Vertical Spinner Rimfire Target – Excellent Marksmanship Training

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Steel targets are the best.  Reactive, fun, durable, along with audible and visual feedback.  Heck I zero most of my guns on steel after a fresh coat of paint.  At our Youth Marksmanship Camp, our rimfire vertical spinner target has become one of my favorites for teaching young marksmen.

Vertical spinner targets are popular in 3 gun competitions.  The difficulty depends on the distance you setup them up.  With our small rimfire spinner setup at 20 yards I find it to be plenty challenging for the young marksman.

The targets are made of 2 steel plates, with the bottom plate weighing a bit more than the top.  This ensures the target rests with both plates facing the shooter.  As you hit the target it will begin to swing.  To complete the objective of making the plates spin end over end you must shoot them several times.  The best way to do this is to engage one plate, then transition to the next plate while it still has momentum and give it even more swing while hitting it on the move.  The challenge comes by doing this quickly without rushing your shot so much that you miss with poor trigger control.

If you mistime the target you can stop its swing completely and make yourself start all over.

If you take too long to decide which plate to hit you will lose valuable momentum and time.

If you miss altogether, well, you just need more practice!

Since there is dead time as it is initially swinging it is also useful to use that time effectively to engage another target while waiting.  This leads to more transitions so it’s a bit more advanced, but saves time in the long run.

To ace the vertical spinner its best to triple tap it, but that requires top speed and recoil control.

This is why I love the vertical spinner target.  It stresses fundamentals of trigger manipulation, timing, acquisition, transitions, recoil control, and decision making all in one target.

I purchased mine a while back from Salute Targets, they are out of stock at the time of this posting, but hopefully they will get some listed soon or someone else will offer them for rimfires.  Several manufactures offer these same setups for pistol, shotgun, and even rifles.

Dustin Ellermann

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