Badasstargets.com

A while back I got an email from the owner of Badasstargets.Com asking me if I’d do a write-up on his targets. I said “sure” and a few days later a roll of targets showed up in the mail. I honestly figured they’d be good for a laugh and for a nice break from shooting at NRA AP-1 targets; and I was certainly right on that count. Here are three of the four targets I received, the fourth being a “cowboy” that just didn’t provide the menace I was hoping for.

From Badasstargets.Com

The targets are huge. They actually didn’t quite fit on the target backers, so there’s a lot of slop on the sides, but that really didn’t interfere with the shooting. The shooting of course was the fun part – I had just received my S&W 625, so I decided I’d do a little El Presidente on them. I gave each target two El Pres runs and then gave them all a controlled pair in the head. My favorite target was the guy with the meat cleaver and the machete – here are his 10 rounds.

From Badasstargets.Com

See that one in his left shoulder? That one got me thinking about the targets, and their potential as a training tool, so I went and checked out the guy with the big hood and the Mosin Nagant.

From Badasstargets.Com

Sure enough, one of those hits was “on the target”, but had that been a real person, that round on the far left would have flown harmlessly by his head, through his hood and continued on down the range to wherever stray bullets go. Yes, the two in his left eye would have killed him DRT, but that missed round is actually kind of concerning.

However, the miss does point out a valuable way that the targets from Badasstargets.com could be used as a training tool. Yes, they’re fun – who wouldn’t enjoy putting some number 4 buck into a guy wearing a blood spattered smock and packing an AK? But all fun aside, the targets from Bad Ass Targets do a couple of things that an IDPA target doesn’t do. They give you a “sort of” realistic looking threat, you’re not shooting at a piece of cardboard, but rather a humanoid silhouette. Secondly, and most importantly in my opinion, they provide non-standard profiles. In a fight, your attacker isn’t going to stand there and present you with an nice clean torso shot. They’re going to be moving and presenting angles to you, so practicing on targets that are wearing hoods, or presenting at angles can actually be a beneficial training tool.

Yes, I had a lot of fun shooting these targets – but I also was able to take a couple of valuable lessons from the shooting, and I’ll be able to incorporate them in to my defensive training going forward. Thanks to Brett and the guys at Badasstargets.com for providing the targets for me to blast at!