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*** Biodegradable Target Questions

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Baber

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Break down.... you are kidding... We used to shoot them at our club in Florida. Never had a heat humidty problem. We were flooded a couple of time in 2004. We stacked up the targets and let them dry for a week and they threw fine. The only problem with these targets are that they kill the grass, turn everything white, clog trap motors from the chaff, and generally make a mess of everything.

TB
 
#3 ·
They require UV exposure plus direct moisture contact to degrade.

Jay
 
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#5 ·
The acid is the by-product of the sulfur binder when it mixes with water and it takes a good amount of regular moisture plus UV exposure to breakdown in the 18-24 months mentioned in their promo material.

Jay Spitz
 
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#6 ·
If you think those bio's are just as easy to break you are full of it. A little PO-dunk club got stuck with bio's because that is all the vendor had [which was a lie] I have only shot there once this year, it is just a shoot night and not even a league there. They ran about 8 squads, I can honestly say I saw more dusted targets there that evening that shooting at EVERY club I have been too all year. I have just bridged the 1400 mark EACH on my singles, dubs, and caps.

GS
 
#7 ·
Seymour Fish & Game in Oxford, CT has been throwing Bios now for almost ten years.

Never noticed a difference - other than white smoke instead of black when hit hard.

They fly the same, look the same, break the same.

I've used 9s adn 8-1/2s at 16 yards and smoked them all. I have seen light 8s still break them cleanly at 25 yds and I have personally shot heavy 8s at 27 and broken them fine. I do notice more solid smoke balls from 27 when using hdcp 7-1/2s on bios, though
 
#8 ·
We've been required to throw the Bios for seven years. No panzy breaks for us - we want solid breaks only or dust (lol).

Jay
 
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#9 ·
I suppose if you hit a target with a single stray piece of shot that they could be hard to break!!! If you hit them square, they break.

And yes, they kill grass. Shelf life in humidity is depends on how long they are stored. We thought that bios would be ecologically correct but they turned out to be a great pain.

We are in Ohio and bought (mid October) six skids to get through the winter months and had a 1/2 skid left come March. They were cold stored in our storage building on skids. Come open time we loaded them in all the traps and better than 50% of them broke coming out. We have 3 Outer's traps and noticed the only one that threw them with less breaking was our doubles trap. It has an elevator that lowers the bird to the flight plate and the other 2 drop them. We came to the conclusion that they were in the process of breaking down and the dropping had finished them off. We went and borrowed birds from another club till we got replacements and dumped the rest.

We no longer have that trouble with standard birds.

"No more stinking bios for us!"
 
#10 ·
White smoke is easier to see at night than black smoke-logical.Just walk out on any trap range after a shoot and see all the pitch targets with streaks and holes. Simple solution is to put the load on the target and they'll smoke-white!!
 
#11 ·
At our club we shot Bios for about 5 years. We just went back to pitch targets 6 months ago. The Bios do kill all the Grass in the drop zone. When they break down they form an impervious layer of white muck that nothing grows through. We are currently mixing limestone into the muck and trying to get the grass to grow back. No success yet. As far as breakage of the targets is concerned They both smoke well on good hits. But I have noticed that we get a lot more chipped birds with the pitch targets than we ever got with the Bios. All you seem to get with the Bios is a poof of white dust and no visible chip therefore Lost Bird. The pitch birds seem to give a lot of chips on off center hits resulting is a few more dead birds.
 
#12 ·
We've used the Bios for 6yrs now and have no complaints. It took a while to get used to white smoke instead of black but they break just as good if not better than the std. We're thankful to have them as it seems everyone who shoots the standard targets can't get them right now. Almost forgot, humid storage hasn't been a problem for us, just don't get them wet. They do kill the grass.

Darren
 
#13 ·
One thing not clear to me....The pitch targets with no removal or care of field just disapear into the grass? as appossed to the bios wich degrade over a period of time cause problems?

So when throwing pitch targets you dont periodiclly remove heavy accumilation of targets or wads, apply lime and or treat your fields with fertilizer, seed of some sort.

We use bios and can not keep up with the cutting of the weeds/grass. We do periodiclly remove heavy build up of clays and wads, feed a few times a year and just take care of it.
 
#14 ·
There is a trap facility in western Ill that has been using them for 8 years. They have a Beomat trap that needs the target deck replaced because of heavy etching. The following quote is from "Wink" who has been talking to White Flyer.

"Ron Tree at Northwest Shooters Supply has been great to work with. He had not encountered the problem with the “launching table” corrosion with the White Flyer Biodegradable targets. He knows of many clubs that are throwing the targets, (and shooting at them with steel shot). I have also been in contact with the White Flyer’s district manager as well as the White Flyer plant manager (Jeff Schultz ) where the targets are manufactured in Joplin. The launching table is made of aluminum. Jeff felt that the answer would be a stainless steel table. He also recommended either ceramic coating or hard anodizing."

Our club, Equistar, also has a Beomat but we don't throw Bio's and don't show any degradation. But, we don't throw as many targets as Mississippi Flyway.
 
#15 ·
Ft. Bragg Gun Club near Fayetteville NC. Early on they used WF Bio's and WF pitch and then Lawry's and then back to WF pitch targets.

I beleive they use Lawry for all the skeet events.

38-01615
 
#16 ·
We pickup unbroken targets and throw them for practise. Bios or pitch we find targets with 1 or 2 pellet holes. I have never seen a target of either type with 3 pellet holes. If you can't put 3 pellets in the target do you desrve an X?
 
#17 ·
When we previously threw pitch targets, the debris accumulated and we had to use a bobcat to load targets into a dumpster. Because of our environmental oversight we were required to have a TCLP test to determine if a HazMat situation was involved (fortunately it was not!).

But, in the end there is a maintenance cost to move and remove target debris - no one does it for free. The move to the Bio has eliminated that expense from our budget.

Since we're trap-only, our shotfall zone is somewhat removed from sight compared to a combo/skeet only field where the grass "burn" is right in front of you.

Jay Spitz
 
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maclellan1911
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