TargetTalk

For all you experienced air pistol shooters, what is the best american made B-40 target? I recently bought targets from the National Target Co. . They work ok but the holes are not nice round holes like on the Kruger targets. Can anybody point me to an american company that uses a thicker paper (light cardboard). Are the "Alco Target" or the "American Target" companies any better? The shooting club needs to buy 4,000 NRA targets and we are trying to find out who makes the best ones.

Thanks

Sorry. I don't know of a decent "Made in USA" target. Stan Pace has been some very good European ones, tho.

Why don't you just spend the money for some Kruger or other good European targets? Why are you guys so damned cheap?

You can easily put twice as many shots into the good targets and cut their price in half and still be able to score them better.

Cibles from Canada aren't bad, either.

The topic of this post is "What is the best american made target" AND NOT "What is the cheapest american made target". We are already using the Kruger ISSF approved targets but we need the NRA approved targets to comply with the NRA competition rules. Just found out last night that Kruger did sign a deal with the NRA to supply the B-40 target. The NRA target is a bit taller than the normal Kruger ISSF approved target. We compared both yesterday at a practice session.

NOW I understand. Just use the good ones and don't tell the NRA. No one really cares. My club certainly doesn't!

The best targets, in descending order, in my opinion, are Edelmann, Kruger, Cibles, National, and American. The first two are German, the last three are American, with the last two being U.S. made, (the Cibles are Canadian).

The most cost-effective are the American Target Co.targets. I use them for practice, and find that if they and the Nationals are kept extremely dry, the holes punched are almost as good as with the Krugers. After receiving them, I put mine in the oven at about 150f. for an hour or two, and then store them in a dry area, in Zip-Loc freezer bags.
A simple test, shooting targets stored in the basement where I have my range, (which isn't particularly damp), and bone dry targets stored in plastic bags, proved the value of eliminating any moisture the highly hygroscopic paper targets may have absorbed from the air.
Paul

pgfaini wrote:The best targets, in descending order, in my opinion, are Edelmann, Kruger, Cibles, National, and American. The first two are German, the last three are American, with the last two being U.S. made, (the Cibles are Canadian).

The most cost-effective are the American Target Co.targets. I use them for practice, and find that if they and the Nationals are kept extremely dry, the holes punched are almost as good as with the Krugers. After receiving them, I put mine in the oven at about 150f. for an hour or two, and then store them in a dry area, in Zip-Loc freezer bags.
A simple test, shooting targets stored in the basement where I have my range, (which isn't particularly damp), and bone dry targets stored in plastic bags, proved the value of eliminating any moisture the highly hygroscopic paper targets may have absorbed from the air.
Paul

I agree with everything said above and the reason as explained to me by the American target dealers as to why their targets aren't better is that the number paper companies willing to make the paper for these targets is very limited. When I called at the beginning of this year to talk to them about this there was only one. The paper used for the American targets is a loose fiber content versus the denser European fiber content. You can limit the amount of tearing by keeping them dry. The other thing you can do to limit tear is put another used target behind the new target & this will limit the tear as it helps stiffen the front target paper. It's still not as good as a Kruger, but it helps limit the tearing in the target paper.

Don't forget Speedwell in the USA. I usually like these better than American or National as far as ease of scoring - less tearing. Edelmann are my favorites.

bit late, but i just read in the european kruger catalog that kruger also produce nra approved targets.

http://www.kruger-us-targets.com/index. ... -b-40.html

don't know if they are cheap but to me kruger produce the best targets you can buy.

madmull

I have been using some low cost brown colored paper tape with adhesive on it. I tear off a couple of inches and put it on the backside of the bull. This stiffens up the cibles target quite a bit. Holes are much cleaner even when the backing is in bad shape. The roll of tape was less than 5 dollars and I expect it will be enough for 500 targets.

Off topic I know but it helps lower cost targets score better for practice.

if you shoot a precision pistol,why do you buy cheap paper that does not allow you to score with precision?

If you are practicing, why waste money on expensive targets when the score doesn't matter?

I usually shoot so many shots on a practice target that you can't score them anyway. What I'm looking for is tight groups & no fliers.

That said, it's nice (but not terribly important) to get a feel for what your scores would be. For me, scoring practice targets to a high degree of precision is a waste of time & energy that detracts from focusing on shooting better.

The original poster appeared to be concerned about match targets, which are a different story. If Kruger makes NRA match targets, and you are required to use NRA targets, I would look no further. Either that, or bake a set of Nationals before every match.