What are some fun things to shoot?

[Tylden]

I look forward to the day after Halloween....and getting a truckload of surplus pumpkins for pennies on the dollar I think our pumpkin we have on our porch this year for Halloween might bear a striking resemblace to Sarah Brady

[swmike]

I take my grandkids out every once and a while to shoot targets. They get a kick out of shooting Oreo Cookies stuck on toothpicks. Stick the toothpicks in a log or bring a 2x4 with 1/8" holes drilled every 3-4 inches.

Absolutely, under no circumstances, never will I show them my favorite targets. Old 12 ga rounds from my trapshooting days. They are a bunch of reloads that I never got around to shooting up (still have about 1,000). Take a 4x4 and drill some 1" holes in it about 3" deep. Make holes about 6" apart.

Load shells into the 4X4 and place at good shooting distance with primers facing firing line. Shoot for primers. Lots of splinters so don't shoot too close.

[zeisloft]

swmike, Good thinkin about leavin the grand kids out of that one. When I was a kid we set a 12ga shell on a fence rail and shot at it (with a pellet gun) at about 20 yds. Well I hit it and my buddy had a hard time explaining to his folks why he had a quarter sized bulls eye red spot in the center of his forhead that you could almost read R&P 12 ga on. Still funny.

These days I can not resist pulling the door off scrap washing machines and dryers set out for trash. They make EXCELENT long range targets as the bullet flakes off a big chunk of the enamel paint as it passes through. Holes can be seen easy through scope @ 500 yd. And rocks oh I love a good day of long range rock shooting.

Would yall consider prairie dogs targets? I do. and they are very cheap!
~z

[artbyaccident]

If you have access to it, a large chunk of potters clay. I shot a 25 pound 12"X12"X3" block with the 308 its just one of thise things you have to see. Perfect basketball size hole. I think I paid $6 per block but it is clay so its reusable.

[cannoncocker]

Colored balloons.

[Garand Guy]

I like the big Gatorade jugs. Fill them to within an inch of the top with water and aim for the lower third of the jug. I used an M-1 Garand with a 150gr Ballistic Tip bullet from 50-75 yds. The thing took off like a space shuttle.

If you like more of a challenge, use the small Powerade jugs. The same gun with the same load = finding a quarter of the cap and about a sq.in. of the label.

[Rangefinder]

Well, my better half is pretty new to firearms, so to demonstrate what a bullet can do I made a big block of jello mixed thick and hit it with my pistol. After showing her the impact and bullet travel through the jello (since you could see it pretty clearly) I decided to show her the "slightly different effect" a rifle bullet would have.

A big block of jello (triple strength) to shoot---$3.00
One 7.62x39 round to shoot said jello block----$0.09
Expression of wife who didn't previously know what to expect upon seeing chunks of jello flying through the air, wriggling, and flopping as it rained down all over the target area----PRICELESS!!!! LOL!!

[big daddy 9mm]

skinny trees

[iiwas]

old cars work good . washing machines/dryers, refrigerators, pallets, and old foot lockers work good too. best ive seen so far was 20lbs of thermite from an eod unit. wow that was a fire ball!

[Bosshoff]

Marshmellows floating in a pond, from a safe angle (above). My old rifle range had a rimfire only pit range just for this purpose.

[William_IV]

If your range allows it and you like medium or long distance shooting, make a gong. Mine is 9" around 2 inches thick, weighs about 50 lbs though. I take it to the 400 and 500 yard makers which is the limit at my range. What I like is knowing right then if you hit it. You hear the bong a second or two after you shoot. At the end of my shoot I re-paint the gong so I can judge my pattern the next trip.

Out here in arizona some of the welding gas suppliers are selling empty cylinders with the bottoms cut off and the valves taken out. A lot of metal artists are buying them and yeah you guessed it making gongs. They come glass beaded and all you have to do is thread in a 3/4" Eye hang it from a frame and you've got some serious gonging potential. I saw three ganged and tuned by adjusting cylinder length. Bet they would make a hell of a ring out there in the desert. Just a thought for some of you welders out there.

[William_IV]

With a .22 We get a lot of enjoyment shooting white bathroom tiles you get the big square full of 1 x 1's that are stuck together and spaced on a sheet.
if you color them up you can play tic-Tac-toe nicely.

Though we are losing alot of privledges out here in the desert. it's really important to pick up the trash. so as not to contribute to the problem!

[William_IV]

For those 50 BMG shooters I hear bowling balls explode nicely.

[Dave Haven]

Big rocks are a lot of fun with a .50, too.
You're not destroying anything; you're creating smaller rocks...

[Hardtarget]

Cannoncocker started the very same target idea I was thinking of. We put a small addition to it. We stretch a string between two trees. Then we make a drop line to hang down about three feet and tie baloons onto the end. Just a slight breeze moves the baloons around making for a more difficult afternoon.I find I use more ammo than baloons.
Mark.

[zeisloft]

Bowling balls with a .50 is fun but so are pool balls with a 300. Or a pistol (at a closer range than that used for the Win Mag, usually).
~z

[SavageCheesecake]

butane lighter + candle + bullet = explosion roughly equal to 1/4 a stick of dynamite (seriously, its in my welding book from a class).

Not too expensive either.

[kikilee]

Tomato sauce in the little cans, cheap and great visual.

[Jericho9mm]

i think right now wally world has the 8oz. cans of pop on sale like $1 for a 6pack, those are hilarious fun to shoot when they are unopened. the bullet hits the carbonated water and they usually jump at least 6 feet in the air sometimes or completey explode. even fun to shoot with my .17 hmr from 100 yards, and the explosion is audible from that distance too.

[Cowled_Wolfe]

Boil some soup or mud -- anything thicker than water -- in a regular ol' steel soup can. Shoot from at least 10 paces away while still boiling (10 paces was with a .22)... Do it in cold weather if possible... There's something oddly satisfying when your target blows up and leaves a steaming patch of ground in its wake...

Wolfe.

(Also, try a fresh cow pie... Stand WAYYYYY back. Even with a .22, I don't recommend standing within 40 feet.)

[Lycanthrope]

The man sounds like he speaks from experience.......

[Smokey Joe]

Cowled Wolf's suggestion gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Shooting the sh**."

[Cowled_Wolfe]

The man sounds like he speaks from experience.......

Lol, nope. Experience landed 5 inches from me, thank God.

Wolfe.

[shaggy]

Went to a shoot last weekend - the best target all day?

A car. On top was a 5 gallon bucket of diesel fuel. Strapped to that bucket was a very large charge of Tannerite. Lit road flares were placed in the general vicinity in case a few rounds of linked .50 APIT from the M2HB didn't set it off.

BOOM!


(video was taken - if someone can host it, I'd be happy to pass it along when I receive the video clip)

[Bender711]

Well shaving cream cans are fun, freezing the milk jugs is even better I found an old water pump and man that thing was fun to take out one screw at a time with an m40. But any thing tha will go boom is a nice target.