By Dave Workman,
Contributing Editor
Photos by Dave and Dacey Workman

Women who look for something besides punching holes in sheets of paper or cardboard to improve their shooting skills should take a hint from the past.

When I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, my dad never took me to a formal shooting range to develop my marksmanship. But there was always a supply of empty tin cans around, and on occasion, he would turn me loose with a .22 rifle or pistol to see how well I could do against a small, reactive target.

The plinking game can still be played today with the same basic materials from yesteryear: Tin cans. Corn, beans and other vegetables are still delivered in heavy cans, and a favorite beverage of modern weight-conscious adults-Slim Fast-comes in containers made from the same thick metal.

My wife is not an active shooter, but on a recent trek to the shooting range to do some gun tests, she rode along and when I put out some tin cans to use as reactive targets, she almost immediately begged to be part of the fun. About 100 rounds later, Dacey was firmly back in shooting trim, with a big smile on her face.
"That was fun. Can we do that again?"

Recreational shooting should be fun, and it should be challenging enough to sharpen your skills in the process. The shooter who can repeatedly bounce a tin can across the ground, or knock them flying from a fence post or rail, is a shooter who can certainly hit something bigger when, and if, the need arises.

What makes shooting heavy tin cans so practical is that they are a target you can easily clean up when the gunsmoke clears.
And allow me to clarify something. I'm not talking about flimsy aluminum soda cans, or pressurized aerosol containers. Pop cans too easily fly apart and make a mess, and pressurized cans are simply dangerous because I've seen them explode when hit by a high-speed bullet.

The empty tin can is a work of art for shooters, and I am reasonably certain that the original designers from the 19th century probably never had it in mind that their tins would be used by everyone from parents to pistoleros to hone their, and their children's, gun skills. Many a cowboy turned an old tin can into a makeshift coffee cup, candle holder or water "glass," but generations of cowboy- and gunslinger-wannabes who first grew up on dime novels, then Tom Mix westerns, and finally Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will Travel and Shane, gave empty tins a higher calling.

For informal shooting that excites and pleases new shooters, and provides instant reward and encouragement each time a can flies through the air, tin can plinking cannot, in my opinion, be beat. Once they're hit and bounced away, they provide a more challenging target at a different range. Being able to repeatedly hit such a target requires shooters to adjust their aim, compensate for changes in distance, and follow the target.

On our recent trek, Dacey tried out a Smith & Wesson Model 66 revolver in .38 Special/.357 Magnum I was testing, while I hammered away with a S&W Model 657 in .41 Magnum. I had both guns for an extended test, and they proved to be very good shooters with a variety of factory ammunition from Remington, Federal, Winchester, PMC, Black Hills and Speer/CCI.

Use Your Carry Gun
Surprising as it may seem, there are a lot of women who have a carry piece and shoot it very seldom, preferring instead to punch targets with a gun more up to that task, or perhaps not practice at all.

Big mistake. For the armed woman who takes her safety seriously, there's no excuse to allow a firearm purchased for self defense to just sit around gathering dust.

Years ago, when I was actively teaching firearms and personal protection, I would challenge students, including many women of varying ages and backgrounds, on this issue. "If you pack that gun to save your life in a pinch, don't you think it would be a good idea to enhance your skill levelwith that gun?"

That question never drew a negative response, and it is quite possible that, whatever else I accomplished through the years of teaching people, I may have created a new generation of plinking enthusiasts.
See, popping tin cans off a log is not just a game for men and children. For women who may be interested in learning to shoot small game, the tin can provides a superb practice target, because it is smaller than a rabbit or grouse, for example. As noted previously, people who can consistently hit small targets generally have no trouble at all when it comes to zeroing in on larger targets.

Right Can For The Job
As I explained, aluminum pop cans are not my first choice for this sort of thing, because they tend to get shot to pieces pretty fast, and once in that condition, they don't stand up because the bottoms get too deformed.

Tin cans are different, in my experience. They will stand still in a breeze, and they will stand up even after being hit. Do I have favorites? Corn and bean cans of the 8-ounce variety are great choices. And more recently, I've taken quite a liking to Slim-Fast containers because once the label is peeled off, they make very bright targets.

The presence of that opener ring on top makes it easy to tie a string to such a can, and hang it from a rod in front of your backstop.

If you get tired of bouncing a can along the ground, try shooting them on a string. And, if you're really a masochist, try hitting the string without hitting the can!

Indeed, the average tin can that most people consider garbage is arguably the most versatile plinking target on the planet. Stack them in pyramids, or in any other arrangement for variation. Lay them on their side, so that you shoot at the end of the can, which is a very small target at any distance beyond ten yards.

For ladies who enjoy the Cowboy Action game, this practice target harkens back to the real Old West, when it really was about the only thing available around the campfire.

Last and certainly not least, remember to pick up all your litter and take it home with you for proper disposal. It is fun to shoot tin cans, but it is simply not acceptable to leave them lying around the range, or the woods.