Exploding targets banned in federal forest areas

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jimpeel

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Today, the Forest Service declared all exploding targets, such as Tannerite, to be illegal on all federal forest service lands in Colorado.

They held a news conference in Denver to announce this and it affects five states -- Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The main impetus is the ability of these devices to start forest fires.

“Exploding targets have started at least 16 wildfires since 2012 on Forest Service lands in 8 western states, with 7 of those fires occurring in the Rocky Mountain Region causing the federal government to spend approximately $33.6 million in suppression costs,”
-- U.S. Attorney’s Office release.
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SOURCE

Exploding targets banned in Colorado forests due to wildfire concerns

Posted on: 11:22 am, August 5, 2013, by Web Staff, updated on: 12:47pm, August 5, 2013

f caught using an exploding target, the user can face a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment of not more than 6 months.
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Why people can’t figure out not to shoot flammable targets in time of drought is beyond me. So they have to pass a law.

One year, a year of severe drought, the National Guard range at which we were having a XTC match, was very crunchy. While we civilians were using match bullets, on the range to the right, GI’s were shooting tracers through their SAWS. Tracers are so much more fun than ball. They set the woods on fire and we civilians got kicked off.
 
I personally wouldn't use an exploding target on public land, ever. Seems like common sense to me, they just cause too much damage.

Not to mention currently here in CO, where one spark can ignite half the state.
 
Today, the Forest Service declared all exploding targets, such as Tannerite, to be illegal on all federal forest service lands in Colorado.
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There will be an outcry, but few people will listen.

They've been banned on most public lands in the rest of the western states for at least 2 to 5 years (decades in a few states). The rest have had temporary restrictions for fire season.

And, even though most of the targets are not incendiary (or even produce only water vapor), I don't care. 95% of the people I have seen using exploding targets on public land have been doing so with the target strapped to something that IS flammable - in an attempt to get a big fireball or explosion. ...and that's even with the ban or temporary restrictions in place. :rolleyes:
 
Somehow, this doesn't upset me. If your range lets you use tannerite, cool (I bet it's a blast) but it's ridiculous that this should even have to be a law. Maybe they only produce water vapor, but isn't there still heat and pressure directly at the blast? It's something you'd think you just wouldn't want to shoot off on public land, especially during a drought.
 
Just like people shooting holes in highway signs....sometimes the gun people just shoot themselves in the foot with their lack of common sense. A bunch of friends and I went to an area of BLM land to shoot on a regular basis some years back. We congregated on a barren patch of dirt and had a ball. We would rake up our mess and always leave the area cleaner than we found it, but when we returned we would find another mess every time. We would come back to shot up cars, TV's, major appliances, etc...
Now the area is closed for shooting....
 
The public range I shoot at has also banned it,along with 50 cal and shotgun other than slugs. I understand people wanting to shoot more than just plain paper. Me---- I am just happy I have a Free Public Range to go to, So rules are just something you deal with. I have no issues complying with them.
 
Just like people shooting holes in highway signs....sometimes the gun people just shoot themselves in the foot with their lack of common sense. A bunch of friends and I went to an area of BLM land to shoot on a regular basis some years back. We congregated on a barren patch of dirt and had a ball. We would rake up our mess and always leave the area cleaner than we found it, but when we returned we would find another mess every time. We would come back to shot up cars, TV's, major appliances, etc...
Now the area is closed for shooting....
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Who are those people? They're everywhere and the act the same way in every location.

Even at the little park near my house. People would enjoy a nice picnic and then walk away leaving all their trash - despite there being a trash can 10 feet from where they sat.
The park district solved the problem - but to do it they had to remove the picnic tables, the functional equivalent of closing the shooting area.
 
LewSchiller said:
Even at the little park near my house. People would enjoy a nice picnic and then walk away leaving all their trash - despite there being a trash can 10 feet from where they sat.
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Every park in Chicago has numerous metal trash cans clearly marked for disposal of charcoal from grills... and yet so many people don't bother to use them. And the idiots who don't bother to use them usually dispose of their charcoal in the worst possible way - they dump the hot coals at the base of a tree. I've seen people walk right past the charcoal cans to dump the coals on a tree that's farther away. Eventually this kills the trees, and the Park District has to cut them down and plant new ones that will likely meet the same fate.

I suppose it's just a matter of time before they ban charcoal grills from the parks. Idiots always ruin it for everyone else.

At an outdoor range in Indiana I go to there are overhead concrete barriers to keep flyers from leaving the range, these are pockmarked from people shooting at them, apparently on purpose. Last time I went there I noticed most of the pockmarks were patched, and a new sign was up warning there would be a $50 fine for shooting at them. You would think this wouldn't be necessary...
 
Speaking of which...whatever happened to the youtube gun guy. "I'm a professional Russian," who was arrested using tannerite?
 
FPSRussia? I wonder what did happen to him. I thought he was arrested for things like Post-86 automatic shotguns and such. He claimed in the video where he shot the massive amount of tannerite that it was under an explosives license.

That's a whole other thread.
 
Well there's This guy who detonated 100 pounds of the stuff and set off seismic sensors in the Nuclear reactor 5 miles away. While possibly a prohibited person.

Though what I'm waiting for is the suit from Tannerite itself. According to their website Tannerite absolutely cannot start a fire, as it consumes the oxygen, to the point of even suppressing fire.
 
In 45+ years of blowing up stuff i've started a lot of fires. Tannerite makes a nice fireball when detonated; therefore it will start fires.
 
All exploding target material is on borrowed time. It's on the Fed's radar, and you'll start hearing IED on the news sooner or later. It's a shame... But it's coming.
 
In 45+ years of blowing up stuff i've started a lot of fires. Tannerite makes a nice fireball when detonated; therefore it will start fires.
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When I used Tannerite brand Tannerite, I saw no fireball. I saw a plume of dust. Their website contradicts the above statement. While I believe if you try hard enough you can in fact create fire with Tannerite, I've got to go with their website that Tannerite- in and of itself, when used as directed- does not start a fire.
 
The feds say that Tannerite starts fires. Tannerite, of course, has publicly denied this in a press release posted on The Truth About Guns. Then again, the California Riverside County DA has decided that Tannerite, when mixed (it being a binary explosive) is a prohibited explosive device under California law, and prosecutions are occurring, despite the fact that these materials, including Tannerite itself, are widely sold in the state. Some of Tannerite's release language, though, is very "hedged" shall we say, stating that use of Tannerite in the recommended 1/2 or 1 lb doses will not start a fire, but that "misuse" of its product can cause fires and injuries. I think FPSRussia, as mentioned above, provide this pretty conclusively when he destroyed a car--but I think he used 500 lbs.
 
As I said earlier, anyone who really works at it could probably start a fire with Tannerite. While Tannerite by itself is an oxygen inhibitor, If you wrap it around a tank and drum of oxygen and gasoline with a flint and steel mousetrap, you can probably start a fire. That would also probably be considered "misuse" to use it as a 100 yard "remote trigger".

And Disclaimer for anyone: I really cannot stress enough that in no way am I suggesting anyone do anything even half as incredibly stupid as this would be.
 
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