Selecting a Self-Defense Training Target: Stop Wasting Ammo and Start Building Fight-Proof Skills

Rick Hogg
5 hours ago
7 min read

The target you choose can make or break your self-defense firearms training. Learn the pros/cons of IPSC, IDPA, steel, and B-27 targets, why “center mass” is often anatomically wrong, and how the War HOGG Tactical Self-Defense Training Target plus the T-Shirt Drill builds accountability, realism, and measurable improvement. — During a self-defense firearms training session, participants focus on honing their skills with different targets and techniques to enhance accountability and realism.

New Year, Same Problem: People Want Change Without a Plan

Happy New Year. Some of you are making a New Year’s resolution to improve your self-defense firearms skills. I’m going to tell you what I tell every student who shows up to a War HOGG Tactical course: we don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions. If you want to change something in your life - start now. Not next week. Not Monday. Not after you buy more gear.

And if you want real improvement, you need to stop treating “range day” like therapy. Training is problem-solving. It’s identifying deficiencies, building a plan, and measuring improvement with honest standards. That’s why target selection matters more than people think.

Targets aren’t just paper or steel. They’re training tools that shape your technique, mindset, and marksmanship results. Choose the wrong target and you’ll build habits that look good on the flat range, and fail when it’s real. Choose the right target and you’ll tighten up shot placement, learn to call shots, and stop accepting “good enough.”

And none of this works without a training program, dry and live fire, plus a way to track what’s happening. That’s why I push The Firearms Training Notebook. It helps you identify where you’re weak, build a plan, and prove you’re improving instead of guessing.

Target Selection Is About One Thing: What Habit Are You Building?

Every target rewards something.

Some targets reward speed and forgiveness. Some reward precision and discipline. Some reward “center mass” language that sounds tactical… while steering your hits into anatomically weak areas.

So here’s the question you should ask before you staple anything up: What habit does this target build under stress? If the target lets you be sloppy, you will be sloppy. If the target forces accountability, you’ll start solving real problems.

Let’s break down the most common self-defense training targets I see, and what they actually do to your skills.

The IPSC Target: Great for Speed - Dangerous for Sloppy Shot Placement

The IPSC target is a staple in shooting. It’s used everywhere in practical shooting and competition circuits like USPSA. It’s roughly 18×30 inches, with scoring zones designed for fast scoring and standardization.

Why it works

The IPSC target is excellent for building speed and accuracy under pressure. The standardized scoring makes progress easy to track. It’s consistent, repeatable, and it supports high-rep training where you’re pushing movement, draw speed, transitions, and reloads.

Where it can hurt you

The problem is the A-zone can give you a false sense of proper shot placement for self-defense. It’s large enough that you can get “acceptable” hits while still being anatomically sloppy.

Here’s how I fix that without throwing the target away: I keep my hits above the perforated “A”, high in the upper A-zone, because that aligns better with high thoracic shot placement. If your goal is self-defense effectiveness, don’t train yourself to accept low, lazy hits just because the cardboard says you scored points.

The IDPA Target: Better Anatomy, Better Accountability

The IDPA target is similar to IPSC, but it’s more aligned with defensive application. It uses “down-zero” zones in the head and upper chest and emphasizes upper thoracic placement.

The scoring model also matters. IDPA penalizes non-vital hits by adding time: one second per point down for a “C-zone equivalent,” and heavier penalties (like three seconds) for lower-quality hits. That scoring system forces you to prioritize accuracy, not just raw speed.

If you’re building concealed carry or duty-focused skills, IDPA targets do a better job than IPSC at enforcing the kind of shot placement you should be chasing—especially if you actually score them and don’t just “spray and pray” and call it training.

Steel Targets: Instant Feedback - But Only If You Stay Honest

Steel targets are popular for good reason. They give immediate feedback (“ding”), they’re durable, and you don’t have to patch holes. They can also make training more engaging, especially with movers like spinners or dueling trees.

But steel has a weakness: it can let shooters get lazy about where they hit.

If you shoot steel and only listen for the ding, you can train yourself into “any hit is a win.” That’s not self-defense skill. That’s noise-making.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-e8KbVdoUE

Adding more accountability when shooting steel.

Here’s what I do when I’m shooting a C-zone steel: I paint a box on it to create an accountability zone. Now I’m not just hearing impact, I’m demanding a specific hit location that better represents high thoracic placement.

Steel also forces a skill most shooters avoid: calling your shot. Yes, you heard the ding, but was it a weak edge hit or a clean, high thoracic hit? If you can’t answer that without walking downrange, your visual processing is behind where it needs to be.

The B-27 Target: The “Center Mass” Lie That Trains People to Shoot Low

The B-27 is a full-size silhouette (24×45 inches) with scoring rings that has been used in law enforcement qualifications for decades. The problem isn’t nostalgia. The problem is anatomy.

On the B-27, the X-ring sits “center mass”, but it’s anatomically low, roughly in the stomach area. That encourages shots that miss the heart and aortic arch. It bakes in bad habits for self-defense and deadly-force application, yet many agencies still rely on it for “training” and qualification.

I see the results of that target every time I teach. Students show up and their hits are consistently low because they’ve been conditioned by “center mass” language and a target that rewards low placement.

If you’re serious about survivability, you don’t let a legacy qualification target define your shot placement standards. You train for high thoracic hits with targets that reinforce reality.

The War HOGG Tactical Self-Defense Training Target: Built for Real Work, Not Range Comfort

This is exactly why we built the War HOGG Tactical Self-Defense Training Target.

It draws directly from the Special Forces Advanced Urban Combat (SFAUC) Combat Marksmanship Program and the NRA Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor Training Course, and we refined it specifically to “supercharge” our law enforcement red dot pistol courses. It also incorporates the War HOGG Self-Eval.

And the design choice that matters most: the vital zones are very light so you can hone in on the area without being visually “dragged” by bright colors. You’re training your eyes and your process, not training yourself to aim at a neon shape.

Side One: Precision and Performance Diagnostics

One side is built for accountability work:

Multiple 3-inch dots
B8 bullseyes
Zeroing pastiesThis is where you evaluate grip, recoil management, red dot tracking, and the War HOGG 5-Shot Drill. Larger scoring areas around the dots give newer shooters an on-ramp while still allowing advanced shooters to tighten standards.

Side Two: Threat-Based Marksmanship With Defined Vitals

The reverse side gives you a realistic armed humanoid silhouette with clearly defined (but light) vital zones, plus extra B8 bullseyes that support target indexing drills. The layout is designed to let you progress from foundational bullseye/zero work to threat-focused combat marksmanship without changing targets every five minutes.

That’s the point: seamless progression, measurable standards, and targets that build the habits you’ll need when the stakes are real.

The T-Shirt Drill: Add Realism Without Turning Training Into Theater

Here’s a truth a lot of people ignore: in real defensive encounters, threats aren’t naked paper silhouettes. They’re people wearing everyday clothes. That clothing obscures vitals and creates visual clutter, exactly what your brain will deal with in real life.

We had a student fixate on a circular logo on a t-shirt. He anchored on that graphic and missed the vitals completely. That wasn’t a “shooting problem.” That was a visual processing problem, and it’s common.

That’s why we believe in the t-shirt drill enough that we incorporate it into every War HOGG Tactical course.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=picP_fZPwTI

How to set it up (simple and effective)

Start with a humanoid silhouette target that has vitals so you can see true shot placement. Use an old t-shirt cut in half—now you’ve got two training aids from one shirt. Mount it with four staples: one on each edge of the collar and one in each shoulder, so the shirt covers the torso.

Now you’ve added realism without inventing fantasy scenarios. You’re forcing your eyes to find the vital zone through visual noise, just like you’ll have to do when it matters.

Match the Target to the Skill You’re Building

This is where most shooters waste time: they pick a target because it’s familiar, cheap, or trendy, then they run every drill on it, even when it doesn’t support their training goal.

Here’s the better approach:

If you’re building speed and transitions, IPSC can be useful, but tighten your standard to the upper A-zone for self-defense relevance. If you’re building defensive shot placement with accountability, IDPA targets support high thoracic focus and time-penalty scoring that punishes sloppy hits. If you want instant feedback, steel is great, if you paint an accountability box and practice true shot-calling instead of chasing dings. If you’re still using B-27 “center mass” thinking, understand you may be training yourself into low hits that don’t align with effective anatomy. If you want one target that supports a full training cycle, that’s exactly what the War HOGG Tactical Self-Defense Training Target was built to do.

Build a Program: Dry Fire + Live Fire + Notes or It Doesn’t Count

Target selection and training program go together. The target sets the standard; your plan builds the skill.

Dry fire builds the mechanics, presentation, grip, trigger control, dot acquisition, without burning ammo. Live fire validates performance and exposes what breaks under recoil. And your notebook is the bridge between the two: it tells you what to fix next, not what you feel like fixing.

If your training isn’t recorded, it’s not a program. It’s a hobby.

Bottom Line: Stop Training for Convenience - Train for Survival

Whether you’re law enforcement building red dot survivability skills, a competitive shooter sharpening performance, or a responsibly armed citizen preparing for self-defense, the target you choose matters. It shapes your habits, your standards, and your shot placement under stress.

Pick targets that enforce high thoracic accountability. Avoid targets that reward anatomically low “center mass” thinking. Use steel with honest shot-calling. Add realism with the t-shirt drill so your eyes learn to solve real problems. And build a plan, dry and live, with notes and retesting so you can prove improvement.

Train Hard. Stay Safe. And I’ll see you On The Range - Rick

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