Tactical Shooting Drill with Red Stitch Hexstar Target
Don EdwardsDescription
To get the most value from shooting steel targets, modify your steel target training or practice session so it applies to a defensive encounter. PDN Contributors Deryck Poole of Echo-5 Training Group and Don Edwards of Greenline Tactical demonstrate with a Red Stitch Targets Hexstar.
SHOOTING STEEL TARGETS
They’ve modified the target plates by adding numbers to them so that during the drill, Deryck can randomly call out numbers for Don to shoot. This means Don has to process what Deryck has said, identify the correct target, then engage it, mirroring the decision-making process of a defensive shooting. This is a tactical shooting drill as opposed to a static target shooting drill.
HEXSTAR
The target used is a Red Stitch Targets Hexstar, part of Red Stitch’s popular Magstar line. The Magstar itself is an adaptation of the Texas Star target created years ago by Terry Ashton. The Hexstar has an additional arm, so it has six instead of five arms/targets, and the arms are variable lengths, basically three long and three short. Round or square steel targets can be attached to the arms.
The principle behind the Texas Star is that it is a stationary target only until the first plate is shot. This sets all the other arms in motion, so with the Hexstar, the shooter has five moving targets to shoot. And the arms really do move … this is not a piece of paper swaying in the breeze. As successive targets are shot, the speed increases, though you can modify this by taking a long break in between shots.
Considering that the bad guy will most likely be moving when you are defending yourself or your home and family against him, tracking and shooting moving targets are useful and applicable handgun training and practice.
FIVE…TWO…FOUR!
Don Edwards does an outstanding job shooting the targets on demand. With a little ingenuity, you can come up with shooting drills that apply to defensive encounters.