Favorite "primitive" targets?

[Only Round]

Got a good question for all you shooters out there. I'm running one of our club shoots next month and I'm looking for some good suggestions for a few "fun" shoot ideas. Most of our shoots involve various novelty targets at 25 yds offhand. I'd like to mix that up a bit. I've already decided on a "board shoot"- each shooter will have to cut/shoot a chunk of wood in half and I think I'll throw in at least one x-stick shoot. Anyone have a fun/differnt idea from a shoot you've attended/heard of?

 

[Big John]

Potato at 25yds. they explode nicely and plastic Easter eggs filled with flour, nice puff of white!

 

[Mad Professor]

Cattail heads work great. A nice puff of downy seadheads blowing in the wind if you make a hit and they come with their own stick to prop them up. Can be had cheaply too!!!

 

[roundball]

This isn't really 'primitive' but I often see "charcoal briquettes hanging on a string" mentioned...and one bag of briquetts would be a lot of targets.

What distances are targets like this typically set up at...15? 20? 25?

 

[Bountyhunter]

Take some old boards and cut holes in them with like 3 inch hole saw, 4 is better. Drive nails at 12-3-6-9 oclock and stretch rubber bands across them making a +. Try to cut the rubber bands. It requires a direct hit on the X, otherwise the rubber deflects but doesnt break...really fun but difficult at 25 yards.

Get you some old rebar and make the shape of a buffalo--about life size. Make a gong about the size of a pie plate(heart size), and place it behind the buffalo silhouette in the proper placement for the heart. Cover the buffalo frame with burlap. Place at 50 yards. Shoot to kill. it only counts if the gong rings. The burlap will take a lot of shots before it has to be replaced.

 

[bigbore442001]

Polyphores. When I entered my first primitive biathlon a few years ago, I figured I needed practice in the field.

So I went into the local forest with my TC Hawken and possibles bad loaded with premeasured roundball charges. I figured that polyphores would make great targets of opportunity.

 

[silverfox]

If you use bricketts the string attaches easy with a staple gun. Just lay the string across the brickett and pull the trigger and the string is attached one more and the other end is attached and the brickett is swinging in the breeze.
Fox :hatsoff:

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

First of all, welcome to the Forum!
Now a few more ideas for a novelty shoot:
1. Hang bowling pins with string and try cutting the string. 2. When the string thing gets old, shoot the pins themselves with pistols to knock them down. 3. Finally, put the bowling pins out of their misery by seeing what heavy conicals can do to the pins. 4. Take the tops & bottoms of percussion cap lids and glue them to a 3 x 3 piece of cardboard. Each shooter gets same number of lids to hit. 5. On the same cardboard as the cap lids, glue on clay birds facing backwards. They explode on impact. 6. Attach balloons to a target stand, leaving enough elasticity to let the balloons sway in the wind a bit. 7. Mount playing cads so that ony the edge of the card faces the shooter. Do this by filing a small notch in a 1 x 2 and then securing the 1 x 2 to a support frame so that at least 6 cards can be engaged at the same time by several shooters. Each card need only be about 6 inches apart or so if 1 to 2 shooters play. Allow more room between cards for more people as the idea is to not be able to see the card from the side. 8. Hang CD's from a target stand with the same string you used for the bowling pins. Makes it interesting when the wind picks-up a little.

Any of the above ideas can be broken down by "division" of firearm, i.e.: single shot pistol, revolver, PRB rifle, conical rifle, carrrrrtridge rifle or revolver, etc. Each division can have as many shooters as you have targets to accomadate. In this way a shooter could compete with more than one arm in more than one division. He'll just have more guns to clean when he / she gets home. Lot's of fun and LOTS OF SMOKE .

The above is just my reccolection of our BP League novelty shoots over the past year. You could also make it into a blanket shoot where everybody brings a prize worth $10 or $20 instead of charging a fee for the targets. That way everybody "wins" and comes home with something.

The playing card stunt is my favorite. My son Andy cut a card last summer...now he's hooked and loves to be with Dad at the BP League

Hope this is of help and again a warm welcome to the Forum :thumbsup: . All the best, Dave

 

[Slake]

big fat juicy {not frozen} potatoes are great!

 

[bob1961]

not PC at all but fun....when i go to the range i have an old softball drilled through the middle and hung with 18" of some cotten clothes line at a 100 yards, just hang it with a nail on top of the cross board....haven't hit it yet but it's fun shooting at it with open sights :rotf: :v ...............bob

 

[roundball]

If you use bricketts the string attaches easy with a staple gun.

Never would have guessed that...thanks !

 

[Slake]

you'll find that softballs {or baseballs} don't hold up well...now golf balls do but they ain't as primitive as a potato

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Welcome to the M/L forum! I was involved in a "stake shoot" a couple months ago at a rendezvous. Wooden garden stakes were driven into the ground about 20 yards from the shooters. The wide side of the stakes were visible. You had to shoot your stake in two with no more than 7 shots. You received more points for doing it in less than 7 shots and for using a smaller caliber. Was fun and only about half of the shooters managed to shoot their stakes in two.

 

[blacksmithman64]

Keep 'em comin' fellas, the way this looks ; aint nobody winnin' my shoot!! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: 'Course I always have secondary prizes what are better than most aggregates! :rotf: :thumbsup: :hatsoff: If yer comin' to the Mohican,dial yer gun in first!

 

[bwhoffman]

Oranges... spray way better than potatoes
TOMATOES
if you havea "dollar tree" or dollar store in your area, a few bucks can buy lots of stuff... seasonal canpy, lolly pops, tinsel trees, party favors ect.
carrots, frozen brussle sprouts, ice cubes made with strings in them and colored water(if its freezing)marshmellow, "Peeps",
the last 2 "novelty trails" I have shot were put together at under20 bucks each shoot and had 25+ shooters.

 

[Chiefs50]

How about a candle shoot? The object is to put out the flame without hitting the candle. You may have to put the candle in a box to shelter it if there is a wind.

 

[boar]

Small marshmellow (10pts) big size(5pts) hanging on string. Dilly

 

[RC]

rebar... 1 vertical...1 horizontal, seems no matter which 1 is the first shot, someone always says "it'd be easier hangin the other way" course when they get to the next station.. :shocked2: matchsticks and buttons are good too...... :grin:

 

[Jac Spring]

OK, I've got a few ideas:

1) place a hatchet head, blade facing the shooters and put playing cards or something on both sides - could put potatoes or oranges too - anything that will show a hit. The objective is to split the ball and hit both sides with one shot. Remove the handle or it'll get shot.

2) Saltine crackers - uniform in size and white color is easy to see.

3) Get a cowboy action steel silhouette of say a buffalo - companies like Arntzen make em - you just drive a piece of rebar down into the ground angled forward (towards the shooters) - this makes an audible "cling" when hit and wobbles. Dont' have to reset each time.

4) Make a plywood silhouette of your favorite rendevouse character or object - cut a hole in the middle and place a balloon in the hole - just blow the balloon up so that it grips the hole and tie it off. The edges of the hole need to be farily smooth. Great fun!

 

[blacksmithman64]

We're working on a full size cutout of osama bin laden with a large gong in the vitals(easy to hit!)for a "giveaway" target.Its on a pulley and cable system so it moves."Course we could just put it in a hole! :rotf: