Anyone use Target Tape Guns?

Saw a bunch of old timers using a tape gun to patch holes in their paper targets at the pistol range recently. I'm getting tired of just replacing the paper targets every time they get filled with enough holes to make it difficult to tell one shot from the other.

Does anybody use tape guns to patch holes in their targets? They are a bit pricey ($55+). Are they worth it?

 

If you want even cheaper, get a marking pen and X out or circle the holes from the previous shot group.

rc

 

rcmodel:

I tried that marker technique, but I shoot so well, that after 30 or 40 shots, I still have one flawless, single hole at 500 yards. How many times can I cross-out the same hole?!

Geno

 

I thought you were going to say that when you find a hole, you'll consider buying one.

 

I once managed to hit the barn wall...course I was locked inside...and it was still a struggle.

Geno

 

I've used one for a few years at IDPA matches. Speeds things up a bit and it's convenient.

 

I stopped by a stationary store near my workplace during lunch just to see what sort of tape guns it sold. I found a couple of "labeling applicators" that's used to apply price tag labels to products that may fit the bill. They were plastic and all over $50! Yikes! Not even sure it would work with the target pasters that are being sold online. I may have to look for a going-out-of business retail store in my area to pick up a cheap one.

 

Pick up a box of drafting dots. They're small, round stickers that are used to secure paper to a drafting table, but would work fine for what you're doing. I think they're around $10 for a box of several hundred.

 

I used them for years working at matches. Their only advantage is the time you save when people are paying and standing in line to shoot a stage. For my own personal use I just use masking tape and tape the holes from the back side.

 

In the 60's we were issued target pasters in target buff & black colors in little grey cardboard boxes.

Like a big roll roll of lick & stick postage stamps.

I still can taste the nasty dead animal smelling glue you had to lick now that I think about it!

rc

 

Nowadays we can get the same thing, but they are self-stick, so no more nasty tongue condition. I think I got mine from Brownell's.

 

At Office Depot they are called: "color coding labels" and they are about $10 for a thousand.
Several colors and handy for marking the center when you are shooting paper plates...

 

Yep used them for matches, and just the roll itself.. prefer to just stick strips of masking tape to my shorts or pants thou. Simple and nothing to carry.

 

I cleaned an old range bag out a year or two ago and threw out a bunch of them. They didn't survive the long trip from the 70's, which was when we used to draw them from the armory.

 

I keep a roll of masking tape in my range bag. About $.50 at Walmart. I tape over the holes. Never tried a dispenser.

Marking them with a pen is OK, but the target looks new from a distance once taped over. Too many holes and you no longer have an aiming point. Easier to see which holes are the new ones without walking 100-300 yards each way between strings too.

A good example.

 

These are what I was thinking of: https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Targets/Shoot-N-C/Shoot%E2%80%A2N%E2%80%A2C%C2%AE-1-Repair-Pasters-Targets.aspx

 

I shoot IDPA and nearly always have a leftover strip of regulation target pasters in my bag or pocket.

I know one guy who brings his own paster gun to matches.

 

I have a paster "gun" that I use at the house but at the range I am faster by preloading my fingers with pasters while I am on the way to the targets.

 

You can get target pasters from Target Barn for $3.50/thousand in a dispenser box, even less in higher quantities. I've used the gun, never really liked it.

 

I guess you can skip the gun and just buy either white or colored stickers from eBay and do it yourself I found a listing for 1,000 colored stickers for $6 and 10,800 white 1/2" stickers for $19. Spraying white sticker labels with the color of your choice seems simple and cheap enough.

 

Another thing you can do with larger round labels (0.75") is to apply the black one over a yellow one then apply the result over a bullet hole on a Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C. It will extend the usage of the Shoot-N-C for a LONG time. I think those stickers are like $6 per 1,000 or something.

Name of the labels . . .
- Avery Self-Adhesive Removable Labels, 0.75 Inch Diameter

One more way is to take the yellow labels and lightly spray it with spray wax (car), wait 'til it dries, then lightly spray black temporary paint over them. This will be really close to the Birchwood stuff.

 

I have one and I use it a lot. We won it at a match so I can't tell you how much it costs. It is most useful for motivating the 13 year old to help paste targets. Seriously, when you have a multiple string stage and there may be as many as 8 holes in the target, the pasting goes very fast. Personally, I love it.

It does jam occasionally, and you have to reload it. Also, mine only works with a few different kinds of pasters.

I would say its best side benefit is when you get a new kid shooter, where this is his first match and he doesn't know anyone. He's pretty nervous. I hand him/her this paster gun, and they is so excited to use it they forget about being nervous.