Shelly B. lives in Ocala, Florida, and one afternoon she heard gunshots and glass breaking at her home.
She immediately called 911 and police responded to her house.
Police located bullet holes throughout the house and rounds that appeared to be fired from an AK-47.
Turns out that someone nearby was shooting targets in their backyard.
Deputies were able to determine the bullets were coming from a house more than a mile away.
The man who was shooting in his backyard had created dirt berms to stop the bullets, but they obviously weren’t working.
“The berm compromised so it wasn’t as sturdy as it should’ve been, which is why the bullets were going through and ended up hitting this woman’s home,” said a spokesperson for the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.
Police added the person who was shooting in their backyard didn’t intend to harm anyone.
No charges were filed against the shooter since they weren’t intentionally being reckless.
Police told the shooter that he wasn’t allowed to shoot in his backyard until he fixed the dirt berms or charges would be filed.
Now, target shooting is something I enjoy, and it’s great for keeping your skills sharp.
But it can be hard to find the time to drive to the shooting range, and expensive to buy targets to use at the range.
Plus, shooting zombie or bullseye targets can become rote and boring, which is why I often like to use homemade shooting targets.
So, here are a few homemade targets that make your shooting time more fun.
Watermelons:
Depending on where you shop, a watermelon can cost less than $10, inexpensive enough for a target you can use repeatedly.
Plus, a watermelon is biodegradable, so you don’t have to worry about picking up every little piece of watermelon.
And a watermelon can show you how well the bullet penetrates and how large of a wound cavity it creates.
So, next time you go to the outdoor shooting range it’s worth taking a few watermelons (if they allow it).
Paper plates:
Paper plates are cheap and easy to customize, and they give you near endless possibilities for your training.
For instance, you can draw numbers or a tic-tac-toe board on them, or tape things like hard candies to the plate.
In addition, you can staple playing cards or other things to the plates.
Or you can simply use the paper plate alone to mimic the center mass of a bad guy.
Balloons:
Balloons are another inexpensive homemade target.
The best thing about balloons is that you can let them move as much or as little as you want.
For instance, you can tape the balloon to your backstop.
Or you can tie a string to the balloon and let it move around a little.
It would be a moving target that would make shooting a little harder but would be good training.
Also, you can put baby powder inside the balloon to create a smoke effect when the balloon is shot.
The bottom line is that homemade targets are fun and let you get creative while you train.
Of course, the most important thing when using homemade targets is to make sure you have a safe backdrop.
