Managed to get out to the range yesterday, and decided to try out a new cheap target idea. Been wanting to shoot bowling pins, but can't seem to find any locally to pick up. So a little while ago in the midst of throwing one of my empty creamer containers in the recycling, I thought that it was resembled the shape of a bowling pin. Well as I am sure most of you have tried jugs filled with water before, only to have them leak all of the water out on the first shot, then subject to being blown around in the wind. So I filled 3/4 full with water and placed in the freezer. Brought a bunch of them to the range and set on a make shift wooden table with some slats. Managed to set 6 on the table and suprised how well the stood up to FMJ/plated rounds. Shot them several times with 9mm & 45acp, and the stood up amazingly well. Did learn however to take a razor and cut off the label as it tended to shred and make a mess, and remove the caps as they were the only thing that managed to explode into pieces.

What a great idea! It might be fun to take them "out younder" and see how well they bounce!

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Even older, even crankier....

Why not sand?

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and what his trumpet saith

Sand would probably work too, but water is right there at my kitchen sink.

hummmm, I drink my coffee black..guess I need to find something else to shoot at!!!

I shoot at beer cans. There's about a 12 mile drive out to where I shoot, and I can usually find all the cans I need by the side of the road.

After shooting, I pick up the shredded remains and put them in the recycle bin.

Filled with water and then frozen, such targets are a real pleasure to shoot with handguns or rifles. When our daughters were little, we drank a lot of milk. At one point I had saved over 30 one gallon milk jugs. Lots of fun! And it's so easy to handle clean-up. I know... a pun is the lowest form of humor. But... I just try to do the best I can. :-).

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I was amazed at how well they stood up to repeated shooting. The only other downside I could see to sand would be, I shot one of them over and it was laid on the table like "dead wood", I shot the bottom of it and knocked it off the table--I was then able to stand it back up again. Where sand would just pour out the bottom. It makes a range session more interesting with a variety of targets to shoot at. Would love to have some steal targets, but can't leave them in my father's field, plus they aren't exactly cheap.

Fill them with re-purposed used cat litter.
Or fill them with el-cheapo cat litter and just add water.
Wet sand also works, but wet cat litter works better.

I'm a diabetic and I wash down my morning pills with Glucerna.
The bottles are sturdy white plastic about 2.25" wide by 5.5" tall.
I poke a hole in the cap with an awl and put a string through it to hang them.
At 25yds, they are challenging, but fun targets for me.

Sometimes I just throw them downrange and walk them around.
Being white, they are easy to sight in on and easy to find when cleaning up.


I'll have to try some coffee creamer bottles. They're larger and would be easier on these old eyes and shaky hands.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB