This report covers:
- How it started
- Nature’s targets
- Nature-plus targets
- The blog
- Texas Star
- Rockin’ Rat
- Homemade action targets
- Today’s point
If you shoot you are always looking for targets. Today I want to talk about the things we airgunners shoot at.
How it started
When I was a boy my uncle took my cousin and me on a fishing trip. We didn’t catch many fish, but we did do something else that I really enjoyed. We went to an abandoned quarry and shot his Winchester model 03 .22 semiautomatic.
Winchester model 03 semiautomatic .22 rifle.
Nature’s targets
We didn’t have any place to shoot where we stayed, but in southern Ohio there are several huge deep dugout places called quarries where coal was strip-mined with huge drag buckets. Those buckets are large enough to contain a small house. In these huge pits there are crystal-clear lakes filled with rainwater that is 20 to 50 feet deep. We shot over the lake, from one side of the quarry to the other — a distance that was 100-300 yards. Since the lake was over a mile long we didn’t walk around to put targets on the other side. We shot at dirt clods lying on the far bank!
At the time I was a boy of about 11 and the rifle was a semiautomatic so naturally I got on the trigger and walked my shots into the clods like a machine-gunner. What I didn’t realize until my uncle told me was the 03 Winchester didn’t shoot regular .22 long rifle ammo that cost about $1.25 for a box of 50. This one used special .22 ammo that cost $3.50 a box. In 1959 that was a lot of money! So my uncle wanted me to shoot one shot at a time at the clods, using the rifle’s sights. That was no fun!
Nature-plus targets
Fast-forward to 1977 when BB was assigned to Fort Knox. We lived in government housing and my house, by the luck of the draw, backed up to a wooded gully with no houses beyond. I had just bought an FWB 124 from Beeman’s and it was scoped. I needed a target! In the gully behind my house was a big tree with low-hanging branches.
So I stuck a tin can over the end of one of those branches and proceeded to shoot it offhand from my back door — a distance of 35-40 yards. The can made a delightful sound when hit, so I never had to go down and look to see if I hit it. When it stopped making a sound, I changed it for a fresh can and continued the game. Yes, BB Pelletier used to shoot at tin cans like most of you.
The blog
I started writing The Airgun Letter in 1994 and this blog in 2005. It was extremely difficult for the readers of either publication to share in my shooting action targets, so I started shooting paper targets. Many people who discover my writings on the Internet believe that all I shoot is paper, and these days that’s correct. But it isn’t how I was brought up. I was brought up shooting action targets and plinking — which I now define as shooting natural targets and natural-plus targets.
I shoot at paper so you readers will know the accuracy potential of the various airguns being tested. But shooting at paper isn’t the goal unless you are a target shooter. The goal is to hit what you shoot at — whatever it is. Let’s talk about action targets. We’ll start with the Texas Star.
Texas Star
Texas Star targets at the Texas Airgun show.
Let’s now see how a Texas Star works.
Sig and Air Venturi used to make Texas Stars for airguns. Sig still makes and sells them on their website. They call them pellet- and BB-gun targets, but in the description they tell you to never shoot at one with a BB gun. Sig — HELLO! Come on, it’s called editing.
It seems Air Venturi has stopped selling Texas Stars altogether.
Rockin’ Rat
Another neat action target that Air Venturi still offers is the Rockin’ Rat. I discovered that this action target needs to be hit with some energy to operate. I tried to video shooting it with a Benjamin Wildfire (the now-obsolete pneumatic version of the Crosman 1077) but that rifle didn’t have enough energy to move the target or its paddles. That sounds bad but actually it was good news because I had to move up to a more powerful airgun. It certainly worked when hit by my Diana K98 pellet rifle!
The Diana K98 Mauser was powerful enough to operate the Rockin’ Rat. This action target will even work well with an Avenger or Avenge-X!
Homemade action targets
It seems Pyramyd AIR has taken down the video and report I posted years ago about making a reactive target at home, but here is one that was made by a reader.
Today’s point
The point of this report is, we don’t always shoot at paper targets. I do it to show the potential accuracy of a certain airgun, but paper targets are not the principal thing we shoot. I know reader RidgeRunner shoots at tin cans but what do the rest of you shoot?
Well, pop cans, a dueling tree, and spinners are my main targets.
i use paper for sighting in with my steel pellet trap for pellet guns. paper in my homemade wood frame foam lined steel backed bb trap for bb guns. and for fun with pellet guns it’s various reactive and knockdown targets, i have the rockin rat, as well as a beer bottle, crow, squirrel, and rabbit of the same style. for stick in the ground shoot to reset targets i have the crosman squirrel, the air venturi rat, and a crow. for 1/4” steel silhouette knockdowns i have rat, crow, squirrel, rabbit, and groundhog, all which i painted in appropriate colors, and finally three 1/8” steel mountain lions, painted. oh and a couple three circle spinner sets. i’m sure i’ve forgotten something.
“Winchester model 03 semiautomatic .22 rifle.”
BB,
Wow! That thing is cool! Thank you for sharing the story about it. 🙂
As for targets, we have nine pecan trees out back, so, pecans make for great natural targets.
Blessings to you,
dave
Tom,
Makes sense to use a paper target first to ensure that your projectiles are landing where you are aiming then shifting to others both natural and man made. Too bad we can’t do that before shooting in an arcade for prizes.
Siraniko
PS Maligayang Kaarawan Tom! Happy Birthday Tom!
Siraniko,
Thanks, doc, I can always count on you to remember.
BB
Happy and Blessed Birthday and may the Lord shower you with the gifts of good health and well-being!
Basil,
I receive that!
BB
Siraniko, your memory is awesome!
BB, Happy Birthday to you, and may God bless you with many more. 🙂
Brother dave,
Thank you and I receive that.
BB
🙂
Happy Birthday, Tom!
Happy birthday, Tom!
May your day be most excellent. 🙂
Will S,
Thank you. I receive that.
BB
Happy birthday Tom!
Pinecones are the first thing that comes to my mind (that hasn’t already been mentioned).
Elmer,
Thanks and yes, pinecones.
BB
B.B.
Most important thing is to hit what you are aiming at, or at least see your misses…
Or as one of my buddies says, “Paper don’t lie.”
-Yogi
HB BB!
Yes, I do shoot a lot of feral soda cans as Mrs. RR helps to create these every day by drinking lots of flavored seltzer water.
I also like to shoot at a bunch of small spinners that I made into a shooting tree using a 2X4 stand. It also has a crossbar on top from which dangle empty CO2 cartridges on small rope. There is a row of magnets along the top of the crossbar for using small silhouette targets, but I have not found my round tuit for them yet. 😉
Speaking of shooting, for you folks living in and around Texas, here is an event you really should attend. Maybe one of you will even do a blog about it. Hint, hint.
https://hardairmagazine.com/news/first-annual-luftgewehr-boerne-schutzenfest-2024/
BB,
I also covet that K98 you are shooting at the Rocking Rat.
RR,
I know what you covet. Come to the Pyramyd Air Cup and bring your straight grip Senior and we’ll talk.
BB
The Gamo ‘paper’ targets are superb for airguns. They are closer to cardboard than paper and pellets make relatively clean holes even when fired from low energy guns. The price is lower than for many paper targets, too. They are not ‘regulation’ 10M targets, but they work great at that distance.
Let’s see…’lil FM started by shooting BBs at Coke bottles and land crabs – always with a borrowed BB gun, his Daisy Red Ryder had been “disabled” by Parental Decree. Years later with cousin’s Crosman 38T destroyed some plastic model planes in the backyard at home; recall an F6F Hellcat and a P51 were among the victims – don’t hate on FM too much, ye model builders; he was young, mindless and the models had already suffered damage.
Later graduated to cans, bottles, empty paint buckets, jugs, junk cars and appliances – that was with the Ruger 10-22 rimfire and heavier artillery, such as a 30.06 Model 1903 Springfield and the Model 1863 percussion black powder rifle. Many of these targets were made reactive by filling them with water at the limestone rockpits FM and his band of desperadoes frequented. With the 10-22, rapid-fire sessions were known to happen. 😉
Now, with airguns, it is mostly paper targets but the occasional can, plastic bottle or iguana somehow finds its way in front of the resident airguns’ sights.
While I’m doing more semi-formal paper punching theses days my first love is going on a walkabout and plinking targets of opportunity. The more “reactive” the target is the better the fun!
Organic natural targets like acorns, crabapples, insects, flowers, pinecones are favorites and you can go through a pouch full of pellets in a hurry.
Man made targets like Cherrios, Froot Loops, Honeycomb and various small crackers are great – especially if hung on a string to move in the breeze. Again, organic so they can be eaten by the local critters or compost saving having to cleanup.
Spinners are excellent are they provide instant feed back of the hit and they reset themselves.
There’s nothing as satisfying as hearing/seeing the hit on a tin can and there’s always a couple of them on the shooting range. Tins are easy targets, perfect for warming up before a more serious session.
I plink with all my guns, usually fast shooting at relatively close range. My favorite plinkers are easy-cocking .177 springers like a HW30 or FWB124.
Clear and calm at the moment so I’m off the computer and heading out for some shooting!
Cheers!
“Man made targets like Cherrios, Froot Loops, Honeycomb and various small crackers are great – especially if hung on a string to move in the breeze. Again, organic so they can be eaten by the local critters or compost saving having to cleanup.”
Hank, thank you for that idea. 😉
Hot wheels cars bought in bulk at a flea market. Just the ugly ones.
Always, always started off with paper so I could see where the sights were aimed. Being a member of a marvelous gun club here in North GA, I was able to put out targets at 20, 30, 40 and 50 yards and record the scope settings for the best pellet for each rifle. No squirrels are safe around my bird feeders!
Have a great day, BB. Go treat yourself!
Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA
I am pretty much just a boring old paper purist. I do have one reactive target that I made, just a few spinners attached to the inner walls of a wood framed ductseal trap, but it doesn’t get a lot of use. The other reactive that I have is store bought but I lost interest in it quickly. I think I would enjoy it a lot more if I had the room to shoot it from longer distances. 1″ to 2″ targets don’t offer any challenge at only 16 yards unless it’s a BB gun and they don’t play well with steel targets of course. Good thing I enjoy paper!!
Happy Birthday Tom!!
Bob
B.B.,
Zum Geburtstag!
Lebe Wohl.
I hope you shoot out he birthday candles on your cake.
Candle flames as a target are a favorite of mine.
But for informal shooting nothing beats Teddy Grahams® but only the ones with their paws up! I eat the ones with their paws down.
shootski
Shooting strictly for fun rimfire spinners are my go to for Airguns lately. “Real” guns it’s usually whatever trash is in the back of my truck (it all gets picked up at the end)
I have a quadrant target purchased 14 years back from Steelplinkers. I believe there is a target of the same design called “Action Armor”. It still works great, there are five swinging steel parts, one smaller round one in the center, and four larger squares surrounding, so you can tell by which one swings whether you are left high, right high, left low/high, or hitting the center for the win. No reset required.
Then, right after elections, I pick up the corrugated plastic “yard signs” with their wire standards. Using spray adhesive, I apply paper targets that can be peeled off and replaced. Push the wire stand down in the soil at whatever distance I want to try. That corrugated plastic will take an amazing number of shots before it gets perforated beyond use, then just pull out another sign. If you collect a dozen or so signs, you can be shooting tins of pellets.
Hello Tom, it’s been a while since I have frequented the blog. I do have a reminder set to remember you today though. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Hope you are still in good health my friend.
I still have the Diana 34P that you evaluated for me…I still can’t shoot a decent group with it. I’ve let two other experienced airguners take it and shoot it. They could not shoot good groups with it either. My Gamo Urban is still getting the job done though. I have taken 23 harassing sparrows from my bluebird nesting boxes this spring and summer. We had three successful bluebird fledgings this year. All of my shots were at 30-35 yards with the Urban, and very few misses. The bluebirds are happy, as am I. 🙂
Geo from Otsego, MI
Geo791
Welcome back!
I resemble your love for the Urban. Mine is what I consider extremely accurate. But your Diana 34P is a head scratcher. While not quite as accurate as the Urban it is close providing you hold it the same way EVERY time. The Urban doesn’t much care how it’s held being a pneumatic.
Deck
Thank you Deck, but I don’t think the accuracy of a Diana 34 can hold a candle to the Urban with the hammer forged barrel. I tested the Urban for accuracy when I first bought it six years ago. I shot a group at 30 yards with 28 of 30 JSB 18.13g pellets grouping less than 1/2″. The Urban has been amazing. In the six years I’ve owned it, it has never lost a pound of air, even over the winter months. She’s also dispatched six woodchucks with one shot kills. Hope you are doing well and still shooting straight. :-
Geo
Geo791
Doing well thank you for an old folkster.
The Gamo Urban with the BSA barrel made in UK doesn’t get much commenter kudos on this site except for us. Not only is accuracy competitive with my Avenger, it has the most user friendly magazine I own. It is far handier to carry any distance past my deck.
Deck
BB,
This year I received notice that my CA driver’s license expires on my 77th birthday, this Saturday, and I need to retake the test. Puts a damper on my joy of having evaded the Grim Reaper for another year.
I need to memorize all the rules for driving a motorized bicycle and horsepower limitations once again and try to keep track of all the wrong information they publish in the DMV handbook for surviving on the road riding a motorcycle.
The other day I suggested airgun companies offer more accurate barrels as an option. I was thinking about the bull barrel I have on my Rugger 1022. It has a Tapco Intrafuse T6 Tactical Stock designed to accept one. And today, low and behold, I read about a Karma Red Panda Bench PCP Air Rifle, it basically has a bull barrel, but it is a stock item for this heavy tactical beast.
I place cans on top of my fence T posts at various distances. Action and noise. No neighbors obviously.
Happy Birthday Tom!
I zero on paper, then as much as possible I shoot steel, or at least something reacts to being hit.
Thats why the Gunslynger speed match so much fun. And is my match of choice at the Pyramyd Cup.
It’s interesting to watch the bench rest shooters battling the ever changing wind that is the nemesis of anyone shooting for score on paper.
Sometimes having to hold off one whole target to counteract the wind. Then scoring a 5…. That frustrates me when that happens to me.
Steel is a hit or miss, and instant feedback.
Make it ring, and make it swing!
Ian
Hello Lan,
We have recently found a program on the History Channel on TV. It’s called “Top Shot” and has five seasons available to watch. Anyone who enjoys shooting should love this show. My wife even enjoys it. We have watched three seasons so far and have two more to watch. There are approximately 16 episodes in each season. It’s a competition and the winner goes home with $100k. They shoot everything from flint locks to cannons. Keith Gibson (YouTube creator 68wiskey) was on season 4. He’s won several airgun competitions, like the Rock Mountain bench rest competition. Unfortunately, he was eliminated on one of contests where they had to shoot a grenade launcher at exploding targets! It’s crazy what they have to shoot.
Sounds like the “Top Gear” of shooting – have to give it a watch; thanks for that.
We moved into our current house in 2006. In our backyard is a really large pear tree. Year after year, I’ve tried every single trick that I could find on the ‘net to figure out how to get them to ripen, all to no avail. So, now they are just targets to explode out of the tree with air rifles.
And before you ask, “Have you tried to…” Yes. Yes, I have.
Sean, my father in law had a different problem. His pears would ripen, but before he could pick them, a couple of squirrels would tear them up to get the seeds. He swore they didn’t eat the fruit, only the seeds! Needless to say, he never ate a pear out of that tree. I suggested he try an airgun on this varmints. I bought him a refurbished Beeman R9 from P.A. with a red dot sight to make it a point and shoot affair for him. He never used it and ended up giving it back to me. Still, no pears have ever been eaten from that tree.