Houston Shaw of Sofrep TV takes on 4 spinning texas stars. Two on either side of a double star. Houston shoots the left and right stars first then the rear star and finally the star in front of the middle one.

For those not familiar with the texas star, it is a “fun” device used in competitive shooting that provides shooters with the challenge to shoot moving targets. There are five steel plates, one on each limb of the star and the entire star spins. As you shoot plates off the star, the weight balance shifts. This affects the spinning causing the spinning to become erratic. I often tell fellow competitive shooters “Don’t piss off the star, otherwise it won’t cooperate”. There is a right way and a wrong way to shoot the Texas Star. I have witnessed many shooters waste ammo trying to clean off the texas star.

There are two ways to strategically attack the texas star or moving targets in general. You can track or you can ambush. Tracking is what Houston Shaw does in the video below. He tracks the steel plates and shoots them. Ambushing is where you hold your sights steady and wait for the moving target to move into the path of your sights. This works in one’s favor if the texas star is undulating rather than constantly spinning. You can wait for the steel plates at the peak of its arc. Since the plate has to swing, slow down, then swing the opposite direction you can take advantage of that slight hang time where the target is not moving that much.

One thing to remember when shooting a texas star is to not piss it off. Meaning there is an order to shooting the star so that it works for you. Watch Houston and how he shoots the plates off the star. He pretty much shoots it in sequential order. If you shoot the plates in any random order, then the star becomes unbalanced and you will see the texas star behave very strangely. The swaying can become erratic or in some cases the spinning is not consistent making it harder to shoot the plates

Houston knocks these plates in very short order. He only missed twice and a third shot sounded like it hit the steel but not enough energy to knock it down. If you hit the plate closer to the limb, sometimes that is not enough leverage and force to knock the plates off. Also check out his rather quick reload. Very impressive work.