The Freedom of Plinking

Plinking ... or Informal Target Shooting is a form of outdoor recreational shooting whereby the enthusiasts are merely looking for a little more freedom when using firearms in rural / deserted areas, as per the Wikipedia article on Plinking: ''Plinking in general allows a shooter much freedom of choice in creating his or her shooting experience. In particular, the plinker is set at liberty from the very restrictive rules found at many gun ranges.'' - the most common target being a tin can, ie: Soft Drink, Soda or Beer and even tinned food cans!

In most countries this is an okay thing to do as long as you are not trespassing on private property and exercising some safety to ascertain that you are not sending ricochet bullets in the direction of people, property or animals and also your own safety.

A typical Plinking target - these are actual products called 'Spinners'

Shot to hell ... an old disused piece of junk now used as a Plinking target

 

To prevent Plinking becoming the next thing your government wants to regulate, follow some basic safety;

• If in an area where you are not sure if others are around (woods, forrests, hills etc) yell out a warning before shooting,
• Wear some safety gear - mainly shooting glasses,
• Do not trespass on someones property! This will be annoying to them and may get the Police involved,
• Don't place a target in front of rocks or other solid objects - make sure there is an adequate backdrop,
• Don't dress in full military camo or black tactical gear - it's just too suspicious and draws attention,
• Clean up your area after the session - Don't litter or leave a mess, again this will draw criticism to Plinking but mostly to shooting sports culture as a whole,
• Check out the area, just use common sense and make some good judgements before starting

 

Large bore rifle shooters use thick steel plates and 'Plink' from very long distances, the steel will return a loud Plink sound confirming a hit - check out the video at the bottom of the post. Steel plate plinking can also involve penetration tests whereby the shooter has the right documents to allow the purchase of Armour Piercing ammunition or sometimes 'Copper Washed' ammunition that holds some convincing when it hits the armoured target compared with standard 'Ball' ammuniton, again, this is only for interest sake - these people are Not criminals they just want to see the effects on steel etc.

 

 

An old drum can - probably an old paint tin used as a target - the entry holes look like Rimfire ammunition but could also be .223   In some cases it would have had a printed target or hand drawn target attached to the front

 

A home made plate on chains - note the shooter used a powerful firearm on the far right middle which penetrated the plate.The fact that the plate is hanging loose on chains and not fixed will prevent ricochets and dramatically reduces risks (now how do I convince the UK police with this FACT)

I hope that one day Plinking can be seen as a innocent form of recreational shooting and not so alienated as it is (well it is pretty much non existent and if done in the UK I bet its very underground)

If anybody knows how to get the government and local authorities involved in supplying a designated area outside every major city in the UK where Plinkers can go for a shoot, please comment, it is something I would seriously like to see happen in the future - I know it would be a major H&S pain the the crack but why not try?

For those overseas who'se governments still have not taken away all of their rights, well have fun next time you go out plinking! and also have a minute of silence for us poor UK shooters!  ;)

 



 

Long Range Steel Plinking video:

(hey I know these are Centerfire rifles and not Rimfire - just watch and shut up!)  ;)