Cool range targets, pun intended
Posted: Sun Apr 16, 2017 9:09 am
Remember when we were kids, and you went to the dump after it closed to shoot actual tin cans and glass bottles with your friends, and no one cared about three or four kids with 22s headed down the road with a pocket of mixed 22 ammo. More shocking, we could go into the corner store and the clerk would sell you a box of 22 ammo, if he knew you. But... of course... it was the sixties, and the country.
As we got older, we couldn't shoot at the dump. Insurance. We couldn't shoot glass bottles with our 22s, pellet or bb guns, or slingshots. If you don't get ALL the glass up... someone can/could/will get hurt. No matter the line... it added up to no fun for you.
When teaching the kids to shoot, we of course started with paper targets, after memorizing all the rules of firearms safety and the rest. And... of course, they weren't allowed to wander around town with .22s.
. But, I did come up with a way for them to bust bottles.
Those thin cheesy plastic water bottles you buy at the store, in bulk, that literally twist at the waist when you twist off the cap. So thin if you grip to hard water comes out the top?
yeah, those. Save a bunch, fill them with tap water, and freeze them solid. Then using a razor blade, cut that bottle away. Now you have an ice bottle.
Put these in a cooler filled with ice and head to the range, and watch the fun. Boom, the bottle sitting downrange explodes. Boom, you shoot at the pieces til they are gone. Put up another. Boom.... if your icemaker makes those halfmoon ice cubes, they are fun targets for 22s. Cubes from old fashioned ice trays too.
Clean up when the shooting is done? Why mr. Sun will take care of that thanks. Living on the farm, we could sit on the deck in the evening and toss cubes off the deck to shoot with the pellet pistol. Nothing to clean up in the back yard and great family fun.
Hope this gives folks ideas... lots of 22 lever guns out there.
As we got older, we couldn't shoot at the dump. Insurance. We couldn't shoot glass bottles with our 22s, pellet or bb guns, or slingshots. If you don't get ALL the glass up... someone can/could/will get hurt. No matter the line... it added up to no fun for you.
When teaching the kids to shoot, we of course started with paper targets, after memorizing all the rules of firearms safety and the rest. And... of course, they weren't allowed to wander around town with .22s.
. But, I did come up with a way for them to bust bottles. Those thin cheesy plastic water bottles you buy at the store, in bulk, that literally twist at the waist when you twist off the cap. So thin if you grip to hard water comes out the top?
yeah, those. Save a bunch, fill them with tap water, and freeze them solid. Then using a razor blade, cut that bottle away. Now you have an ice bottle.Put these in a cooler filled with ice and head to the range, and watch the fun. Boom, the bottle sitting downrange explodes. Boom, you shoot at the pieces til they are gone. Put up another. Boom.... if your icemaker makes those halfmoon ice cubes, they are fun targets for 22s. Cubes from old fashioned ice trays too.
Clean up when the shooting is done? Why mr. Sun will take care of that thanks. Living on the farm, we could sit on the deck in the evening and toss cubes off the deck to shoot with the pellet pistol. Nothing to clean up in the back yard and great family fun.
Hope this gives folks ideas... lots of 22 lever guns out there.
