Thomas Luke

Thanks to everyone who has commented, for your replies and interest. I noted a few comments asking about the purpose of the study. Essentially, there is a regulation at EU level which will mean that the manufacturing of targets which contain coal tar pitch will require a form of approval towards the end of 2020. To obtain this approval it is necessary to perform an assessment of whether alternatives are available or not – and whether they perform as well / are economical. I am undertaking research that will help with this assessment. As per my original post there is a lot of conflicting information regarding the quality of the different target types and I am now attempting to gather information from shooters. At the moment this is very generic (i.e. asking about ‘traditional’ versus ‘eco’ clays) but going forward I may put together an online questionnaire that is more detailed and specific. If this happens, I will provide further information on this forum so that anyone who is interested may participate. Kind regards

That would be great. Many thanks!

Thanks for your reply. Is this a real nuisance or something quite easily dealt with? Are you able to provide more details on the types of issues (e.g. broken clays, damage to the trap etc..)?

Hello, I am undertaking some research into clay targets and in particular the performance of ‘traditional’ clay targets (i.e. those based on a mixture of coal tar pitch and limestone) and more modern ‘eco’ alternatives. I am very interested in the views of clay target shooters as to how the quality of both types of targets compare (e.g. do you tend to get more ‘no birds’ with eco-targets than traditional targets (or vice-versa), and is there a significant difference in how the targets ‘smoke’ when hit, or differences with other aspects of their performance?). I thought it would be useful to post on this forum as I have undertaken literature review but there is a lot of conflicting information regarding the quality of the different target types. Therefore it would be beneficial to have the views of the people on the ground, shooting the targets. Many thanks and I will very much appreciate any replies received.