turkey silhouette that comes in handy when checking the pattern of your tur- key shotgun. They even work well for testing coyote shotgun loads. Commercial reactive targets work
well at ranges from 50 to 200 yards, but beyond that, I prefer to use homemade varieties. One of my favorites is a simple metal gong. Lots of ranges have them; when you hit them you get positive audible feedback from the bullet strike. But painting a gong target black (really any color works) before shooting at it allows you to see each bullet strike. The Phoenix Rod and Gun Club has a 500- yard range; every Friday morning a few of us get together to shoot at that range. Most of the shooters shoot at paper targets on a conventional competition target. After each shot someone in the target pit pulls the target and “discs” the target – placing a white disk with a post into the bullet hole, then raising the target. While they do that, I shoot at a number of gongs – my favorite being a 20-inch diameter round metal target. I spray the target black, then put a 3-inch orange circle in the center. Bullet strikes appear as white splashes. You also can use white paint; bullet splashes then appear as dark circles. The first shot at my 500-yard tar-
get is the most important. I try to read the wind and determine how much to hold for wind deflection. Normally there are two wind flags – one at 200 yards and the other at 300 yards. How- ever, the Phoenix Rod and Gun Club range is a bit tricky, as the wind flags sometimes will blow one way but the bullets deflects in a different direction.
This range, like many others, has a number of high berms that tend to dis- rupt and hide the wind. For that reason, I also like to shoot in the desert, where I can shoot under a variety of different topographical conditions. If you have access to a place where
you can shoot at long range, then a metal target works wonderfully. On our
property in Colorado I have a 20-inch metal gong that I hang from a tree. On my property there I can leave the target at the base of the tree and not worry about someone taking it. But if you shoot on public land, you can’t do that, and if you have to lug such a target any distance on foot, it can be a lot of work. The solution in this case comes from
For long-range shooting, you can make your own reactive target by covering cardboard with black plastic and spray painting it white.
Shooting a 22 rimfire is better than not shooting, and this reactive target is perfect for shooting practice.
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