How do you keep it fun?

[BigJ]

I absolutely love shooting in general, and shooting my rimfires in particular.

But I've reached a point where popping holes in paper has started to lose it's charm. That next 1/8" in accuracy isn't worth to me the cost required in ammo or equipment upgrades.

I can't be the only one who feels that way, so my question is how do you keep it fun?

I understand where we all live will dramatically affect the answers, but for those of us who live in a city, who's local ranges allow paper targets only, where there's a steel plate at 100 or 200 yards, where shooting in our backyards would get us thrown in jail...I'm talking realistically here; how do you stay interested in and find excuses for grabbing your favorite rimfire, where do you head out to, what games do you play or what matches to you attend ... ?

[uxo2]

Ground Bouncing Impact Seal Reactive Targeting

http://doalloutdoors.com/targeting.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbt4itSmhIg

Burro Canyon

[mkane]

We have a range in our frontyard and mix it up quite a bit. ARA is our target of choice. Aspirins, Necco wafers, plastic army figures, 'Tannerite'. All sorts of stuff. The Racoon that won't leave our fruit trees alone, the fox that's ****s on the porch.

['ol shooter]

I have never been one to shoot at paper much, except for sighting in a new build, of course. We have lots of empty water bottles , pill bottles of various sizes, all water filled and placed at various distances. We also use potatoes, which explode nicely when hit, and provide the local wildlife with easy pickings. I am a dyed in the wool plinker, I like accurate guns so I can hit what I aim at , but still plinking while I do it. I change up calibers and switch from rifle to handgun, too. Good shooting.

[Jpzum]

Los Altos rod and gun club has a tin can range and allows rapid fire for .22 rimfire. It might not be too exciting. But you can shoot tin/aluminum cans or plastic bottles up to 1 gallon in size. It's probably not as fun as shooting on private property or the desert or something, but it isn't paper either. It's above Saratoga on skyline blvd not too far from HWY 9. So pretty near San Jose. It's nice up there. Either that or if its starting to bore you, maybe take a break for a little bit? I'd love somewhere locally to shoot on private land or something, where I could rapid fire and maybe shoot steel or other fun targets. The tin can range is something different. It's 40 yards, though, so it is a pretty long shot for a handgun. The cans will dance a little, so that is a little more than a hole in paper. You can fill your targets with water. So I'd say its pretty cool. They have a trap range, too. So bring a shotgun. Cans and trap. It ain't paper.

[SaD Guy]

Bowling pins. You can do a lot with them. Takes quite a beating too.

Stake it on the ground or drill holes to hang them up.

[yelohamr]

Getting random people to hold the targets.

[USMC VET]

Steel targets are a lot of fun

[jthesby]

Usi in Concord has small bore silhouette matches. Heck think they are this Saturday. Check out their website.

[rice_man]

Mix it up - shoot different calibers. Shoot with different people. There have been a couple Calguns meet ups I've been trying to eventually get to. I imagine meeting and shooting with new people would be fun for the social aspect of it.

[pennys dad]

Great topic!!

Here are my past, current and future variations.

I earned my Appleseed Rifleman patch (took me 3 full Appleseed and mant practice sessions).
I then practiced the skill and took on the task of becoming an Appleseed instructor.
Since I got my patch with a scope, I worked to shoot with iron sights.

Participated in several Rimfire Steel plate challenges and decided I could develop one.

Used Appleseed skills with a rimfire rifle and applied them to a centerfire rifle and applied that to distances, using only stock ammo and stock rifles.

Tried my hand at 1903's, Garands and .30 Carbines - didnt like them to much. Went back to ARs and M1A's.

Worked on a mobile, easy to deploy, long lasting target base and backer setup. Tested with Rimfire and Centerfire, pistol and rifle.

Started working on rimfire and centerfire pistol, while maintaining centerfire and rimfire rifle.

Worked on and currently deploying Women on Target shoots. Planning long term effort and mobile effort.
Got NRA RSO and rifle instructor certified, working on pistol.
Working on deploying NRA Club champion shoot.
Working on deploying Ruger rimfire shoot.
Still instructing Applessed and Women OnTarget.
Instructing at a Known distance Appleseed next weekend.
Thinking through 3 man team tactics, starting with rimfire.
Attending local Calguns Shooting Sports Assoc. shoots.

[SonofWWIIDI]

These are pretty fun. And if you look around, there are some more realistic zombie targets available.

http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/DarkoticTargets.aspx

http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Targets/TargetDetails.aspx?ProductID=b545fd10-a522-470e-9630-7fa712b212f3

http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Targets/TargetDetails.aspx?ProductID=dfaa7a48-4267-4e15-8f53-32eeaf23119c

With these, each shooter gets a row, five shots per circle, most hits wins. If you miss and hit an opponents target, they get that point. Can get difficult at distance, especially with a pistol.

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0001236325

Good luck!

[darmog]

Los Altos rod and gun club has a tin can range and allows rapid fire for .22 rimfire. It might not be too exciting. But you can shoot tin/aluminum cans or plastic bottles up to 1 gallon in size. It's probably not as fun as shooting on private property or the desert or something, but it isn't paper either. It's above Saratoga on skyline blvd not too far from HWY 9. So pretty near San Jose. It's nice up there.

+1^^

That's where I go to shoot rimfire. No worries about getting yelled at over the PA when shooting rapid fire at the 1 gallon milk containers with the .22lrs. Just unload.

[SonofWWIIDI]

Also, one of the indoor range games we play is this.

Take whatever pistols you have, three or more, at indoor ranges, five is probably the max.

Load three rounds in each magazine. Do not insert into the mag well.

Line them up, someone say go, and load the gun, charge, aim and fire (5inch spalttering targets) as rapid as the range will allow. Move to each gun as fast as safety will allow. Most shots on target wins, if you time it, lowest time also takes a spot, then lowest time + most shots on target wins another.

[David13]

Do something else for a while.
Shooting is not the only thing in my life.
dc