Author Topic: Targets for BB guns (Read 4373 times)

no guns here · « **on:** June 20, 2011, 10:44:36 AM »

Okay, I'm looking for ideas for targets for my kid's bb-gun and pellet gun. I am buying a place here in TX (just 3 acres) and want to let the kid out with the bb-gun and pellet gun as much as is possible. I'm looking for ideas for permanenet/semi-permanent targets. Any ideas would be appreciated. These should swing or move with a hit... They can't be loose on the ground (horses) or something that could be eaten (horses). So far the only thing I can come up with is hanging aluminum cans from the trees with strings... My thought is that he/can roam and shoot as we walk instead of being tied to a designated target all the time.

Thanks in advance,
NGH

XD40SC · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2011, 11:30:04 AM »

Look on line for free targets and you'll get alot of pattern to print out. You can also go to a craft store and look at their rubber stamps. Something there may fit what you are looking for. I just put a black circle on a 3X5 card. Also animal crackers make fun targets.

Conan The Librarian · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2011, 11:47:10 AM »

Well, assuming that glass bottles, fluorescent light tubes, aerosol cans, and song birds are not options you'll endorse, then consider the following:

1) Whatever you pick make sure it absorbs the BBs. That is, it can't be metal or stone or masonry or hard wood because BBs will bounce back like rubber balls and they can and will blind a kid. This is not just some kind of parental cliche, it's a real danger. Always insist on eye protection when using BBs.

2) Recalling my youth and the tens of thousands of BBs I shot, aluminum soda cans were always fun because they were satisfyingly reactive with that little "tink" sound. BBs would penetrate them, and if hit right they would be knocked over. Also, if you start with el cheapo brands of soda, you can give the kids the full cans, shake them up, and then shoot them to get a nice burst can.

no guns here · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2011, 12:01:39 PM »

Yeah... gotta be environmentally correct. Paper targets aren't gonna work. Need something that will still be there after a rain. Can't be dangerous on the ground for the horses when they are out. I'm looking for targets that will endure and that move. Soda cans are great and I can use them in a couple of ways but am looking for some variation in size and shape to drive his ability to hit the center of a target, not just hitting the target. Assuming we stay here long enough, he will have about 3 months of bb gun time and then hopefully graduate to pump-up pellet/bb gun. After that we'll work on .22's if I can get a suppressed rifle purchased in time. By winter/spring I'd like to have him ready to hunt some pigs from a stand (he's 11 now). I know he's a bit behind some kids but he did spend the first 11 years of his life living on a military base and overseas. Gotta play catch up now...

NGH

powderman · « **Reply #4 on:** June 20, 2011, 12:16:03 PM »

NGH. The pop cans work great, don't see how you can improve much on that. Easily replenishable too. HEH, we used to use Moms pinch on clothes pins on the clothes line for practice. They sure would spin, til they broke. Mom never caught us and never did figure out why her pins were breaking. In the winter we took a cardboard box and put several layers of newspaper in it then had thinner cardboard taped on the front with a drawn target on it for indoor practice. Never had one come back out and the bbs were all reused. POWDERMAN.

jlwilliams · « **Reply #5 on:** June 20, 2011, 12:22:43 PM »

Cheap crackers. They smash when you hit them and the birds pick up the pieces.

Hooker · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2011, 01:59:34 PM »

When I got my first BB gun a Daisy 99 Dad and me built a target box with a BB trap. So I hardly ever ran out of BBs.
We built it so that it would take paper targets that just slid in from the top or pop cans could hung just inside of the opening.
In bad weather I could shoot in the basement using that set up. Plus it's always big fun building something with your dad.
The kids will remember things like that long after your gone , and I'll bet you like me it will be one of their favorite memories.

Pat

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2011, 02:27:26 PM »

This past weekend we got my nephew a Daisy model 10. He just turned 5.
We went to the drugstore and got a set of wild west army men and set them up in the sand box for him to shoot off the picnic bench.
We stressed gun safety. Something I needed to remind his father about more than once!
We also got a few of the ground hog see and shoot stickers and stuck them to a moving box for the two kids to see where they were shooting.
We also showed the kids what the little 350 FPS BB gun can go a soda can and that this was a real gun and NOT a toy.

Empty Quiver · « **Reply #8 on:** June 20, 2011, 02:43:31 PM »

Animal cracker safari. The horses will be happy to clean up.

I was always a fan of Coke bottles, for a time I had dozens of glass cones I'd collected.

powderman · « **Reply #9 on:** June 20, 2011, 04:44:09 PM »

I'd forgotten about the army men, great targets. We also used to make mudballs, shaped in different forms and let them dry. POWDERMAN.

LabRat2k3 · « **Reply #10 on:** June 20, 2011, 10:14:18 PM »

Aluminium pie pans work also, especially the little individual sized ones. If you need help emptying them just seen me a case of those little pecan pies and I'll send you the empty pans back. Nesco waffers work good too they are like little clay pigeons, and will melt with the first rain or get carried away by wildlife.

no guns here · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2011, 02:47:31 AM »

Oh man! Army men! How could I EVER have forgotten about that. Back in the misspent childhood, my family bought a new house and spent several summers trying to level the backyard. Every time a friend or neighbor had a pool dug out dad would have them dump the dirt in the back yard. My friends and I would build these forts with tunnels and stuff and emplace our army men and all the trucks, jeeps, tanks and stuff. Shot the army men with bb guns. Tanks, jeeps and planes got smacked with dirt clods and other assorted missiles and bombs. Of course, then 4th of July came and the missiles and bombs were Black Cats. Lady Fingers were grenades...

Back on topic though. I did some digging and there are actually small swinging and rotating targets for bb guns. Guess I'll order a couple of those and maybe some of the airgun silhouette targets. Between a few of those and some soda cans on strings we oughta be able to keep busy for a while. Of course then there are the grasshoppers, wasps and assorted other little creepy-crawlies.

NGH

Old Fart · « **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2011, 06:15:19 AM »

Quote from: no guns here on June 21, 2011, 02:47:31 AM

Of course then there are the grasshoppers, wasps and assorted other little creepy-crawlies.

NGH

My oldest G'son and I were shooting wasp with a Red Rider several years back.
We started well out of thier range. We actually hit lots of what we shot at.
We decide we could move closer and increase our hit ratio.
So we did and sure enough we were hitting "almost" all of them.
About then his mother arrived to pick him up and he had to leave.
Well old grampy decide it was safe to move a little closer.
That next move put me in range of what they could see.

You guys already know what happened next.
I ended up rolling out backwards out of my chair when that bunch saw me and came after me.

no guns here · « **Reply #13 on:** June 21, 2011, 06:44:43 AM »

Yep... I remember having to run from a few as a kid. Used to shoot the big red ones from under the eaves on my parents house... try that with today's siding. Once in a while I'd actually hit the nest and make them mad and then they'd get after me. Good thing I was faster then than now... As long as I only picked on one at a time it wasn't a big deal. Hitting the nest stirred them all up though.

NGH

Sourdough · « **Reply #14 on:** June 21, 2011, 08:31:22 AM »

NGH: I started both my boys shooting a .22 with CCI CB Caps. Personally after the initial BB gun, I'd move straight to a .22. In my long barreled Remington Pump, the bullet striking the target makes more noise than the gun going off. CBs can be shot through Pumps, Lever Actions, and Bolt Guns. They don't work through Semi-autos.

no guns here · « **Reply #15 on:** June 21, 2011, 09:29:13 AM »

I personally don't have any problem with moving him into his .22 pretty soon. Problem is the area for now. Neighbors are pretty close and I want to make sure that he is safe and trained well before he is on the .22. BB and then pellet guns won't carry far enough to do damage from house to house. I'll pick up some of the cb caps and see how they do. I have a couple of boxes of shorts but those are still pretty loud. The HOA says no guns discharged out there but it's what I will have to deal with for a while until we make a permanent move somewhere else. Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse to justify a suppressed .22 for me... I do have a long barreled pump and a bolt action .22, so the cb's should be pretty quiet. Once we move in I'll give them and try and see.

Thanks man,
NGH

Bugflipper · « **Reply #16 on:** June 21, 2011, 09:47:28 AM »

Darned old horses will pull down things like the cans playing with them. They like to hit them with their nose or bite and pull. Not sure of your soil there. May be able to make targets out of mud, let dry and hang from a fishing line. If they come down, doesn't matter what the horses do to them.

no guns here · « **Reply #17 on:** June 21, 2011, 10:32:04 AM »

hmmm... hadn't thought of that. One of my horses is an inquisitive butt-head. I could see him messing with stuff. Dang... maybe new ideas. Heck I haven't made any mud-pies in decades. This could be fun. A fat, bald 44 year old, retired MSgt sitting in the dirt making stuff out of mud... SCARY! I really need some DURABLE targets that can be left out all the time. I want the kid to be able to shoot anytime he wants but not have to make targets to do so. He doesn't seem to be as imaginative as I was about stuff to shoot at. He sort of expects all his targets to be in a box, well-lighted and have a bunch of little conentric circles. That is all he ever saw his brother and sister shoot in competition.

NGH

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #18 on:** June 21, 2011, 12:56:17 PM »

Quote from: no guns here on June 21, 2011, 02:47:31 AM

. Of course then there are the grasshoppers, wasps and assorted other little creepy-crawlies.

NGH

I remember one outing for cubscouts where were were shooting BB guns and there was a fly on my target.
We asked if we kill the fly if we could get extra points. the range officer said yep. i fired and he did not beleive I hit the belive that I hit the fly till we showed him the blood on the target. For years after when ever I saw Bob, worked with at Forestberg scout camp, he called me fly killer.

keith44 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 21, 2011, 09:24:40 PM »

cheap charcoal briquets are a good target, if you have trees, walnuts, pecans, acorns, etc. These can be used if you can keep the BB's from bouncing back (pellets from a stout rifle are best) Bird Decoys (the soft rubber types) are one of my favorite 60 yard targets. If not for the horses I would also suggest bottle tops.

tunnug · « **Reply #20 on:** June 21, 2011, 10:52:22 PM »

when I was a kid we had this ant hill (hole, we don't get hills here) that was in the middle of the yard, I spent a few summers with my BB gun shooting the black ants as they scurried around, the BB's would bounce off the dirt sometimes and go about 20', never had a problem as long as one of my brothers (or anyone else) wasn't downrange.
Also used to take out grasshoppers and ciccadas, so there you go pest control with a Daisy.

IOWA DON · « **Reply #21 on:** June 22, 2011, 09:24:46 AM »

One strong recommendation here: Don't use any target like wood for a BB gun as they can bounce back with enough force to take out an eye. One of my friends was shooting with a BB gun and wore glasses which probably did a good job of protecting his eyes but his mouth was open enough to let a bouncing back BB break part of a front tooth off. I never let my son have a BB gun as I considered then dangerous but instead he started out with a pellet gun. Now I have a Walther PPK BB gun but always wear gogles when shooting it.