As a dirty civilian who is in a space that’s often dominated by police and military folks, I do miss out on some of the more interesting things in the training and tactical world. I know nothing about barriers, shields, or even designing and operating a commercial range. That’s probably why I never heard of a company called Kontek. Kontek produces lots of gear you likely will have never heard about unless you run in the police or range owner circles. At a recent firearms event mainly focused on the police world, I was able to take a look at their Mobile Modular Shoot House.
At the event, they had erected a substantial, multi-room shoothouse, a feat they claimed to have accomplished in a mere 90 minutes. The entire shoot house was compactly loaded into a trailer and transported to the event. It’s important to note that the Mobile Modular Shoot House is not designed for live fire but rather for simmunitions and other force-on-force style training—a unique and efficient approach.
The Shoot House was complete with doors and windows. The overall idea seemed fascinating, so I snapped some pictures, walked through the shoothouse, and got a close look. I made a mental note to do a bit of research when my class was over, and I did just that.
The Kontek Mobile Modular Shoot House
The Kontek Mobile Modular Shoot House is constructed primarily from PVC panels. Each panel is four feet wide and seven feet tall. These panels are separated into three categories. We have your normal plain wall module, a door module, and window modules. Each module remains a 4×7 module.
A Universal Quad Connector allows the builder to mount a module in four directions, allowing dynamic walls with multiple modules in different directions. A Universal Quad Connector sits between each wall module. The walls are secured to the connectors with high-strength zip ties. Kontek prefers 250-pound zip ties to ensure the walls remain rigid and strong.
The nature of the design allows you to build a wide variety of rooms, hallways, and more with the wall modules. They can be unhooked, moved around, and shuffled to constantly change. From a tactical mindset, I see the value in being able to take a shoothouse down and reconfigure it to keep a team from getting a little too familiar with clearing the same room over and over.
You could replicate an entire room at a one-for-one scale and do an extremely realistic rehearsal. That is a niche use that requires a lot of forethought, but it’s something that can be done. The modular design really makes the Kontek Mobile Modular Shoot House stand out from every other option.
Exploring the Modular Shoot House
As I walked through the shoot house and took it in, I was surprised by the setup’s sturdiness. The zip ties made me curious about how well the walls would hold up to CQB. I can’t count the number of times I’ve hit walls or seen guys hit walls as they clear rooms for the 10th hour that day. I gave the walls a few light shoulder bumps when no one was looking, and they didn’t budge.
The PVC walls are quite thick and look like they would eat up simmunitions and other force-on-force projectiles. The Modular Shoot House panels aren’t lightweight. I called the company and asked a few basic questions. The walls weigh anywhere from 60 to 85 pounds, depending on the presence of windows and doors.
The Mobile Modular Shoot House requires two people to set up, but more hands will make less work. The entire system can be relatively easily moved. The modules are designed to be safely moved via pallets and to stack with ease. As I mentioned above, the entire structure came out of a fairly small trailer.
Agencies and ranges can design their own buildings with Kontek’s own website tool and have them shipped to match their pre-built buildings. Kontek also offers three pre-designed packages. We have the Sierra, which is 700 square feet, the Mike, which is 1,000 square feet, and the Lima, which is 2000 square feet.
For price reference, the Sierra costs $31,000. In speaking with Kontek, they did point out that an agency or range could purchase a bit at a time. Agencies would slowly build their inventory of wall modules to design and expand their shoot house.
Staying Mobile
I think Kontek has a solid idea. I’ve never been to a shoot house that was modular; most are just fixed designs made from framed wood. This option allows for easy building and takedown, travel potential, and expansion. Sadly, it’s not affordable enough for me to build a Kontek Modular Mobile Shoot House for my backyard. However, for tactical ranges and police agencies, it could be a game changer.
