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I have heard the same thing, but I know from 100's of hours on PPI (plan position indicator) on ATC radar that most of the time more than a few miles from the radar, you can get a pretty good picture with with primary returns alone.

Typically, returns are thresholded at one square meter effective radar cross section, smaller targets are rejected. I know of at least one occasion on which we got more than 10,000 returns/scan from Canada Geese. (I see wise cracks in my crystal ball.) A stinger is probably comparable in size to a Canada Goose.