One immutable fact about our sport is that walls get shot. And ironically the more pristine the wall the more likely it’s going to get shot.
We just wrapped up Factory Gun Nationals where a number of stage walls were outfitted with sacrificial strips, a 2”x2” strip of wood attached to the end of the walls. This is a common practice at major matches since not only does is preserve the wall structure but it also allows for a quick change whenever the sacrificial strip get too shot up to the point where duct tape and paint can’t recreate the original profile of the 2”x2”.
A not so common trick is applying a contrasting color of duct tape under a coat of paint. This is a trick that Range Master Jason Wells (TX) showed me several years ago when we worked Nationals together. It’s essentially a poor-man’s shoot-n-see that helps make a bullet hit more obvious to the eye.
I asked Jason where he came up with that idea and he told me a while back he needed to repair a bullet hole in a wall but didn’t have the right color duct tape. So he used what he had on hand, which was red duct tape and then painted it black to match the rest of the wall. Serendipity sometimes comes into play because the next time somebody shot the wall where the painted red duct tape was applied, the red duct tape under the paint made the bullet hit really stand out and resembled a shoot-n-see.
This is similar in concept to a bullet hit on a white barrel that has been painted a different color. The white plastic of the barrel is exposed when the bullet plows through it, contrasting with the painted exterior. Jason modestly added that he’s probably not the only person to come up with this, but he is always open to sharing his tips and tricks with everyone around him.
The particular stage I worked at this year’s Factory Gun Nationals had two walls that the RO’s had to pay particular attention to because they partially hid a couple targets. If you shot those targets from deep in the corners you had an unobstructed view of the target, but not everyone went deep in order to save time. As such, this was a perfect situation for Jason’s shoot-n-see sacrificial strips on both walls.
Incidentally, both strips had to be rotated and replaced periodically throughout the match but our poor-man’s shoot-n-see worked like a charm!