Negative Targets

[Jay Cunningham]

Besides adding a little variety to the standard IDPA/IPSC target, is there some other specific benefit from using negative targets (i.e. target zones cut out)?

[vaglocker]

Besides adding a little variety to the standard IDPA/IPSC target, is there some other specific benefit from using negative targets (i.e. target zones cut out)?

I don't know about cutting out the target zone, but I do tend to negative paste IDPA targets. Keeps me from having to use a lot of pasters, unless I'm having a bad day

[dr texan]

One thing it does is keep people from focusing on their previous shot. Some get so zoned in on the prior shot that they look at the target instead of the sights. Its a simple fix to keep someone from looking at the target.

That... and if youre really good you can use the same target forever

[Jay Cunningham]

One thing it does is keep people from focusing on their previous shot. Some get so zoned in on the prior shot that they look at the target instead of the sights. Its a simple fix to keep someone from looking at the target.

That... and if youre really good you can use the same target forever

I was thinking along these lines.

[BrianS]

One thing it does is keep people from focusing on their previous shot. Some get so zoned in on the prior shot that they look at the target instead of the sights. Its a simple fix to keep someone from looking at the target.

I thought it was merely so that you don't have to tape up the targets if you are getting good hits, but I hadn't thought about it also helping shooters maintain front sight focus in the event they are developing the habit of scanning immediately for holes.

Thanks for the insight.

[nolacopusmc]

One thing it does is keep people from focusing on their previous shot. Some get so zoned in on the prior shot that they look at the target instead of the sights. Its a simple fix to keep someone from looking at the target.

That... and if youre really good you can use the same target forever

Main reason IMO

[David Blinder]

If you use small cutouts (successfully), follow through is improved. This is due to the aforementioned concentration on sights rather than the target.

[Iraq Ninja]

My default target of choice when possible, always wears a t shirt. Many ranges don't let you do this though.

I tend to stay away for target origami.

[Von Rheydt]

I had the local [military] workshops make 6 steel "fall when hit" targets that we could paste the British figure 11 target onto.

Two of the targets had body armour style/size cutouts so that they would not fall when hit. That is unless there was the follow up of a head shot. They used to cause some mirth, problems and beer bills, especially with new guys who did not know they existed.

Hands up, I stole the idea from a commercial target that the Ministry of Defence was not going to buy.

There was also another target we built, again based on the fig 11. This one though would fall if you hit and destroyed a clay pigeon that had cord thru it. If you hit the clay the tension was released and a shock cord attached to the target pulled the target down. Simple to build with 2" x 4", 2" x 2", screws and a piece of rebar.

[Surf]

It is not really a common technique that I use, but it does have its place. While there are a few different benefits, I like to use it when you get those certain persons who get so fixated on ragged holes, that they do not really allow themselves to fully explore a good speed and accuracy balance. For some reason no matter how much you preach combat accuracy and speed of follow up or finding your happy medium or your own personal balance of speed and accuracy, you still get those people, experienced shooters included who will not budge from nice little groups. They wear the ragged holes like a badge of honor.

Sure a timer or timed drills can push them, but often times using a negative target enables them to get beyond the ragged hole more quickly allowing them to concentrate more on follow through and tracking the sights more quickly and increase their speeds while maintaining combat accuracy. They start to learn that a hole on paper is negative as opposed to a positive.

In turn they are often more easily able to push their limit until that hole starts to appear with a bit more frequency and then they can dial it down. For some shooters this is an easier route than using a standard paper target where they actually view their groups opening up. Some just have a mental barrier and can't stand to see their groups opening up, so they fight the balance of speed and accuracy concept and dial it back down until they get back to a nice little grouping. In other words, with a negative target, they don't get that negative reaction from watching the groups open up as speed increases. They only see it when they eventually see a hole in the paper outside of the desired hit zone. It really is just a mental thing for some shooters and I personally see it often enough. For some it really hampers pushing their own limits and breaking plateaus or personal barriers.