Training Tips: Selecting Relevant Handgun Targets

I am not the mindset lecture guy and there are other, better folks to address that topic. What I am here to talk about is incorporating an appropriate defensive mindset into our training. Target selection is fruitful ground for that.

Lethal force is defined as force which is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury. The numbers fluctuate a bit but it’s fair to say approximately 80% of people who are shot with a pistol in this country will survive that experience. Indeed, most pistol gunshot wounds are same-day treat-and-release affairs at hospitals. So, when Chuck Pressburg calls pistols “little L” lethal force, there’s a good reason for it. 

Pistol gunfire is not something one just shrugs off. However, it must be directed at anatomically-significant structures in order to reliably incapacitate. Chuck Pressburg’s description of targeting – “critical areas of the human body [which, when struck] instantly cease all motor function or cause rapid unconsciousness, usually resulting in death” – is what we’re after. Our practice targets should reflect this. So how do we make that happen?

Rethinking the Chest – Selecting Handgun Targets

An 8” circle is one of the traditional training representations of a good chest shot. However, when overlaid on one’s chest it covers:

• The heart
• Major blood-bearing vessels around the heart
• The spine
• The lungs

In isolation, pistol fire to any of those structures will kill a person. However, destroying some (or all) of the first three structures is the most productive way to quickly incapacitate when targeting the chest. A shot to the lungs is bad for you, but it’s going to take a quite while to render you unconscious. Going back to that overlay on the chest, you will note that the majority of the 8” circle is taken up by the lungs. In contrast, the heart, spine, and major blood bearing vessels are all clustered towards the center. 

Something I took from John Hearne’s lectures is that vertically-oriented targets are a better way to practice chest shots. The vertical orientation does two things for us.  First, it keeps us focused width-wise on the heart and excludes the lungs. Second, the spine just so happens to run vertically through the torso – focusing fire vertically on the centerline increases our odds of getting a mobility kill. 

The interior rectangle measures 4×6”, whereas the outer one measures 5.5×8.5” – similar surface areas to the black of a B8 target and an 8” circle, respectively. While similar in relative difficulty, the pictured targets are more vertically oriented.

A better target which has similar relative difficulty to the 8” circle is a standard 8.5×11” piece of paper folded in half to create a 8.5×5.5” rectangle. When oriented vertically this target keeps your shots more focused on the heart and spine.

Head Scratching – Selecting Handgun Targets

As somebody who played a lot of FPS games as a kid, I started out thinking a headshot is a headshot. After all, in every game I remember any headshot was sufficient for an instant kill — regardless of placement. The biggest surprise learning point in my decade or so of firearms training is how untrue that is. Indeed, one consistent thread between Chuck Pressburg, Claude Werner, and the Rangemaster crowd has been how insignificant most of the head is when it comes to reliable incapacitation.

Indeed, some parts of the head – particularly when shot at an angle – are downright difficult for pistol bullets to penetrate. In general, the zone we want to target for reliable incapacitation is no larger than about 15 square inches. It’s bounded by the eyes at the top and the bottom of the nose at the bottom. 

The circles are 3” in diameter. Look at their size relative to the area bounded by the eyes and the bottom of the nose. On this particular target, at least one and perhaps two of the headshots probably aren’t too great.

Size Matters

With the above thoughts on head- and chest shots in mind, I have arranged the following targets from least to greatest surface area:

• 3” circle (B8 x-ring) = 7.09”
• USPSA Upper A = 7.5”
• 3×3” post-it note = 9”
• 4” circle (IDPA head) = 12.57”
• 3×5” card = 15”
• 5.5” circle (B8 black) = 23.76”
• 4×6” card = 24”
• 8.5×5.5” (printer paper folded in half) = 46.75”
• 8” circle (IDPA chest) = 50.27”
• USPSA Lower A = 64.13”

Many instructors teach the size of the heart and major blood-bearing vessels as approximately the size of a B8 black. A horizontal 3×5” card is the largest “good” headshot zone I have seen posited in my training.

About .20 cents’ worth of improvements to a standard USPSA target. While the upper A zone is a fine representation of a headshot, the B8 is a better fit for the vitals of the chest.

Additionally, consider having to select where to shoot. For example, anybody you may have to shoot will have eyes. The eyes are a good target indicator for the “good” part of the head to shoot. The bottom limit of that zone tends to be around the bottom of the nose. Photorealistic targets may or may not be socially acceptable at your range, but if they are you should occasionally try them to assist in targeting decisions. A printable head (with a scoring zone) can be found here.

Parting Shots – Selecting Handgun Targets

The office supply section of any major big-box store is one of the best – and cheapest – target supply centers available. You can get an awful lot done on the cheap with masking tape (both pasters and an adhesive), some 3×3” post-it notes (headshots), and index cards of various sizes (body shots).

A pack of a hundred 4×6” index cards costs less than $5, and for $20 on Amazon you can get a hundred pack of B8 repair centers. For a small initial investment, you can make any target you have into something far more relevant to the defensive shooter.