Just purchased my new M&P 15-22 yesterday...should arrive in a few days. And a bushnell TRS-25, and 3 extra magazines....Can't wait!

Anyway, it's going to be a plinker for me and the kids, so what are some good ideas for reactive targets, aside from steel? Paper will get pretty boring for them, I'm sure. Right now, I'm thinking bowling pins, golf balls on a string, etc.

Any other suggestions?

There are already a couple of threads worth of ideas on the forum, if you take the time to do a search. That said ...

bars of soap
frozen potatoes
blocks of wood
apples and other fruits
soda cans - empty or full
All sorts of commercial reactive targets

Really, the only limits are your imagination and what your range will allow. The one material that is NEVER allowed on ranges (and should never be used anyway because of the dangerous debris left) is anything made of glass or hard plastic.

Have FUN!!!!

So why no steel targets? IMO, the are the best reactive targets.

I really enjoy shooting my USPSA cardboard targets. I get them in bulk from Midway. They are great for snap shooting drills. Then when full of holes you can still use them as a backer board for attaching paper targets

MidwayUSA Official USPSA Target Cardboard

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tennis balls

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I am a big fan of steel, but you have indicated that you want other suggestions.

Clay targets like those used in Trap and Skeet are good, after you hit the target you can shoot at the pieces. I just lay them on the dirt berm and shoot away.

Raw eggs hanging on a string are always fun.

Shoot N-Cs can be fun too.

Screw caps off soda bottles and milk jugs, hanging on a string are cheap fun targets. Also for a better challenge store brand antacid tablets are fun.

I have a couple rimfire plate and popper setups from midway and cabelas and they are fun too.

I've been trying to find a case of the smaller clay targets, they would be better sized for rimfire distances.

Oh, while not reactive, dart board targets are fun for some competition. (Cricket etc)

To each their own. If the range only allows paper...

There are paper 'games' out there; my 12 year old likes 'battleship', but there's also darts and a few others.

I prefer reactive targets. As other have mentioned, static clay targets are great, aluminum cans, gatorade bottles (dual purpose - take a full one to the range, drink it, then shoot it). Spent shotgun cases are great too, although it's generally a one and done...

However, since I've gotton my suppressors for both my 15-22s and my 300 Blackout, steel wins. Reactive targets like bottles literally explode when shot with a high powered rifle. Steel doesn't.

AR500 steel is inexpensive (I picked up a set of 3, 4 and 5" 3/8" AR500 steel for about $20 shipped on ebay, IIRC). For hanging, I've tried a bunch of different things, but the cheapest/best I've come up with so far is this:


It's a 1/4" 6' long bar from Home Depot; I think it was $3. Put it in a vice, and bend by hand. The rabbit ears on the side ensures the chain doesn't slip off. AR500 steel is good for 22 and high power rifles, but you should still shoot from 50' or more.

Suppressed, the hitting of steel from 50' is LOUDER than the action noise of the 15-22.

It depends on where you are firing your rifle. When my daughters were little we started them in the backyard w/ BB guns firing at Ritz crackers, etc. thrown up in the air. They rapidly got to where such a target thrown in the air was going to get hit and if there was time, any large bit was going to get hit. The birds always were pleased with the broken bits that were left.

Later, the girls moved up to .22 LR rifles. I'd give them each a couple of 50 rd. boxes and then I'd start throwing things... little empty .22 LR ammo boxes which they'd bounce along the ground till it was shot to pieces, pine cones which took longer to shred but stood up better to two girls shooting at the same time, pecans which disintegrated when hit, and steel plates (scrap from a abandoned railroad line) which were placed out about 50-70 yds. The plates were dark w/ rust which made them a challenge when stood up on the ground. It took a lot of shooting to knock one down. I focused on targets that would allow the girls to do a lot of shooting without a lot of fiddling around resetting or rehanging. I wanted them to learn to shoot. I figured learning to reset a target was something they could learn later on. HTH. Sincerely. brucev.

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Dove targets (mini clays) are great.

Also, these are geared towards pellet guns, but they work well with a 22:
ShatterBlast Breakable Targets | Daisy Outdoor Products

Gaderaid bottles full of colored water are good -red works very well.

My daughter and I play .

Tin cans and their lids are good reactive targets, string them between two paper targets and vary the size of the lids hung from the string, one advantage to having babies and toddlers, lots of tins and lids

homemade target.jpg

There are lots of great paper targets if you search google, I really liked the 'thermal hostage targets' there are the firebird exploding targets as well, not tried them yet but they look like fun, if a little expensive. As said before the only limits are your imagination and the range rules.

One of my fondest memories was as a child when my uncle set up at the end of the garden, lots of airfix WW2 soldiers (germans) in a wooden fort, with model tanks and planes and lots of candles and strategically placed methylated spirits for well aimed 'explosions' and gave my cousin and I, a scoped break barrel air rifle, a gat gun and a tin full of pellets, some binoculars and a mission to clear the fort of the Nazis...great day.

This brings back memories of shooting at the county dump. Lots of RATS, cans and ALL THE GLASS bottles you wanted to shoot at........Sorry about the drift..........Charcoal brickets make good .22 targets too....Lots in one bag.

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gophers (duh)
deck of cards
block of ballistic cheddar
frozen milk jugs or just fill them with water and food coloring
spinners (you said no steel, but they make reactive ones now I think)


These days, I only shoot paper targets when I'm working up a new load for something or sighting something in. That got boring to me years ago.

Same here. The old ranchers in MT use to have their own garbage dumps on their land. My cousin and I would spend the first hour finding and setting up cans, bottles (a lot a Crown Royal...go grandpa) and random tractor parts. Then we would shoot for 10 minutes and start all over.

One day my cousin thought it would be cool to fill a Crown bottle up with gasoline, start a small fire behind it, and shoot it with his '06 from 100 yards.

The dump was a lot smaller after that and we got to play on the neighbors vintage foam truck. That's all I choose to remember about that event.

Balloons, lotsa balloons.

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A real sucker for the J-frames

Filled with water ...

Saw someone on utube that had paint balls stuck to a wood target.
I tried an old rusty iron skillet I used camping the 22lr went right through it but it was fun for a minute. Milk jugs are my stand by targets they will move around a lot if empty. Be safe have fun : )

Ice Cubes, Keep Them from melting in your ice chest. You can build up a respectable supply and shoot for hours. No Mess

Not for a 22lr But I froze and gallon jug of water and shot it with a 30-06 and it was amazing as the plastic bottle ended up in a pine tree 30 feet up.

YUP---BALLOONS ! ! ! ESPECIALLY OUTDOORS. PIN THEM BY THE STEM ON THE BACKSTOP, AND THEY WILL CHANGE POSITION WITH THE SLIGHTEST BREEZE. COLORFUL, CHEAP, AND LOTS OF FUN…...

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old shotgun shells make an excellent target

Paintballs are a very challenging target, but well worth it.

I find that using painters caulk to adhere golf tees to the cardboard backer provides a great platform for putting the paintballs. A little caulk on top keeps the paintballs from moving.

The golf tees also help from a sight perspective. Paintballs are tiny!

what he said. lots and lots of balloons!

Thanks for all the ideas! Going to pickup my 15-22 from my FFL on Saturday...got my TRS-25 in the mail yesterday, and 3 xtra mags are coming today. Can't wait!


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We fill balloons with powder or cornstarch and the kids love it.

Ok. I do too.

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I got this for my dad for christmas, haven't taken it out to use yet though.




Looks fun www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F2uXazJAGY

Animal crackers and lollypops

I cut 4x4 blocks of wood at different lengths, sit them upright and place spent shotgun shells on them and plink them off.

an acquaintance of mine recently said he uses..."realistic" women's adult toys...he gets them cheap off of ebay...not really appropriate for the kids...or adults...just something really different...

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Clay pigeons at 50 yards.

I did something similar but used gumballs instead. Made 2 simple 2x4 frame with holes to hold the tees so we could duel. The bad was I spaced the tees too close so a hit often knocked the adjacent one down too.

Was loads of fun regardless plus we enjoyed the gum in between.

If you had another rifle, they can play tic tac toe on a paper target.