The Complete Handbook of Archery Targets

Chapter 1: Understanding Archery Targets

An archery target is a deceptively simple device. At its most basic, it is a medium designed to stop an arrow and display the result of a shot. But in practice, it is an engineered consumable product that must manage the violent transfer of kinetic energy from a high-speed projectile, withstand thousands of impacts in concentrated areas, remain visible, survive weather and sunlight, and do all this without damaging the arrow that strikes it. For a professional running a range or a serious hobbyist punching paper after work, understanding how this transfer works and why the material matters is the foundation for every other purchase and maintenance decision you will make.

Let's start with the physics, because everything else follows from it. Consider a modern compound bow shooting an arrow at 300 feet per second (fps) with a 400-grain arrow. That arrow carries roughly 80 foot-pounds of kinetic energy. When the tip strikes the target face, that energy has to go somewhere. The target must convert the arrow's forward momentum into work, which is primarily done by friction and compression as the arrow buries itself in the material. The arrow penetrates until the resistance force from the target medium is equal to the kinetic energy of the arrow. A dense target like packed foam will stop a fast, heavy arrow in a short distance, but it will exert high force on the arrow's shaft, potentially causing bending or fletching damage if the resistance is too