Variable Hit Target?

[Klayton]

Well another great Friday afternoon at the firing range.

500 .45 gone, and about 150 5.7mm gone.

While reloading magazines (clips! lol) one of the guys at the range said he saw on a video targets that you can set up to drop down on different numbers of hits. All I could think of is how cool that would be. It would definitely make for a more realistic reaction range. I mean, how many of you have heard people say I always double tap the most dangerous threat then engage the next target?!?!

I for one, shoot the most serious threat until he becomes the not most serious threat. That may be one lucky heart/head shot, or may take 3 or 4 shots to penetrate some fatty that is the current most serious threat. I just think that people who only practice on paper or always train double tap and only double tap are not getting the full potential from their training.

Well, have any of you heard of these variable drop targets? If so, where can I find some more information? :confused: google seems to suck when I type in variable drop targets... LOL

[1Admin]

Interesting, never saw though I don't think.

Pepper Popper steel targets can be set to not drop at the first round usually. Ours came with a big set screw in the front that adjusted the incline of the plate. Hitting it with say a 9mm with the plate tilted slightly FORWARD made the ping but didn't drop the target.

Hitting three times in rapid succession or 1-2 times in the head would drop it at that incline.

[Christian for Israel]

i make my own steel targets and made some that take multiple hits in rapid succession to knock down. basically i started with a stable wide base and hinged a 4 foot tall post at the bottom (the 6" plate is at the top of the post). it leans against a stop with a screw setting that can be set to make it harder to knock down. there is a spring at the rear of the base to soften the landing of the post.

i set mine so it takes 2-3 rapid hits from my 230gr .45 to make it go down. as it's set now it is virtually impossible to knock it down with a 9mm (just like in real life, lol). when i shoot i set up a couple knock down targets and several swingers and start with the toughest, not moving on until i've knocked them to the ground. i also start from the holster and reload while shooting, timing myself.

here's a fast and crude drawing to illustrate my description:

[Christian for Israel]

here are some of my targets, for both rifle and pistol. the manniquin has a steel plate under its shirt. it simulates shooting a real person. i don't have a pic of the knock down targets...i'll try to get some today and add them here.

[Klayton]

Interesting. Thanks guys! I am thinking that maybe they were electronically controlled? Remember those crappy drop down targets we had at military qualification? Hard plastic I believe, but when the bullet went through it, the hit would be registered and would drop down. They would pop up at random ranges. Or did they drop down not from electronics but from the force of the hit? Grrr.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

This deal advertises "Optional electronic hit reactive target function" http://www.duelatron.com/brochures/MT72_74_Brochure.pdf and this has cardboard that only falls when hit in areas http://www.actiontarget.com/pdf/pt_S...urce_Guide.pdf on it's PT DROPPER™. I have not heard of what you are talking about but I definetly agree with you on double tapping, it's an outdated technique that got it started but needs to change to shoot till down unless you are using zombieland rules :) rule #2 LOL. The shooting once and calling it good is one of my peeves with IPSC shooting that I preach to my family when they shoot with me. I make them shoot the steel, pins or whatever until it goes down and dang the scores. Christian for Israel I love that mannequin target with vital zone steel, thats awesome!

[Christian for Israel]

thanks matt, i got two that were being thrown away and use them both when i shoot. the only problem with them is i can't protect the face without taking away most of the psychological reasoning for using them. btw, in the first pic is one of my mozambique targets (chest/head). my rule is 4-6 in the chest and 2-3 in the head. the reason? real targets move...we CAN miss. multiple shots in each area increases the chance we'll be successful in the engagement.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

No way to get a small plate behind the face by running a piece of tubing at a horizontal 90 from the top of the steel plate then right angle upwards?
We DO miss and alot under stress, I even miss just shooting action paced stuff, stats are easy to find on this for those who havent been involved in shootings or engagements and most pistol shootings are survived as ALL pistol calibers are underpowered. I wish I could find what Klayton was talking about because that would be cool.

[Lowdown3]

At the Impactzone Range in Texas (Sealy/Berkshire area) I saw a neat target idea there back in May.

The guy had taken Schedule 60 steel pipe, 4" diameter and welded short pieces of metal bar stock about 10-12" out from it. He had slipped a 6" piece of corrugated "french drain" type plastic drainage pipe over that to form a 3 dimensional target. Some had hats and shirts on also.

The advantage being you could move to the flanks, behind or hard angles while shooting. The steel pipe mimiced the CNS corridor and like shooting plates, you wouldn't hear the ring unless the hit was good.

I tried to buy one but he wanted $200. for a short one. I priced the pipe upon returning home and it was around $40-45. per foot sold in ten foot sticks. I may build a few like that in the future cause the benefits were nice.

Thought it was a neat idea for steel targets.

[Christian for Israel]

that's a good idea lowdown, i have some heavy pipe laying around the shop...i may have to try that myself.

a plate behind the face wouldn't work for me as i'm not trying to stop the bullet but protect the manniquin (i can't get any more). blasting holes through it would destroy it pretty quickly. plate in front of the face would remove the psychological impact of shooting at what looked like a person. no, i will have to be content to shoot center mass with it and reserve my mozambique drills for the swing targets.

something else i do with the small plates is paint smile and frown faces on them. the smile targets are good guys and the others are bad guys. i then have a friend arrange them randomly while i'm faced away. when he says GO i turn, draw my pistol and take out the bad guys while trying to avoid the good guys. often this means moving to get the right angle on all the targets. it's more realistic and adds another dimension to my drills.

[610Alpha]

excellent ideas all of you. thanks for the drawing on your multi hit target CFI! Would love to see pics.

[Christian for Israel]

here's the targets and another manniquin.

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Man mommas sewing dummy has always been in jeporady with my eyeballing it for a good range day but after seeing these mmm mm that ******s gonna show up awol one day! Dunno know if I got the willpower not to smoke the face though, I'm kinda mean like that LOL.