As a firearms instructor, I am always on the lookout for ways to make my training dynamic and more realistic. Shooting at the regular static silhouette or bullseye paper targets tends to be one-dimensional and offers little ability to challenge my students. I need a way to give my students a wide variety of drills to help them think about changing threat scenarios and dynamic target acquisition requirements. I have found a solution to my training needs that helps me to give my students among the finest targets for shooting practice available that not only give them the ability to respond to dynamic scenarios, but also to help them visualize vital areas on a target.
I recently had a chance to review the RE Factor Sharpshooter Target Pack, which ended up being the absolute best set of targets for shooting practice that I have tried. This target pack more than meets my need to create a multitude of shooting drills and gives me a vast array of creative options to make defensive shooting training more realistic and much more fun.
First of all - these targets are of very high quality, and they are BIG, measuring at 23" by 35". This gives me a lot of target real estate with which to create meaningful drills and shooting exercises.
The variety of targets in this target pack is perfect for the instructor who wants to be able to change things up and make training dynamic, and quite frankly, a lot of fun! This pack comes with ten each of the following targets:
- Essential Target: This is a black and white target that has numbered circles and squares of various sizes as well as a bullseye target. I have found this target to be an excellent warm-up target and a great way for students to "sight-in" their firearms to get an idea where their handguns are shooting, as well as make any necessary adjustments to carbine sights.
- Kill Zone Target: The most important thing I teach my students is that "stopping the threat" is the primary idea in defensive shooting. This target gives a great way to visualize the relationship between where vital areas of the human body are located. The added bonus of this particular target is that the anatomical features are overlaid onto a USPSA style target template. Many of us here shoot in USPSA matches and this target reinforces how scoring accurately on a USPSA style target (areas A, B, C, D) actually relates to real-life defensive shooting scenarios.
- IQ Pistol Target: This target is by far my favorite for making my students think and react quickly to shooting scenarios. The target has large rectangles, squares, and circles, each of a different color, and also with a different number. This allows me as the instructor to call out commands to shoot at specific shapes, specific colors, and specific numbers. And with the large size of these targets, my students are forced to have to move their point of aim and quickly acquire a new target multiple times per drill.
- IQ Rifle Target: When I need a target to sharpen skills and improve accuracy, this is the target I use most. The IQ Rifle Target has a wide variety of rectangles, squares, and circles, each of a different color, and also with a different number, just like the IQ Pistol Target. However, they are small in size. This gives me great flexibility in two areas. If I am teaching a pistol class to my more advanced students, I can use this targets with its smaller targets to help my students build on their skills by making them shoot at smaller targets, forcing them to improve their accuracy. If I am teaching a defensive rifle class, I use this target with the smaller shapes because rifle shooting tends to require more accuracy as a primary weapon.
Overall, I have found these targets to be of the highest quality and giving me the most flexibility of any targets that I have tried. As a firearms instructor, I need to give my students the most dynamic, realistic, and challenging shooting scenarios and practice possible. The folks at RE Factor Tactical have developed targets that more than meet my needs, and of a quality that can't be matched.
Please visit RE Factor Tactical for a wide range of targets and shooting accessories.
"The Gonz" is an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor and NRA Certified Range Safety Office in the Northern Colorado area offering one-on-one and individualized defensive firearms training.
