pew pew pew

August 18, 2011 7:22 PM

What is the most fun thing to shoot a gun at?

My friend's bachelor party is this weekend and part of the plan includes a trip to an outdoor firing range where we are permitted to bring anything (pots, pans, produce, etc.) that we would like to shoot at. I'm not a big gun person myself, but it seems like if someone offers you this, you should probably take them up on it. So, any suggestions? Extra Super Mega Bonus Points if it's bachelor party specific (something to symbolize his single days?) without being weirdly sexist or offensive. I'm coming up totally blank here. A wide variety of firearms are available for our use.

posted by troublewithwolves to sports, hobbies, & recreation (37 answers total)

Watermelons.
posted by taff at 7:22 PM on August 18, 2011 [2 favorites]

Ooooh, and water balloons filled with paint or food colouring...sit them beside some paper....could be some cool designs.
posted by taff at 7:27 PM on August 18, 2011

Old CRT television sets.
posted by cazoo at 7:33 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Glass.
posted by Mid at 7:33 PM on August 18, 2011

I love soda cans that have been totally shaken up.
posted by TooFewShoes at 7:34 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

exploding targets. can be combined with most of the above for more awesome.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 7:38 PM on August 18, 2011

Centipedes. Worms.

Old books.

Apples

Oranges

Grapefruit

Eggs

Pineapple

Ballistic gel
posted by dfriedman at 7:45 PM on August 18, 2011

I once shot a 2 gallon jug of detergent from 4 feet away with 12 gauge buckshot. I have shot many odd things, this was by far the most satisfying.
posted by jnnla at 7:56 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I vote for plastic (soap) bottles filled with water. When I was a kid we shot at empty beer cans, but in hindsight I think that's just because there were so damn many of them around the house.

Textbooks might be fun, if the bachelor in question has a history with any particularly funny class.
posted by bilabial at 7:56 PM on August 18, 2011

Cans of spray foam insulation are tops.
posted by Sternmeyer at 7:59 PM on August 18, 2011

EZ Cheez. Silly String.
posted by rlk at 8:04 PM on August 18, 2011

Get hollow point bullet and shoot at anything that is "full" - sodas - watermelons - grapefruit - water bottles.
posted by alfanut at 8:08 PM on August 18, 2011

Nthing soda cans
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:18 PM on August 18, 2011

Keyboards and adding machines.
posted by magicbus at 8:21 PM on August 18, 2011

Yup, shaken soda cans blow themselves to bits. Totally satisfying target.
posted by Dasein at 8:23 PM on August 18, 2011

Meat. Go to the meat counter at Stop & Shop and ask for a large saran-wrapped parcel of meat scraps. Ours came with "OFFICIAL POLICE MEAT" written on it (we were shooting at the police range) but yours may not. Go make exit wounds.
posted by nicwolff at 8:29 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't know anything about this, but if you can get your hands on tracer ammunition, pill bottles filled with gasoline make for some very satisfying shots.
posted by griffey at 8:38 PM on August 18, 2011

cazoo: "Old CRT television sets."

Did this. We brought with us several extension cords. If you can plug them in (TVs or old CRT Screens) they make for nice explosions. (Also tossing them out of a third story window while plugged in works too.)

Pots and pans make loud noises when hit. Could draw pictures or slogans on the bottom to shoot at. Also, prizes for target shooting accuracy can be fun. Depending what you are doing afterwards, first lap dance free for target champ type of prizes work.

Didn't see it, but heard about a doctor who got a hold of some huge silicone implants that we shot at.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 8:43 PM on August 18, 2011

soda cans filled with sand or gravel. you'll get to see how they get blown out in the back. we used to go to a roadside range in the nevada desert that had tons of empty shells everywhere. we'd fill cans with those and then plink 'em with a .22 from 25-50 yards.

i would not use anything flat like pots or pans due to the danger of ricochets.
posted by rhizome at 8:52 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Continuing the 'filled cans' theme - shaving cream containers.
posted by hydrobatidae at 9:07 PM on August 18, 2011

For larger caliber guns up to 12ga slugs, water filled plastic milk jugs explode nicely.

For .22 rimfire, I like potatoes. They pop! Into smaller pieces, which gets progressively more challenging. And they're cheap.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:17 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

2 liter bottles of soda. Bags of cheese puffs.

Tickle Me Elmos.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 9:27 PM on August 18, 2011

Propane tanks. Full. A pallet full. Especially when you're with someone with a Barrett .50 and a box of API ammo. Just make sure they're pretty far down range. It's magical.

There used to be a place called "The Bullet Stop" or some such around here. You could put pretty much whatever you wanted down range, and rent some pretty fun toys. For a couple of years, every Interop, the HP guys would bring some particular chest-freezer sized line printer, rent tommy guns, and go to town.

Good times.
posted by kjs3 at 9:38 PM on August 18, 2011

Like dfriedman suggested, ballistic gel might be a fun way to have a "whose gun is the most powerful" contest. You can buy the real stuff (expensive) or make your own from cheap stuff from the supermarket and bring it with you.
posted by wondercow at 9:41 PM on August 18, 2011

Zombies.

Or those targets of zombies. I once used a shotgun to cut one in half. It was like living in my own Romero film. Usually shooting paper isn't that enjoyable, but you print a zombie on it and I could shoot it for weeks.
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 9:42 PM on August 18, 2011

If one of the guns is an AR-15 then you can get this barrel attachment, load the magazine with blanks, and then launch golf balls at high velocity.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 9:49 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Plastic milk jugs, filled with different colors of jello (I grew up on 20 acres...my brothers and I did this sort of thing regularly).
posted by bienbiensuper at 10:43 PM on August 18, 2011

Shoot thick books (I suggest motel bibles, but textbooks or telephone directories work too). Here's why - when you shoot paper targets at a range or even watermelons or something outside, you basically never get to get what the actual bullet ends up looking like! I had been shooting at indoor ranges for ages and never really seen one. They get stuck in books and you can pull apart the pages and pull them out, and it's awesome to see!

Also shoot a bowling pin. The plastic skin parts to let them into the wood and then sort of closes up, so they can take a lot before they fall apart, and you get a cool bulging and heavy bowling pin that rattles!
posted by crabintheocean at 11:00 PM on August 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Whatever you do, do NOT shoot bowling balls. Especially not with 9mm rounds. They come back at you, slowly enough to see, and hit your friends if they're standing next to you. Which is why one friend and I can say that another friend "shot us with a 9mm in the chest". It was just a ricochet, but hard enough to stick in our clothing.
posted by notsnot at 3:04 AM on August 19, 2011

I once set up a firing range with a bunch of old glass Christmas tree balls in my back yard; they were bright enough to stand out easily and shatter nicely when hit. These targets look fun as well. And this is a classic paper target.
posted by TedW at 5:48 AM on August 19, 2011

Propane tanks are awesome to shoot at.

DO NOT DO THIS.
posted by blue_beetle at 5:51 AM on August 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

A computer that's been making your life/work hell for the past couple of years. Link to when my friend did this.
posted by Pallas Athena at 6:28 AM on August 19, 2011

Hm. As a gun guy guy and a pseudo-environmentalist, there are some suggestions in here I need to argue with.

Don't shoot CRT's, they're full of bad, bad things, and really they're not that impressive. Same with expanding foam (Great Stuff). Really, don't shoot any old electronics at all.

Second, it seems really weird to me that they'll let you shoot at "anything", but suggestions would be easier if we knew what you were shooting WITH.

Full 2 liter bottles or milk jugs are great, and forget hollowpoints---you want wadcutters. Depending on the range, you can suspend a bunch of these side by side, or singly, or w/e. They're easy to clean up and can be filled with just water or colored water, minimal environmental impact.

Lastly, depending on what you're going to have access to---I think you'll find handguns to be the most satisfying, save for possibly if you have access to a large-bore muzzleloader (50 cal ball with about 180 grains behind it is a good place to start.) Muzzies are also CHEAP to shoot.

AK's/16's/etc aren't really that great in terms of "boom", although cyclic rate of fire can be impressive. Larger caliber automatics will be more "fun", but you'll find that things like a short-clip in a tommy gun will burn through about $10 worth of ammo per clip, with each clip lasting less than 3 seconds. Maybe that's not an issue for you.

You'll find in this little excursion that the greatest cost is going to be ammunition, I assume anyway, and it may surprise you.
posted by TomMelee at 7:24 AM on August 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

9 MM rounds are probably the best balance of "boom" and cost.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 7:32 AM on August 19, 2011

Not quite this, really, but... Perhaps hang some of his most bachelor-ish clothes on a stand, fill the clothes with watermelons or food-coloring filled baloons, etc.
posted by leapfrog at 8:11 AM on August 19, 2011

Tannerite. Goes boom when you hit it.
posted by Mars Saxman at 10:19 AM on August 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Tannerite for sure. The only thing more fun than shooting targets filled with tannerite is shooting targets stuffed with a metric buttload of tannerite.
posted by The GoBotSodomizer at 1:58 AM on August 20, 2011