Advice and/or idea for setting up a fun and safe shooting area (.22LR friendly)

[shredjesse]

Hey everyone. I live up here on Mt Hood, and I enjoy shooting a bunch. I've owned a variety of guns, and am expanding my collection a bit, but my favorite firearm to shoot has to be my 10/22. I can shoot that gun all day long and hand magazines to friends over and over again without my wallet cringing. We frequently bring out a wide variety of other guns though, so we'll have anything from .22 bolt action rifles to AR15's to Mauser's and hunting rifles out and about. Anyways, shooting is fun, but it's mostly fun when you hit something and there is a reaction you can see. Targets shooting can be fun as well and is a great addition. I'm just wondering what people have done in the past.

Some things I've tried to do is go out to shooting spots and put up piece of used plywood and/or 2x4 to have something to shoot at or place targets upon. We also frequently bring out soda bottles and water jugs and shoot at them, although they're a bit less exciting when shot with a .22LR, but decently fun for a shotgun or a larger caliber. We have a clay pidgeon thrower and that's fun as well, but again it runs out after a bit. Another fun thing I've done is string up a rope across wherever we're shooting and hang objects from the rope, namely bottles or other such trash we've got no use for (don't worry, we huff it all back out). This is fun as you can see the item move when you hit it, and sometimes you can rip the item right off the rope (not so much with a .22lr though, heh).

Any other cool ideas or activities? I'm looking to find a more remote and not publicly known spot to build up a nice shooting place. There's one decent place to shoot here that I aws hoping to build up, but it's too damn popular and somebody just blew up everything I had put out instead of bringing their own stuff to shoot or put on what I had built.

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[RedneckRampage]

Shooting eggs with a 22 is fun! Sometimes we prop a whole open carton up and only load 12 shells, then see how manyeggs you can explode with a limited number of shots.

 

[142]

Golfballs are the most exciting target I've shot with a .22lr - Use eye lags (similar to eye bolts but with wood threads) to fasten string to the golfballs and hang them from a stand or from random branches. They hold up to many, many .22 rounds before depleting, just try not to hit the eye lag. Or simply set them on the ground at various distance and see how far you can jump them. Sometimes pretty far with a good hit. If two people are on .22's you can start at equal distance and see who can move the ball down range the furthest with "X" amount of rounds. Anyway, golfballs are my favorite .22 targets to date and are affordable at Goodwill or free in you can pick them up near a course.

 

[coyoteman5]

Shooting potatoes works good to and they are biodegradable and what's left the animals could eat

 

[Vantage]

Potatoes are a favorite of mine. You can buy a bag for only a couple bucks and MAN, do they explode when hit with a .22 rifle. I use some wire and hang em and then you can shoot em a couple times if they fragment off. They always create a "Whoa!!! " from my kids when they blow up.

You can get cheap steel targets off of ebay. I bought three of these and hang them from sheperds hooks that I got at Home Depot for $8.00. Steel plates are fun cause you can hear em when they hit. And with .22 (or any pistol round) you can get lots of cool designs for cheap off ebay. Even Zombies.

I also like to use balloons as well. Buy em from the Dollar Store and you can get a bag of 25 balloons for... well.. a dollar. I like to put up 10 or 15 of them at various distances, hand my wife the 10/22 with a 25 round magazine and tell her it's the zombie apocalypse... and don't let em get to us. Haven't done it yet, but keep wondering if I put a little flower in the balloon would I get a little cloud of powder when it popped.

 

[Mandodoc]

I picked up a target at one of the local gun shows called a Jumping Jack Target. It is a heavy steel ground target that you shoot and it moves about 6 inches and presents you with another target face. It's really fun to shoot at. I only bought 1 but if you had a few and a few shooters you could have contests or something.

 

[oknow]

cheep and easy targets to shoot at and gives you the excitement of breaking stuff without ant clean up except your brass,
use a few tupperware sandwich boxes and freeze about an inch of water in it instant target with no cleanup use wax paper between ice cakes so you can separate them easily

 

[shredjesse]

The jumping target does infact look pretty cool... I'll have to grab one or two at the next gun show.

I really like the potatoe's and the ice idea. Those are slick!

 

[Torqk911]

I like old soda cans shaken up nice and good. Its fun to see something explode when hit but not be dangerous for the kids. Also, a conveyer built with targets is always fun. Its nice to shoot at moving targets.

 

[shredjesse]

Soda cans are definitely fun, but that can stack up a bit in price, heh. I recently shot some 95% empty spray paint cans and that was fun, but pricier than Soda's even (unless you happen to have them lieing around already).

A conveyor belt would be cool, but the spot I'm likely to build up for shooting will be public land, so installing a conveyor belt isn't reasonable. Also, the last place I setup stuff to shoot was too damn popular, and some hicks came out, ran out of targets to shoot at, and just decided to shoot down everything I'd put up to hold paper targets and the like! Dicks...

 

[Allfat]

So you are going to leave a bunch of stuff out on public land? You are braver than I am. I think it would get found and shot up or stolen really quickly.

I think it would be a smarter idea to get stuff that you can set up and take down when you go home, that way you know you have it for next time and will not be in for a surprise when you show up to your spot and all your stuff is gone.

That being said, I like to shoot at golf balls, clay birds, paper plates, silhouette targets, and steel. Bottles and cans are fun too.

 

[shredjesse]

I'm working on finding more off the beaten path shooting spots, and I'm not lookign to setup anything overly intense. I just take scrap plywood from my contract neighbor and build little things to shoot at, and places to put items on. I also tie rope between trees and hang things from it to shoot at.

 

[Allfat]

Gotcha, that sounds like it could be a lot of fun if you set it up good and keep it quiet, good luck!

 

[shredjesse]

That's what I'm hoping to do, build a fun and enjoyable shooting area for myself and friends to go to, and then share it with a few other select responsible shooters.

 

[Bigfoot]

I'm working on finding more off the beaten path shooting spots, and I'm not lookign to setup anything overly intense. I just take scrap plywood from my contract neighbor and build little things to shoot at, and places to put items on. I also tie rope between trees and hang things from it to shoot at.

Tie that string close to the ground unless you have a high backstop.

I always take a 5 gal bucket and a dozen or so empty steel chili cans w/o paper. A 22 goes right through aluminum cans w/o even budging them. I throw the cans in front of the targets and walk em all day. When I'm done I use the bucket for the picked up brass and cans. When I get home the shot up cans go into the recycle bin.

 

[shredjesse]

The place I specificalyl have string and what not tied up i have a VERY tall backdrop!

 

[Bajablast]

Go to your local grocery store and ask for the over ripe cantaloupe and mini watermelons. You can usually pick them up at a good discount. Take them home and freeze them before shooting.

You get to see melon shrapnel flying all over, and don't have to worry about picking it up as it is biodegradable, or will be eaten by the local wildlife. I have shot these before and are really fun. Pumpkins also work well in the later part of the year.

I have also used the 5 liter steel beer can/kegs that are available in the stores. Some stores will even sell you the returned cans for the .05 deposit. They make a nice loud clinking sound when hit.



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Capitalism is BO$$!!!

 

[Flyingswords]

Go to your local grocery store and ask for the over ripe cantaloupe and mini watermelons. You can usually pick them up at a good discount. Take them home and freeze them before shooting.

You get to see melon shrapnel flying all over, and don't have to worry about picking it up as it is biodegradable, or will be eaten by the local wildlife. I have shot these before and are really fun. Pumpkins also work well in the later part of the year.

I have also used the 5 liter steel beer can/kegs that are available in the stores. Some stores will even sell you the returned cans for the .05 deposit. They make a nice loud clinking sound when hit.



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Capitalism is BO$$!!!

Do they accept bullet riddled ones?

 

[huthuthike]

I got one of these at the Hillsboro gun show. Jumping Targets

[video=youtube_share;9EExjvtxdEg]http://youtu.be/9EExjvtxdEg[/video]

They have these at MK Tactical in Hillsboro. They are made of AR500 and cost $35, $45 and $55 depending on which size you get.