It can be frustrating to bring your rifles and handguns out to your favorite range only to find it littered with perforated aluminum cans, shredded milk cartons and soda bottles, popped aerosol cans, and a world of other shooting trash. Beyond it being bad for the environment, it gives shooters a bad name. And it’s every shooting enthusiast’s responsibility to avoid spreading or reinforcing negative stereotypes. So, with your .223 Remington/5.56 NATO, .380 ACP ammo (or whatever you happen to be shooting) from Ammunition Depot, consider the following excellent low-cost, (mostly) biodegradable, and green DIY targets.
Homemade Ballistics Gel
For the more scientifically-inclined shooters among us, why not test the performance of your ammunition with ballistics gel? Consider trying a brand or caliber comparison. “But ballistics gel is so expensive!” you say. Not if you make it yourself. While there’s not enough room for instructions here, it’s cheap, easy, and described by any number of videos and instruction walkthroughs on the internet.
Eggs
Eggs don’t require a whole lot of explanation. They’re eggs. If you haven’t experienced the satisfaction of a chicken egg exploding when tagged by .223 ammo, it’s something you have to try out.
Saltine Crackers
Saltines are a great biodegradable target item because they’re small enough to present a decent challenge at distance. They shatter gratifyingly and a whole lot of them are available for a very little price.
Mints
For a real food-shooting challenge, pick up some of the terrific and inexpensive 9mm ammo for sale from Ammunition Depot and consider putting a bead on some of those after dinner mints. If you pick up the mints with a hole in the middle, see if you can drop a .22 LR ball through the hoop without breaking it! (That might be impossible—but it’s worth a shot.)
Cowbell
A cowbell isn’t “green” as in “biodegradable,” but it’s green because you’re hopefully not leaving it there. A used cowbell can be a great, inexpensive option for shooters who live for the catharsis of the steel ding.
Old Fruit
Fruit, old and inedible being preferable, is a terrific challenge-adjustable target option. For high-challenge, go for grapes and for low-challenge, center those ‘hairs on a pumpkin. You get the idea. Tomatoes are particularly fun.
Load up with the best guns and ammo available from Ammunition Depot, at https://www.ammunitiondepot.com/