I frequent a public outdoor range because our local indoor is crowded with limited capacity. One negative on the outdoor range is all the trash that people leave behind as they manufacture targets out of everything imaginable, (not to mention the occasional idiot not considering the safety.)

Maximum distance is probably 50 yards... give or take

I want something to shoot something other than tin cans, spent 12 gauge shells. Hoping for a solution or something for my paper targets whose stands are hard to drive into the ground and/or wind resistant....

I'll be shooting storebought and reload .38 Special, .357 reloads, and of course .22LR

Of the manufactured spinner type targets...

What are safe in terms of eliminating riccochette?

What are reliable and durable?

What are fun and challenging?


Of the home made varieties...

What are the best in terms of paper targets w/stands to resist wind?

With safety, safety, safety in mind... some other things I was thinking was thinking along the lines of biodegradeable shooting clays, floor tiles, and building/buying stands for paper targets.

On my personal range I use quart oil cans(save from my oil changes) and clay birds. Cans can be shot over and over till they become a seive. Then a quick clean up with a trash bag.

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S&W Accumulator

Get you a 3 foot long metal rod and drive it in the ground leaving 2 feet above ground.Cut one end out of a steel can and place it over the rod.It will jump if hit but stay on the rod and can be shot many times,Modify rod length , number of rods/cans and shooting range to fit what you like and enjoy!

Steel Plates. They give off a nice audible ring every time you hit them, and you can spray paint them, usually white, but other colors work, so you can see your hits as well. They don't get any more reliable or durable than this.

Just make sure you purchase AR400 or AR 500 plates. The AR plate is hardened so the bullets (lead, plated or jacketed) actually fragment into very small pieces. There are lots of sources for them on the internet. I bought mine from GT targets. Different shapes and sizes are available. Just hang them on a 2 X 4 and you're ready to go. I made my bases from 2 X 4's to help save a few bucks.

You can use standard A36 carbon steel plate for the .22, but for the .38 and especially the .357 you will need the AR plate. I picked up small pieces of scrap from a local machine shop, and use them for shooting the .22. The smaller, the more challenging.

Even more fun is a dueling tree, available from many of the same steel target manufacturers. Get out there with family or friends, and see who is the fastest and most accurate shot.

Good stands can be bought or made and used with 1 X 2 cedar (pine shatters when hit) for any sort of paper target you want.
Hartman MFG Target Stands A Pair of Target Stands: Targets and Target Stands

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Science plus Art

If you want to punch paper targets a good, cheap and portable solution can be made by using 22"X 28" pieces of foam board available at Sears and some office supply stores. It is the plastic hollow core board that political signs are made of. You will also need (2) 5' pieces of rebar and some zip ties. Drive the rebar into the ground with a ball pein hammer (never use a carpenter hammer) punch (4) holes in the foam board, at the corners, and zip tie to the rebar. You can staple target to it and it lasts quite a while. The foam board runs about $12.62 for (5) pieces.

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Doug

I was able to find two 4x8 campaign signs after the November election. These will make 16 24x24 target backers.
I had bought a Caldwell metal stand with one backer at Bass Pro Shop earlier. The 24x24 backer just slips in. Each backer lasts a long time.
Also cut up the pasteboard box the stand came in. It made 2 backers. Pasteboard warps when it gets rained on, but is still usable for quite a while.
I use clothes pins to attach 1 or 2 8 1/2x11 printed targets to the backer. A clothes pin hanging from the bottom keeps the wind from blowing the target. When the top is shot up, turn it upside down.

I bought a dueling tree from these guys with a set of plates for centerfire and rimfire. Very well made and work great. They also have lots of different specialty targets and ones for law enforcement. Metal Spinning Targets - Home

Hard ground: I use a sharpened steel rod (one of those large aluminum nails used to nail eve-troughs to facial boards would work as well) and compact hammer (6" handle) to drive pilot holes for 3' and 4' dowels. Dowels can be wood or metal. I use wood to minimize ricochets.

Two dowel target stand: Push one into ground, place a PVC-Tee on top and slide other dowel through it so same amount is on both sides. Hang objects from resulting crossbar with string. Note: cross bar will rotate when hanging targets are hit. I use Tennis balls, Golf balls and Glucerna bottles as hanging targets.

When range is muddy, I attach a long string to a tennis ball, toss it downrange a few yards, walk it downrange with whatever I'm shooting until I run out of string and then reel in back in without getting my shoe dirty.

Metal reactive targets are a no-no at my favorite range, so I use the self-healing ballistic plastic type. I've put hundreds, if not thousands, rounds (.22rf, .38spl, .357mag and .45acp, including WC & HP) through them mine and except for a bad case of acne, they are still serviceable.
The stands they are mounted on put them pretty close to the ground, so I stick a couple 4' pieces of PVC pipe in the ground and stick their legs in to top.

Three dowel target stand: Place a dowel on ground perpendicular to firing line. Put two dowels in ground ~2" inboard of each end of dowel on ground. Place PVC-Tee on top of each vertical dowel and slide the dowel used to measure spacing with through the Tees. Hang targets with spring binder type paper clips.

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Age + Treachery = JohnnieB

Out here in the boonies, check with the local grocerer for outdated,(as in free!) fruit and veggies, They explode nicely and the critters will clean up the leftovers quickly. Also, if it's not too windy, try shooting at balloons. (They can be very humbling!) Just pick them up when your done.