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This Gen Z Entrepreneur Is Changing How the Marines Train (ft. Infinite Defense)
Description
Elijah from Infinite Defense joins John and Kaylee to tell the story behind Infinity Targets, the self-healing rubber targets he started building as a college engineering student. He couldn't afford the $500 rubber-dummy setups on the market, so he ran his own material testing out in the desert, figured out a manufacturing process, and taught himself business off Google. After shutting down during Covid and working construction and landscaping, he restarted the company from a blank slate on April 20, 2022, out of his dad's garage. Three years later it runs out of a warehouse with more than 60 target designs.
The conversation gets into how the targets actually work. The rubber stretches to let a bullet pass through, then closes back up due to its elasticity, so there's no hole left behind, just a bright contrasting mark you can spray over. Elijah explains the Gen 2 vulcanized recycled rubber, the round-count guarantee of 110 rounds of 5.56 per square inch, why hollow points and slugs are the only things that won't work, and the safety case against steel at close range where fragmentation and ricochet become a risk. He makes the value argument too: one Infinity target outlasts roughly 200 cardboard targets, and the Quantico PMO office cut two to three hours off range days just by not swapping targets between shooters.
Marketing is a through-line. As a young founder who grew up on social media, Elijah leaned on free organic content, watched TikTok become his first big platform before it banned him, and built an affiliate and YouTube creator program instead of print ads. He talks about supporting newer creators his own age and still running the social accounts himself. The back half turns to policy, where Elijah and the hosts go after the ATF, the brace ban, SBR rules, the receiver definition, and the $200 tax stamp that traces back to the 1934 cost of a Thompson. Kaylee ties it to GOA's mandate to protect, defend, and restore the Second Amendment, warning that the biggest risk for gun owners right now is taking a win and going apathetic.
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Questions this episode answers
How did Infinite Defense get started, and why did Elijah build a rubber target instead of buying one?
Elijah started building self-healing rubber targets as a college engineering student because he couldn't afford the roughly $500 rubber-dummy setups on the market. He ran his own material testing out in the desert, worked out a manufacturing process, and taught himself the business side using Google.
How do self-healing rubber targets actually work, and how long do they last?
The rubber stretches to let a bullet pass through, then closes back up from its own elasticity, leaving no hole behind, just a bright contrasting mark you can spray over. Infinite Defense guarantees 110 rounds of 5.56 per square inch on its Gen 2 vulcanized recycled rubber.
What are the advantages of rubber targets over steel and cardboard?
One Infinity target outlasts roughly 200 cardboard targets, and the Quantico PMO office cut two to three hours off range days by not having to swap targets between shooters. Unlike steel at close range, the rubber avoids the fragmentation and ricochet that create a safety risk.
When is steel still the better choice over a rubber target?
Elijah says he isn't trying to phase steel out of the industry, and notes the rubber targets won't work with hollow points or slugs. Those rounds are the exceptions where the self-healing rubber falls short.
How did Infinite Defense use social media, TikTok, and YouTube affiliates to grow?
As a young founder who grew up on social media, Elijah leaned on free organic content and