazard once, even picking up as much as we could find, I had plastic schrapnel show up on that range for years after we’d ran out of them. Exploding targets are even worse for debris recovery. Foodstuffs are ok, but I don’t like drawing vermin to my range - inevitably they end up digging into the berm and I end up with extra maintenance.

That said, I do have a couple wide open spaces where I can shoot waste fruit and veggies, it’s a lot of fun.

The most frustrating fun I ever had was prepping for the Predator Masters Forum Egg Shoot a few years ago. Shooting 150yrds on over-date eggs from a local grocer, then the next nights the coyote hunting over the yolk pile was fantastic!

 

[FL-NC]

I prefer to shoot steel, but tennis balls are fun with a 22- they bounce all over and hold up for a good while. Just make sure to quit shooting them if they bounce outside of the range fan.

 

[bikerdoc]

Balloons!

Grand kids love to hit them, makes them concetrate harder on the basics if they miss. Put some flour in them for a puff.

 

[LocoGringo]

Related to Varminterror...I signed up for a PRS match (had NO idea what I was getting into) and one of the stages was shooting an egg off of a golf tee at 200 yards. If you hit it on the first try, 50 points. If you hit it on the second try, 25 points. No tries after that. I got lucky and hit it on the first try. It was quite satisfying.

My son (9 years old) and I both enjoy shooting thoroughly shaken Sam's Club sodas. They are a lot of fun. We've also gotten creative with reactive targets and tried different food stuff like tomatoes, cantaloupes and coconut...all with a .22 of course. I was really curious if a .22 could penetrate a coconut. Cheap and small cans of tomato sauce make for good splatters too.

Enjoy experimenting!

 

[ScrapMetalSlug]

Bowling pins, golf balls, and milk jugs with water are my staples. Fun to shoot and easy to clean up.

Those spinner targets are fun, but i tear them up usually after a trip or two.

 

[Geno]

View attachment 779117 We have fun shooting once-fired shotgun primers, and driving nails and carpet tacks. If it’s small (and safe) we’ll shoot it.

Geno

 

[George P]

If you drill a tiny hole through the golf ball and use either wire or fishing line, you can make them hanging reactive targets (and a lot easier to clean up).....

 

[ACES&8S]

Disclaimer: Whatever you shoot, clean up the trash.

Reactive targets are the absolute best for introducing new shooters ... and kids. I like tiny groups at long range, but kids don't. I like to buy a couple of cases of the least expensive soda at Sam's Club. Shake the cans well. Hit them squarely and they explode. Hit them toward the sides and they pinwheel nicely. Kids love 'em! (... and so do I.)

I will try to get the kids to shoot the sodas but I have to get some awful tasting stuff because I tried a coke one time & had three takers
before I could set it up & one was an adult! I never ever thought about shaking them up first but that wouldn't stop these muggers from
taking them from me.
I pay the kids to clean up the shooting range, lots of takers on that of course. But can't let them do it in the summer = copperheads &
rattlers , & besides we set stuff up where the backstop catches golf balls & trash in front of it.

 

[ACES&8S]

I bought my 3" 629 NIB on 24Feb89. A lady at work said that she had access to a bunch of old discarded/lost golfballs ... ... so I taught her (and a couple of others) how to shoot the .44 in the sandpit down the road behind the property.

More often than not, when we hit a golfball it would ... DISAPPEAR! ... and sometimes be heard a half minute, or so, later arriving back on planet Earth.

Yes a 44 mag semi wad cutter is a golf ball launcher so we set them low in front of the backstop , to keep them out of our field.

 

[NWPilgrim]

We use steel targets of various sizes and shapes, as well as clay pigeons and tin cans and water filled plastic jugs. The clay pigeons are great because they are biodegradable, good size and when they break you have lots of little pieces you can shoot as well. We use them for centerfire and .22LR, although rimfire, especially SV will just punch small holes in them, so you can hit them several times before they break down. Steel is nice because there is no clean up, you get a nice ding! or clang! and some swinging action for a hit. Kids love anything reactive. Using a proper size for a given distance also helps re-orient me to "practical" accuracy rather than chasing every smaller targets groups (which i enjoy too).

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Kids love anything reactive

I am an old kid!!!

 

[ACES&8S]

I've talked about ice a while back(as someone else recently on another thread), whether blocks or cup shapes leaving containers at home, brought to the range in a cooler (DUH). No mess to clean up! Will not do golf balls again, at least at close range as they can spin back at the shooter or others behind the firing line quickly!

Yes we use ice but still have the cleanup , ours are in colored water frozen in gallon water jugs & water bottles & messy but impressive
impact reactive but I never thought about just cup shape ice alone, our range is here behind the house so we could make it here
the night before!
About the golf ball backspin , we have shot them here for over 10 years and never had one come back toward us.

 

[Legionnaire]

For shooting the pellet rifle in the back yard, I put tin cans over the top of 18-inch stakes in the ground. You can use different sized cans at different differences for greater challenge. They rattle nicely when hit, and you don't have to go set them up again. Great for lead pellets ... DO NOT USE BBs! They ricochet too badly.

 

[George P]

The clay pigeons are great because they are biodegradable, good size and when they break you have lots of little pieces you can shoot as well.

If you are truly using bios, remember that those kill vegetation where they are unless you neutralize them with lime. They kill anything growing....

 

[ACES&8S]

This was my exact thought on reading the thread title. I love shooting “stuff,” but I hate picking up the mess - especially with foodstuffs. I got a deal on a ~40gal dumpster of “recovered” golf balls from a water hazard once, even picking up as much as we could find, I had plastic schrapnel show up on that range for years after we’d ran out of them. Exploding targets are even worse for debris recovery. Foodstuffs are ok, but I don’t like drawing vermin to my range - inevitably they end up digging into the berm and I end up with extra maintenance.

That said, I do have a couple wide open spaces where I can shoot waste fruit and veggies, it’s a lot of fun.

The most frustrating fun I ever had was prepping for the Predator Masters Forum Egg Shoot a few years ago. Shooting 150yrds on over-date eggs from a local grocer, then the next nights the coyote hunting over the yolk pile was fantastic!

Can't shoot food stuff here we have "lots" of bears & even if you clean up the, the smell is enough to get mamma bear here.
Yes exploding targets were once the rage here. Now we just do them on July 4th & New Years, some red white & blue smoke
with chalk , debris everywhere.
Like I said in another answer here I pay the kids to clean up the stuff , we never shoot glass like they do on tv.
Get them to do it in fall & good winter days due to rattlers & copperheads, me & my boys get the main stuff earlier.

 

[hdwhit]

What do you guys shoot just for giggles?

I'll buy a case of budget soda cans and stick them in the storm cellar. When one of my sons has a particularly good performance punching paper, I will give them a can or two, or three of soda to set up and shoot.

And, yes, since I own the range, it always gets cleaned up properly.

 

[JeffG]

For the most part, steel targets and water jugs.

 

[ACES&8S]

We use steel targets of various sizes and shapes, as well as clay pigeons and tin cans and water filled plastic jugs. The clay pigeons are great because they are biodegradable, good size and when they break you have lots of little pieces you can shoot as well. We use them for centerfire and .22LR, although rimfire, especially SV will just punch small holes in them, so you can hit them several times before they break down. Steel is nice because there is no clean up, you get a nice ding! or clang! and some swinging action for a hit. Kids love anything reactive. Using a proper size for a given distance also helps re-orient me to "practical" accuracy rather than chasing every smaller targets groups (which i enjoy too).

We have a big metal thing , I can't find the name for it, my son made. To catch our lead bullets & it works perfect. I wouldn't stand in
front of it forever ,but 4 years now & no failures or exits at all. It weighs about 200 lbs & doesn't move with a 44 mag but not for use
with any high caliber rifles.

 

[ACES&8S]

For shooting the pellet rifle in the back yard, I put tin cans over the top of 18-inch stakes in the ground. You can use different sized cans at different differences for greater challenge. They rattle nicely when hit, and you don't have to go set them up again. Great for lead pellets ... DO NOT USE BBs! They ricochet too badly.

My oldest son, 41 years old , is an absolute pellet gun nut, he has about 5 of them.
I had 2 big sandbags I filled with lead pellets from a gun shop that had to sell all their smoke damaged stuff from a fire they had.
Then my son found out & claimed I was guilty of being a traitor, now all those pellets are in stumps ,trees , & my backstop.
Now I have #4 shot in those bags , but her reloads shotgun shells, wonder when I go on trial again.

 

[caribou]

Ice chunks, mud chunks, Chunks of Tundra at various ranges, and though it is my ''work'', it still fun to hunt various small and big game animals.
Late summer, there are even ''Zombie Salmon'' the still alive rotting carcassess of spawned out Salmon lingering in the river....a .22lr on the bow and a target rich river can be a lot of fun.....

 

[ACES&8S]

Balloons!

Grand kids love to hit them, makes them concetrate harder on the basics if they miss. Put some flour in them for a puff.

We will try the balloons , I have thought of that but never got to it. I thought water balloons but powder would wow the kids.
Have to get the parts up here to keep animals from swallowing them.