About Target Barn

We are a full time business serving shooters for over 30 years. Our customers include police departments, gun dealers, shooting clubs, colleges with Criminal Justice training programs, government agencies like the Army, Navy, FBI, and Secret Service, and of course individual shooters throughout the U.S.

As you could probably already tell. We are lucky to have a lot of competitive shooters that we can call friends and customers. New to competitive shooting? We're happy to answer any questions you might have.

In fact, if you're just getting started with competitive shooting, be sure to check out this guide outlining Power Factor here.

Our specialty is manufacturing the highest quality cardboard targets used in various action-shooting disciplines and police training. These targets are all made from brand new sheets of corrugated board; not the recycled cardboard boxes used by some competitors. New corrugated board offers better strength in severe weather or rough handling, and produces cleaner holes for easier scoring. All targets are boxed to reduce the chance of damage during shipping.

We are licensed to produce targets for the following organizations, and pay them a royalty on each target sold:

United States Practical Shooting Association
International Defensive Pistol Association
National Rifle Association of America

In addition to our line of cardboard targets, we stock a wide variety of paper targets for both pistol and rifle shooting, and police training and qualification. We are a stocking distributor for NRA official targets manufactured by National Target Company. We also stock a wide variety of ammunition for both new and competitive shooters.

Range Bulk Discounts: We are proud to offer additional discounts to our range customers who need to order their targets in bulk. Those discounts are as follows:

• 6–9 of any single product – 10% off price AND shipping!
• 10 or greater of any single product – 15% off price AND shipping!

These discounts apply to cases (100 count) of the following products only:

• AP-1-CB cardboard targets
• USPSA CLASSIC cardboard targets
• IDPA cardboard targets
• IPSC cardboard targets
• NRA D-1 cardboard targets
• IDPA and IPSC Repair Centers - C-O-M Trainer

The discounts for are automatically applied. However, if you are ordering greater than 25 cases of the above, give us a call to arrange for LTL (pallet-rate) shipping to you.

Target Barn is now proud to be a stocking distributor for the entire line of Competitive Edge Dynamics electronic range timers, chronographs, scales, and other related shooting accessories. Other products stocked include target pasters and patching tape in several colors and sizes, a new line of welded steel target stands in six different styles, and lots of ammunition and reloading supplies! In short, we have everything you need for practice and for competition.

Thanks very much for your support. Please contact us if you have suggestions to improve this website or other products you would like to purchase from us.

Dave Zimmerman
Founder

Starting Target Barn: In Dave's Own Words

I’ve known many business owners over the years.  Some owned multi-million dollar corporations, while others were one-man shops as an accountant, barber, mechanic, etc.  I know several guys who started businesses doing CCW training, just to earn enough to support their shooting hobby.  People start businesses for many reasons, and one of them is the fringe benefits that can be received along the way.  Here’s my story about starting Target Barn.

I started Target Barn way back in 1982.  Yes, I know, many of you reading this were not even born yet!  We had received a nice income tax refund from the government, and I took $2,000 and started the business as a part-time hobby.  I got an FFL and started selling guns, holsters, reloading supplies, etc. at local gun shows.  Remember, this was even before Al Gore invented the internet (?) so nobody was ordering online!  I was an active IPSC shooter (pre-USPSA days) and discovered that clubs in the area were buying their cardboard targets from several states away, and the shipping was very expensive.  So, the light bulb came on, and I decided to begin manufacturing targets locally to save area clubs the high shipping costs.  The goal was to save my club, and other area clubs money, but yes, I also wanted to make a profit for my business in the process.

Here’s where the “fringe benefits” part of the story begins.  Sure, there are some tax savings from operating a business from your home.  And making deliveries to customers means you need a vehicle, which means tax benefits on the vehicle expenses to reduce your profits, and your taxes.  But the benefits have been much more than financial over the years.  The relationships and the experiences have been just as important, and the memories are priceless.  I’ve met and become friends with people in the shooting industry, from business owners to National and World Champion shooters, and product and advertising people from companies like Glock, Smith & Wesson, Brownell’s, and Competitive Edge Dynamics.  They are all great people, who care about their companies, their customers, and the future of the shooting sports in America. 

Being a business owner in the shooting sports industry has opened a lot of doors, and allowed us to enjoy many unique experiences.  I’ve shot the NRA Bianchi Cup in Missouri, the Second Chance Bowling Pin Match in northern Michigan, the World Speed Shooting Championship in California, several IDPA and USPSA National Championship matches, and even an IDPA World Championship match in south Florida.  My wife and I have also traveled internationally three times to shoot matches; once to Italy, once to Costa Rica, and once to Puerto Rico.  The Italy trip was amazing, boating in the canals of Venice, touring a 2,000-year old coliseum in Verona, and seeing the Ferrari car factory in Maranello.

We have great memories of the Costa Rica trip too.  We took the scenic route to the Pacific Ocean, getting lost in the mountains at night for five and a half hours, on what would have been a two hour drive via the highway.  Wild monkeys came out of the jungle and were climbing on the electric lines in the town where we stayed.  The nicest trophy that I’ve ever won for shooting came from Costa Rica in 2012.  It was a 15” high solid wood plaque in the shape of an IDPA target, for High Distinguished Senior at the Costa Rica National Championship.  In 2014 I shot the Puerto Rico National Championship Match, where I also took the High Distinguished Senior trophy.  Touring Old San Juan was exciting, and Puerto Rico was beautiful, but my most vivid memory was the cheap little rental car we had.  I hit a parking curb in the hotel parking lot, and the front fenders literally came unhinged from the car.  I glued them back in place, and worried the whole week that I’d have to pay for body shop damages before we could leave the country.  We were already on the plane by the time the fenders fell off again!

As you can tell, my wife and I have some wonderful memories from running Target Barn for over 30 years.  Great experiences meeting great people, many of whom were really fantastic shooters, and almost all who were just plain good honest people.  It’s the kind of people that you like to spend time with, whatever your hobby is?  It’s been a great ride, and thanks to all for the memories! 

Be well, shoot straight, and God bless.  Dave Z.