BS Check: Texas law says no FMJ on less than 1000 yard RIFLE ranges

[Kindrox]

The range I normally shoot at has a pistol range and a rifle range. The rule since I have been shooting there is no FMJ on the rifle range, the logic being there are houses behind the berm and FMJ might tend to riccochet more.

Ok, I get it. But I have been allowed to shot my UZIs (9mm/.45) on the rifle range with FMJ. This last visit a range monitor comes up to me as I am shooting my UZI and asks to see my ammo, and then tells me my FMJ is a no-no on the rifle range, but ok on the pistol side.

I later asked the guy seemingly in charge about it, since when I asked years ago pistol FMJ was good on the rifle side, and he said Texas passed a law that no FMJ could be shot on a rifle range, unless the range was 1000 yards long.

It smells like BS to me. A google search did not turn up any such law. If you don't want me to shoot FMJ, I won't. But please don't blow smoke up my skirt because you want to make the state the bad guy.

 

[TexasRifleman]

It is indeed complete BS. There is no such law.

More likely truth is FMJ tears up their berms and they don't want to spend the money to repair them.

 

[LeonCarr]

Cough, cough, cough, BS!, cough, cough cough.



Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[nofishbob]

I was told that the reason that one of our local ranges prohibits FMJ on the rifle range was "That they go right through the berms!" When I said that was hard to believe, the guy next to me said he heard that FMJ ammo hinders the lead reclamation companies' work, and violates their contract with the range.

That sounded more plausible.

Bob

 

[biggiesmalls]

i did hear that there is a law not about 1000yards, but that the facility needs to have at least 10 acres. not sure tho. just chiming in

 

[Sam1911]

the guy next to me said he heard that FMJ ammo hinders the lead reclamation companies' work, and violates their contract with the range.

That's it exactly. The FMJs, being "FULL" metal jackets, inhibit the ability of the lead magnets those companies use to pick up the spent bullets. Obviously JHPs or other semi-jacketed bullets have enough exposed lead to be attracted to the lead magnets.


It's what I heard...




-Sam

 

[dogtown tom]

Sam1911 Quote:
the guy next to me said he heard that FMJ ammo hinders the lead reclamation companies' work, and violates their contract with the range.

That's it exactly. The FMJs, being "FULL" metal jackets, inhibit the ability of the lead magnets those companies use to pick up the spent bullets. Obviously JHPs or other semi-jacketed bullets have enough exposed lead to be attracted to the lead magnets.


It's what I heard...




-Sam

You may think you're being funny, but seriously, lead magnets are highly regulated pieces of equipment. If one FMJ causes the lead magnetomitron to fail it could cause the range to be shutdown for hours. FMJ also causes holes in the ozone layer.

 

[osage48]

Better have your boots on as it getting really deep here!!

 

[LeonCarr]

Lead Magnets? For real?

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[wildbilll]

If someone knows where I can buy a magnet that attracts lead, aluminum, stainless steel, please tell me. Aviation has been looking for such a device for many years.

 

[Maelstrom]

I have a magnet that is attracted to BS, but it seems to be stuck to my computer monitor.

 

[HankB]

People with rifles in .223, 7.62x39, .308, etc., tend to shoot a lot, and they tend to buy milsurp ammo to do it.

In some cases, steel jacketed ammo could strike a spark off a rock in the berm and start a brush fire . . . unlikely, but possible.

But the most likely scenario?

Outdoor ranges that ban FMJ are really saying "DON'T USE CHEAP MILSURP AMMO YOU BOUGHT ELSEWHERE, BUY MY OVERPRICED AMMO INSTEAD AND PUT MORE MONEY IN MY POCKET!!"

 

[peyton]

Yep, it is deep in this thread!! I would suggest a different range. The air might smell nicer too!!

 

[Dave P]

You guys are getting all excited about your childish lead magnets - I guess I shouldn't divulge the info I have on the gold magnets...

 

[AKElroy]

the logic being there are houses behind the berm and FMJ might tend to riccochet more.

Houses behind the 100 yard berm?? Would suck to be them. "honey, i'm heading out to mow the yard; have you seen my flak jacket?"

 

[Walkalong]

Don't you wish folks would just be straight with you about it. That sounds like the main concern here. Their range their rules, just don't BS about why, right?

 

[Sam1911]

the logic being there are houses behind the berm and FMJ might tend to riccochet more.

We all may see the logical faults in this logic, but there are a great many people who believe (or justify in their minds) a great many things which are actually completely untrue. Some of those folks own ranges.

We all tend to jump to the most nefarious conclusions about folks' motives.
Oh, they're just out to make money on ammo, or it violates some deal they've worked out with someone else to salvage lead, etc. I think that most of the time the root cause is more likely to be habit and (mild) ignorance.

I've shot on many ranges that had rules prohibiting ammunition of one sort or another. If you compared the concerns represented by the different range owners/admisitrators, they would be all over the map -- often directly contradicting one another.

"No lead -- jacketed only. Because it keeps down the lead contamination." Which isn't true at all.

"No jacketed -- lead only. Because the jacketed rounds damage our steel backstop." Again, completely untrue. And proved to be so, later.

"Lead or FMJ. No hollowpoints." Still unclear of the logic on this one, but I'm not shooting hollowpoints for practice or plinking, so who cares?

And on, and on.

Sometimes the folks in charge just have their pet beliefs and base their rules around them. Might be silly, but it's their property so their rules apply.

-Sam

 

[LickitySplit]

I know it's common practice for ranges to ban ammo with ferrous core and/or solid core ammo (IE... AP ammo), but never FMJ.

Equally ridiculous... is capping the distance at 1,000 yards.

I realize Texas likes to do everything 'bigger', but unless it's someones private property that has that kind of space, or shooters simply journeying out to the desert, how many private or public 1,000 yard ranges can there be?

 

[dev_null]

It does sound like someone doesn't know the difference between steel core and FMJ.

 

[nofishbob]

All of the public ranges I go to (Elm Fork, Garland Gun Range, and Quail Creek) prohibit FMJ on their rifle ranges.

I posted earlier that I had heard, and believed, that the restrictions had to do with contracts with lead recovery companies.

Then the "lead magnet" frenzy started.

I did not mean that separating FMJ from the berm would be harder than other bullets, rather that the FMJ projectiles would hinder processing once the recovered bullets were being smelted.

I still think that the lead recovery companies do not want to deal with a high percentage of intact FMJ bullets that have to be opened before they can smelt the lead out of them.

Bob

 

[bdickens]

The only law Texas has concerning ammunition is a prohibition on armor-peircing ammo.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

All of the public ranges I go to (Elm Fork, Garland Gun Range, and Quail Creek) prohibit FMJ on their rifle ranges.

I posted earlier that I had heard, and believed, that the restrictions had to do with contracts with lead recovery companies.

Then the "lead magnet" frenzy started.

I did not mean that separating FMJ from the berm would be harder than other bullets, rather that the FMJ projectiles would hinder processing once the recovered bullets were being smelted.

I still think that the lead recovery companies do not want to deal with a high percentage of intact FMJ bullets that have to be opened before they can smelt the lead out of them.

Have you ever looked at the base of a FMJ?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Okay Kindrox, you are in the NE DFW area, just what range were you at when you were told about this law?

 

[nofishbob]

jim in Anchorage wrote:

Have you ever looked at the base of a FMJ?

Thanks, Jim! there goes that theory!

Now I can't think of any legitimate reason to prohibit FMJ...then why do so many ranges do so?

Bob

 

[dogtown tom]

nofishbob:
...I still think that the lead recovery companies do not want to deal with a high percentage of intact FMJ bullets that have to be opened before they can smelt the lead out of them...

Are you kidding? They LOVE the copper from that FMJ. Which do you think is worth more: lead or copper?

One of the rangemasters @ Garland told me he regulary "mines" the berm on the pistol range for lead and copper. He said he just dumps the slugs into his pot and the copper will melt and float to the top.