What makes shooting fun?

[Member 34319]

One of these adds some fun too.

Especially when combined with three to four of these.

 

[Koda]

One of these adds some fun too.

agree, shot timers add a lot of fun to shooting and give you a way to gage your skill level too, win win. The cool thing is if anyone cant afford the $100 or so for a basic dedicated shot timer, there are a few free smart phone apps that work really well. I use the app called Splits. Its pretty basic and works great, its free. Splits - Shot Timer - Android Apps on Google Play

 

[uscsoldier]

These are always fun and can be found for $300ish

 

[Vantage]

I always take friends and family shooting whenever they want, but they dont think putting holes in paper is as fun as i think it is. What can i do to make shooting more fun for everyone else?

My own personal opinion is to add a shot timer to your routine. It serves the purpose of being not only fun, but a training tool as well. It helps you measure yourself and gives you some hard numbers to rate your progress.

Plus, it's something that shooters of all calibers can enjoy.

Activity #1 - Draw and fire 4 rounds into a ____ inch sized target at _____ distance. Check your time. Then have your partner see if they can beat your time while still shooting the same accuracy.

If you have new shooters, or don't want to draw from the holster (Maybe it's all your gear, and your friend is left handed), then start at the low ready.

If there is a bunch of you then you can rank your scores like they do on Top Gear. Then you've got bragging rights for weeks to come around the water cooler.

Activity 2# - Set the par time for 5 seconds. Start at the low ready and see how many shots a person can get into a ____ inch target at ____ yards. Then see if people can beat the number of shots within the time.

You can build all sorts of games to play like this. And of course if they're too easy then you just increase the distance or decrease the size of the target.

Plus you can use the timer for your own practice / training when you're not out with your newb friends.

I really feel like shot timers are invaluable. I use the Pocket Rocket and it's great.

Things that explode or blow up when you shoot them are fun. But they can be messy. Not to mention costly. And once you shoot them all up, they're gone. But a timer will last forever. And a target and some masking tape will last all day long.

 

[Vantage]

agree, shot timers add a lot of fun to shooting and give you a way to gage your skill level too, win win. The cool thing is if anyone cant afford the $100 or so for a basic dedicated shot timer, there are a few free smart phone apps that work really well. I use the app called Splits. Its pretty basic and works great, its free. Splits - Shot Timer - Android Apps on Google Play

Good call. (I should have read more of the postings before posting my own reply).

I have a pocket pro timer as well as use a smart phone app. I don't know if it's the best or not, but I use "Dry Fire Par Timer" for my app. I like it because you create your own drill. Save it. Then set it to repeat for a certain number of times with a delay in between that you also create.

 

[ArtBrownSr]

When we are in the woods or tundra I like to throw out 20 Oz. or 1 Liter bottles that the target is to take of the top by shooting THROUGH the bottom, it makes a great 3D target for prep shooting game. It is the same as identifying the heart, and lungs, and either going through heavy bone to cripple (slow) the animal or avoid the heavy bone in case of a lighter bullet impact / smaller caliber.

 

[Heywood]

I have a friend the chews tabacky. So I collect all his chew cans and fill them with flour and hide them at various distances. We have little "sniper" challenges with them. Lots of fun. The shooter has to find them judge distances (no range finders, only mills) and make the shot. He only gets one shot if he miss' then it's the next guys turn. The idea is to make them very hard to find and sometimes put them inside other objects.
You get a big ol puff when you hit one and it doesn't leave a mess for long.
The guy that wins gets lunch or dinner and doesn't have to do any the picking up.

 

[Heywood]

Potatoes are fun to shoot, fairly cheap and you don't have to worry about the clean up.
If you've got a target stand you can tie a string hanging from a horizontal support, then tie a nail to the other end of the string. Stick the nail through a potato and now you've got a hanging potato (or many) to shoot at.

What about all the starving children!?!?

 

[Cogs]

I have a friend the chews tabacky. So I collect all his chew cans and fill them with flour and hide them at various distances. We have little "sniper" challenges with them. Lots of fun. The shooter has to find them judge distances (no range finders, only mills) and make the shot. He only gets one shot if he miss' then it's the next guys turn. The idea is to make them very hard to find and sometimes put them inside other objects.
You get a big ol puff when you hit one and it doesn't leave a mess for long.
The guy that wins gets lunch or dinner and doesn't have to do any the picking up.

I like the marking chaulk in clay pigeons. You can get some cool colors and a great reaction. Here's a simple way to make them...

 

[Dan Adams]

I don't have time to read all the posts in this thread, so forgive me if I'm repeating somebody else's suggestion. My son (35) and granddaughter (11) have a lot of fun beating me at game targets. (I usually lose a turn or two, because I like to shoot the RVs printed on the target!) One is a race game with blue and red dots along the course. We take turns shooting at our color dots. First one to finish, wins. Another game target we like is Battleships, played just like you play the board game (we used to create the game on paper; never actually bought the plastic version).

 

[Oathkeeper1775]

8 pack of gold and silver Christmas balls on sale for .50 at the $ Tree..

 

[GSSA]

10, 1gal jugs of water number 1-10. Spotter calls out 3 random numbers identify the jug. Shooter draws and takes one shot at each jug by number.

If we're ever attacked by fallen jugs of water, I'm your guy.

 

[American123]

I always take friends and family shooting whenever they want, but they dont think putting holes in paper is as fun as i think it is. What can i do to make shooting more fun for everyone else?

Shooting targets outside I find to be more pleasant, less noise compared to indoor.

Shooting targets from a static position at a bench isn't for everyone. I prefer the thrill of competitions in the move and shoot capacity.

Recoil isn't pleasant for a lot of people, I start everyone with a .22 semi auto pistol and rifle. If they graduate out of that then at least they aren't as recoil sensitive as throwing a 9mm in their hand to start.

Also, why don't most of us like to go to the nail salon, same reason not everyone likes to go shooting. It isn't for everybody.

Maybe even ask these people what would make going shooting more fun, I'm rather blunt like that because direct feedback is easier than trying to read minds.

 

[Mikej]

Also, why don't most of us like to go to the nail salon, same reason not everyone likes to go shooting. It isn't for everybody.

Yeah, but for those that go to the nail salon and THEN shooting! Yee-Haaa! Best of both worlds. Giggity...

 

[Skier]

Most of the time, I shoot outside, and most of the time we're shooting paper targets that splatter (reactive). But, for a little more fun, once in a while, I like to shoot other, more interesting/reactive things... This has included things like Pumpkins (left behind by others, never actually brought one myself), potatoes (cheap and "explosive"), and occasionally a water bottle or two. A friend of mine also made some reusable targets out of disc brake rotors (he welds a chain to the back, hangs them from a metal frame, and welds a little hinge to the back, behind the center hold, then a plate of steel hangs from the hinge behind the center hole). When you shoot the center plate, it pops up and falls back into position, and when you hit the sides, they make some kind of gong like noise. Probably my favorite occasional/special targets, when available, are computer hard drive... They're fun, have some impressive "exit wounds," and easy to clean up. Needless to say [hopefully], we clean up after ourselves and go with the idea of "pack out more than what you packed in," so we leave it a little better than when we go there... Yes, I'm aware that technically, in some locations, you're not supposed to use anything other than paper targets or commercially available targets, but...

-Potatoes: Nothings left, and if there is, its biodegradable and/and something will likely eat it. Maybe these could pass as "commercially available." hehe

-Reusable brake disk targets: No mess, reusable, reactive, both audibly and movement.

-Hard Drives: Easy clean up, often very reactive (see pics below), and once I'm done, I'm confident that any information that might previously have been possible to recover, is likely fairly secure now. (Yeah, I know, and have done DOD 5220-22-M secure wipes, but a mangled platter just adds another layer of security, and it's way more fun/faster/less effort than drilling a hole through them with an electric drill)

Lots of good ideas in this thread. Thanks OP for starting it. I've got new ideas for games, timed drills, reactive targets, etc. Good stuff.

Disk 1 on the left: shows two 5.56 entrance holes.
Disk 2 on the right: show a 300AAC (top) and 5.56 (bottom) entrance holes (which you could probably tell anyway, from the difference in size).


Same disk 1 & 2, but exits "wounds." Most impressive. BTW, I prefer to shoot the circuit board side, so the metal side can show cool exit wounds like this. (Side note: I had a couple of these sitting on top of my cube for a number of years, and they were great conversation pieces, hehe).


This one (Disk 3) is kind of hard to read, as well as having a typo, but this is a 9mm JHP (incorrectly "HJP" in the pic) entrance hole.


And here the other side of Disk 3, with the recovered bullet. Most handguns will often not penetrate, especially if you hit the platters under the circulate area (which I just missed in this case, but I think it hit the heads assembly or magnets, I forget)


It might be noted that these pics were taken at home... None of these drives were left out in the woods.

 

[AOTAC]

I'd suggest bringing a politician with you if you'd like to have more fun.

 

[Slobray]

Most of the time, I shoot outside, and most of the time we're shooting paper targets that splatter (reactive). But, for a little more fun, once in a while, I like to shoot other, more interesting/reactive things... This has included things like Pumpkins (left behind by others, never actually brought one myself), potatoes (cheap and "explosive"), and occasionally a water bottle or two. A friend of mine also made some reusable targets out of disc brake rotors (he welds a chain to the back, hangs them from a metal frame, and welds a little hinge to the back, behind the center hold, then a plate of steel hangs from the hinge behind the center hole). When you shoot the center plate, it pops up and falls back into position, and when you hit the sides, they make some kind of gong like noise. Probably my favorite occasional/special targets, when available, are computer hard drive... They're fun, have some impressive "exit wounds," and easy to clean up. Needless to say [hopefully], we clean up after ourselves and go with the idea of "pack out more than what you packed in," so we leave it a little better than when we go there... Yes, I'm aware that technically, in some locations, you're not supposed to use anything other than paper targets or commercially available targets, but...

-Potatoes: Nothings left, and if there is, its biodegradable and/and something will likely eat it. Maybe these could pass as "commercially available." hehe

-Reusable brake disk targets: No mess, reusable, reactive, both audibly and movement.

-Hard Drives: Easy clean up, often very reactive (see pics below), and once I'm done, I'm confident that any information that might previously have been possible to recover, is likely fairly secure now. (Yeah, I know, and have done DOD 5220-22-M secure wipes, but a mangled platter just adds another layer of security, and it's way more fun/faster/less effort than drilling a hole through them with an electric drill)

Lots of good ideas in this thread. Thanks OP for starting it. I've got new ideas for games, timed drills, reactive targets, etc. Good stuff.

Disk 1 on the left: shows two 5.56 entrance holes.
Disk 2 on the right: show a 300AAC (top) and 5.56 (bottom) entrance holes (which you could probably tell anyway, from the difference in size).
View attachment 420820

Same disk 1 & 2, but exits "wounds." Most impressive. BTW, I prefer to shoot the circuit board side, so the metal side can show cool exit wounds like this. (Side note: I had a couple of these sitting on top of my cube for a number of years, and they were great conversation pieces, hehe).
View attachment 420822

This one (Disk 3) is kind of hard to read, as well as having a typo, but this is a 9mm JHP (incorrectly "HJP" in the pic) entrance hole.
View attachment 420823

And here the other side of Disk 3, with the recovered bullet. Most handguns will often not penetrate, especially if you hit the platters under the circulate area (which I just missed in this case, but I think it hit the heads assembly or magnets, I forget)
View attachment 420824

It might be noted that these pics were taken at home... None of these drives were left out in the woods.

So, you worked for the State Dept. between 2009-2013?


Ray

 

[EPS]

How about moving to California where there is nice weather most of the year OH THAT'S RIGHT YOU CAN'T REALLY SHOOT GUNS THERE ANY MORE LOL

 

[Yarome]

All of our kids really get a kick out of shooting food targets. They'll each get a few dollars and then just turn them loose at the grocery store. It's a fun way to switch things up from session to session. A bag of baby carrots, hotdogs, melons, eggs, cornish game hens (mini chickens), pringles, grapes, potatoes, bananas, apples, onions, broccoli.. they're always finding something new to try. An egg at 50yards with a 30-30 is a challenging target for the young ones and quite spectacular when they connect!

We usually pick up a pack of those bamboo skewers as well. They make for great produce target "stands". Stickem, hangem... and they're reusable (for the most part). The kids will sometimes use them to stick things together... like a potato man with hotdog arms and legs and an apple head.

I figure we'll likely be blowing off a couple hundred in ammo anyway... a few veggies or such is just a small drop in the bucket and won't be going to waste anyway. They also really like making up ice cubes with food coloring.

We always "police" the area after a shoot, but it also earns them ammo credits for next time so they are quite good about staying on task. If we happen to pass someone else's crap on the way up or back they'll actually ASK to stop so they can earn more ammo.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

It used to be back in the day of mom and pop grocery stores you could ask the stores for the vegetables and fruits they were going to throw out. When I was a kid in the 60's, my sister and I had guinea pigs that we got all the food for them for free from the local grocery store that was going to be thrown out anyway. Of it didn't hurt that my dad was a friend of the owner and had worked part time in the store at one time. It was a store that all the employees knew their customers(and visa versa)and their children by name. They also had charge accounts and I can remember all through the late 50's and 60's my mother sending me to the store on my bicycle to buy things(as we only had one car and my dad took it to work)and put it on my parents charge account. No employee batted an eye to this and the charges were made by saying "put it on our account" without having to say a name. They knew who their customers were. Sorry to get off track but I really miss those days. The point being that maybe you could get the outdated vegetables and fruits that were going to dumped in the dumpster if you know someone who works at grocery store.