# Targets, simple yet easily transported in small vehicles.



## Steve40th (Mar 7, 2013)

Daughter and I went plinking and used some soda bottle that deserved to be popped, pun intended. But, I think hearing a metal "tink" every time you hit a target is very rewarding too. I need to make up some targets I can put in my little Corolla trunk. 
Suggestions, pics, etc would be great.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Although I'm sure that all of today's soda bottles are plastic, I still feel compelled to point out that you really shouldn't shoot at glass bottles.

Broken glass is very hard to clean up, and is very attractive to birds and small animals. When they ingest it, it kills them most unpleasantly.
Plastic bottles make safer targets, and they're much easier to clean up, since they don't shatter.

• Fill a narrow plastic bottle with water. It will burst, when hit by almost any self-defense-worthy pistol bullet. It's very satisfactory to see, but the resultant bottle is still easy to pick up.
• Clay shotgun targets are excellent for pistol-skill training, since they're small. They shatter when hit. Best of all, you don't have to clean them up at all. They just melt into the soil.
• A steel "duelling tree" is good practice for two shooters together, and it doesn't take up much car space. But they are expensive!
• A steel disc supported by a couple of lengths of chain, hung from a rebar tripod, should be easy to make and not very big. It would be expensive to buy one, though.

When I was teaching my daughter to shoot, we used lots and lots of clay targets. They're pretty cheap, bought by the case.
We started her with a single-shot rifle, up very close. As she became progressively better and better at breaking them, we moved her back, a couple of yards at a time. At 50 yards, they're very challenging. Try it and see.

For precision pistol practice, mount a clay target at the vital point of a cardboard silhouette. When it's hit, move the shooter back a couple of yards and do it again. Keep moving back.
The beauty of this is that you can see where your misses are going, so you can lean to correct your own technique. And there's the reward of the dust cloud raised by a hit.


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## Sandibeach (Apr 30, 2012)

Steve- you are considered by some to be a real stickler or (pitb), however, I have to say "Thank You" for caring. Glass does look terrible and very irresponsible. Nothing makes an area look less attractive than a bunch of broken glass. I suggest shooters go into a second hand stores and buy pot lids that are in my town in abundance and shoot the heck out of them. You can usually pick them up pretty reasonable and they last quiet awhile. When your through just recycle.


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## Steve40th (Mar 7, 2013)

I was using Walmart branded plastic 1 litre bottle with flavors humans dont consider palatable. LOL
The most important thing my daughter of 12 is learning is safety and technique. But, shooting should also have a little fun involved in it for the shear fact of wasting money on the cost of ammo today.
I will go and search out some good solid metals at the hobby shops and second hand stores. Thanks guys.


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## VAMarine (Dec 25, 2008)

Soup can minus the label were always a favorite growing up.


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