Range etiquette, clay targets

[guninhand]

Just wondering if there is a consensus, what do you folks think of using sporting clays targets on range berms or gravel pits for target practice with bullets. Is it a no-no because of the broken pieces & unsightly mess left over or OK cause it's just clay on top of clay,( or some variant of common dirt)?

Any difference if targets are biodegradable?:confused:

[bisley45]

at the range I went to before I moved to the country had a rule that nothing but paper targets were to be used but I see no problem with it myself just my 2 cents

[alamogunr]

I just joined a range early this month and one of the rules is "No Clay Targets".
As it was explained to me, not everyone picks up the broken pieces. That is another rule: You leave the range with everything your bring in. Seems to work fairly well.
This range is not supervised. When I go on weekday mornings, I have it to myself.

John

[ktw]

Just wondering if there is a consensus, what do you folks think of using sporting clays targets on range berms or gravel pits for target practice with bullets. Is it a no-no because of the broken pieces & unsightly mess left over or OK cause it's just clay on top of clay,( or some variant of common dirt)?

Any difference if targets are biodegradable?:confused:

It would depend on who owns the range facilities.

1) At a developed club range, simply follow their rules.

2) At your own private range feel free to set you own rules. I don't see clay bird pieces as being an environmental problem. In this case the unsightly mess is in the eye of the beholder.

3) At impromptu "range" sites on lands generally open to the public (including state and federal lands, pits on corporate ownerships, a neighbors field, etc) I would consider it bad manners to leave anything you brought with you beyond the buried lead.

I am a manager of large blocks of corporate owned lands. We don't have a problem with people shooting in our borrow pits as long as they don't leave a mess or try to make any improvements. The mess, and the improvements, only serve to attract more people to shoot there. The more people you have using the pit as an unsupervised public shooting range, the more likley you are to end up with a big trash problem. If it looks like a site is going to turn into a trash problem we are inclined to simply close it down to all public access via gates and posting.

-ktw

[NVcurmudgeon]

My former club in CA sold clays to shooters who wanted to shoot them. Nobody picked them up, the leftover fragments made good small .22 targets. The club officials put out the word that clays were bio-degradable and disssolved harmlessly into the soil. (Maybe that's true of only SOME clays?) My present range is the Washoe County owned range north of Reno. Golf balls are a popular target, authorized by the rangemasters.

[Bucks Owin]

Aren't claybirds mainly composed of pitch?

At any rate, I suppose ANYTHING is better than broken glass lying around like you see at gravel pits etc. (IMO, only a "gun slob" would ever shoot at glass bottles etc.) but broken clay bits are, at the least, "unsightly" to me....

Regardless of "Range Rules", I like to pick up any kind of litter that I make, anywhere I shoot. I even pick up my empty rimfire brass...

Tread softly! (It's not hard to do)

Dennis

[Johnch]

At the range I use .
Clay targets are OK .
We just have to rake the backstop after we are done .
They have been shooting trap there for 40 years .
If you dig in the landing area , you will find a fine black "dirt"

I looked on the case I have , it states they are biodegradable .
But not to be thrown where Hogs are ??

Johnch

[KCSO]

Clays are made with pitch and this is bad for hogs. They eat it and die. As long as your range dose'nt cater to hogs you should be all right. Since we shoot trap and rifle on the same range no one minds the clay, we just shoot the leftovers for rifle practice.

[Ed Barrett]

Several companies are making clays out of byproducts of the corn syrup industry. they break as easy or as hard as the clay/pitch kind. The only problem I have found is they don't make good ash trays like the old ones, they sort of melt. I always use them at cookouts since my wife and I don't smoke. Cheap and disposable.
I like shooting at clays on the berm, around here it's the common practice, the little ones about 1.25" across are a bit challenging offhand at 50 yards.

[TCLouis]

Clay targets thrown directly down range or placed on the bottom 1/3 of the berms behind the target stands.
Trust me, most of us use the small pieces of left over clay target for 22 plinking and they are soon reduced to nothing.
The only pigs on our range are some of the members, but that too is changing, BUT there seems to ALWAYS be someone who is a jerk.
Like to be range officer then, as I have no problem addressing the issue in DIRECT PROPORTION TO THE SEVERITY OF THE SAFETY VIOLATION.

Other than safety issues we are a very relaxed range.

I also work on a range once a month and we supply ALL the targets. 5 meters to 800 yards depending on which range. There is also a 1000 yard KD range at the site, but typically the use of that range is limited to High Power matches or practice.

[Char-Gar]

Get some charcoal briquetts and put them on the berm. Smaller, more of a challenge, powder when you hit the, are non-toxic and bio-degradable. Cheap, and make great plinking targets.

[guninhand]

Those are pretty comprehensive responses. I'll bring them up at our next club meeting and we'll vote on ithe policy.