Having some fun with the Henry side loader target shooting

M

musicmatty

New member
I found these metal stakes called ‘plant props’ from Vigoro in the garden center at Home Depot. The top edges on these props are round and bendable and work really well for holding the sporting clays. After zeroing in my scope @ 100 yds at the rifle range earlier this year, I wanted to have some fun shooting targets at the distance of 100 yards. I wanted to try something other than just paper targets.

These sporting clays only measure 4 1/4 inches in diameter. Even at the distance of 100 yards and only being 4 1/4 inches in diameter, they are still visible to the naked eye without having to use a spotting scope which for me is a pain in the ass. You definitely need a spotting scope on a paper target at 100 yards to see a small bullet entry hole. No scope needed with these clay discs ...once you squeeze the trigger, either they’re still hanging there or they’re completely gone.::cool:

I will say this, with just a front end of the gun resting on a rail and the butt of the gun being pulled tight against your shoulder, it doesn’t take much movement for the crosshairs to move completely off a target that’s only the size of 4 1/4 inches in diameter at 100yds. With a box of 20 cartridges, I missed five times. Obviously I need more practice to better myself for a Precise placement shot. I really look forward to doing this exercise using the clays over a paper target.

Something else I did was to take five of these plant props and stagger them at different distances with the clays hanging on them. I used my 12 gauge pump in rapidfire and that was a fun exercise as well.

If anyone else has already tried this, please chime in on your experience and if you find it more fun than just using paper targets :)

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it doesn’t take much movement for the crosshairs to move completely off a target that’s only the size of 4 1/4 inches in diameter at 100yds. With a box of 20 cartridges, I missed five times.
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That sounds like a lot of fun--I might give that a go--though I'd probably be inclined to try that free-hand with irons or a red dot; you know what they say, aim small miss small. Narrow-body levers are easy to induce a roll in when shooting in rests I've found if you don't have a good grip on them. Very pretty Henry--almost as nice as my henry 45-70.;)
 
That sounds like a lot of fun--I might give that a go--though I'd probably be inclined to try that free-hand with irons or a red dot; you know what they say, aim small miss small.
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I also plan on doing this freehand with my commemorative 1969 Winchester that has iron sights but only out to 50 yards. I know I won’t be effective beyond that without a scope. For me personally, it’s much more gratifying shooting these clays stationary on the ground rather than shooting paper targets.

Here’s a short video clip of my lady friend having some fun with the Winchester Home Defender 12 gauge pump popping the clays on the ground:)

https://youtu.be/CRBQyyEbsYQ

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Try balloons. Inflated, on a 1 or 2 foot tether tied to your stake. They float and bob in the breeze and make very challenging targets.

Downside, a very close miss can pop them too.

Another fun game and a real test of skill and rifle capability is tack driving. The way I do it, you need a cardboard box, a deck of playing cards and regular thumbtacks.

Tack some cards to the box, with the tack in the center of the card.

The object is to drive the tack straight through so that the card falls off the box. A .30 bullet, perfectly centered, will do it. But, just a tiny bit off center, the tack will fold and usually crimp around the card at the edge of the bullet hole, holding it in place.

More challenging (to me, anyway) than just shooting paper for group size.

Have fun!
 
Fun target

My father talked about fun shoots when he was a boy. One of the most challenging was gluing lifesavers to a target paper set at 50 feet and trying to shoot through the hole (it is just a bit larger than the bullet) without breaking the candy.
 
I love all these suggestions and they sound like so much fun. However, I don’t believe there’s any chance I could shoot a tack thru the center of a card at a respectable distance ..only by luck:). Only once was I able to shoot a four leaf clover inside a bull’s-eye at 100 yard target with my 3030 Winchester with a fixed four power scope rested at the bench.

At that time nearly 30 years ago, I was going to the range on an average of three days a week practice shooting from the bench. So that’s probably why I was able to be so lucky and fortunate and of course my scope was dialed in very well. 30 years later I still have that rifle today with the original Bushnell sport view scope.

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You've already had some snow? I live in Maine and we've been cold enough a few times but haven't had any on the coast yet.
 
I was back at it today for more practice but this time with my model 94 3030 ..which happens to be 30 years old. I went through three boxes of cartridges which is 60 rounds and I was probably just a little better than 50% at 100 yards resting only the front end of the gun as seen in the picture.

As I’ve noted before, just the slightest movement or tremor and the crosshairs from the scope come right off that 4 1/4 inch diameter target very quickly from a 100yds out. All in all, lots of fun but more practice is needed.


I set my Video camera up close to the target just for kicks and giggles to see what an actual strike looks like and I included a freeze frame picture as well.

https://youtu.be/ESL6MwRtzsk

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Busting clays is a blast. We used to set them up on the 300 yd berm down at Quantico and have at them with our AR’s. Tons of fun. I also used my Savage bolt gun in 6.5 CM, once I got dialed in it was easy, plus after moving back to paper at 100yds my groups were under 1/2” consistently.
 
jcj54 said:
My father talked about fun shoots when he was a boy. One of the most challenging was gluing lifesavers to a target paper set at 50 feet and trying to shoot through the hole (it is just a bit larger than the bullet) without breaking the candy.
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Many years ago an Olympic gold medalist archer put an arrow though a lifesaver at the request of Carson on the old Tonight Show. I'd need something bigger if I was going to shoot through the hole... ;)

Tony
 
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