Differences in Target Manufactures

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billboy

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Hey

I've heard different opinions on why one manufacture is more disirable than the other. The White Flyer is the most common target where I shoot and the old timers tell me its because the break easy in the air and not on the machine. According to Lawrys, their targets are exactly the same - although some say they are a harder target in the air, but are a bit more economical.
Basically I looking for some education on this matter - what target does your club throw and why?

Thanks
Bill
 
One small club I shoot at stock White Flyer. There is no talk about being machine proof and easy to score and all that stuff. There is no talk about economics. The club is an old boys club and the inner circle of the club buys from one of the old boys.
 
Targets

White Flyers !!! The dimples make them fly straight. They have less breakage off the machines then Lawrys!
Cost more then Lawrys!
Jo Mcrow
 
We throw Lawry targets for several reasons and none of them are because of ease of breaking and or breaking on machines. First off we have always dealt with Lawry since our inception in '75. Bob was always very good to us and helped to support our club even though we are way out of the way. When economics affected us due to a few executive members stealing all the club's funds he backed us by supplying us with targets until we could get back in the black again. Most importantly they are made here in Canada and owing to the fact the Lawry's have supported the shooting sports here in Canada/Ontario for all the years they have been in business it is the least we can do to support them back. Regardless of whether they are harder to break or fly different well it doesnt matter much, that is shooting diversity and thats what makes good shooters better and great shooters the best....:cool:
 
+1 on Lawry being a major supporter of shooting sports in Canada.

If you do your job, any target out there will break no problem.

Some targets may work better in some machines (or so I'm told, I've never been able to verify this with the machines I've worked on).

There has been some work done with target hardness of the different popular target brands (which I don't have handy, but apparently it's an interesting read).

Target brand and target colour style (all orange, orange dome, orange dome with black rim etc) are like debating religion with some shooters. Everyone seems to have a favourite for some reason or another.

My club throws Lawry.

Brad.
 
Our club has used both over the years. It is currently using Lawry primarily because of the price. Another club where I'm a frequent guest uses White Flyer exclusively.

I don't believe one is more breakable whether it is shot or coming off the machine. There are just as many of each downrange with pellet holes but unbroken. There are many factors to a target's "breakability" but an important one is air temperature. If you shoot Lawry's in winter and WF in summer you'll immediately think the later is more breakable and vice versa. If targets are breaking as they come off the arm then that's more often a problem with the machine not the target.

What I do believe is Lawry targets do not fly as well as White Flyers. During the period when our club was swapping back and forth between the two I pulled a couple rounds of sporting interchanging between the two brands at random. The shooters who were very experienced couldn't distinguish between the two while shooting.

Watching from the thrower was a different matter. Whether manual or automatic the Lawry's tended to wobble a little more while the WF flew a little flatter and smoother. IMO, this may account of the percieved higher breakage of Lawry targets. Because they don't fly quite as well you might need a little more spring on the thrower to get them to do the same thing.

Either way the difference to the shooter is insignificant. As long as everyone is using the same target it doesn't matter a bit. It's just as easy to miss a WF as a Lawry.;)
 
We use exclusively Lawry targets. I have shot at a lot of clubs that use White Flyers. The Flyers don't seem to fly any better than the Lawry targets but to my eyes they are easier to see. The paint or whatever they use on the Flyers is brighter and more consistent than on the Lawry targets.
 
I belong to a club in Lynden, WA that is within spitting distance of B.C. They throw the 'True Flight' target from Caldwell Industries out of North Vancouver. Seem to fly true and also break fine if I do my part.
 
Target Differences

Our club uses White Flyer exclusively as do almost all of the other clubs I have shot at. Those that know more about targets that I do advise me that the WF is more consistent than others.

We shoot mostly 5-stand with a good variety of fast and slow targets. We have tried Caldwell but experienced a 30% breakage rate with Caldwells on our Promatic machines. They work fine in our Pat Trap for regular trap targets but don't try and get them out beyond 50 yds.

As for Lawry, I have a different experience regarding service. In 2 different seasons we asked for a quote for targets (usually 5 pallets at a time) and never had the courtesy of a reply. Also asked for 2 separate quotes on trap machines. Again not even the courtesy of a reply. Those who are in the know, advise me that Lawry targets are not consistent in hardness. Now our service from the WF rep is rotten awful as well but we do eventually get quotes and the product.

I shoot occassionally at one Club which exclusively uses Northwestern targets out of Oregon with good success. The landed price in Canada is very favorable but our club and 2 other clubs who bought some to try ending up sending them back. Very high breakage rate.

Best not to mix target types as the lower rim on the target is a different height for each manufacturer. This means you need to adjust the height of the throwing arm when you change targets. If you have a quantity of machines you don't want to be doing this.
 
I have been told by two of our members who shoot out of town =quite a bit that some of the guys would not go to a shoot if they were using lawrys because they are harder to break.
I could never get my head around this because everybody is shooting the same clays.
We used Caldwells earlier on in the late 70's 'early 80's, but have used Lawry targets for quite some time now.
They can be a bit tough to break at times, but that just means you have e to be a bit more on target!:redface:
Cat
 
I like to support companies that support the shooters. I have never received anything over and above expectation except when I took lessons in New Zealand. As long as we kept supplying the shells, the Laporte rep kept supplying the targets at no additional cost. It was the most shooting I had ever done in a day and the most productive practice ever.
I have shot all the target brands available in Western Canada that I am aware of and the difference is in the delivery and storage more than the target. as for harder to break, I would rather pay more for International targets that are harder to "smoke" than pay for targets that don't make it to the machine.

J
 
We have the same experiences as The Spank with Lawry. Always good to deal with and the targets work just fine. The trip to Western Labrador by road is not for the faint of heart. The route is extremely rough but the Lawry targets arrive in fine shape. We also like to deal with a Canadian company when possible.
 
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bat said:
We have the same experiences as The Spank with Lawry. Always good to deal with and the targets work just fine. The trip to Western Labrador by road is not for the faint of heart. The route is extremely rough but the Lawry targets arrive in fine shape. We also like to deal with a Canadian company when possible.
Click to expand...
X2! Our club rep has always had great communication with Lawry Sports, and this is the big one for us.
Cat
 
Our club throws lawry, we have considered white flyer, but they have always been more expensive.

I don't think lawry targets are any harder to break. If you do your job and centre the pattern on the target, it's going to break!
 
Not a new comer to the game, I've had some lengthy experiance with targets dating back to the old Searle "Blackbirds" and Remington Blue Rocks as well as Winchester and later Reagent Chemical White Flyers, Laporte and Challenger and a few other brands as well.

I've shot both Lawry and White Flyers extensively, at Trap, Skeeting and (regular targets) at Sporting and 5-Stand ... (and have helped unload many [too many ?] truck-fulls of each) and have found no meaningful difference in how they perform in shooting. As a former Club Treasurer and later, dealing with Rick on behalf of a private company, I found Lawry's to be nothing but a pleasure to deal with. If anything, Lawry's was preferable from a shipping point of view ... we knew exactly which truck was arriving and when, and the driver was more than helpful when unloading.

Storage and handling can certainly affect breakage on the machine ... with either type and most of the traps I've worked on can be easily adjusted to throw both brands quite satisfactorily. Both are good products.

I do like to support those who support us.
 
Several years ago, some of the clubs that I shot at in the USA bought from Lawry because of the low Canadian dollar, shooters there couldn't wait to get back to White Flyer targets. Maybe they just wanted something made in their own country because I've never seen a difference.
 
I have had quite a bit of experience with all brands of targets available in North America. White Flyer targets have the best quality control of all the target manufacturers by far! Lawry's seem to have some batch to batch consistency problems and Caldwells are only satisfactory for trap distances.

The many clubs that I have experience with actually save money by using White Flyers due to the extremely low breakage rate. Targets used for Sporting Clays distances require a harder target and the White Flyer " Pheasant" brand perform amazingly well!
 
I have Promatic sporting traps and when I really crank up the springs the Lawry's are the most likely to come off the arm intact. At our trap club we do not notice a huge difference between White Flyer and Caldwell True Flight.
 
+1 for White Flyer.

We saw up to 15% out of box broken targets with the Caldwells, (compared to 1-2% with White Flyer) and saw many more broken birds off of the trap when throwing doubles than we do with the WF. Can't comment on the Lawrys, but have heard the storys of them being a 'harder' target to break than the rest.

Bill
 
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