Tape Vs Pasters

[LPatterson]

I've had a bit of trouble lately with the tape on the roll not pulling off cleanly but is pulling off part of the paper of the next layer. So I was thinking about buying pasters and a tape gun, but I shoot my targets until most of the shooting surface is only tape. So am I going to have to start changing targets sooner if I use pasters? I remember a thread where people were talking about the best pasters and tape guns but my search attempts revealed lots of stuff, just not what I was looking for.

So could I trouble you to give me some help with what to start the new year with so I can tell Santa what to bring. I plan on using MGM targets so it would help if the pasters were a color match unlike some of the rolls of tape & targets I have now. It's a real pain when the tape color matches a TA-102 target but not a TA-108 and vise versa.

[XRe]

LeRoy, I find that pasters are about as sturdy as tape, when you're shooting at "full tape surface" areas on the target - but neither is really great. In the end, I just swap the targets once they get shot up pretty good. I usually pick things out that make me more efficient in my practice - pasters, left in a paster box, without a paster dispenser, are the fastest way to paste targets. I can pop four out on the fingers of my left hand and have them on the target in no time.

As far as quality, I've tried several brands. Shooters Connection are the best, for me.

[Rocket35]

I use the CED paster gun. Fast, easy and did I mention fast? Takes a fraction of the time to paste targets, so you can get to the practicing.

[al503]

Alco pasters are the best by far. They're much thicker, don't deteriorate when wet and they're the stickiest by far of any other that I've tried.

[Nik Habicht]

I've played with other people's paster guns. They're nice, but much like the grocery store pricing guns I used to use in my youth far from perfect --- misfeeds, flipped pasters, pasters falling off and hitting the ground, etc.

Pasters in a dispenser box --- fastest for me, whether I'm pasting during practice or on a stage at a match. A guy with a box of pasters who knows what he's doing can easily tape 1/2 the targets in the same time it takes 2-3 others with rolls of tape to do the other half....

[ken hebert]

slight drift: How about steel practice targets, if it is possible where you shoot/how you shoot? Two steel targets is pretty close to a box of 100 targets shipped, no taping, instant gratification of your hits. I have the opportunity to practice on steel, and for the most part I prefer it to paper now.

Back to the original question, my USPSA club uses Target Barn pasters and applies them by hand, the IDPA club I shoot with uses paster dispensers. I might be slightly faster with a dispenser, but I'm not gonna buy them for the USPSA club.

[Nik Habicht]

In my experience there are issues with steel: If they're the size of Cardboard targets --- shooters tend to get sloppy and accept any hit. If they're small --- shooters spend so much time on precisely aligning the sights that they start to have trouble with speed. You also can't set steel at certain distances that require different levels of vision, say at five, 15 and 25 yards. Last --- there's a temptation to keep shooting for dings, and to never repaint the target which is a problem for shot calling.....

[Fullauto_Shooter]

In my experience there are issues with steel: If they're the size of Cardboard targets --- shooters tend to get sloppy and accept any hit. If they're small --- shooters spend so much time on precisely aligning the sights that they start to have trouble with speed. You also can't set steel at certain distances that require different levels of vision, say at five, 15 and 25 yards. Last --- there's a temptation to keep shooting for dings, and to never repaint the target which is a problem for shot calling.....

Good point, I know a GM shooter who told me that the targets he shoots at mostly for are steel targets precisely the same size as an A-Zone (lower half). If you could figure out the mounting, it'd be really cool to have a standard size paper target with a steel A-Zone section (much less taping if you're shooting accurately) and yet still get feedback on your hits when you drift out of the A-Zone.

[smokshwn]

Absolutely the best practice investment you can make.

http://actiontarget.com/spt_pt_cowboy_targets.html

[LPatterson]

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like it will be pasters in the box and I will have to contact Chuck first.

For ken hebert, full size steel is not an option because the range I shoot at requires that targets be placed in their metal frames which are 24" x 24". I can staple ears on a standard IPSC target to fit inside their holders.

For fullauto, I have some steel A zones that I use at 25 yards when I am trying to refine trigger control. I used them this week with the 617 as practice for the 625 that I will use in a special classifier this weekend.

[BBoyd]

for practice you can cut out the A zones with a pocket knife and try and shoot only A's which you wont have to tape.

[Chris Keen]

Why not just shoot the A's ............. but NOT tape them ?

[AlamoShooter]

With tape I have seen the bullet pull the tape through the hole with it leaving a bigger hole or in a few cases two holes for one shot.

Not a big deal , but it can make for some dishonest practice rounds when you think you have all the hits .

Or in a match you end up giving a hit when the shooter shot a wide miss.

The size of the paster ....seams to grip better, BUT all of my practice is with tape. I am too cheep to buy paster.

[revchuck]

I've been using paper practice targets. Regular masking tape is the right color for patches, and I replace them every hundred rounds or so. They're about half the price of the cardboard targets and take up less room in the trash can. About the only chance I've had in the last year or so to practice is in an indoor range, and the paper targets work better in their target frames.

[LPatterson]

Bit of followup then this can be put to pasture. I bought the pasters from Shooters Connection in the box so that is done and all the tape was given to my local club which is probably where it came from in the first place.

As for cutting the A zone out or not pasting the A zone, I really want to know where the bullet landed on what I thought was an acceptable sight picture. It isn't enough to have the bullet land in a 6" X 11" area, I want the bullet to land where I was aiming. When using the steel A zones I have cardboard behind them to identify locations of misses but I would rather save them for accuracy work at the beginning & ending of a range session.

I have guns with different front blade, rear notch width combinations so the acceptabilty range changes with the front blade width. I have replacement A-C zones cut from garbage bags but they don't last long when the underlaying cardboard has a couple 100 bullets holes through them. I need to know where bullets land when I try shooting on the move or falling out of a box, coming into a new position.

Next year the Limited, L10, SS, Production guns and the Revo are getting a rest and the Open Glock 21 comes out. The Optima has so many dings in the lens that it is useless so I have a Fastfire as a replacement and a Cmore to try if I can find a mount. The Aimtech mount I bought doesn't allow the trigger to reset so I am going to check on a frame with the light rail if I can find anyone that sells a large frame Cmore mount.

[TreblePlink]

Pasters look better and obscure less perf per paste, if only they would adhere better - in hot or damp weather the things fall off making scoring difficult. Another local match uses masking tape - looks like hell but seems to stay put.

[LPatterson]

Buy some from Chuck and if you grab too much paster you may not get them off your finger.

[shred]

I prefer tape for practice-- it's more versatile for making ersatz hard-cover and multiple targets out of one.

Shooting A-zone cut out targets occasionally is worthwhile, especially for those that over-aim on a target and waste a lot of time doing it. Setup a stage with cutout A's and just shoot it thinking 'nothing but net'.

(you have to be able to call your shots and be brutally honest with yourself about your calls to get the most value from this drill)

Once you get tired of that, it's easy to slap any old piece of cardboard back where the A-zone was and it's easily replaceable.

[Jim Norman]

We use tape at our matches. Why? Because the complexities of a paster box are beyond the understanding of too many shooters. We wind up with strips of paper blowing around the range and short strips with 3-5 pasters left on them being thrown away.

Tape, good tape that is, has a far lower waste rate as well as being cheaper up front.

[wooddog]

A lot of times, when just practicing, I only paste shots outside of the "A" Zone, saves on tape and most of the time if there is a miss its pretty obvious. Pasters are quicker, but longer pieces of tape are often needed.

[gamingoddess]

Pasters are a good idea, but I've found that tape is the way to go during practice and local club matches. As mentioned previously, when pasters are used they either find their way onto the ground (littering) or just disappear because people would grab too many and leave them in their pockets by accident. It feels like a waste most of the time too because I feel like I can rip each paster in half to fill two bullet wholes (not much flexibility).

They are absolutely terrible in bad weather too (humid/rain). I was in a state IDPA match which had high humidity and downpours and they were giving pasters out...the damn things kept falling off. I quit after one stage and requested normal tape instead...which worked much better.

[LPatterson]

I prefer tape for practice-- it's more versatile for making ersatz hard-cover and multiple targets out of one.

Shooting A-zone cut out targets occasionally is worthwhile, especially for those that over-aim on a target and waste a lot of time doing it. Setup a stage with cutout A's and just shoot it thinking 'nothing but net'.

(you have to be able to call your shots and be brutally honest with yourself about your calls to get the most value from this drill)

Once you get tired of that, it's easy to slap any old piece of cardboard back where the A-zone was and it's easily replaceable.

I'm still using tape to create hard cover targets or white tape and paint to create no shoot targets. I am sure tape works for a lot of people with a high turnover rate but the tape I had was not coming off the rolls. I'll bet that a few times of trying to tape a target with tape that didn't have adhesive and it might be in the parking lot.

[chuckbradley]

Pasters are a good idea, but I've found that tape is the way to go during practice and local club matches. As mentioned previously, when pasters are used they either find their way onto the ground (littering) or just disappear because people would grab too many and leave them in their pockets by accident. It feels like a waste most of the time too because I feel like I can rip each paster in half to fill two bullet wholes (not much flexibility).

They are absolutely terrible in bad weather too (humid/rain). I was in a state IDPA match which had high humidity and downpours and they were giving pasters out...the damn things kept falling off. I quit after one stage and requested normal tape instead...which worked much better.

Not all pasters are created Equal. There were some out there last year that had a terrible problem of not sticking. Those were not mine. I just dont like getting a bad rep from a competitors poor product.

[ebg3]

I use tape in practice. I bought 12 rolls of 1/2" wide tape from one of the suppliers and it works really well. I stopped using pasters because I"m a cheap bastard! And I don't like the trash from using pasters(main reason).

[kevin c]

...Pasters are quicker, but longer pieces of tape are often needed...

+1

I tape every several mags. Strips of tape will cover multiple holes faster than taping/pasting individually, and also will support the shot through area better.

Something I found that extends the life of a really shot up target - put some strips of tape on the BACK of the shot up area to reinforce it.