heypete
Member
I was out at the Coronado National Forest today doing some recreational shooting with my cousin. We had a grand old time shooting my suppressed 10/22, MkIII, XD-45, and M1 Garand. I also gathered half a .50 cal can of reloadable brass. All in all, a good day.
However, the shooting area in the forest (more of a mountainous desert region, but whatever) was absolutely littered with various trash, including the following:
- Pieces of broken glass.
- Plastic bags.
- Aluminum cans.
- Various objects used for target practice (a gong with a wood stand, a orange highway cone, and other such items).
- Various non-target pieces of trash.
- Brass and steel cases, and plastic shotgun hulls.
All of this was scattered over an area of about 25x50 yards, more or less evenly (more brass and hulls were at the shooting area, more targets and trash were downrange, with shattered glass fragments littering the area evenly).
I'm thinking of getting together some local Tucson shooters (hopefully with pickup trucks and leather gloves) to head out to this particular shooting spot to do a "range cleanup day" (sorta like "beach cleanup days" that I sometimes see). Maybe get a bunch of powerful magnets to pick up steel cases and other ferrous stuff, toss the trash and shot-up targets into the back of trucks for proper disposal at a dumpster out of the forest, and pick up as much of the broken glass and brass cases as possible (using gloves for the glass, of course). Unfortunately, the glass fragments are mostly small, less than dime size, but I figure with 10 people or so and a few hours, we could make some good progress.
After doing the cleanup, we could get a BBQ or something going, and maybe shoot a bit. Maybe, if this event's successful, we could do it at the other half-dozen or so shooting areas in the immediate area around this particular one (I like this one, as it has a fantastic view of the city, mountains, etc.).
Sure, this is on the National Forest, and I'm sure the NFS has some poor schmucks come by once a year or so to clean up, but it was really trashed now, and I think it reflects badly on shooters as a whole when the areas look like that. Thus, I'd like to get a group of motivated folks out there to help clean up, and maybe get some free brass for reloading.
Any tips for organizing a range cleanup day? Any tips on useful equipment to have (big magnets, sifters, etc.)?
However, the shooting area in the forest (more of a mountainous desert region, but whatever) was absolutely littered with various trash, including the following:
- Pieces of broken glass.
- Plastic bags.
- Aluminum cans.
- Various objects used for target practice (a gong with a wood stand, a orange highway cone, and other such items).
- Various non-target pieces of trash.
- Brass and steel cases, and plastic shotgun hulls.
All of this was scattered over an area of about 25x50 yards, more or less evenly (more brass and hulls were at the shooting area, more targets and trash were downrange, with shattered glass fragments littering the area evenly).
I'm thinking of getting together some local Tucson shooters (hopefully with pickup trucks and leather gloves) to head out to this particular shooting spot to do a "range cleanup day" (sorta like "beach cleanup days" that I sometimes see). Maybe get a bunch of powerful magnets to pick up steel cases and other ferrous stuff, toss the trash and shot-up targets into the back of trucks for proper disposal at a dumpster out of the forest, and pick up as much of the broken glass and brass cases as possible (using gloves for the glass, of course). Unfortunately, the glass fragments are mostly small, less than dime size, but I figure with 10 people or so and a few hours, we could make some good progress.
After doing the cleanup, we could get a BBQ or something going, and maybe shoot a bit. Maybe, if this event's successful, we could do it at the other half-dozen or so shooting areas in the immediate area around this particular one (I like this one, as it has a fantastic view of the city, mountains, etc.).
Sure, this is on the National Forest, and I'm sure the NFS has some poor schmucks come by once a year or so to clean up, but it was really trashed now, and I think it reflects badly on shooters as a whole when the areas look like that. Thus, I'd like to get a group of motivated folks out there to help clean up, and maybe get some free brass for reloading.
Any tips for organizing a range cleanup day? Any tips on useful equipment to have (big magnets, sifters, etc.)?
