DallyPost Tactical Target vs Turning Targets

Posted by Lance Earl of Lance Earl, LLC on July 24, 2012

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As I am writing this, I have a police agency that is trying to decide between getting the DallyPost Tactical Target or a pneumatic turning target. In this article, I will examine both. I will use an imaginary shooting range laid out in a graph pattern. The horizontal scale (0 - 70) represents the width of the range in feet. The target will be placed on this line. The empty spaces represent shooter positions and will be defined by quadrant, such as C-30.

0	10	20	30	40	50	60	70
A
B
C

First, I will examine the use of a pneumatic turning target. The only variables here are the amount of time that the target will remain turned away from the shooter and the amount of time that the target will face the shooter.

The typical shooter experience for this target system is as follows;

1. The target is positioned at 30 feet.
2. The shooter is positioned at C-30.
3. The target remains turned away from the shooter for 8 seconds.
4. The shooter hears air moving through the tubing as the target gets ready to move. This gives the shooter a auditory signal that something is about to happen.
5. The target turns and faces the shooter at a location that is known ahead of time and continues to face the shooter for 5 seconds.
6. The shooter engages the target the has appeared exactly where and exactly when the shooter expected. Therefore, there was no surprise and very little mental or physical stress.
7. Repeat.

Next, I will look at three scenarios that can be accomplished with the DallyPost Tactical Target. Keep in mind that these are only three of literally hundreds of scenarios that can be configured with this system. Please note that I do not generally recommend the first two scenarios. I only mention them to illustrate the flexibility of the system.

Scenario 1, Slow and predictable

1. The shooter is positioned at C-20.
2. At the speed of a human walk, the target moves toward position 30.
3. The target stops at position 30 and pauses for five seconds.
4. At the speed of a human walk, the target moves toward position 10.
5. The target stops at position 10 and pauses for five seconds.
6. This pattern of moves repeats, causing the shooter to engage the target at position 10 and 30. This scenario is somewhat dynamic but is still very predictable and therefore not very applicable to a real-world shooting emergency.

Scenario 2, Fast and predictable

1. The shooter is positioned at C-30.
2. At the speed of a fast human run, the target moves toward position 50.
3. The target stops at position 50 and pauses for two seconds.
4. At the speed of a fast human run, the target moves toward position 10.
5. The target stops at position 10 and pauses for two seconds.
6. This pattern of moves repeats, causing the shooter to engage the target at position 10 and 50. This scenario is somewhat dynamic and requires fast target acquisition but is still very predictable and therefore not very applicable to a real-world shooting emergency.

Scenario 3, Anything goes

1. The shooter is positioned at C-40.
2. At one of 9 randomly selected speeds, from slower than a human walks to faster than a human can run, the target moves to a randomly selected position from 10 and 70.
3. The target stops at the selected position and pauses for a randomly selected time between 1 and 8 seconds.
4. The above move pattern repeats. This scenario is highly dynamic because:
   1. The shooter never knows what direction the target will move.
   2. The shooter never knows how fast the target will move.
   3. The shooter never knows how far the target will move.
   4. The shooter never knows how long the target will remain motionless between moves.
5. This scenario his highly dynamic and realistic. As long as Bad Guys insist on being random and unpredictable, don't you think your training should be too?

This comparison can easily be made with other moving target systems. The simple truth is this. If you want your training to realistically relate to the realities of an actual shooting situation, start with the DallyPost Tactical Target.

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