Entertaining "targets" for typical range (ie. that carries insurance, not your yard)

[BearTHIS]

I've been getting bored..no, sometimes even dreading outings to the shooting range lately...Like it's a chore. Which is a crappy feeling. All the prep work, ammo cost, 45-60 minute drive, range fees, long cease fires to retrieve/set targets, followed by uninspired paper punching, followed with the long drive back, lighter wallet, and dreaded gun cleaning.

I've been spending some time thinking about how to bring back more fun into the now stale process. I simply don't have frequent access to rural property to go all out and have an awesome time, so I'm going to start by working within the confines of the typical outdoor ranges I most easily/often find myself.

Improvement 1: Preparation/Supplies

From now on, I'm going to be procuring all ammo & targets well in advance of a range outing and attempt to maintain a sitting stock of enough for at least one outing. There's nothing I hate more than needing to stop somewhere to buy stuff on my way to shoot. I hate it! Takes forever, expensive... Stresses me out... I dunno why, maybe I need a good book on Zen. I'm also going to keep all non-gun/caliber specific range stuff packed in a bag so that the only things I need to pack are the ammo/tools I may need for the firearms I'm bringing. Currently packing for the range takes too long, if I don't actually forget to bring something I need I still end up worrying that I did the entire ride out.

Improvement 2: Fewer Firearms

I never seem to get around to spending as much time with each gun I bring as I'd like so I'm going to keep it simple and bring fewer. Sometimes it's even stressful to think about needing to stop shooting X rifle so I have time left to shoot Y shotgun then Z handgun.... Not to mention the dread of cleaning so many guns later on. I'm hoping to keep it simple to maybe 1-3 guns and fewer types of guns.

Improvement 3: Have a purpose

I'm going to try to have a more specific purpose than just pulling the bang switch. Maybe it's to sight in an optic or two, maybe just making an old safe queen go bang, chronograph some rounds, practice shooting from a draw, verifying ballistic calculations, etc.. Basically some kind of planned experiment, thing to practice, observation to make, data to collect. Have the methodology or procedure pre-planned.

Which brings me to Improvement 4: Something entertaining to shoot!

Outside of precision work or sighting in paper just sucks. I love tannerite and watermelons as much as the next guy but it's too expensive to shoot every time and more importantly, I don't frequent a range that allows any of that. I'd love to shoot some AR500 steel but a lot of ranges don't allow you bring any of that either (I see where they're coming from.. never know what kind of pock marked sub-par steel someone will setup at some idiotic angle). So what else is there that's not too expensive, would likely be allowed at a range, and not too difficult to transport/procure?

I have a few ideas but would like to gather some from the forum. Some of my ideas include:

room temp stable ballistic gel
clays, water balloons (I put these on the berm, they're better than paper but still, they get old fast though... can't think of any other good alternatives)
board game targets for friendly competition (eg. battleship targets, etc...)


Hell, I'll take suggestions on any part of making the range day experience more enjoyable but I'm primarily stumped on target ideas.

Sorry about the novel.

[Sparks]

Try these paper targets. There are other ones out there on the web.

redstar-a.jpg

I bet you cant hit this.pdf

perfection game.pdf

[OwnTheRide]

The obvious (but not easy) solution is to save up and find a place to buy for a private range. If you're at the point that shooting guns is getting boring, I'd suggest you halve your range outings and put the money saved from the ammo you don't spend into a piggy bank until you have enough to buy a few acres somewhere. Given how expensive ammo can be, that may not take as long as it seems it would.

Target-wise, I've always been a fan of balloons filled with helium and tied to something. A target moving in the wind is more fun than a stationary one, plus it's reactive to boot.

I like working on shot timing with spinner targets. I have one that is just your basic "big circle on bottom small circle on top" spinner. A .22lr shell doesn't have enough oomph to spin it all the way around, so I load up my pistol and try to keep the spinner from swinging back past its original station (try to hit it a 2nd time before it returns, then a 3rd, then a 4th, etc). You not only have to be accurate, you have to be accurate on demand, and you have to get back on target very quickly. It's ridiculously satisfying when you keep the spinner floating through an entire mag.

Bowling pins can be fun to shoot because they can take endless abuse. Those things eat bullets for breakfast - it's insane how many shots they take before they're destroyed. If you're ever in a bowling alley and a shootout occurs, hide behind the pins.

Blocks of ice are fun to blow up in the winter.

Hole-matching in snow - putting multiple bullets through one hole in the snow - is a blast.

Cattails make for fun targets (a portion of my range goes over a pond). Please note that I am speaking about pond plants, not cat tails.

[Dogpupkus]

Anymore, I bring one firearm and a couple mags for it.
I'll only shoot one round per mag, and really milk the hour that I'm there.

If I decide I really wanna take something else out, it'll make the next visit a bit more exciting.

We have a printer here at work that prints to 11x17, I've designed a few of my own targets and after some staff has left, I let that baby rip 30 copies.

I started bringing ear plugs vs. muffs with me. Much less bulky. There's nothing worse than having to pack a mountain of gear into a range bag.

Get a spotting scope. Take your time. Use pieces of masking tape to cover existing holes to recycle targets. (Trick I learned from CMP)

I'm crazy and enjoy cleaning my guns. At least my pistols. Enjoy a beer while doing so, let it be your time to relax.

As far as what to shoot, grab a bag of those plastic army men. Deem them North Korean soldiers.

Cattails make for fun targets (a portion of my range goes over a pond). Please note that I am speaking about pond plants, not cat tails.

Ha, that's awesome. I used to smack them with sticks as a kid and watch them explode in a blizzard of fuzzies.

[corey4]

get a bag of the dum-dum lolly pops from the dollar store.

i set them up on card board at 50 yds for the 22 rifle.

what i do is after i am bored of killing paper, i set the stick inside one of the holes from the bullet. but, when you do hit one dead nuts center, it blows a 2" hole in the card board.

you can also put the sticks inside the corrugated ridges in the middle of the card board. knock the heads off, then try and shoot the stick in half.

if you shoot suppressed, then it makes the giggle factor even better when you hear a lolly pop explode.

it can get a little sticky though, so maybe take some baby wipes.

i went thru a whole bag and about 400 rounds last time i went to the range.

for some reason, you will find a color that just pisses you off the whole time. last time out, it was blue. i couldn't hit the blue ones. miss after miss. but, the next color down, one shot one kill haha

[wanneroo]

I agree with a lot of what you suggest and that's pretty much how I do it.

For one thing I don't know why people don't do more competition shooting. A lot of competition shooting doesn't require tuned up multi thousand dollar guns. IDPA for instance you can shoot just about any pistol off the shelf. It provides a purpose for your shooting and expending of ammo and it's a quantifiable experience in that you end up with a score and see how you compare to others. You also get to work on your skills.

Also I have a range bag for pistol and hopefully one soon for rifle. All my stuff is in there, mags loaded and ready to roll. I have an ammo box loaded with cleaning supplies if I need to take those too.

People should also have a stock of ammo on hand. It's much cheaper to buy bulk online than making 20 trips to Wal Mart and elsewhere at $4 a gallon gas.

Simplify, simplify, simplify as the guru Wayne Dyer would say. I know people with guns they bought years ago and have never shot. Stupid. If you have stuff you don't use then it needs to go.

[waiting2burn]

These targets are fun with the visicolor
http://www.championtarget.com/target...or_zombie.aspx

Sticking with the zombie theme, this might be more fun that just clays on the berm
http://zombieindustries.com/shop/cat...lding-targets/

or with out the zombies
http://www.mtmcase-gard.com/products...nds-tb-bb.html
And you can use them to "race" another person in breaking all the clays.

I also remember someone here mentioning that they use cheese balls stuck to cardboard with tooth picks. Pretty cheap set up and seems like it would be challenging.