FreeIdaho

US Flag ============> FreeIdaho <============

Reed Reactive Target

Wouldn’t it be nice for some matches to have reactive IDPA targets? I’m not talking about Pepper Poppers here, but a target that falls only with a hit to a down-zero area. The RRT, Reed Reactive Target named by the late John Luering, may God rest his soul, is such a target.

The RRT holds a standard cardboard IDPA target in front of two steel plates. One steel plate is behind the square down-zero area of the cardboard target. Another steel plate is behind the round down-zero area in the center of the cardboard target. Thus after a bullet passes through either down-zero area, it hits a steel plate and knocks the RRT down. This makes the target reactive and great fun to shoot. Conversely, when a bullet goes through the down-one or down-three areas of the cardboard target, it misses the steel plates and the RRT remains standing. An RRT is scored like a Pepper Popper. If it remains standing a miss is scored, and if the target falls it is scored as neutralized.

The addition of RRTs to an IDPA match breaks the regularity of shooting twice and moving on. An RRT soaks up all down-one and down-three hits without notice, and can make an IDPA competitor focus on getting down-zero hits. RRTs are particularly well suited for wearing a T-shirt or ball cap, since the cardboard target does not have to be scored. For some reason, the addition of a T-shirt makes the RRT even more of a challenge to shoot well.

Of course the concept of steel plates behind a cardboard target has been around for some time. However the RRT design and construction details make this target a good match for the requirements of IDPA. The steel plates of the RRT are angled down at a 45-degree angle so that when a bullet hits a steel plate it is deflected down into the ground and not back to the shooter. This allows the RRT to be shot from very close distances, as in IDPA. During development the prototype was shot 75 times in a row from 3 feet with .45ACP, .38 Special, and 9mm without any splatter getting back to the shooter. Additionally, the prototype did not spit back using a shotgun with birdshot or buckshot. Individual target builders/users will have to evaluate the risk and decide what a safe shooting distance is for this target based on its local construction materials, construction quality and other factors they deem important.

These plans are free for non-commercial use and are offered with no warranty or other claims expressed or implied. Ken Reed, 05/26/2001.

Photo courtesy of Donald Murray, Mid-Carolina IDPA.

Prototype ready for close range testing.

Major parts.

Side view, steel plates behind down zero areas.

The target has been hit in a down zero area.