I'm for the most part a non-popper, and pretty phobic in enclosed spaces or indoor rooms with balloons.
That being said:
I do use balloons as targets on the handgun/rifle ranges. They make excellent reactive targets to show if you've made a hit. Especially at long range. I usually only use the old balloons I purge from my collection that are too unreliable to blow up at home.
I got the idea from Boot Camp. When I was in the Basic Military Qualification course in the Canadian Forces we used these dark green head and body doll balloons (about 4 feet tall blown up). Anyone who did Basic in 2004 or prior will know exactly what I'm describing. We had to blow them up ourselves and place them downrange for our 300 metre C7 rifle qualification.
When you're in boot camp you have absolutely no quiet time or privacy. Your every move is scrutinized and every piece of kit you're issued has to be accounted for. Needless to say I was unable to ever get these balloons for personal enjoyment while I was in because we were only issued 5 per shoot and they all had to be blown up and shot. There was no "sneaking them out" in your pocket or hiding anything. That included ammunition or spent casings and anything else you can think of.
We had some female recruits in our class and it was cool watching them blow up their target balloons. You didn't really have time to enjoy it because if you weren't busy blowing up your own the Corporal would come over and tear a strip off you.
Anyway, with later research I found out they were manufactured exclusively for the Canadian DnD in Quebec by Tilco/Prestige. When Tilco went belly-up of course the Canadian DnD couldn't get them anymore and just discontinued their use altogether rather than find a replacement.
I managed to get a few many years later from a website selling military surplus gear, but they were old and weren't stored properly and couldn't be inflated to full size.
That being said:
I do use balloons as targets on the handgun/rifle ranges. They make excellent reactive targets to show if you've made a hit. Especially at long range. I usually only use the old balloons I purge from my collection that are too unreliable to blow up at home.
I got the idea from Boot Camp. When I was in the Basic Military Qualification course in the Canadian Forces we used these dark green head and body doll balloons (about 4 feet tall blown up). Anyone who did Basic in 2004 or prior will know exactly what I'm describing. We had to blow them up ourselves and place them downrange for our 300 metre C7 rifle qualification.
When you're in boot camp you have absolutely no quiet time or privacy. Your every move is scrutinized and every piece of kit you're issued has to be accounted for. Needless to say I was unable to ever get these balloons for personal enjoyment while I was in because we were only issued 5 per shoot and they all had to be blown up and shot. There was no "sneaking them out" in your pocket or hiding anything. That included ammunition or spent casings and anything else you can think of.
We had some female recruits in our class and it was cool watching them blow up their target balloons. You didn't really have time to enjoy it because if you weren't busy blowing up your own the Corporal would come over and tear a strip off you.
Anyway, with later research I found out they were manufactured exclusively for the Canadian DnD in Quebec by Tilco/Prestige. When Tilco went belly-up of course the Canadian DnD couldn't get them anymore and just discontinued their use altogether rather than find a replacement.
I managed to get a few many years later from a website selling military surplus gear, but they were old and weren't stored properly and couldn't be inflated to full size.
Comment