[HollowpointHank]

What do you do about targets? Do you buy your targets, draw them with crayons. . . how about printing your own? I found a program that lets you print your own targets. It's called TargetExpress. I found it on CNET and it has lots of different targets ie; military, pistol, rifle, etc.

 

[rocky]

I like to use a variety of diffrent targets from milk jugs full of water to paper targets.

 

[Bud White]

i use litttle bit of everything buy um milk jugs small water bottles charcoal briqes ..etc etc

 

[srfl]

I usually print my own (and copy the "master") but I also get a bunch of targets periodically from my LE agency firearms instructor.

 

[P95Carry]

Anywhere I can get em - for as close to zero cost as possible. me a cheapskate? You bet!!

I do not print them out a lot because (cheapskate again!) if they are very black it sucks up my black ink and probably saves me nothing. I do resent sometimes paying, what? $4.50 or so for a very few Outers sheets.

I often still use a plain sheet of letter paper - and on occasions stick a three inch orange deal on that - got a large roll of those stickers for $10 from a gun show and they last well.

If I do print out - I use thin line circles (ink economy again ) and a small center black. I ''scrounge'' targets when I can and also use white and black sticky patches a lot - to make a single target last longer.

Other ''objects'' are also well used and could include about anything you can think of! :lol:

BTW, in case you didn't realize, with targets I am a cheapskate :biggrin:

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Late addition - gotta say too - those pendulum resetable steel deals are great for recreation - and speed practice - worth getting some. I have some for .22, another for sorta 38 spl and a real heavy job that'll take .44 mag - great fun!!

 

[HollowpointHank]

I've been thinking of getting some of those steel resettables. Maybe for Christmas, Oh - no can do, I have to pay for the Springfield Armory Ultra Compact for Christmas. Boo Hoo

 

[Brian45]

I get most of my targets lately from Midway USA. When I order reloading components of other gun stuff I usually get a pack. The prices for large quantities of targets is pretty good.

 

[acparmed]

I frequently use regular cheap paper plates and either those orange stick ums or a red marks-a-lot.
I also use a lot of A&W 2 liter root beer bottles filled with water.

 

[joe/OH]

I'm with P95Carry - cheaper the better. Clay pigeons are fun and we usually have some laying around after a heavy trap session that aren't usable for throwing. For training - cardboard silhouette cutouts stapled to posts.

Just yesterday we setup a moving target on a cable for a tueller drill. The target is attached to a rope (we even put a fake knife in his 'hands'). The person running the target holds the rope and runs - the other attempts to clear leather and shoot before the 'attacker' gets to him. Very safe and very realistic.

If all else fails - paper with a dot in the center.

 

[cmidkiff]

Ritz crackers, potatoes, 12g shells, printed targets some, but I like something that reacts when you hit it. Ritz crackers are great for .22 plinking

 

[Betty]

My family has made a frame stand that fits "end rolls" - the rolls of newsprint or regular paper that a printing press has left over from a print run. They tend to have decent sized rolls of different widths, and our local press is more than happy to give them to us for free.

Our stand works like a giant toilet paper holder with the roll on the bottom that rolls up and is clamped to a top bar. The stand is mounted in concrete in the earth with the side of a hill as a backstop. The roll, when mounted on the stand, is behind some very big logs - just in case someone is having a really bad shooting day, he don't shoot the roll and ruin it. We just tear off the used target and roll up a new piece, and remove and store the roll when we're done.

We have a template with a big hole for handgun shooting and a little hole for rifles, and we use spray paint. Sometimes I skip the templates and spray body targets, aliens, or whatever I want.

Sometimes we set up moving targets, or use walnuts (plentiful here in TN), cans, milk jugs, or whatever catches our interest.

 

[ka0azs]

Cheap paper plates work fine. (I mean super cheap, the type you DON'T want sitting on your lap with baked beans, potato salad, etc).

You can vary the size depending on how difficult you want to make it.

I've also seen folks descripe using 2 paper plates and a 3x5 card on a piece of cardboard. Plates placed one above the other representing COM and Pelvic area, and the 3x5 above that representing head shot area

 

[joe/OH]

Almost forgot - BOWLING PINS! They are great fun and absorb an unbelievable number of rounds.

 

[Brian45]

Almost forgot - BOWLING PINS! They are great fun and absorb an unbelievable number of rounds.

I also like bowling pins. They are great for pistol and shotgun. My wife just had to see what would happen when she nailed one with her .260 Remington this summer. Now I have one less bowling pin.

 

[HollowpointHank]

Where does one get bowling pins?

 

[P95Carry]

Hank - certain element of luck re pins!

My main club does weekly .22 pin shoots and we have been lucky enough to know ''someone, who knows someone'' etc - and so have boxes of 'em.

I guess it may be worth approaching a bowling place to ask what happens to their old ones but it's possible they'd be looking to move on a whole batch of 1,000 to 1,500 maybe as against just the odd box.

They are excellent tho for targets, that I will agree :wink:

 

[Erik S.]

Clay pigeons, steel, shotgun shells, and paper targets are among my favorites. I don't have room to keep alot of my milk jugs, but now and then I take one out full of water and blast it w/ my .308 and it is fun.

I need to invest in a silhouette (sp?) stand so I don't have to walk so far downrange to one of the preset stands (for rifles).

 

[Prospector]

Cheap paper plates work fine. (I mean super cheap, the type you DON'T want sitting on your lap with baked beans, potato salad, etc).

I'm with kaOazs....been using paper plates with red marker to put about siver dollar (remember those) sized bullseye for a long time now. Obviously if you're trying to get "sighting" done, that won't do, but if your goal is "pattern" this is as cheap as you can get and is very effective. I like white targets because the shots are very distinctive for those older eyeballs....even with a .22 cal at 15 yds, you can see your hits pretty doggone good. Only comments I've had at the range, when I put up a pair side by side is that they look like boobs! Oh well! Works for me. :tongue:

 

[older gunner]

I use a CD I got from "Cheaper Than Dirt." The CD was $10 (I think-it's been a while) You can print on white 8-1/2 X 11 with very little black line, so ink is used sparingly. Since I have to shoot at a range, I can't use fun stuff like milk bottle, cans, and such. I have to use paper targets. I find this method cheap and easy. I usually line up two rows of three across and staple to the cardboard target backing. Then, I use white paper tape to cover the hole I make after each round.

 

[RSSZ]

I did a tour as a rangemaster at a NAS before I retired. I qualified people in pistol,rifle,and shotgun to stand watches on ships, guarding prisioners, and at weapons facilities.I had a female shooting at my range one day that told me that all the circles on the paper target were confuseing. She said that she was worried as to weather she hit inside the 8 ring or 9 ring. I turned the target around and told her to put 'em in the center of the paper. She did and she more than qualified. My boss thought that this way of training was strange but he indorsed it. Hey,shoot at the center of the paper,turn it around, and count up the scores.I figured that if your shooting at a human you wont have little circles to shoot at anyway. This way of teaching caught on and it was "accepted" by most rangemasters on the east coast as just another training tool. This is the way that I teach my CCW students. With a blank sheet of white computer paper shootin' at the center. If I want to sight in a weapon I put a orange dot in the center. I have dots that range from 3" down to 1/2".For me personally,I use the computer printer paper and a 6" pie plate. The super cheep ones that you get a gazillion for $8. The paper and the pie plate is the only thing that I shoot at. I find that to "just put 'em in the center" works for me. If I had to shoot at a human,I'd picture the pie plate taped to his chest and shoot at that. It would be less personal that way also. I feel that a plus for shooting blank paper also is that you can start large and slowly work down in size. To me 6" is the smallest that you should go. Nobody has a chest smaller than that. If you can hit a 6" pie plate from 7-10yds. fairly fast, especially double taps,that's good enough for me. I have found that I can always shoot the mansized or torso targets better if I am allowed to tape a piece of paper in the COM. ----------