Favorite Targets and Distances

[Spats McGee]

Unless I'm hunting, which isn't nearly often enough, I don't get much opportunity to shoot anything but paper targets. With that said, I've always enjoyed chasing a target across a pasture with a .22LR.

[Buzzcook]

For the indoor range I print out 25yd pistol targets and shoot them at 25yds.

Plinking It's whatever is out there.

For the rifle range it's various sizes of cardboard.

[breakingcontact]

My favorite target for training? Realistic human size torso at realistic self defense distances.

For fun, clay pigeons with the pistol (on the ground).

[Bluestarlizzard]

Mobile targets, if the range allows, are fun.

Tennis balls, golf balls, hell, dad and I played "russian soccer" (soccer ball and a Siaga 12 gauge) a couple weeks ago.

Make 'em bounce.

[Old Grump]

For fun plastic bottles from gallon milk jugs to small pill bottles filled with water or sand. Shotgun and handgun mostly. For serious 50' small bore targets at 100 and 200 yards. With long guns I expect all black and with handguns I count anything within 4" a hit.

[mhmiller62]

I usually use paper plates with a dot sticker in the center or if I'm shooting my Ruger 22/45 I'll use playing cards. You can get two decks of playing cards at the dollar store for a buck. For longer range rifle shooting I'll use what ever the range sells.

[Dwight55]

I like to shoot a 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 foot course that shoots up 50 rounds.

You fire 10 shots at a specified circle of a certain diameter (I'm still using 6 inches).

You score 1 point for each hit at 5 ft, 2 points for each hit at 10 ft, 3 points for each hit at 15 ft, 4 points for each hit at 20 ft, . . . and 5 points for each hit at 25 ft.

You cannot move to the next stage until you have shot a full string of 10 with no misses. For example: first string, 10 shots, 10 hits = 10 points / second string 10 shots, 8 hits = 16 points, and you have to shoot stage 2 over at 10 feet. Obviously in this scenario, you will not shoot stage 5, because you shot stage 2 twice.

I save this exercise for last, . . . and go inside with this score in my head, . . . comparing it to the one prior to.

It's fun.

May God bless,
Dwight

[MissPistol]

I love the Russian soccer and tennis ball ideas! Guaranteed the range wouldn't allow such a thing even if I was ready to try it! I'll have to seek out an appropriate place when the time comes.

I will give the cards a try when I think I can hit the things. Maybe a set at close range, like 10 yards?

But Dwight's "game" is a perfect exercise for personal bests that I can do at each range visit. Thanks for that one! Now the range will be more fun!

I also discovered a GSSF shoot just south of town that I'll check out this weekend. Maybe that'll be something I can learn to do when my 19 comes in.

[AZAK]

A couple of my favorites:

aspirin tablets

dandelion heads/the white puffy stage

Both are a "aim small miss small" type of target; not much doubt if you hit an aspirin tablet, and the dandelion head will only completely be gone with a direct hit to center otherwise you can see by the missing section where you hit. (Free target with feedback; however, depending on personal location can be very seasonal.)

At this point, for me, still too early for the dandies; the plants have not even started growing yet.

[MissPistol]

too tiny for me! Aspirins? geez!

[darkgael]

Targets....
Pretty simple for me....generally paper targets, bullseye type. Pretty much all of my pistol shooting is at paper targets at 25 and 50 yards.
Occasionally, I will plink at a clay pigeon at 100 yards.
Rifles.....paper bulls at 100 and 200 yards.
A couple of my hunting rifles, I will shoot off hand standing at 50 and 75.

[Bluestarlizzard]

A little bigger then asprin tablets, we used lollipops (the cheap flat round kind) for a goofy compitition at shooting camp. They shatter nicely. Plus, you can have candy while shooting.

I'm sure the sight of a fireing line full of 3P shooters popping away with lollipop sticks poking out of each mouth was hystarical.

[Evan Thomas]

I'm sure the sight of a fireing line full of 3P shooters popping away with lollipop sticks poking out of each mouth was hystarical.

There must be some reason why that would be really dangerous, but I'm darned if I can think of one.

It is quite an image.

[Bluestarlizzard]

I'm sure some stodgy buzzkill would berate us for the potential lead consumption.

But, hey, we had to do something with the leftover lollipops.

[SgtLumpy]

I'm sure the sight of a fireing line full of 3P shooters popping away with lollipop sticks poking out of each mouth was hystarical.

Who loves ya' baby.


I sometimes put just the 3/4" center dot target paster on the big, blank cardboard at the range. I can still see the dot at shooting distances, but the lack of the rest of the bullseye or other contrasting target area causes my "wobble zone" to get smaller. ie when the 8" rings are there, I wobble through 8". When the 1" dot is there, I wobble much smaller.


Another favorite is the leftover sticky borders from a shoot n see target. Once you use the target part of the thing, you're left with a plate sized opening in a square, adhesive backed frame. Peel that thing off and stick it on the cardboard. I like to set up several on the same cardboard and practice rapid fire moving from one to the other. Like shooting plates.


Another is "hostages". Stick two targets on the cardboard, one overlapping the other, as if a bad guy had a hostage in front of him. Obviously, the goal is to shoot the bad guys "crescent" part of the target, not the hostage. I kill a lot of paper hostage eyes and ears that way.


Sgt Lumpy

[Al Thompson]

3x5 cards combined with paper plates make excellent surrogates for the high chest and ocular cavity target areas.

For sheer plinking fun, charcoal briquets are fun.

Clay pigeons are excellent reactive targets, but .223/5.56 tends to drill through the center and make you think you've missed.

[The Great Mahoo]

I recently got some steel plates that I'm really enjoying.

When I go to the range (as opposed to plinking around the back yard some), I usually just take some old printer paper and make some mark on te back as a target. Been trying to get around to making a stamp or something to save me some sharpy time.

[Bluestarlizzard]

The sharpie mentioned above reminds me of another trick I do.

When I'm using paper and really monitering my shots (usually cardboard, especially pizza boxes) I will often mark my previous shots with a sharpie after every magazine. After awhile the target looks pretty goofy, but it helps me keep track.

[RBid]

At my gun club (indoor range): training silhouettes at 50 feet. We have to run the carriers all the way to the backstop, so 50 feet is the only distance.

At a local outdoor range: NRA 25yd targets from 5-10 yards. We try to stack rounds in the black in rapid fire. Good times.

Rifle: I like shooting bolt guns at small (equivalent to 2" at 100yds) targets. So far, I've only been able to shoot from 50yds and 100yds, due to range limitations.

[357 Python]

I usually use man size silhouette targets similar to the ones my agency uses for qualification. The distances are 1.5 yards, 3 yards, 7 yards, 15 yards and 25 yards. I usually do fairly well 279 average out of 300.

[SHE3PDOG]

Balloons on a string are great fun on a windy day. (as long as you have some kind of compressor to inflate them!)

But one of my favorites is walking along mountain game trails and engaging "attacking pine cones" with an AR-15.

That sounds like a lot of fun and a nice break from the norm. I usually shoot at silhouette targets from what I would consider normal self defense ranges. 7-10 yards.

[AL45]

Today I cut some 3 1/2 " yellow pine landscape timbers into 16" long pieces and nailed them together side by side. Basically I was shooting at a 10" by 16" target 7" thick. I shot at ranges from 25 yards to 75 yards. After a few shots, the wood starts flying off and reminds me of the old westerns. The .45 Colt 250 grain RNFP would travel through the first timber and about halfway through the second. I am pretty certain that my 300 grain sp jacketed load with H110 will travel through both.

[Dragline45]

Ever since I bought some steel plate targets a couple years ago I very rarely shoot at paper now unless sighting in a pistol or rifle, punching holes in paper loses it's appeal pretty fast. I built a wooden frame and screwed in i-hooks that I can hang different size steel plates from with some chain that I bring to the range and set up at various distances. When shooting paper out to 50 or 100 yards with iron sights it's almost impossible to know what you are hitting without using a spotter, with steel you actually know you are hitting the target. Another favorite of mine is bringing a big block of ice to the range in the winter and chipping away at it with a .22.