Why Home Ranges Are the Future (ft. TCRT)

State of the Second sits down with Kurt from TCRT Targets, the company behind self-healing rubber targets built for the home range. Kurt walks through how the product came to be. TCRT spent about three years on a proprietary rubber formulation made specifically for ballistics, rather than repurposing rubber from another use. The targets are rated for roughly 400 rounds of 5.56 per square inch, and Kurt has seen targets take 15,000 to 20,000 rounds and keep going. He has shot them with everything from 9mm and .45 up to .308, and recently put 50 BMG through them with a friend named Lucas who is now at Barrett. The rubber is waterproof and UV resistant, and it held up after two years in the Arizona sun without dry rotting, so you can leave a full setup outdoors. The bigger pitch is about how you train. Because the targets are light and the Range Flex stand system is modular, Kurt says you can build a whole course of fire for about the cost of one full-size steel torso target. He paints targets different colors and assigns hit counts, offsets them at different heights and distances, and even makes shooters do math mid-string so they cannot just game a plate rack. Setups tear down fast and roll up to throw in a car, which makes a real home range or a competition-style stage easy for a family or a group of friends. The soapbox turns to Second Amendment advocacy. Kurt agrees that politicians who advocate against the Second Amendment are violating their oath, but his sharper point is about how the gun community communicates. He argues that facts and figures alone do not move people who are scared, and that yelling "shall not be infringed" lands as nothing to someone who disagrees. The win is changing hearts and minds over the long game while GOA works the front lines in Washington. Kaylee ties it to GOA and GOF education work on college campuses and the Two A Adventure Chronicles, plus the on-ramp of taking a gun-curious person to the range for a safe, fun first experience. Kurt closes with the overlap he sees between the overland and firearms communities and a two-and-a-half-hour conversation with a California liberal that stayed respectful because it happened face to face. He offers code GOA15 for 15% off at tcrt.com and points listeners to GOALS in Knoxville. Linksevents.goa.org/goalsQuestions this episode answers What makes TCRT's rubber targets different from other self-healing targets on the market? TCRT spent about three years developing a proprietary rubber formulation made specifically for ballistics, rather than repurposing rubber from another use. The targets are also waterproof and UV resistant. How many rounds can a TCRT target take, and what calibers has Kurt shot through them? The targets are rated for roughly 400 rounds of 5.56 per square inch, and Kurt has seen them take 15,000 to 20,000 rounds and keep going. He has run everything from 9mm and .45 up to .308, and even put 50 BMG through them. Do rubber targets hold up if you leave them outdoors all year? Yes. TCRT's rubber is waterproof and UV resistant, and a setup held up after two years in the Arizona sun without dry rotting, so a full course can be left outdoors. Why is a rubber target setup a better fit for a home range than steel? The targets are light and the Range Flex stand system is modular, so for about the cost of one full-size steel torso target you can build a whole course of fire. Setups tear down fast and roll up to throw in a car. How does Kurt use colors, hit counts, and target placement to make range time better training? Kurt paints targets different colors and assigns hit counts, offsets them at different heights and distances, and makes shooters do math mid-string so they cannot just game a plate rack. Are politicians who advocate against the Second Amendment violating their oath of office? Kurt agrees that politicians who advocate against the Second Amendment (2A) are violating their oath, but his sharper point is that the gun community needs to change how it communicates rather than just calling out the oath. Why doesn't throwing facts and figures at gun control advocates change their minds? Kurt argues that facts and figures alone do not move people who are scared, and that yelling "shall not be infringed" lands as nothing to someone who disagrees. The real win is changing hearts and minds over the long game. How big is the overlap between the overland community and the firearms community? Kurt sees a heavy overlap between the overland and firearms communities, and points to a respectful two-and-a-half-hour conversation with a California liberal that stayed civil because it happened face to face. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome and meet Kurt from TCRT 00:13 — Rapid fire questions 02:54 — Johnny B and Kurt's first range day 04:58 — What does TCRT stand for? 05:50 — Kurt's background and standing up TCRT 07:11 — The product: self-healing rubber targets 10:24 — T. Rex and Optimus Prime pronouns 12:07 — Building a home range and a course of fire 15:45 — Leaving targets outdoors: waterproof and UV resistant 17:18 — From the soapbox: oath of office and the 2A 21:52 — Changing hearts and minds over the long game 24:27 — Education, GOF, and the on-ramp to gun ownership 34:25 — Content creation and the overland crossover 38:50 — Where to find TCRT, GOA15 code, and GOALS About the guest Kurt is from TCRT Targets, which makes self-healing rubber targets. He has worked in the firearms industry since about 2016 and is the director of marketing for Faxon and a couple of other companies in the firearm space. He started with TCRT in 2023 to stand up a consumer product line in the U.S. and helped with R&D on it. Before that, TCRT had worked largely in the military and law enforcement space on contracts. Key quotes "What makes TCRT stand out is that we spent about three years kind of working on a proprietary rubber formulation made specifically for ballistics." — Kurt "for the cost of like one steel kind of full size torso target, you can get kind of a whole course of fire." — Kurt "We just disagree on how to solve the problem." — Kurt "the overlap between the firearms community and the overland community is honestly probably close to about 90%." — Kurt "If you can take somebody who is anti gun and make them gun curious and take them to the range and show them a fun, safe time and then you turn them into a gun owner, then we can start talking about how to make them into a gun advocate." — Kaylee