targets that create interest?

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Dusty Rivers

New member
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What are good targets that keep youngsters attention? For first time shooters I am looking for something that is cheap, easy to set up, and FUN to hit.

balloons, water bottles, clay pigeons, metal gong, What have you found that young teenagers 13-15 like to shoot, that will hold their interest for an hour or two?

I guess age doesn't matter, what do you like to shoot besides paper. Bouncers are out. 22LR rifle, open sights, bench and freehand.
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I just got back from a Scouting Klondike weekend that had challenges for 17 groups who built and pulled their sleds through the dirt and muddy roads from challenges in each "township" with Mayors who gave them their challenge to earn "gold nuggets (Louisiana gold-color Mardi Gras dablooms).

I served as RSO at the rifle range. We taught "Firearm Safety" and allowed one nominated Scout to shoot 5 .22LR shots at one of three Zombie targets, each with four shoot-and-glow orange dots, for extra points.

The Zombie targets brought excitement to the 17 visiting sled groups!

Kids are into Zombie themed events!
 
You'll find the interests of a 13 year old are a lot different from a 15 year old(bag of raging hormones.). So is what holds the interest. Ran a CF Army Cadet Corps, long ago. 13 to 18, male and female.
However, generally speaking, and aside from if they're interested in shooting any target will do, anything that reacts violently.
Tannerite is expensive. $80 per 20 from Midway. Requires a 100 yard range too.
Water balloons are cheap and easy to clean up. Put some food dye in the water. Hang 'em on a string off a string. No water with a bit of wind for a greater challenge.
Clay pigeons require logistics. A grass rake might do, but you have to clean 'em up.
A gong will get boring fairly quickly even if it falls over when hit. Also requires logistics. No rake, but you need butts where a team can set 'em up and be safe while the shooting is going on. Running back and forth isn't good.
Aspirin sized candy like Sweet Tarts, if you can still get that or get it where you are, provides a challenge and no clean up.
 
Tannerite is expensive. $80 per 20 from Midway. Requires a 100 yard range too.
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Not only that, but I don't know of a single public range in my area that will let you shoot at it.

The secret to keeping bullseye shooting interesting is to KEEP SCORE.
 
When i was a teenager, shooting at literally anything was fun. My friends and i would usually bring out recyclables, soda cans and bottles, because after shooting we could just toss em back in the recycle bin. Golf balls were fun too, but sometimes we would just go out to a canyon everyone used to shoot in and shoot at whatever trash was left behind..
 
I use old brake rotars, they are soft enough that most rifle rounds bust through them. of course tannerite is FUN!!! I use balloons a lot these days to know when I am hitting the 600 yard tagets. old televisions. and I almost always stop and buy a couple cases of generic soda.....diet soda's are more violent BTW. FRUITS!!! preferably cheap ones....apples, oranges and potatoes. I don't shoot .22, so I don't know how much fun fruit would be without hollowpoint pistol fodder

stop by the local "charity" grocery stores that sell old nasty meat and expired canned goods. skeet shooting with creamed corn and tomato sauce is a blast.
 
Cheap cookies and NECCO wafers don't have to be cleaned up, since birds and bugs will do the work for you
 
If your range allows it: I prefer pine cones thrown-up against the dirt slope back stop berm --- aim for the bottom of the cone --- so you can really make them dance and jump up in the air --- for a chance at an aerial shot.

Cheap cans of foamy shaving cream, filled spray paint cans, dremmel drilled Necco wafers {I loop the small drill hole with spare light transformer wire and let them hang. Paint balls skewered on meat sticks or toothpicks --- or you can even super glue them to the target backing --- Smear some grape or strawberry jelly on the target backing for some fly/yellow jacket sniping.

Buy a pack of #6 hook nylon fishing leaders, and hook a tennis ball and let it hang from a 3 foot long string for some rimfire fun. Drill a modern {not rubber band} golf ball thru the center and let hang for some swinging shots. Hanging air filled balloons from a tall stick on windy days.
 
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I haven't tried it yet but I think that the small water bottles,everyone seems to be using, with a a little food coloring of different colors should be interesting.
 
I haven't tried it yet but I think that the small water bottles,everyone seems to be using, with a a little food coloring of different colors should be interesting.
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Food coloring is more or less a permanent dye, and will severly stain both clothing and skin

It won't really add anything to the effects of the shot
 
Ice Cubes made with food coloring or kool aide. No mess no fuss.

Fun to shoot but you don't have the range clean up.
 
We have had success with ice made in almost anything it can be molded in that will release it when frozen. When a caterer friend gave us six molded rabbits, the kids went into a frenzy. (Be vewy, vewy quiet! "But Chuck, these are guns!!") A good time was had by all.
 
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Steel soup cans. Depleted 1" propane tanks. Empty 16oz soda bottles. Anything that jumps, skips and spins.

Then again, I guess those count as 'bouncers'. Perhaps a steel spinner of some sort, with zombie targets?
 
A spare deck of $1.00 poker cards and a couple of sheets of foamboard. Spray adhesive the cards to the board and have them make the best 5 card hand wins:cool:
 
What targets create interest?

Reactive targets.

The best? Easter Eggs. The real hard boiled, pastel colored ones.

Our extended family dies/decorates about 12-14 dozen every year...... while I like egg salad, I don't like it that much ......

.... so every Easter Sunday, we have an "Easter Egg Hunt" ..... with .22 rifles!


In late summer, crab apples are great, as are any overripe cucumbers and tomatoes......

We also shoot gallon milk jugs full of water a couple of times a year ...... with a centerfire rifle and a soft point/hollow point bullet, it's a pretty impressive reactive target: the bullet impact makes a loud "WHOP!" and water goes flying 20 feet in all directions- it's impressive even at 3 and 4 hundred yards.
 
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