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Playing “the black hat” in the entertainment industry is an excellent career move. Good guys come and go. Mediocre good guys disappear faster than Miranda Kerr’s modesty. More specifically, who remembers the fifth runner-up in any season of Top Shot? Meanwhile, George Reinas and Jake Zweig take their place in the Highly Mnemonic Bad Guy Hall of Fame (next to Jack Palance and Heath Ledger). That said, it behooves the bad guy to watch his or her back. As someone who’s attended a championship wrestling match in rural Tennessee, I can tell you that the line between fantasy and reality can be as thin as the aforementioned model’s bikini strap. Fans get carried away. “Bad guy” wrestlers get stabbed, beaten and threatened . . .

You might make a connection between championship wrestling and reality-challenged people, generally, but I couldn’t possibly comment. The question is: would someone really practice shooting a Jake Zweig target and then come after the real thing?

Jake Zweig thinks it’s funny. So does Mike Hughes (who sells the targets at his company nextleveltraining.com). He told TTAG “I don’t have an issue with it. People are supposed to be looking at the hands.” I think it’s majorly creepy and borderline dangerous. There’s a reason the American Firearms School and other gun ranges don’t allow shooters to put up representational targets.

But if yours does and you have no intention of physically harming the ex-Navy SEAL that commentators love to hate, Mike Hughes would appreciate the business. Which is already brisk. And Jake would appreciate the attention. Win win. And I pray it stays that way.

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13 COMMENTS

  1. What if you have to shoot someone in self defense and during the investigation they check back at your local shooting club/range and see that you’ve been shooting representational targets, or at the very least if the cops poke around your shooting gear see that you have a batch of ’em?
    Probably doesn’t help your case, at all.

  2. I don’t see a problem with representational targets. I don’t train regularly to potentially defend myself from silhouettes. I don’t buy representational targets because they’re more expensive.

  3. Unless that really cool looking crook from the thirties in the black and white with the awesome shades robs me tomorrow…I’m in the clear.

  4. I don’t see a problem with it. Granted, you would most definitely get strange looks from people around you at the range while using it.

    The only time I’ve used representational targets was at the indoor range, normally with nobody around me. I don’t mind shooting around others, I just don’t like people staring at me with dumb looks. This would definitely inherit those.

  5. i’m ok with an osama bin laden target, or a zombie target, but anything else is kind of creepy to me, i practice shooting to get good groups, not “murder” people. I’ll stick with idpa targets and silhouettes.

    on the jake targets, i thought they were kind of weird, i’d be pissed if someone made a shooting target with me in it (unless i was paid to act as a model in one, hopefully with a rottweiler or something.) These targets allows every TS3 jake hater to fulfill some weird fantasy, but if he’s cool with it, then….

  6. Not a fan, but I don’t hate Jake.

    Tried shooting representational targets, got no satisfaction.

    Nowadays, just make my own targets. RED dots on an 8×11 with a couple of hand drawn circles works for me. On packing paper (recycled) I can draw a good enough silhouette, complete with heart, eyes or whatever tickles my fancy.

  7. I just use a standard 8×11 printer paper draw some circles [more like eggs] on it and thats good enough. Sometime I just put a few dots on them and see how close my groups are to the dots. I’m cheap I know but it works.

  8. It’s a fine line, but I don’t get all Chicken Little over it.

    Many companies offer representational targets using live photo models. Almost every “legit” target made that way is GTG. When you start putting up photos of politicians, celebrities, or people you know, it becomes a HUGE (dark) gray area and I wouldn’t let them in the range.

    Having actually made targets like those (professionally), as long as the model knows what the images are being used for, no worries. As for Jake… this is just another avenue in which he gets to explore the depths of Full Retard.

    I for one wouldn’t spend a dime on his targets. You want a good representational target? Go hit up Magpul Dynamics… Some great targets there.

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