Roger Rapid

Surprised ... Roxy West (Amelia) used to respond to emails within same day. Wonder what's going on. RR..

Search for several posts on this topic - it's an important one. There's a rather extensive white paper on the subject in the "DOCUMENTS/PAPERS" section of our web site at: www.PRVCatLazyArrow.com. It is entitled "Controlling Blood Lead Levels." The document is specific to cowboy shooters, is a free download, and has been recently updated to include more details about lead on our hands. RR

Pheeew - this post ran down many rat holes, but I still don't know the correct answer to DDD's question - and I hoped that Snakebite would nail the lid closed. So... 1. Who gets dinged - the shooter who loaded the pistol or the person who knocked the gun off the table? 2. If the LO caught the pistol (kudos) does it still count as a dropped loaded pistol? RR

Long time ago, when I was a foolish kid shooting clays at a friends ranch back East, I threw an H&R bolt action 12g shotgun in the snow as we were unloading the car. After the first shot (without checking to see if it was clear), I was staring down the barrel at 4" (of the end of the barrel) that spread upon and peeled back like a banana - and it was just snow! I still have the shotgun, but it's 4" shorter now. Lesson learned! RR

Article on Eye Dominance in this month's (July 2019) Cowboy Chronicle, p32 RR

Slapping someone with gloves on is clearly a P (p23), but the MISS could have been because Robin was too close - I think Batman gets a RESLAP! err RR

For pistols in .45LC, you might enjoy 5.8 Trailboss behind a 160g RNFP. And if you need the additional OAL for your rifle, try a 185g RNFP with the same 5.8 Trailboss. Bear Creek makes both the 160g and the 185 RNFP bullets. RR PS: the 160g/in pistol with 7.5" barrel runs at 685fps - the 185g/in rifle with 26" barrel runs at 925fps

SD... Congrats! Well deserved! ...RR

DDD. You didn't stir the beans. It was a good question followed by some well deserved answers. Good to know that under the description you provided that it is not illegal. Whether it is the optimum thing to do or not is another issue. At least if someone ever does it while I'm on the clock I'll know the right call. Thanks!.. RR

Allie Mo - thanks for Calamity Jane's white paper on spatter (and thanks for shootin' with us!). Dusty Devil Dale - Thanks also for shootin' with us, and you're absolutely right on the issue of removing lead from target faces and stands - there's really no super-safe way to do it. Lead could probably be most safely removed by melting it off, but since lead melts at 621°F I'm not sure what affect that heat would have on AR500 steel. And, I envision that getting all targets - especially the more elaborate shotgun targets - into a chamber to heat them would be a major and unruly task. While we are deeply concerned about fostering a clean range and not creating a hazardous waste site, our primary concerns are: 1) reducing particulate in the air which shooters breathe (which is virtually impossible to do short of having massive fume scrubbers like those used in the semi-conductor industry) or having everyone wear dust masks (which I'm convinced won't happen), and more practically 2) reducing splatter and ricocheted fragments - that range from hazardous to annoying - from the firing line. And this became our primary focus. Were have found that the majority of the splatter (richochet) comes from the stands and not from the targets. In addition to using wattles immediately in front of the shotgun targets, we zip tied pieces of carpeting on the pistol target stands, immediately below the face of the target (see top photo, below). The carpeting worked well and our tests suggested that it greatly reduced splatter. However, by the time 30 or 40 shooters had their way with the targets, the carpeting pieces, turned into pulp (see bottom photo, below) - an indication that they became the sacrificial component in the splatter reducing process. Our plan next time is to use the same wattles under the pistol targets. RR

Try finding a paint "distributor" or "wholesaler" rather than working through local hardware or paint stores. Regarding the cheaper spray paints - like $.99/can - we've tried them but they don't cover well you end up using three times as much paint as a can of Rustoleum or similar. Our sister club - CVR - uses rollers and it does cover faster and better than spray. On the other hand, spray is clean and easy with no open cans or wet rollers to deal with. With spray, you can also easily leave a can of each color behind a facade for matches where you re-paint after the posse is done. Hard call... $600 a year is a lot of paint - that's $50 per month. How many matches are you shooting? RR

I wanted to provide an update on my "shotgun splatter" post of March 26th. For the 4th Annual Lazy Arrow ShootOut, (May 24-26) we decided to try placing wattles in front of the shotgun targets. The wattles are reasonably inexpensive (about $25 for a 20' length), are rather dense, and we could cut them to whatever lengths we needed and re-tie the ends. In the several tests we did, it was our opinion that the wattles cut the splatter by a very noticeable amount (difficult to tie a percentage to it). The upshot was that they appeared to have done the job, and far less folks complained about splatter during our match -- and that was our goal. RR

OLG, I'll try, but I don't think we've been diligent enough to remember that. If we did, we probably would have been able to narrow down the blame. thx! .RR

Thanks all... GJ: Great tips - thanks. OLG: I will post some pix, but has to wait until next time I'm at range. We have several types of shotgun targets, I'll post photos of all. ...RR

I don't think I've ever been to a match where folks don't flinch from shotgun ricochets. And, for those of us who run the clock, I think its in our DNA to hold a hand in front of our face at the shotgun bays. We're looking for ways to reduce shotgun splatter at PRVC and I'm anxious to learn what you have done to reduce or solve the problem, including but not limited to such things as: lateral angle of targets, vertical angle of targets, using wadding or haybales in from of targets, distance to targets, different types of steel (AR500, etc), removing lead residue from face of targets, and so on... And, I guess, more specifically, what do you think is causing the shotgun ricochets? Thx... RR