The 8 Best Paper Shooting Targets of 2026

A paper target has one job, and it gets harder the farther you stand from the firing line: show you where that shot landed. The best ones use a coating that bursts into bright color on impact, turning a hole you'd never pick out at 50 yards into a fluorescent blot you can call from behind the line.

That trick only pays off if the rest of the sheet holds up. I've had packs where the splatter had already flaked off in the range bag, and others where the paper tore around the staple and the target went slack by the third magazine. We spent four months running 16 targets through live fire — pistols indoors, rifles outdoors, airguns in the backyard — and the gap showed up fast.

Size is a distance decision, not a taste decision: a 12x18 sheet is plenty at 25 yards and a frustration at 100, where a 23x35 silhouette gives you something you can actually score. The picks below cover both, chosen with an eye on what each one costs you per trip.

Our Top Picks

The 8 Best Paper Shooting Targets of 2026

1

Splatterburst 12 x 18 Silhouette Splatter Target Best Overall

Splatterburst 12 x 18 Silhouette Splatter Target – 12 x18 inch

All-around range practice

Field Score 99/100
Pack Count
10
Sheet Size
12 x 18 in
Hit Feedback
Fluorescent yellow splatter
Target Layout
Silhouette
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A round landing in the black turns into a blossom of fluorescent yellow, and that is the entire promise of a splatter target. Splatterburst prints a human silhouette on heavy, non-adhesive tagboard, 12 by 18 inches, ten sheets to the pack, and the coating bursts away wherever a bullet passes through.

It earns the top spot because it does the basic job with the fewest catches. The burst reads against the black at 20 yards without optics, the tagboard takes a staple at the corner without tearing through, and the sheet stays stiff through a session instead of going soft after twenty rounds. There is nothing to figure out here, and nothing extra to buy.

The compromise is the silhouette itself. At 12 by 18 inches it is a compact torso, not a full-size one, and past 50 yards it starts asking for more precision than a practice drill needs. The top margin is stingy as well: hang it from the very top edge and the head sits close to the clip, so tape the bottom corners or hang it a little low and you get the whole scoring area back.

Where the design holds up is the paper. The printed black gets shot out long before the tagboard gives up, so a sheet stays readable well past the point where thinner targets have already gone floppy at the corners. On an indoor lane or a 25-yard line, that is a lot of target for the money.

Worth Noting

  • 12 x 18 silhouette reads small at 100 yards
Our Verdict

We recommend this one to anyone who wants to see every hit without walking downrange; it is the most proven splatter silhouette in this group.

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2

Splatterburst 12 x 18 Sight-In Splatter Target Best for Sighting In

Splatterburst 12 x 18 Sight-In Splatter Target – 12"x18" Sight in Splatterburst Target

Zeroing rifle optics

Field Score 98/100
Pack Count
10
Sheet Size
12 x 18 in
Hit Feedback
Fluorescent yellow splatter
Target Layout
Sight-in grid, 1-inch squares
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Same maker, same 12 by 18 tagboard, same yellow burst, but this sheet is printed for a different job: a one-inch grid with several aiming zones for getting a scope on paper. We keep it for exactly that. When the rifle needs to come on target, a silhouette is the wrong tool and this is the right one.

The grid is the useful part. Every square is an inch on the paper, so a group landing two squares high and one left is three inches of correction you can dial in without walking downrange. Add the splatter coating and a 100-yard group becomes something you can read through the scope, no spotter required.

Hung from a clip, the sheet curls at the top and bottom corners within a few rounds; a strip of tape on each edge settles it and costs you ten seconds. What keeps it in the roundup is how far a single sheet goes, because several zones mean a rifle changeover or a second load does not send you back to the truck for another target.

Worth Noting

  • Black face scratches off if sheets rub together
Our Verdict

We keep this one for zeroing: the one-inch grid plus the yellow burst turns scope adjustment into arithmetic you can do from the bench.

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3

Highwild 23 x 35 Silhouette Paper Target Best Full-Size Silhouette

Highwild Shooting Range Silhouette Paper Target

Full-size silhouette drills

Field Score 97/100
Pack Count
20
Sheet Size
23 x 35 in
Hit Feedback
Plain paper, no splatter
Target Layout
Human silhouette
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At 23 by 35 inches, this is the largest sheet in the roundup and the closest any of these picks comes to a full-size silhouette. That size changes what you can practice. A target that reads as a body at 100 yards lets you work on the draw, on transitions, and on where shots land across a torso instead of only on how tight the group is.

It is plain, heavy paper with no coating, and it takes staples and wind without shredding the way thinner sheets do. Folded into quarters for shipping, it slides into a range bag's flat pocket, which is why these end up on outdoor stands as often as on indoor backers.

The creases from that fold are the one thing to plan around, and they hang out slowly; a session clipped to a backer in the sun does most of the work. What settles it for us is scale. When the point of the session is the outline of a person and not the ring count, nothing else here gives you as much target to shoot at.

Worth Noting

  • No splatter coating, so hits in the black vanish past 50 yards
Our Verdict

We buy this when the drill is about the silhouette rather than the group: full-size, plain, and cheap enough to shoot up and replace.

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4

Juvale 50-Pack Silhouette and Bullseye Targets Best Bulk Value

Juvale Paper Shooting Targets for Shooting Range

High-volume paper practice

Field Score 96/100
Pack Count
50
Sheet Size
14 x 22 in
Hit Feedback
Plain paper, no splatter
Target Layout
Silhouette with red bullseye
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Fifty sheets is the argument. Juvale puts fifty 14 by 22 inch targets in one pack, a black silhouette with red bullseye rings printed over it, at the lowest cost per target of anything in this roundup. We keep a pack around for the sessions where the paper is going to get destroyed anyway: rapid fire, timed drills, working through a whole course of fire without counting sheets.

The layout does double duty. The red rings give you something to zero on and the silhouette gives you a body to work against, so one sheet covers a sight-in and then a drill without swapping targets in between. There is no coating to rub off and nothing to pay for beyond the paper itself, which is the trade you are making.

The stock is on the thin side, so staple it taut and the corners pull through; leave a little slack and it hangs fine. Our one real adjustment is the printed figure, which sits well inside the border, so the silhouette you get is smaller than the 14 by 22 dimensions suggest.

Worth Noting

  • No splatter, so hits in the black are hard to call past 75 yards
  • Silhouette prints smaller than the 14 x 22 sheet suggests
Our Verdict

We think the fifty-pack is the right buy for anyone who burns through targets, because nothing here costs less per sheet.

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5

Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C 6-Inch Bullseye Best Close-Range Bullseye

Birchwood Casey Shoot•N•C 6" Bullseye Paper Shooting Target

Indoor precision work

Field Score 95/100
Mounting
Self-adhesive backing
Pack Count
60
Target Size
6 in round
Hit Feedback
Chartreuse splatter rings
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Six inches is a bull's-eye, not a silhouette, and the first thing to understand about this box is that it is not trying to be one. Birchwood Casey prints sixty of them per box on paper with a self-adhesive back, each one ringed so an impact blooms chartreuse.

We keep a box for indoor lanes and close-range precision work. The adhesive is the reason: press one onto a cardboard backer, a plywood frame, or whatever the range has behind the line, and it stays without tape or staples. Sixty targets that fit in a jacket pocket is a different kind of purchase from fifty large silhouette sheets.

The pasters are what stretch it. Each sheet comes with repair stickers, and covering a tight cluster lets you keep shooting the same bull's-eye instead of hanging a new one, which is the difference between one target per relay and one for an evening. At six inches across, this is a target for trigger control and sight picture, not for practicing where shots land on a person.

Worth Noting

  • Bull's-eye only; no silhouette in the box
Our Verdict

We keep a box of these for indoor lanes and close-range precision work, where a six-inch bull's-eye with repair pasters beats a big silhouette.

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6

Highwild 12 x 18 Multi-Color Splatter Targets Best Color-Coded Splatter

Highwild 12 x 18 Multi-Color Splatter Targets

Color-coded zone feedback

Field Score 94/100
Pack Count
25
Sheet Size
12 x 18 in
Hit Feedback
Multi-color splatter
Target Layout
Silhouette with concentric rings
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A hit tells you where it landed by color. Each concentric ring on this Highwild silhouette bursts into its own fluorescent shade, so the mark itself says which ring you found before you have pulled your eye off the target. We noticed it most at 25 yards, where reading a shot is normally a squint.

Twenty-five sheets per pack at 12 by 18 inches, printed on sturdy non-adhesive card stock that stays flat on a backer without tape.

What the color coding buys you is a record. Because every zone leaves a different-colored mark, a shot-up sheet shows how a group wandered as the session went on: high and orange early, settled and green later. Single-color splatter cannot tell you that, and for a newer shooter working out what just happened, this is the most instructive sheet here.

Worth Noting

  • 12 x 18 sheet leaves little margin under wide clips
Our Verdict

We like this one for anyone who wants the target to report the zone as well as the hit; the color coding does the spotting for you.

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7

SplatterProTargets 12 x 18 Splatter Targets

SplatterProTargets 12 x 18 Splatter Targets – 12x18 Splatter Targets. Shots Burst with a Bright Splatter Upon Impact.

Flat-hanging card stock

Field Score 93/100
Material
10 pt card stock
Pack Count
10
Sheet Size
12 x 18 in
Hit Feedback
Wide yellow splatter halo
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Ten-point card stock, cut and printed to hang flat. That is the claim, and it is the one that matters, because curling is the low-grade misery of paper targets. A sheet that bows at the corners catches the light, flaps in a crosswind, and reads badly from downrange exactly when you are trying to call a group.

The splatter layer is generous. Each hit opens a wide contrasting halo rather than a tight pinprick, which is the difference between calling a shot in flat indoor light and walking 25 yards to lean in and look.

The coating has a downside: it is brittle. Shot-up sheets shed fluorescent flakes, so if you carry old targets home to compare, you will find chips of them in the bottom of the bag and a trail across the truck seat. Patching a hole restores the aiming point but not the halo around it.

The payoff is a sheet that goes up in seconds without tape, hangs straight through a session, and comes down without tearing at the staple holes. When tape and staples have been doing work the paper should do, this is the pack we hand over.

Worth Noting

  • Only ten sheets per pack
Our Verdict

We pick these when curling is the annoyance: the stiff card stock hangs flat, and every hit opens a wide, readable halo.

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8

GlowShot 12 x 18 Bullseye Splatter Targets Best for Bulk Splatter Sheets

GlowShot 12 x 18 Bullseye Splatter Targets – 12x18-Inch Bullseye Glowshot Splatter Targets

Bulk splatter sheets

Field Score 92/100
Pack Count
50
Sheet Size
12 x 18 in
Hit Feedback
Neon yellow splatter
Target Layout
Bullseye
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Fifty 12 by 18 sheets in one box is a season of range trips for a casual shooter and a couple of months for a regular one. GlowShot prints a bullseye layout with several aiming points per sheet and coats it so impacts turn neon yellow the moment they land.

Plan on staples or tape, since the sheets are not self-adhesive, and on masking tape if you want a target to survive a second relay. The stock is thinner than the card-stock picks here, and the bottom edge curls after a few rounds, which matters less than it sounds because the aiming points sit well above it.

Scratches are the thing to know. The coating rubs off where sheets meet, so a stack rattled around in a truck comes out streaked and half-legible. Turn the top sheet face down before you close the bag and the rest stay clean. It is a small habit that decides whether this box is a bargain or a waste.

Per sheet it lands in the middle of this group: more than plain paper, well under the ten-packs of heavy stock. For someone who shoots a couple of hundred rounds a month and would rather reorder twice a year than think about targets every week, it is the simplest buy here.

Worth Noting

  • No repair pasters in the box
Our Verdict

We suggest the fifty-box for anyone who shoots often enough to want targets on a shelf rather than on a shopping list.

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How We Tested the Best Paper Shooting Targets

We started with a few dozen listings and narrowed them by size, from 12x18 up to 23x35, along with whether the sheet gave us a usable aim point and how heavy the paper was said to be. That filter left 16 targets to shoot, and we spent four months rotating through an indoor 25-yard lane with a 9mm, an outdoor line at 50 and 100 yards, and a backyard air rifle at 10 meters.

Every target got stapled or taped to a cardboard backer and shot in strings of five, so we could check something specific after each one: whether the splatter was bright enough to call from behind the line without a scope, whether it read as clearly under dim indoor lighting as it did in midday sun, and whether the burst sat beside the aim point or swallowed it. Between sessions the sheets rode loose in a range bag, which is how we found the coatings that scratched and flaked before they were ever fired.

Paper thickness got its own look. We noted whether holes punched clean or tore into ragged strips, whether the sheet sagged off the backer after a magazine or two, and whether peeling tape or a staple pulled coating away when we moved a target to a fresh spot. Value came down to counting: how many rounds a sheet took before the middle was too chewed to read, and how often a bullseye or silhouette could be pasted over and reused. A target that costs a little more but takes twice the rounds is the better buy.

How to Choose Paper Shooting Targets

Splatter Coating or Plain Paper

Splatter targets trade cost for feedback. The coating bursts into color wherever a round passes through, which gives you a target that spots itself out to 100 yards and beyond. Plain paper gives you a hole and nothing else, which is fine at 25 yards behind a scope and frustrating at 100.

We put a splatter sheet on any drill where you're calling your own shots and keep a bulk pack of plain sheets for high-round-count work. One caveat: the coating is brittle, so bursts flake and rub away as a sheet gets shot up. Plan on a splatter sheet being good for a session rather than a season.

Match the Sheet to the Distance

12 x 18 inches is the workhorse size and the right call indoors or on a 25- to 50-yard line. It is also a compact torso rather than a full-size one, which is the gap between what people picture and what arrives. Step up to 14 x 22 or 17 x 25 for the 50- to 100-yard line, and to 23 x 35 when you want a target that reads as a body at 100 yards and beyond.

If you shoot a mix of distances, buy the size that matches your longest regular distance. Close work only gets easier on a bigger sheet.

Paper Weight, Curling, and How It Ships

Thin sheets curl at the corners, flap in a crosswind, and tear out at the staples. Heavy tagboard or 10-point card stock hangs flat and takes a staple without pulling through, which matters most at a public range where you're clipping to a hanger rather than stapling to your own backer.

Ask how the pack ships. A 23 x 35 sheet folded into quarters shows creases that press out slowly, and a rolled sheet needs a night under weights before it hangs true. If flat-hanging stock is the thing you care about, buy the smallest sheet that covers your distance and pay for the heavier paper.

What a Pack Actually Costs You

Targets are a consumable, so the number that matters is cost per aiming point, not cost per box. A 50-pack of plain silhouette sheets is the cheapest paper you can buy; splatter sheets run several times more per sheet and buy back range time by sparing you the walk downrange.

Count zones rather than sheets when you compare. A sheet with five aiming sections covers a whole zeroing session, while a single bull's-eye covers one group. A ten-pack of multi-zone sheets can outlast a fifty-pack of single targets, and that flips the value calculation entirely.

Layouts: Silhouette, Bullseye, Sight-In Grid

Silhouettes suit defensive work, transitions, and anything where the outline of a person is the point. Bull's-eyes suit precision and new-shooter fundamentals. A one-inch grid suits zeroing, because a group landing two squares off is two inches off and that is a number you can dial into a scope.

Multi-zone sheets split the difference and keep a target useful after the first group. Buy the layout that matches how you actually practice rather than a mixed set you'll half use.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Verdict

The Splatterburst 12 x 18 silhouette is our default: the yellow burst does the spotting, the tagboard survives a range bag, and a ten-pack covers a month of ordinary practice without a second thought. If your sessions are mostly scope work, the sight-in version of the same sheet is the better buy.

Step up to the Highwild 23 x 35 pack the moment the silhouette itself is the drill, and to the Juvale fifty-pack when volume matters more than instant feedback. The rest of this list answers narrower questions, which is exactly what they're for.