What Is Tannerite? How It Works, Laws and Safe Use (2026)

Last updated October 24th 2026

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Tannerite is a brand of binary exploding rifle target. It comes as two powders, an ammonium nitrate oxidizer and an aluminum powder fuel, that are not explosive until you mix them. Once mixed, the target goes off with a loud boom and a cloud of vapor when a bullet traveling about 2,000 feet per second or faster hits it.

That’s the short answer, and it’s the part every guide gets right. The parts most of them skip are the ones that can actually get you in trouble: which rifles really clear 2,000 fps at the distance you’re shooting, the federal rule that changed national forest land in late 2024, and what the Forest Service found when it set off 97 exploding targets next to straw bales on purpose. We read the primary sources for all three, and priced every common Tannerite pack across the 200+ retailers we track on October 24, 2026.

Table of Contents

What Is Tannerite?

Tannerite is the trade name of Tannerite Sports, the Pleasant Hill, Oregon company that makes the targets. According to the Tannerite company, Daniel Tanner formulated the product in 1996 and patented it. The name stuck so hard that people now call any binary exploding target “tannerite,” the way every tissue is a Kleenex. Sonic Boom, H2 Targets and a long list of generic kits are the same idea from other makers.

The target is sold as a kit: a jar of white oxidizer pellets and a small pouch of fine gray powder. Each part on its own is not an explosive, which is why a store can ship it to your door. You pour the pouch into the jar, shake until the color is even, set it downrange, and shoot it. The point is a hit you can hear and see from hundreds of yards away without walking down to check the paper.

It is single use. One hit and it’s spent. If you want reusable feedback, steel and splatter targets in our shooting targets section are cheaper per shot.

What’s Actually Inside the Jar

The patent Tanner filed in 2001 describes a fancier recipe than most people expect: an oxidizer of 85% ammonium nitrate and 15% ammonium perchlorate, and a fuel of 90% fine aluminum powder with small amounts of titanium and zirconium hydride. Those patents have since expired.

What ships in the box today is simpler. The Forest Service researchers who tested Tannerite in 2015 and 2018 weighed the pouch and found the aluminum came to about 1.6% of the ammonium nitrate by mass, with the ammonium nitrate supplied as round prills. They also noted the pouch looks black rather than silver because charcoal is commonly added. A chemical analysis of 10 centerfire target brands cited in the same report found ammonium nitrate as the oxidizer and 1% to 7.3% aluminum as the fuel across the whole category.

That low aluminum figure matters later, because aluminum content turned out to be one of the two biggest drivers of whether a target starts a fire.

How Tannerite Works: The 2,000 FPS Rule

Mixed Tannerite is hard to set off on purpose. Tannerite’s own FAQ says the target needs a solid hit from a round “going 2,000 feet per second or faster,” and adds that larger diameter bullets work better than smaller ones. Fire, a fuse, a dropped jar or a hammer won’t do it. Neither will a pistol, a shotgun or a standard .22.

Tannerite lists these as rounds that reliably set it off: .223/5.56 NATO, 5.45x39mm, 6mm Remington, .243 Winchester, .270, 7.62x39mm, 7mm Remington Magnum, .300 Savage, .308/7.62 NATO, .30-06, .300 Remington Magnum, .338 Remington Magnum and .50 BMG.

When a mixed target doesn’t go off, Tannerite says it’s almost always one of three things:

• Poor mixing. Every white pellet should be coated and the mix should be an even dark gray.
• Too little velocity. A handgun, shotgun, .22 or a slow rifle round.
• A ricochet. The bullet hit the dirt first and then the jar. It punches a hole but loses the speed to set it off. Tannerite’s fix is to set the jar on a cardboard box.

Will Your Rifle Set It Off? Velocity Drops With Distance

Here’s the detail the “use a centerfire rifle” advice misses. The 2,000 fps rule applies where the bullet hits the jar, not where it leaves the barrel, and Tannerite’s own instructions say to put the target at least 100 yards away. Some rounds on Tannerite’s list are barely above the line at that distance.

Load	Muzzle	100 yd	200 yd	300 yd	400 yd	500 yd
Hornady 7.62×39 123 gr SST	2,350 fps	2,040 fps	1,756 fps	1,503 fps	1,290 fps	1,129 fps
Federal Varmint & Predator .223 Rem 53 gr V-Max	3,400 fps	3,046 fps	2,720 fps	2,416 fps	2,132 fps	1,868 fps

Published velocities from each maker’s ballistics tables, measured from test barrels. A 16-inch carbine will run slower than these test-barrel figures.

Read that first row again. An AK-pattern rifle firing a 123 grain 7.62×39 load is at about 2,040 fps at 100 yards and has dropped to about 1,756 fps by 200. So the AK round works at the minimum distance and starts failing not far past it. A fast .223 load stays above 2,000 fps out past 400 yards. If your targets keep “dudding” at 200 yards with an AK or a short-barreled .300 Blackout, that’s probably why, and our 5.56 vs 7.62×39 comparison covers the velocity gap in more detail.

For rimfire and other slow rounds, Tannerite sells a separate kit called White Lightning, covered below. Standard Tannerite isn’t made for them.

Is Tannerite Legal? Federal Law

Under federal law, mostly yes, with some conditions most buyers never hear about. The ATF’s guidance on binary explosives makes four points:

• Unmixed, it isn’t regulated. The separate components don’t meet the federal definition of explosives, so the ATF doesn’t regulate their sale, even sold together as a kit.
• Mixing it is manufacturing an explosive. The ATF says that “Persons manufacturing explosives for their own personal, non-business use only (e.g., personal target practice) are not required to have a Federal explosives license or permit.” Mixing for a business use, including demonstrations or product testing, needs a manufacturing license.
• Mixed targets must be shot or stored legally. Once mixed, the target is explosive material. Unless you are using it, it has to be kept in a proper explosives storage magazine.
• You can’t transport it mixed. A federal license or permit is required to transport explosive materials, so mixing at home and driving to the range is out. Mix it where you’ll shoot it.

Two more federal limits are easy to miss. Mixing makes you the manufacturer, so the people barred from possessing explosives under federal law, including most felons and unlawful drug users, can’t legally mix it. And Tannerite tells buyers never to take it on a plane, mixed or unmixed.

State Laws That Change the Answer

Federal law sets the floor. Several states go further, and this is where “Tannerite is legal” stops being true for a lot of shooters.

State	What the law or official guidance says
Maryland	A 2012 law (SB 421) added kits of components sold with mixing instructions to the state definition of explosives. Buying, using or carrying them now needs a state explosives license. Tannerite will not ship to Maryland.
Ohio	Guidance from the State Fire Marshal treats the mixed product as sensitized ammonium nitrate, a dangerous ordnance. Mixing it without a license or permit can be a second-degree felony, and possessing it mixed a fifth-degree felony.
Louisiana	Act 151 of 2014 (HB 160) added exploding targets to the state definition of explosives, with licensing required for mixed amounts over 5 pounds.
Tennessee	A 2015 Attorney General opinion (No. 15-12) concluded that mixing the components without a federal explosives license or permit is unlawful manufacturing of an explosive. An AG opinion isn’t a statute, so confirm the current rule.
Montana	A 2021 law (MCA 23-1-123) bans exploding targets on state parks and other lands managed under the state parks and recreation title whenever the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation rates fire danger high, very high or extreme.
California	Tannerite’s own FAQ warns that you may need a permit or license to use or possess the product in California.
Colorado	Tannerite lists Colorado as a restricted state and will not ship there.

New York and Vermont are also often listed, New York for folding binary explosives into its permit rules and Vermont for treating exploding targets as fireworks. We couldn’t confirm the current text of either rule, so treat both as “call first.” County and city ordinances can be stricter than any of this, and noise rules apply even where the target itself is legal. Your state fire marshal’s office is the right call to make before you buy.

Public Land: The 2024 Forest Service Rule

If you shoot on national forest land, the rules changed recently, and most Tannerite guides haven’t caught up. For years the Forest Service banned exploding targets region by region, through temporary orders. The Intermountain Region’s order, for example, covered every national forest in a region spanning Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, California and Colorado, with penalties of up to $5,000 and six months in jail.

On November 25, 2024, the Forest Service made it permanent and nationwide. 36 CFR 261.5(h) now prohibits “Possessing or using an exploding target or any kind of firework or other pyrotechnic device” on National Forest System land. It’s part of the standing fire rules, so it applies all year, not just during fire season. Note the word possessing: under the plain text, even an unmixed kit in your truck on forest land is covered.

Bureau of Land Management land is governed separately, through state-level fire restriction orders that change with the season. Many state trust lands and public ranges ban exploding targets outright. The working rule is simple: if it’s public land, assume no until you’ve read the current order for that exact place.

Can Tannerite Start a Fire? What the Forest Service Tests Found

Tannerite once marketed its targets as unable to start fires. Its current legal advisory is more careful, and the reason is a Forest Service study. In Research Paper RMRS-RP-108 (2019), researchers at the Rocky Mountain Research Station shot 97 one-pound and half-pound exploding targets with 5.56 rifles from about 50 yards, with dry straw bales set about 3 feet from each target.

• Cold, wet weather: no fires. In November 2015 near Missoula, Montana, at 31 to 46°F and 64% to 99% humidity, 46 targets produced zero ignitions.
• Hot, dry weather: 22 fires in 51 shots. In September 2018 at the Yakima Training Center in Washington, at 71 to 82°F and 14% to 23% humidity, 22 of 51 targets lit the straw.
• More aluminum, more fires. Ignition rose with aluminum content. The high-speed video showed burning aluminum particles thrown up and out of the blast.
• What the target sits on matters. Targets set directly on straw lit it far more often than targets raised on a 6-inch steel stand, which threw the blast upward.

We went through the report’s per-shot table for the real Tannerite targets alone. In the dry 2018 tests, Tannerite set on the steel stand lit the straw in 1 of 10 shots. Set directly on the straw, it lit it in 5 of 10. The researchers also note that Tannerite was less likely to start a fire than the higher-aluminum mixes, because its aluminum content is low. Less likely is not never.

The best-known real example is the Sawmill Fire. In April 2017, an off-duty Border Patrol agent shot a Tannerite target at a gender reveal on state trust land south of Tucson, Arizona, in gusty, dry conditions. The fire burned about 46,000 acres and caused an estimated $8.19 million in damage. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor under Forest Service regulations and was ordered to pay restitution. Fires like it are why the Forest Service spent a decade on regional bans, and why the 2024 rule exists.

How to Use Tannerite Safely

Tannerite’s instructions and the Forest Service findings point to the same short list:

• Confirm it’s legal for that exact spot, and that no fire restriction order is in effect.
• Mix on site, right before you shoot. Don’t store or transport it mixed.
• Keep it small. Tannerite says not to mix more than 2 pounds in one target. A half pound is plenty to confirm a hit.
• Shoot from at least 100 yards, with everyone behind the firing line.
• Raise it on a cardboard box over bare dirt, cleared of dry grass and brush. The Forest Service results back this up: off the ground beat on the ground by a wide margin.
• Never put it in, on or under anything. Tannerite calls placing it inside, on top of or under metal, rock or any other object improper use, because of flying debris and sparks. No appliances, no cars, no lawnmowers.
• Wear hearing and eye protection. Our guide to the best shooting ear protection covers muffs that handle a boom this loud.
• Warn the neighbors. A Tannerite hit sounds like an explosion because it is one, and that’s how sheriff calls start.

Bring water and a shovel, and if anything does catch, put it out and report it. A small fire you report is a much smaller problem than one you leave.

What Tannerite Costs

Price per pound swings more than you’d expect, depending on how you buy it. Here’s what the trusted retailers in our feeds were asking on October 24, 2026:

Pack	What you get	Price	Per pound
Single 1/2 lb target	1 target	$4.49 at Palmetto State Armory	About $8.98
Full Brick	Four 1 lb targets	$39.99 at Sportsman’s Guide	About $10.00
Pro Pack 20	Twenty 1/2 lb targets (10 lb)	$64.99 at Palmetto State Armory	About $6.50
Sniper Shot PP40	Bulk to load forty 1/2 lb targets (20 lb)	$84.99 at Palmetto State Armory	About $4.25
White Lightning (rimfire)	15 small targets	$31.19 at Palmetto State Armory	About $2.08 per target

The Sniper Shot kit is the cheapest way in by a wide margin, at under half the per-pound cost of a single jar. The catch is that you portion the bulk oxidizer into the 40 half-pound containers yourself, which is more work at the range. For a first trip, the Pro Pack 20 is the easy middle ground. Prices below are live.

For every Tannerite pack, stand and gender reveal kit we track, see our Tannerite brand page.

White Lightning and Rimfire Exploding Targets

White Lightning is Tannerite’s answer for .22 shooters: 15 small targets in snap-apart cups, with holders, made to go off from a rimfire hit. It isn’t the same chemistry as the rifle targets, and the difference matters for fire risk.

To work at rimfire speed, these targets need more sensitizer. The Forest Service report notes that the rimfire formulas it reviewed contained up to 25% aluminum, most with added potassium perchlorate and some with sulfur or magnalium. Compare that with about 1.6% aluminum in standard Tannerite, and remember the study found ignition rose with aluminum content. They’re small, but treat rimfire targets as the higher fire risk, not the lower one.

Tannerite vs Generic Binary Targets

Generic kits from Sonic Boom, H2 and other makers use the same basic ammonium nitrate and aluminum chemistry. The Forest Service report found centerfire brands ranging from 1% to 7.3% aluminum, so “same thing, cheaper” isn’t quite true. A higher-aluminum generic may be more sensitive and a bigger fire risk. Tannerite says its targets are made in the USA, and it has sued several competitors over its patents.

If price is the main reason to switch, the Tannerite Sniper Shot kit already beats most generics on cost per pound. And if a crisp hit indicator is all you need, a steel plate rings every time and costs nothing per shot. Pair it with a good rangefinder and you’ll know exactly how far your rifle is carrying.

Frequently Asked Questions