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Skill Set: Target System
By Tiger McKee
Note: Although I came up with the concept for this target system, and receive a royalty from sales, my purpose is not to make money from this column. I have so many students ask about these targets that I believe readers should be introduced to this valuable training tool.
Think about your training/practice with firearms, and tally up the times you shoot a stationary, non-reactive, piece of cardboard. Now think about all the fights you've ever seen, in real life or video. They are sudden, the threat(s) are moving, and you don't know what it will take to win the fight. To prepare for fighting we need target systems that reflect the realities of combat.
Action Targets' PT Turn-Swing target (http://www.actiontarget.com/law_pt_turn-swing.html) provides you with three targets in one package. It can be used as a stationary target, but it also spins ninety degrees, and wobbles left and right. It is rope operated, it's simple to use, and can be transported in the trunk of a car.
With this target you can add more depth to your training/practice - a moving, reactive target - and all you need is someone to operate the control ropes. For example you start out with the target bladed away from you. Suddenly it spins to face you, and they are armed. You present your weapon, backup to cover, and issue verbal commands. The threat may comply, but in this case they don't. Now you're moving, the threat begins wobbling back and forth, and you've got to get hits. You fire a couple of shots to the center of the body, but the threat is still in the fight. You lower the muzzle and engage the pelvic area, and the target blades away from you. You stay plugged into the fight - the threat may decide to attack again - so you're keeping behind cover and scanning. The key to this drill is that you don't know what will happen; it's all up to the person controlling the target. Adding the unknown gets us a little closer to the realities of combat.
The varieties of drills you can perform with this target are endless. With a few no-shoot targets you can have the threat using them as cover in a hostage situation. If you want to take it a little farther you can use a 3-D target with clothing on it. You're only limited by your imagination. The key is you're shooting a moving target and engaging the body, pelvic area, and head, to stop the threat, just likes real life.
There are a lot of other target systems out there that force you to think instead of just shooting range drills. Ultimately our tactical mindset is what we need to develop. No matter what weapon you're fighting with, you have to think to win the fight. The more realism we instill into our training/practice, the better prepared we are for the realities of combat.
Tiger McKee is director of Shootrite Firearms Academy, located in northern Alabama, author of The Book of Two Guns, a staff member of several firearms/tactical publications, and an adjunct instructor for the F.B.I. (256) 582-4777 www.shootrite.org