The split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) technique is widely used to characterize the dynamic mechanical response of engineering materials at high strain rates. In this paper, attendant problems associated with testing 70 mm diameter concrete specimens are considered, analysed and resolved. An adaptation of a conventional solid circular striker bar, as a means of achieving reliable and repeatable SHPB tests, is then proposed. In the analysis, a pseudo one-dimensional model is used to analyse wave propagation in a non-uniform striker bar. The stress history of the incident wave is then obtained by using the finite difference method. Comparison was made between incident waves determined from the simplified model, finite element solution and experimental data. The results show that the simplified method is adequate for designing striker bar shapes to overcome difficulties commonly encountered in SHPB tests. Using two specifically designed striker bars, tests were conducted on 70 mm diameter steel fibre reinforced concrete specimens. The results are presented in the paper.