The results of the first test on our Matt Clanton/Clanton Combatives milk bottle targets are in. The foam bottles worked far better than I had any right to hope. The “creasing hits” took off a very small amount of material, and with an appropriate post-match fill-in material, should prove to be easily bottle touched-up for years of future service. The straight on .38 round test shot knocked the bottle down but left only a very small entry hole and a tiny exit hole. Our next test will be firing a box’s worth of mixed .38 into the bottle and evaluating the results. The rubber test bottle turned out to be entirely too much of a good thing. Less than a third of the .38 round fired into the bottle made its way into the material. Oddly enough this too exceeded my hopes. I’m hoping to speak with the mold manufacture’s chief officer, Matt Clanton, and look into some alternative target ideas for this material. Notably, I’d like to look into a line of custom designed, transportable Snub Noir knock down plates should we be lucky enough to match material thickness with the requisite flawless safety features. If (as we all hope) both target materials holds up following future testing, I won’t be able to wait to start designing additional noir themed 3D targets.
