r/canadaguns • u/lazarus870 • Mar 31 '26
Misc What kind of non-paper stuff does your local range let you shoot?
I'm not talking about trap shooting, I mean if you bring a rifle or pistol or whatever, does your range allow you to shoot reactive targets or just paper? way back when I first started shooting, I would shoot paper and I got bored of it really fast. I think that's why I moved to the crowned land so that I could actually shoot reactive things. it really kept my interest going. back when I was looking to join a range, it was pretty much only paper unless it was like a trap shooting range or whatever.
curious if your range allow you to shoot pistols and rifles at anything other than paper and if so, what are you permitted to shoot? I take it it would have to be something both robust and safe
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u/Darthwilhelm on Mar 31 '26
Clays on clay wire, and the bunkered gongs they have set up. Ontario.
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u/LongRoadNorth Mar 31 '26
Which range is this
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u/Darthwilhelm on Mar 31 '26
East Elgin Sportsmen's Association
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u/DecentComposer545 Apr 01 '26
Also a EESA member. Im trying to convince them to allow us to paint the songs.
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u/swift_gilford Apr 01 '26
Paint the gongs? You are allowed to. They talked about it in our orientation and I've done it with the range staff right next to me @ the 300m at least.
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u/DecentComposer545 Apr 01 '26
They didn't cover it in my orientation so I didnt want to god for it until I got the OK
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u/swift_gilford Apr 01 '26
Just contact one of the board members. They're generally pretty quick to follow up. The AGM is also this coming Saturday.
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u/Scary-Detail-3206 Apr 01 '26
Unless I’m sighting something in I pretty much just shoot steel these days. I can just sit there and ring steel for a couple hours and have a great time doing so.
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u/Acceptable_Visit_115 Mar 31 '26
Clays placed on berms or cardboard holders, steel plates in designated enclosures (Ontario).
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u/SpectreBallistics Spectre Ballistics International (Verified) Mar 31 '26
Best way to not get bored at a range is to join a league. IPSC, multigun, and steel challenge are great for not being boring.
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u/Agonizing-Stroke1812 Apr 01 '26
I might be in the minority here but I found shooting in leagues incredibly boring. Naturally you spend way more time sitting around waiting than actually shooting. At my first IPSC match each of us got to spend maybe 5 minutes total shooting over the 2h we spent on site.
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u/Specialist_Chard5231 Apr 01 '26
A lot of the leagues are defacto social clubs. Either you like your squad or you don't. Very few places setup more shooting based formats. I have been to some where you shoot 8 stages in 2 hours after work and still make a late supper.
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u/Iokua_CDN Mar 31 '26
Nothing! Just paper and metal targets, which is a bit sad.
However, I bought my own metal Gong and wow is it fun!! 10/10 highly recommend, I haven't touched a paper target since I felt the joy of watching my lead smack into steel downrange.
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u/CurlyWurly61 Mar 31 '26
My range allows us to put clays on foam boards and staple it to the boards, or you have the choice of putting them on the berm
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u/Wildlabman Mar 31 '26
Just an FYI, in Ontario, No licensed range is permitted to use "reactive" type targets such as Sure Shot or Tanerite. They are explosives and are banned by the CFO. (This also includes those little "puck like" targets).
Paper targets that reveal a different color around the bullet hole are fine. Steal targets, when properly shrouded, are fine. I have also use various plastic/rubber targets that spin / bounce / swing. They just can't explode.
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u/CryptidWorks CryptidWorks Mar 31 '26
Steels and certain things that don't make a horrible mess - some guys like to shoot 2L tetra-paks filled with water, I shoot rubber mat targets (which also show hits nicely under a thermal) etc., but it all has to be propped up on like a sawhorse or something so you're not shooting at the ground for obvious ricochety reasons. You must pick up all your debris.
Guys do put clays on the backstop but it's frowned upon because they rarely clean up all the random orange debris.
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u/mhkhung Apr 01 '26
I see so many people buying rifles, shoot a few groups at the range, then quickly get bored. Learn marksmanship, start going to competitions is the only way!
Join your provincial shooting federations like ONTarget in Ontario for rifle and pistol, and start going to competitions.
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u/tmsa_prez Apr 01 '26
The problem is; range approval paperwork from the CFO lists the approved targets for each type of firearm. Plus there’s always some guy who thinks an old tv or propane tank is ok and eventually the place looks like a garbage dump.
Steel is fun; but like spectre said, joining a league brings a new spice to it all.
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u/outline8668 Apr 01 '26
The local range only allows paper targets. I am pretty sure this is a stipulation from our provincial CFO or possibly the range insurer. I'll go to the range to shoot my handguns but my rifles only go to crown land so I can use my steel targets.
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u/ProtoJazz Apr 01 '26
I found a shot up Chinese copy of "what to expect when you're expecting" at the top of the garbage can once
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u/Arctelis Apr 01 '26
Pretty much everything except appliances, pressurized cylinders and binary targets. Those little discs that pop and flash are fine, but not tannerite or sure shot and the like.
Those can be shot if you drive for an additional 30 seconds down the road.
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u/brandon-568 Apr 01 '26
Where I shoot there are some gongs at 250m but other than that just paper, there’s often no one there so we setup other gongs we bring too, like a dueling tree.
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u/GFN_good_for_nothing Apr 01 '26
When I was a kid we’d get either a pumpkin or a watermelon, cinder blocks, all our recycling(bottles, cans) and position it all in and around the fire pit and wood pile on our farm. The watermelon and /or pumpkin were for shot, the cinder blocks were for slugs, and the recycling was for the 22’s or whatever rifle(s) we had. So much fun hahaha… Good times.
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u/ablemount Apr 01 '26
um... "crown land"... owned by the Crown. 😉
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u/Woodytastic Apr 02 '26
Crown implies the state as a whole. Essentially all Crown land across Canada belongs to all Canadians for recreation and other uses.
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u/ablemount Apr 02 '26
As a surveyor I was taught that all land in Canada is Crown land. Also that the government can "appropriate" any privately owned land at any time. Yes all Crown land is for our use, until the gubberment says no and/or puts restrictions on it.
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u/ablemount Apr 02 '26
All I was doing was pointing out a grammatical error in OPs statement where he referred to it as "crowned" land.
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u/Rewindonemoretime Apr 01 '26
Well my range is crown land, and a lot of guys bring whatever they want. TV’s, bags of trash, old appliances. And after they’re done they’re even nice enough to not clean it up and leave all their spent casings on the ground.