Clothing on IDPA Targets?

[zeroflux]

So I am reading in the IDPA Rule Book that "Targets may be covered with clothing as desired" but don't recall ever seeing this in IDPA match videos or any of the few matches I have shot? 4.10 does specify that the material has to be lightweight and I wondering if the shirt, t-shirt (sweatshirt?) would need to be changed out a few times during the match and perhaps should be identical?

I actually like the idea from a realism perspective if the clothing does in fact minimize or completely eliminate the visual confirmation of hits on the targets, which could add an interesting dimension if deployed in conjunction with a limited stage? I suspect that dark material would perhaps be more effective at masking the hits, especially if the target is at some distance?

[JAD]

We ran clothed targets in exclusion at the Kansas City Indoor, when that was a thing. They do have to be changed some, not because of shirt wear but because they significantly enlarge the hole so you need new cardboard more often. We were running them mostly on McCaig poppers so they got shot a lot by most shooters . Making them identical is what I would have called gamer bullshit back in those days.

[BN]

Shirts on targets used to happen a lot. The worst problem is scoring and pasting. You have to fold back the shirt to score and then paste with the shirt trying to fall back over the target. Sometimes the shirt would bend the head of the target when it was folded back. The holes weren't as precise in the targets after going through the shirt. Sometimes, with several people pasting, holes would get missed when the shirt would fall back over the target and the pasters would think the target had already been pasted.

Shirts are fun for shooting, but a pain to administer in a match. It increases the time for resetting a stage.

Usually hits were lower on the target with shirts. Dark colored shirts would usually last for a complete local match. Light colored shirts would develop a pattern of shots, but they would usually be low enough that the next shooters shouldn't rely on them for a spot to shoot.

One of the good ways to set up for shirts on targets was to have the wood uprights of the target stand be higher than the head of the target. Then staple one thickness of shirt on to the upright at the shoulders. The uprights would keep the head from bending over when the shirt was folded back for scoring. For scoring, have one person go through folding the shirts back, then the SO comes through scoring, then the pasters come through pasting and folding the shirts back. It's a lot of work.

[voodoo_man]

Ive run 3d clothed targets in shoot houses before - basically 2 idpa backers with a third xut up to make the sides, roughly 3-4 inches
Then put a shirt on. Shows you bullet path and makes for good angle work on doors and corners.

[zeroflux]

Bill or JAD, are there videos on YouTube or Vimeo of those matches? Curious to see what the set up looked like?

[EricP]

In the couple of matches I've shot that had t-shirted targets, they always seemed to be treated like hard cover. Whole squads would be shooting for the head on targets out to 15 yards. I don't know if it was the inability to visually account for hits or what.

I've also had the same problems as Bill. Targets not getting pasted. Another problem was the shirt tearing pastors off the target when the shirt was slid back down over the target.

[BN]

Bill or JAD, are there videos on YouTube or Vimeo of those matches? Curious to see what the set up looked like?

I haven't seen it done for several years. When I remember it done, there wasn't as much video done as there is now. I did a couple of YouTube searches and didn't find anything.

One year (2000?) at the IDPA Nationals they had a shirted target in front of the shoot target and it folded down to score. I only saw it once. The IDPA Nationals had shirts often in the early days.

Sometimes they would just slide a T-Shirt over the head of a target, just like dressing it. It was even harder to score, because you had to slide the shirt up to score every time.

Shirts are really cool on something like the Reed Reactive Target http://www.parmarng.org/freeidaho/AlSkDjFhG/index.html This is a reactive target with steel plates behind the down zero zones and only hits in the down zero will knock down the target. Go to the left of the page and scroll down for Reed Reactive Target info.

[nycnoob]

Shirts are really cool on something like the Reed Reactive Target http://www.parmarng.org/freeidaho/AlSkDjFhG/index.html This is a reactive target with steel plates behind the down zero zones and only hits in the down zero will knock down the target. Go to the left of the page and scroll down for Reed Reactive Target info.

John Hearne has something similar which Tom Givens uses at his tactical conference


http://www.dvctargets.com/

[abu fitna]

Bill ran a few matches out at peacemaker that had clothed targets. Worth the experience, but does slow down stage resets.

[PPGMD]

I did a club match with clothed targets for one stage.

It was a pain to score, and the shirt didn't always fall the same, or sit the same on the target. So you can shoot the shirt in the exact same place it would be zero down for one person, and then -1 for the next.

IMO cool to play around for a club match, but aren't consistent enough for a major match.