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Old November 26, 2015, 04:23 AM   #1
kcub
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targets (not paper)

Yeah cans are fun. And clay pigeons. I've heard used golf balls are fun.

My favorite is a used wooden pallet and a nice lever 45-70.

A rural trash dump that is periodically burned is a plinking goldmine.

What do you like to shoot?
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Old November 26, 2015, 05:37 AM   #2
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Golf balls are fun targets but a real catch-22 (heh) because any really good, solid hit usually makes a golf ball travel so far away that it's out of the game.

A buddy and I make a lot of use of empty 12ga (and sometimes 20ga) shotgun shells as rimfire targets. A hit through the plastic body topples them but a quality strike on the brass or aluminum case head really sends them skyward.
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Old November 26, 2015, 08:07 AM   #3
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In my younger days, back on the farm, I made use of the most plentiful targets I had on hand......beer cans. Not so much these days tho.

Cans are still my favorite targets but the gun range doesn't allow them and I don't get back to the farm very often. Water filled jugs can be fun.
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Old November 26, 2015, 08:17 AM   #4
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I have a range that has a standard range and tactical bays where you can shoot cans, pumpkins, what have you.

But their insurance forbids rifle calibers 30 and above at the bays. I've talked them into bending the rules for 30-30 with cowboy loads. I presume 45-70 would be the same. 223 is ok. Pistol caliber levers are ok.
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Old November 26, 2015, 09:48 AM   #5
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We shoot 1/2" steel (AR500) silhouette targets at the clubs to which I belong. The targets have 2.5" holes, with steel flaps on hinges. Great fun at 200, 300 yards or more.

We like to play games.....one of us will shoot the flaps open as quickly as possible, the next will shoot them closed, etc. Or, working in teams of two, one will shoot a flap open.....his partner will fire just a split second later, to catch the flap just as it swings open....and close it. Requires timing and skill.....but loads of fun.
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Old November 26, 2015, 10:05 AM   #6
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You guys are so lucky - to have ranges that allow shooting whatcha' bring.
Paper/cardboard targets only around here and even those are restricted as to type at some of the ranges.
And folks wonder why I bother to have an airgun range here at home.
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Old November 26, 2015, 01:51 PM   #7
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Cinder blocks and large cans of tomato juice. Called it a demonstration.
Usually illegal to shoot at any dump due to liability issues.
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Old November 26, 2015, 01:53 PM   #8
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I used to take expired items of food to shoot. But don't leave trash.
When I was but a wee lad, we could go shoot in the town landfill. The landfill was a former caliche quarry. When I was grown I had a piece of land I could shoot on.

Now I live in WA sometimes I go out to the National Forest to shoot, but is just paper because real targets are the only thing allowed. Unfortunately, no one else follows that rule and they leave the forest trashed.
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Old November 26, 2015, 02:16 PM   #9
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I never shoot glass bottles as they can't be cleaned up adequately. Conversely, tin cans and empty Coleman propane cylinders are entirely acceptable to me because they are easy to clean up. Expired cans of food make a mess; I disapprove...... Clean, water-filled, milk jugs are excellent reactive targets. My code is to always leave my shooting sites, and bathrooms, for that matter, cleaner than I found them. We don't have to defile everthing as we pass though this life.
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Old November 26, 2015, 03:54 PM   #10
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Golfballs here ( I live on a golf-course) Fairway one out the back,tee box 2 out the front( in a cul-de-sac ) and about 10 golfballs a week. I just drive a cheap wood screw into them, tie a string to it and hang them from a frame I made.
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Old November 26, 2015, 04:31 PM   #11
kcub
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Quote:
Expired cans of food make a mess; I disapprove......
Why? It's biodegradable. Something will eat it. And something will eat the something that ate it.

I used to have a range that liked me to bring pumpkins. He was hoping they would seed and there'd be more of'em to shoot.
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Old November 26, 2015, 07:27 PM   #12
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Full milk jugs of water or soft drink work well.
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Old November 26, 2015, 10:08 PM   #13
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Well, I suppose you could you could throw the messy perforated food cans into a plastic garbage bag and toss it all into your trunk or the back of your truck and drive home with it only to have the the sharp edges of the bullet holes poke through the bag and leak the mess out...... Or, having forseen that, be tempted to just leave the mess and let wildlife injure their mouthparts on the sharp cans as they try to eat......
Nope, there's nothing good about shooting cans full of expired food.
Water is environmentally neutral, so no harm there.
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Old November 26, 2015, 10:29 PM   #14
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Bowling Pins hit by a .50 BMG are quite impressive.
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Old November 26, 2015, 10:44 PM   #15
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I can't think of much that, when hit by .50 BMG, isn't quite impressive.
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Old November 26, 2015, 10:58 PM   #16
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Potatoes.

Cheap and easy to come by. Make good reactive targets, and you don't have to worry about cleaning up after.
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Old November 26, 2015, 11:59 PM   #17
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Those round Ritz crackers at 100 yards are a good challenge with a .22. Bonus is, you don't have to clean anything up. Birds eat them, or a good rain and they are gone.
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Old November 27, 2015, 12:33 AM   #18
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Potatoes.
Eggs.
Cheap canned beverages. (Aluminum shrapnel cleanup required if not at a dump, of course.)



Quote:
Well, I suppose you could you could throw the messy perforated food cans into a plastic garbage bag and toss it all into your trunk or the back of your truck and drive home with it only to have the the sharp edges of the bullet holes poke through the bag and leak the mess out...... Or, having forseen that, be tempted to just leave the mess and let wildlife injure their mouthparts on the sharp cans as they try to eat......
Nope, there's nothing good about shooting cans full of expired food.
Hit properly, there really isn't anything left in the cans to leak out on the drive home.
And... a good way to avoid punctured bags is to take a cardboard box for cleanup. Bag the trash. Cram the bag into the box. (Or vice-versa, if going into a trunk or passenger compartment.) Toss (or recycle) the whole thing when you get home.
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Old November 27, 2015, 02:12 AM   #19
chris in va
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Tannerite.
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Old November 27, 2015, 02:37 AM   #20
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Tannerite is now illegal to use on the Mount Hood National Forest.

Last edited by Pathfinder45; November 27, 2015 at 02:50 AM. Reason: Insert,"on"
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Old November 27, 2015, 09:01 AM   #21
kcub
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Quote:
Well, I suppose you could you could throw the messy perforated food cans into a plastic garbage bag and toss it all into your trunk or the back of your truck and drive home with it only to have the the sharp edges of the bullet holes poke through the bag and leak the mess out...... Or, having forseen that, be tempted to just leave the mess and let wildlife injure their mouthparts on the sharp cans as they try to eat......
Nope, there's nothing good about shooting cans full of expired food.
Water is environmentally neutral, so no harm there.
You need to use 357 mag on up and it cleans them for you too.

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Old November 27, 2015, 12:15 PM   #22
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Yeah, well, here is the link to what's happening to our National Forests and the restrictions being imposed as a consequence: http://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/mthood...telprdb5422894
I will not be surprised if they ban target shooting altogether.
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Old November 27, 2015, 02:12 PM   #23
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The Mount Hood National Forest has several areas that are severely degraded by careless target shooting. Whether we like it or not, even if we disagree, these vandals with firearms represent, or misrepresent, all of us that shoot on public lands. Their bad behavior will cost us more of our freedom as The Forest Service, BLM, and State Foresters will increasingly restrict our access in the interest of protecting the land from those who abuse it. Most of the damage on this forest is done by shooters; criminal shooters, clearly, but shooters none the less. If I were a non-shooter and I saw you shooting up there, l would naturally assume that you are wrecking our forests and need to be stopped, even though you might actually be cleaning up more than you are responsible for. And, concerned citizens, John and Jane Doe, are not likely to go up to some guy shooting up the woods to correct them for their allegedly bad behavior to find out that they might actually be doing some good. If you ask the Forest Service if they mind if you shoot canned food on public land, what do you suppose they will say?
A better use for canned food that is expired but really perfectly good, might be to hand it out your window to that one-legged veteran begging at the off-ramp that he sleeps under. You know, the guy that gave his leg and shell-shocked brain so that you and I can continue to exercise our rights.
We ought to behave in a way that reflects well upon the the right to keep and bear arms. That includes our choices of targets. Tweetybirds, anyone? We need to teach our children and grandchildren better than that.
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Old November 27, 2015, 02:53 PM   #24
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Your position and thoughts are duly noted and obviously come from a good place -- but you REALLY seem to be pointing a finger at the handful of people here, and that's ludicrous. The folks here are the most passionate fraction of a percent of shooters in the entire country and it really comes off as if you are ranting to THIS audience.

That's grossly misplaced.

I have never once, in almost 30 years of recreational shooting ever left a single place worse off than I have found it. And frankly, I have never left ANY PLACE worse off than I arrived at it, and this includes any park, playground, forest, hunting grounds, retail store, movie theater, sports arena, restaurant or residence.

So consider the audience a bit when taking such a grand position.
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Old November 27, 2015, 03:14 PM   #25
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Ya Pathfinder, give it a rest. People can be shooting on their own property and do whatever they want up and including Tannerite. Before you get up on your soap box consider your audience. It sounds like most people here dont even shoot at a National Forrest.


Back to the OP's question, I am a fan of golfballs, I place they on a used shotgun shell and my shooting buddies each take turns teeing off to see who can drive the ball the longest. I also like to use Ritz crackers as mentioned above, makes excellent 100 yrd targets. Clays work good for point & shoot pistol work.
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