Local Gun Club and Steel Targets

C

CalmerThanYou

New member
My local private gun club has steel installed for rimfire and pistol caliber firearms only at 50 yards. I want to present the idea of being allowed to bring my own portable steel target to place at the 200 yard berm. This is not currently allowed.

Any advice on help with making a supportable pitch to the BOD Thanks, Jeff
 
Monday-Thursday it is pretty quiet. Seems to me I would be making fewer line shut-downs to change paper. Wondering if I am missing something safety related. Presently non-club targets are not allowed. It is BYO paper and stapler for their supplied frames.
 
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Is there something about the impact area at 200 that the BoD thinks is incompatible with steel?
That is, the "not allowed" part is related to a specific safety issue, or just a general, "Who knows what some yahoo would shoot at, if we let people bring their own steel"?
 
As any range should be they are hyper-sensitive to safety. Perhaps a bit on the conservative side in general. I suspect it is to be consistent with target options and prevent folks from bringing who knows what they might consider appropriate. I recently saw a nice portable target system at www.ctstargets.com that got me thinking how nice it would be to bring my own and enjoy the satisfaction of plate vs paper. Club was founded in 1941 so change may be unlikely.
 
Present them with the idea of rite of first refusal on targets. That is to say you need your steel target pre-approved by the BOD, but the idea being that if a safe target passes muster it could be added to an "approved" list and could be used.

That way every target is "approved" but you can use your steel target all you want.
 
!! Went to the outdoor club range today and to my pleasant surprise was a 12" steel plate hanging at 200 Yards !! So nice to wrap up a session of paper punching with some shots on steel. Now I will ask If I can bring my own smaller steel target, as that size and yardage yield a 100% success rate with my RPR. But still fun.
 
I asked for, and got approval to set up steel on our HP range (245 to 1045 yards with the offest to the berm from the HP target pits). Also set up a gong on the 200 yard action berm. The steel on the 200 yard berm...lasts maybe 4-5 months before it is totally trashed. Still have the target on the HP range from 4 years ago. Members are also allowed to set their own steel as long as it is close to, or on the berms. Rifle rounds tend to skip up off flat ground, especially at distance.

It really just took some education desire and some work to make the target frames. Then again we have a BOD member that put AR500 18" targets on his range at 50M and they get shot full of holes with ammo going to fast, too close and or steel.
 
I belong to a Gun club which has it's own very nice rage and it is close to where I live. But they do not allow steel targets, nor do they allow members to bring in their own targets of any kind. We have to shoot what the Club puts up. They claim the rules are per their insurance? But for $75 per year for range use and club membership, isn't bad.
 
Get a copy of the NRA range operating procedures and let the BOD know that your taget would be placed in front of a berm, at a 20 degree angle leaning the top toward the shooter which will direct the lead and jackets toward the ground, and that your target will be made of AR500 steel of an appropriate thickness to prevent cratering and deformation. It might have a better chance of being accepted if it was a donation to the range - but then you would not be the only one using it.
Since they are already allowing steel targets it shouldn't be banned in their by-laws but you might check those first. A clubs by-laws are enforceable just like laws and just as difficult to change.
 
Our steel targets were removed several years ago, following someone horsing around and taking a ricochet in the lung. Removal blamed on insurance company.
 
The surface danger zone for steel targets is different than for berm impacts, some ranges legitimately cannot support it.
 
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