Hypothetical target practice.

[atlanticfire]

I went shooting today with my potential brother in law (I think its gonna happen this x-mas)at my parents farm. And least to say he is good with a rifle, very good. We where shooting a steel target (4") off hand with a 17 at 200 yards and he wasn’t missing. And at 250+ wasn’t bad either. Even when my brother and I provided a little background noise. I know his range at home in his back yard is only 80 maybe 100 yards. When I asked him how he practices in such a small space he said that he would shoot a 2" steel target. Now I do shoot bench rifles at 300+, but that’s different than a steady off hand standing shot. I know that from 100 to 200 or so on a calm day is not a big difference for a .17, but knowing that he doesn’t really every shoot over 100 yards would just making a target small be a means of practice for say shooting longer distance? I know this might sound stupid but wanted opinion, and I don't have any experience with the .17 and now I have a sudden interest.

 

[slicksleeve]

I read in a bowhunting magazine once where the writer advised that if you used 4" target at 40 yards with your bow, then you could use an 8" target spot at 80 yards and this would double your effective range. This was supposed to be an optical illusion of sorts. It makes sense to me that though the range was doubled, so was the size of the target and it would "feel" like the same shot. I never tried this myself though. Is this sort of the same situation?

 

[atlanticfire]

Yeah, sounds the same. Just testing the theory that if you can shoot a small target close and a larger target far this was good for practice. I'm not a bad shot at all, but he was better. And I've always practiced at the ranges that I intend to shoot. He's the same age as me and has been shooting about the same time, maybe a bit longer. OR maybe its just the fact that he's steadier than me, and I hate that.