by Spence Dupree
It is said by some that spring fishing starts when the dogwood leaves are the same size of a mouse's ear. The same measurement has special a meaning for shooters as well. It is time to start preparing for that most casual, most relaxing, most fun-overall shooting sport commonly known as plinking and mostly practiced with .22 rifles and handguns. The fine art of plinking started for many of us with the ownership of that first double-deuce. Mine was a used model 55A Remington autoloader. When I finally traded it years later, it had been shot so much that a small hole had been worn through the bolt web.
Much of that plinking time was spent on West Tennessee's wild river, the Hatchie. We spent spring days sinking imaginary navies comprised of floating sticks and a tin can or two. Then there were gum balls harvested from the ground and lined up in rows of charging “soldiers”, only to be picked off one at a time with the trusty .22s.
As I grew older, my love for this most informal shooting sport never diminished. The search for exciting targets never ceased either. Punching paper targets is find if you are sighting in a rifle or pistol, but true “plinking” requires a more active target, one that talks back to you when it's hit.
Of course, when we were shooting into the river, the splash when the bullets struck the water gave excellent feedback - that is, sound and sight, and even shot correction info. Only problem is, I couldn't be on the river whenever I wanted to shoot, so the search for the ideal targets continued. We tried everything from old tennis balls to charcoal chunks. Yes, I'll admit even glass bottles were busted sometimes, but that made too much of a mess and also presented a safety issue.
Well, I think I have finally succeeded in finding the number one, fantastic, incredibly durable target. A product of “Just Shoot Me Products” (JSMP), these targets are made of a material that reseals when penetrated by a bullet. When I asked JSMP's manager, Gary VanHook, just what the material was, he said with a smile, “Or course due to the innovative nature of it, the formula is proprietary. We call it a ballistic polymer, and I can say that it's based on a urethane polymer.”
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