Kit Badger just launched the Badger Den, a subscription that comes with an ever growing list of discounts (and other perks coming soon) for subscribers.
By joining the Badger Den you support the content that Kit Badger is creating and help to ensure that the channel can continue. You also gain access to discounts at some very cool retailers and manufacturers which supports them in turn. These are the kind of discounts that can easily pay for your subscription during the course of a year.
You can learn more about the Badger Den and see the current list of discounts here: Badger Den Information Page
There are a lot of human silhouette targets on the market and many of them share the same issues. They are larger than will fit in any reasonable range bag or than can be printed at home and they offer unrealistic target indicators to the shooter. Ivan at Kit Badger has set out to create a target, the Kit Badger Anatomy Target (KBAT), to address these issues.
The Problems
If you shoot anywhere other than an improved range with comfortable parking and easy access, you know the pain of hauling all your gear to your shooting spot. If an item doesn’t fit in a range bag that can mean it has to be carried outside the pack or worse – it requires an extra trip. Large targets that must be rolled are just another item to carry and you will likely never be able to print them yourself.
Even if getting your gear to the range isn’t an issue for you, the issue of unrealistic target indicators applies to most targets. The proportions and the very presence of things like scoring zones can skew the perception of the shooter. Anatomy doesn’t mimic the scoring zones on most targets and real people don’t have scoring zones tattooed on their bodies. The only real markers we have are things like ears, eyes, the nose, and the relative positions of anatomy in relation to the overall shape and orientation of the body.
The Fix
I’ve been fortunate enough to have access to the KBATs for a while now and they do a good job of addressing the issues above. The target is actually a pair of targets that can be used together to create a representation of all of the vital human anatomy or separately as a head and chest target depending on the shooter’s needs.
The KBATs can be printed on standard 8.5 x 11″ paper on your printer at home. They can then be applied to any backer or you can cut your own and trim it to the bold target lines. You probably have room in your range bad to store a whole stack of them.
All of the vital anatomy rendered in very light lines which makes them difficult to target specifically. The outline of the human form is rendered in heavier, bold lines so that the shape of the body and items like ears are really the only target indicators you have to work with. These various underlying anatomical elements are also rendered in realistic proportions so the brain stem area for instance, is rendered in its realistic size and location which is actually a bit lower than they way most of us train to target this area. If you want to color in other indicators like eyes or the nose, you can easily add it with a marker based on the underlying anatomy.
How to Add KBATs to Your Training
The KBATs are currently available as a free download from Kit Badger’s website here: KitBadger.com/KBAT
Soon, they will be available as a printed pad of targets that will offer the shooter even more utility (and a great price compared to many targets on the market). Stay tuned for more details on this.
I strongly suggest you read Kit Badger’s site and view the video so you can get the most out of this free resource. There are a number of ways these can be used and modified to suite your needs.
If you haven’t followed the development of the The Fix Rifle by Q, it would be tempting to write it off as just another bolt-action rifle in an aluminum chassis. The truth is far more interesting than that! Kit Badger recently spent time at Q headquarters. He was able to document the assembly process of The Fix Rifle and learn about the hows and whys of the design along the way.
The embedded video below is a playlist of all 6 parts in the series. The videos are absolutely fascinating… like How It’s Made but with more depth and about guns.
Ivan at Kit Badger comes through again with interesting and useful content!
There are a number of great anatomy targets on the market including Sage Dyamnic’s free Vital Anatomy Targets. There are far fewer options for side profile targets of any kind, let alone those with anatomy references. That represents a real gap in your potential training options since the relative locations and the paths used to access vital anatomy can change based on the direction a person is facing.
Kit Badger just published a target (and accompanying information about that target) that is based on the Sage Dynamics Vital Anatomy Target except he has completely redrawn them with a side profile. This is a well designed target with the exterior profile of the body blocked in with bold lines but the anatomy presented with thinner, less bold lines. These thin lines harder to see at a distance so you must practice shooting to the relative positions of the anatomy rather than aiming precisely for a mark on the target.
Today’s Tactical Handyman post comes to us from Ivan at KitBadger.com, which has quickly become one of my favorite new outdoor and tactical gear review sources.
When solutions are not provided, do we go without, or innovate…? For a number of years I had been disappointed with the lack of true low profile under/inner belts. Backpacking, without some way of keeping your pants in place, results inevitably in the waist belt of your pack pushing your pants down. Running around kitted up with a battle belt has the same results.
What does the Tactical Market offer us? Buckles, stiff webbing, and a outer cover of male velcro ready to abrade jackets. And the Outdoor Market? Internal belts or sizing tabs (both with buckles) and usually really thin webbing. And lets not forget that I might not want to wear a $299 pair of Gamma MX pants today.
So with a 1.75” wide piece of fairly light webbing, 12” of female velcro and 5” of male velcro… I have the Inner Belt. Anything with belt loops will be kept in place, no buckles to stack, no hot spots on the trail or the range…
Ivan is a Marine and Air Force veteran, a former police officer, a former security contractor, a Baja 1000 racer, a shooter, and a lifelong outdoorsman. You can find his outdoor and tactical gear reviews at KitBadger.com and the Kit Badger YouTube channel.
