November 04, 2010
By Brian Fortenbaugh
By Brian Fortenbaugh
The folks at American Whitetail were kind enough to send me their new Hyper 420 ($200) target to play around with, and I must say that it performed as advertised. Its light weight and 18" x 18" x 18" size make it a good choice for your backyard, your friend's yard, the local range, or camp.
The 420 in this target's name indicates it will stop arrows traveling in excess of 400 fps, whether tipped with fieldpoints or broadheads. And, while the bow I used in field-testing chronographs nowhere near that number, I can attest that the company's claim regarding stopping ability is probably pretty accurate.
Even though this target offers only one-sided shooting, its construction ensures it will last as long as similar style "camp" targets with four-sided shooting. If you were to cut this target in half, you would find a layer of elastofoam (the target face), backed by three layers of medium-density foam. Sandwiched between each of these layers is a 1"-thick layer (three in all) of the company's ArrowArmour, which is basically a cross between rubber and foam.
These bonded layers of foam and ArrowArmour work together to absorb an arrow's energy in stages. Since most bows aren't fast enough to send an arrow through every layer of the target, it lasts longer, arrows are easier to remove, and there's no slivering -- even with broadheads. Other available Hyper targets (number is relative to arrow speed) are the 350 ($160), 350 Camp ($100), and 300 ($80).
Contact: American Whitetail, Inc., 1-888-233-1976, www.archerytargets.com
