For every gun owner, target shooting is a great way to help improve your accuracy. However, taking time for target shooting is more important than just improving your aim. Target shooting also helps you get more and more familiar with your firearms which can help you improve your gun safety and be more ready should you ever find yourself in a position to use your firearm in self-defense. I’ve read so many articles from firearms experts and professional shooters on how one of the biggest mistakes gun owners make is that they don’t handle their firearms often enough. Just buying a shotgun and putting in a closet doesn’t mean you’ll be ready to use it if you need to. Familiarity with your gun’s weight, how to load it, how to empty it, clean it and yes, shoot it – are all vital in not only being more effective when you need to use your gun but also helps you handle it more safely in all sitations.
So, get out to the range and get shooting. If you have the luxury of being able to target shoot on private property, you can make the experience not only an excercise in skill building, but also a bit more entertaining using non-traditional targets. Most people choose tarkets that are cheap and simple. The first time I went out years ago we just used round colored stickers on cardboard to aim at. That works fine if you just want to get some quality range time at a low cost, but more fun and creative targets can be found all over.
Doing a simple search online, I’ve discovered a whole host of creative paper targets and even some well made corrugated plastic targets you can mount on simple metal h-frame stakes. I’ve seen everything from Darth Vader to Godzilla to bad guys holding hostages. Sometimes just having something more menacing to shoot at makes the whole target shooting experience more interesting.
Some friends and I had a chance to take target shooting to a new level with the unique 3D Bleeding Zombie Targets from Zombie Industries. These unque plastic and foam targets have a thin layer of neon pink “blood” beneath the surface. When hit, the pink blood bursts and runs like you would explect. There are a few different zombie models available including zombies resembling clowns, Nazis and even terrorists. The folks at Zombie Industries definitely demonstrate some creativity so no matter what terror haunts your dreams you can get some therapy by unloading on one of these life-size interactive and bio-friendly targets.
Friends and I chose the “Chris” model when we got together. The company claims that their Bleeding Zombie Targets will take over 1,000 rounds. I would attest to that. He definitely took a licking before we was a mess of foam and pink goo. We started out light at first. Having some newcomers to shooting we wanted to use this as a teaching opportunity. We started with my Ruger SR22 and then worked our way up from there to a 9mm Glock and then a Colt 1911 .45.
Of course, we wanted to hit this zombie with more than handgun rounds so we brought out a few rifles to take down the undead. We started with my .22LR Henry Repeater – a fun and reliable plinking rifle made my one of the great American firearms manufacturers. We ramped things up to my friend’s Russian made SKS and then to an M1A. Those definitely put some bigger holes in our target and the pink blood was flowing. As our afternoon of bullets and burgers was heading into the burgers phase, it was time to level our zombie foe. With the 12-gauge in hand, one of our young shooters took the head clean off. Well, not so clean, there was some pink-stained foam dangling.
As you can see, this bleeding zombie target took a wallop. These targets definitely make for an entertaining shooting experience for everyone. Even at $60 to $90, it’s worth it for the fun. Check them out at the Zombie Industries site and if you’ve had a chance to put some lead on one of these suckers, let us know in the comments below.
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