.22lr and ice cubes.

[STAYFROSTY]

My nephews have been shooting with me a lot lately, 6 &7 year olds. They are getting tired of paper targets. Was thinking of freezeing cups of colored water with string in them to hang for them and ice cubes to hang for me. What would be a safe distance to shoot these cubes and cup sized ice chunks? Cubes would probably not be a issue, but I'm worried about ricochets from the larger ice chunks.
Will be shooting with .22 pistol and rifles. We have been shooting boxes and paper targets at 25 and 30 feet with the pistol.

[todd51]

Frosty, I don't have any experience shooting ice cubes or small chunks of ice but I don't think there would be any danger from shooting them at those distances with a .22 pistol or rifle. I would think they will safely shatter giving you the results you are after. I have at times blown up some small balloons and hung them from strings. Some times I take the time to put a teaspoon of flower in the balloon and that gives a better visual. Golf balls and tennis balls also hung on a cord work well. Always be alert to your down range back stop after those bullets go through the targets. Sounds like fun. Hopefully some one here has some real experience with ice cubes.

[retired grunt]

Also consider charcoal briquettes. they will powder when hit!

[3/2 STA SS]

I would get your standard clay pidgeon put some baby powder on the inside one half and glue another one on top of it. They are easy to see at considerable distance and have the cool factor of the ''smokey powder'' when hit.

[CHW2021]

Balloons, clay pidgeons and charcoal are great safe targets at any range. Tennis balls are fun to chase about on the ground and the steel spinner type are one of the favorites at a greater distance.

[Bindernut]

I would avoid shooting at larger ice chunks with a .22lr. I wouldn't do that at less than 25yds...preferably 50.
No problems with ice cubes though. They make a neat spray...and in the summertime, you gotta work fast before they melt too.

Back when I was a kid, I discovered a rather dangerous but neat trick when we were shooting rabbits one winter day.
DON'T try this at home folks!
I took a shot at a cottontail scooting across a frozen creek from about 10yds up the bank. I was shooting downward at about a 50-60° angle to the ice surface.
I missed the bunny, but afterwards as we crossed the creek, I noticed something dark laying about 4' away from where the bullet hit the ice. It was the bullet (a 40gr solid) I had just fired, completely undeformed from the impact with beautiful micro-groove rifling marks on it. Looked just like you would have fired it into a water trap.
Needless to say, we thought that was neat so we proceeded up the bank and popped a few more rounds down at the ice. All of em rebounded and fell a few feet from where they hit. I don't know how high they were bouncing back but all of em ricocheted after expending most of their energy on the ice. Some of em were slightly deformed but not very much.
I was pretty sure that the bullet should have expanded when hitting that "solid" ice, but water in it's solid state still isn't all that solid.
Now that I'm older and wiser...and having had a few other ricochets zing past me over the years...I know that it was a STUPID move.

As the others have said, clay pigeons, balloons, and charcoal briquettes make excellent reactive targets.
I like the small steel or polymer spinner targets too. You can do a cheaper version of those by stringing some pop cans or steel soup cans on a piece of wire. They dance around pretty good when you hit em and they're self-resetting.
Playing cards also make good cheap targets. Either aim for the whole card, or when they get to be a good shot, make a challenge of aiming for the suits.

[Dan01]

I have a nasty scar and dent in my left shin bone from a 30 06 ricochet..... I shot a cast iron frying pan from 25 yrds or so..... The bullet hit at an angle bounced off a tree trunk and then hit me.....I have since become very alert to possible ricochet conditions.

[Guts3d]

Balloons get my vote as well. Different colors can be blown up less to make them harder to hit, thereby encouraging competition.

[Appliancedude]

you could always take your icecubes crush them up, pack them in your cups and refreeze. That would give you your target but wouldn't have the density of solid ice

[Curlyjoe_99]

do what a previous poster has done.... paintballs glued to a piece of cardboard. no ricochet worries with those. my brothers used to shoot sugar cubes and wooden matches. they started larger and then got smaller and smaller as thier skill progressed. also, the range master where i shoot had some discs that would explode into a white powder whet shot they were about the size of a quarter. another trick for 22lr is to use playng cards. have them shoot the diamonds and clubs on each card. or if they get REAL GOOD, see if they can do an Annie Oakley and shoot the card along the thin side.

BTW: i know that i would never be able to consistently do it.

[permafrost]

Originally Posted by Bindernut

I would avoid shooting at larger ice chunks with a .22lr. I wouldn't do that at less than 25yds...preferably 50.
No problems with ice cubes though. They make a neat spray...and in the summertime, you gotta work fast before they melt too.

Back when I was a kid, I discovered a rather dangerous but neat trick when we were shooting rabbits one winter day.
DON'T try this at home folks!
I took a shot at a cottontail scooting across a frozen creek from about 10yds up the bank. I was shooting downward at about a 50-60° angle to the ice surface.
I missed the bunny, but afterwards as we crossed the creek, I noticed something dark laying about 4' away from where the bullet hit the ice. It was the bullet (a 40gr solid) I had just fired, completely undeformed from the impact with beautiful micro-groove rifling marks on it. Looked just like you would have fired it into a water trap.
Needless to say, we thought that was neat so we proceeded up the bank and popped a few more rounds down at the ice. All of em rebounded and fell a few feet from where they hit. I don't know how high they were bouncing back but all of em ricocheted after expending most of their energy on the ice. Some of em were slightly deformed but not very much.
I was pretty sure that the bullet should have expanded when hitting that "solid" ice, but water in it's solid state still isn't all that solid.
Now that I'm older and wiser...and having had a few other ricochets zing past me over the years...I know that it was a STUPID move.

As the others have said, clay pigeons, balloons, and charcoal briquettes make excellent reactive targets.
I like the small steel or polymer spinner targets too. You can do a cheaper version of those by stringing some pop cans or steel soup cans on a piece of wire. They dance around pretty good when you hit em and they're self-resetting.
Playing cards also make good cheap targets. Either aim for the whole card, or when they get to be a good shot, make a challenge of aiming for the suits.

Bindernut,
It could have been the spin imparted to the bullet from the rifling. I've seen this phenomenon on youtube. The bullet hits the ice and sets there and spins for a long time instead of ricocheting as you would think. I think the spin is melting the ice and allowing the bullet to float and spin on a cushion of water until it's energy is expended. Pretty neat to watch the video's , but I wouldn't try it myself!

[mikld]

Another good .22 target is Necco Wafers. Flat, coin shaped different colored, hard candy about the size of a quarter. Shatter when hit. May be too small, depending on how good of marksmen your nephews are. Besides, you (and the nephews) can eat what you don't shoot at.

I've seen, but not used, regular old eggs for .22 targets. They explode in a shower of goo when hit and are biodegradable...

BTW; I had read somewhere that some Police Depts. used ice to retrieve fired bullets before good safe bullet traps were used. Seems that ice will stop a bullet but not deform it.

[STAYFROSTY]

We are all set for tomorrow! I have set up for an awesome shoot, And CHEAP. bought 3 sticks of 1"by 10 foot pvc($1.43 per 10 foot) , cut them in half at angles. Bought a few IPSC targets and staked two halves of the pvc into the ground target width apart, then zip tied the IPSC targets to them. Made ice cubes with food coloring and strung yarn through them in and out of each cube, 16 cube tray and then cut the string at the end of the tray so it makes two strings of 8 cubes for each tray. Going to set them up for head to head with a buddy. ( I'll smoke him with my mkIII) have ballons and cards and I picked up some buy 2 get 1 free zombie splattering targets at my local shop. They are weird looking but my nephews love call of duty zombie shoot. And one of the targets is Paris Hilton zombie complete with the zombie puppy in the handbag. i also have about 1/3 a case of clay pigeons laying around from last trap shoot. Might work them In some how.

Cheap for targets anyway. 150 rounds of 9mm, 100 of .40 and 525 of .22 was a nice chunk

[todd51]

Sounds like you are prepared for a fun day. Good shooting and enjoy. Don't forget the camera as we would enjoy some photos of everybody having a ball.

[dwdw]

we were shooting bulls eye targets. Had the targets repeatedly in the same spot an then started getting ricochets, the lead piled up in the tree and was like shooting into a rock. A lesson learned about stacking lead using the targets as a funnel! LOL.
dwdw

[ms6852]

Glue paintballs to a poster board, they will enjoy that too.

[Juker]

If you don't have any fruit trees around, you can usually get a bag of apples or potatoes for a lot less than the cost of reactive targets.

Also try a .99 can of red spray paint and a bunch of pinecones - they react marvelously when shot.

[Blackshirts]

99 cent stores have a wide variety of reactive targets.

[langenc]

Yesterday I noticed some clay pigeon remnets laying where they fell.

Unless we rake em up they will still be there about as long as cigarette filters.

Thanks slobs.

[Ledslnger]

I freeze the small gatorade bottles with colored water in them all the time and shoot them. They are round though, not flat (not sure I would shoot at flat ice)and I have never had a ricochet that was even remotely in my direction. They seem to penetrate fairly well. Normally you can see the icy spray out the back and know when you hit. I shoot them at 25 yards all the time with .22s. Shoot them with larger calibers farther out and it is always fun too.

[STAYFROSTY]

It was a lot of fun. Had a great time. Took some pictures, can't upload them here. I only use my mobile phone for these forums. For some reason i can upload them to my profile albums, but it won't let me attach to threads. That goes for other forums than this one also. Weird.

The ice cube challenge was harder than I imagined for the mark III. My trusty crackshot made quick work of them though!! As I posted in the competition forum, we tried some IPSC/IDPA style shooting. That was a BLAST. Would love to take a whack at real competition.
My nephews weren't in marksman moods. Lol. They just wanted to fly through mags as fast as possible. We had a fun, safe , stress free day.

[montveil]

As stated before-one can easily bounce a 22 lr off ice and don't do it.
I used to shoot in an old gravel quarry that had a pond in the bottom. We used to bounce rounds off the water and call our shots in the opposite bank strata. We could get bounces over 50 % of the time. I have also bounced rounds off grass.
The 22 is a round that WILL ricochet easily, especially if hit at an angle so be careful of your backstop when shooting.
I have not had any real significant deflections from any light hanging or free to move targets. The example of the frying pan should be a no-no. There is a U tube video of a guy shooting a 50 cal at a backstop and the round coming back and hitting him in the head--no damage done but watch out for bouncy backstops
When I was a kid, and open dumps were around, the rats were plentiful for night shooting and my dad would strap a 3 cell flashlight on his Mossberg auto and get 1 out of 3-5 rats. One night a guy with a shotgun cornered a rat in a old cast iron bathtub an cut loose, the rat was annihilated BUT the shot curved around the tub an came back and some hit him.
Be very careful with low velocity rounds. A BB gun shot at a wooden backstop at close range will BOUNCE right back at the shooter with painful results and a real possibility of serious eye damage.

[Curlyjoe_99]

+1 to Montveil.... I still have a scar on my left knuckle from when i bounced a BB back at me when i was shooting those old plastic army men set up on some stones and bricks.

Ok i now know i was way too close

[CCHolderinMaine]

Originally Posted by STAYFROSTY

My nephews have been shooting with me a lot lately, 6 &7 year olds. They are getting tired of paper targets. Was thinking of freezeing cups of colored water with string in them to hang for them and ice cubes to hang for me. What would be a safe distance to shoot these cubes and cup sized ice chunks? Cubes would probably not be a issue, but I'm worried about ricochets from the larger ice chunks.
Will be shooting with .22 pistol and rifles. We have been shooting boxes and paper targets at 25 and 30 feet with the pistol.

Shooting ice cubes is a fun reactive target. I hear all the warnings and agree, be careful and wear glasses. But, I've shot ice cubes from [I]much[I] closer than 25 feet, with no issues. That being said, I'm talking cubes or very small frozen cups full. I wouldn't shoot a large chunk of ice close up. Apples are a favorite for my family. A big bag is pretty cheap, and hot .22 loads blow them up nicely.

[Oneida Steve]

I've posted before that used tennis balls hung on 3/0 fish hooks and wire are my favorite .22 target. The tennis balls bounce nice when hit and will take dozens of shots before falling apart. No danger of ricochet, no pieces left on the ground, and the whole thing can be tossed out when you're done.