100 yard pistol shooting, standard sights?

[philupcolt]

A lot of years ago there were 100 yard pistol matches held on a regular basis, at the old Black Canyon shooting rang North of Phoenix, Az. The shooter sat at a table , and shot at a rifle "A" target. You shot what you brung. If I remember correctly , the match consisted of four ten round stages. I shot the course numerous times , mostly with a Hi Standard .22, and Mod. 1911 .45 . Once a friend insisted I shoot it with his S&W .44 Mag. , he even provided a box of ammo. I didn't do very well with the .44 Mag. I won several times with the .22 , came close with the .45 .
During the same time period , they also held pistol silhouette matches. the animals were set at 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. The shooting was done offhand ,standing up . Here again, you shot what you brought.
Both of these matches were with open sights . I'm not even sure if pistol optics were even invented at that time.

 

[Archer]

The Gunsite 499 (Advanced) class has quite a lot of pistol shooting from various field positions out to 100 yards on plates and Pepper poppers. When you consider that an average man is quite a bit larger than a Popper, and that we learned to hit that popper most of the time, it's a great confidence builder, even though it might not seem to be all that practical. (then again if a threat has a rifle...)

What it really does is to force good technique- frontsight...pressssssssssss.

See my signature !

 

[Ultima-Ratio]

Golf Balls-

orange golf balls with one of my 678 Ruger 2-d-2s...

 

[Malamute]

As has been mentioned, read Keiths articles and comments on longrange shooting.

When living in N Arizona we had a steel plate, 18" X 30" hanging at 300 yards. With the K-22 I could often make 6 hits for 6 shots. With my 4" 29 the best I could do was 5 hits for 6 shots (Medium loads, 250 gr @1000fps).

I shot a 6" group on paper with a 6" 29 at 100 yds, and a 5" group at 100 yds with a Colt National Match .45 with a .22 conversion kit on it. Linebaugh figures that a 1 1/2" group at 50 yards is not out of the question for a well built sixgun.

Some of this has been said in previous posts, but perhaps some elaboration may be useful.
With some practice and an understanding of the sight picture it's not too tough for a decent pistol shot to make hits at longer ranges. Instead of holding the tops of the front and rear sights even as in close range shooting, keep the front sight and target image the same, but LOWER the rear sight in relation to the front sight. For example, your front sight and target look normal, but the top of the rear sight is about even with the bottom of the red insert of the front sight. Once you understand that, adjust how much front sight to show above the rear for varying ranges. No exact formula for each range, just practice a lot. 100 yards doesn't take very much adjustment from a normal sight picture, but as the range increases, you just hold more front sight above the rear. As Keith mentioned, "..It's an accident when you hit something far away with a sixgun, but the more you shoot at a distance, the more "accidents" you have."(paraphrased)

Experience has shown that trying to keep the tops of both sights even and holding on some (imaginary or always different) point above the target is not as easy or effective as the method explained above, and does not tend to make for as consistant results.

Practice with the 22 is about the best way to gain skill in longer range shooting as long as you can see the hits and work out your sight picture for the range you are shooting. High velocity is not neccesary for good results either. An accurate and consistant load is neccesary. About 1000 fps velocity range makes it easier to hit than slower rounds, but isn't uncomfortable to shoot for extended shooting sessions.

Great topic. Good luck and good shooting.

 

[Boats]

I sometimes take my handguns to the 200 yard range and give 'em a spin. The only thing I know about long range handgunning is that for me, it has been easier to achieve consistent hits with my GP-100 than with any of my autopistols.

Three reasons for this. 1) adjustible sights on the revo for elevation and windage and only have fixed on my pistols. 2) the .357 mag is a flat shooter that gets out there in a hurry. 3) My single action mode on the revolver is better than any I have on an autopistol, including my three 1911s.

 

[jptsr1]

Not questioning any of the claims in this thread but it is my opinion that some people lie about accuracy and distance. I think this bears itself out when folks claim substantially better accuracy freehand at distance then the manufacturer advertises from the same weapon on a mechanical rest.

J.

 

[Sean Smith]

I hit mosquitoes in the nuts, but only at 100 yards. With a S&W 642.

 

[Malamute]

Boats, I've had better results from revolvers as well. It may have to do with the bullet shape, or just the handling characteristics of the gun for each individual.

jptsr1, What manufacturers claims are you refering to? I've only heard of a couple of manufacturers that have any specific claims regarding accuracy. I have heard Kimber guarantees 1 1/2" at 50 yards.

I shoot kneeling, the reclining leg rest, or sitting with a back support and gun held between the knees whenever possible for longer shots, any help you can get is worth using. I agree that it's a "game", and I don't consider myself a "handgun hunter", though I have killed a deer, several coyotes (between 70 and 125 yards)and a lot of rabbits and squirrels. When I hunt, I prefer a rifle, I can hit much more reliably at distance with one. However, long range pistol shooting is a lot of fun, and is a good skill to know if the need arose. Many express skepticism at the possibility of such shooting, but in this area it's fairly common to shoot longer ranges. As with any other shooting skill, the more you do it, the better results you can achieve. Trap shooters often pull their hair out the first time they shoot sporting clays, but after getting the feel for it, things pick up. I'm amazed at what some people can do with a pool cue on a table, but I don't discount their ability because the cue maker doesn't say it's possible.

I've seen some surprising long range shooting, I've surprised myself sometimes, I know it can be done. A five gallon can at 200 yards will get holes in it, the same can at 300 will get a few. I've shown a number of skeptical people the general technique and they have surprised themselves.

 

[Ben Shepherd]

I pop clay pigeons at 100 yards regulary at 100 with my 9.5" 44 SRH. (In front of witnesses at a marked outdoor range.) Win lunch quite a bit this way. It all comes down to trigger control at these types of distances.

I can usually get 6" 5 shot groups at 100. It takes a carefully made handload and a good rest though. As I posted in another thread, I have nerve damage in my support arm, making rifles difficult. So I've adjusted by learning to shoot my pistols at longer distances.

 

[mete]

The IHMSA ram is 36" wide and 28" high set at 200 meters. For that you need a gun /ammo combination capable of better than about 1.25" at 25 yds. Your eyes BTW , get better(increase their resolution) with more shooting. Read the long range shooting chapter of "SIXGUNS" by Elmer Keith.

 

[Majic]

By not knowing the condition of your eyes, just start off with a target that has a large black or orange center.

 

[444]

I play with long range shooting pretty much every time I go out to shoot handguns. I live in the desert southwest and can shoot at whatever distance I want to up to the maximum range the bullet will travel.
Personally, I have no idea why someone would be skeptical about long range handgun shooting: at least the kind I do. I wouldn't, for a minute, tell you that I could take a given handgun and start placing precision shots on target at 200 yards. But, I will come close on the first shot and will then adjust my fire into the target. I won't hit it every time, but I will hit it often enough to make it fun.
The last time I shot handguns I shot at a propane bottle that was at approx. 150 yards. I didn't measure it, but I have measured out to 100 yards at the spot I was shooting and I think my range estimate is pretty close. I hit it numerous times with both a .22 LR handgun and a .38 Special handgun firing off hand. At least once or twice per cylinder. One of the last go-rounds I hit it four out of six.
The technique that Malamute posts is of course the correct way to do it. I have read articles by Skeeter Skelton and Elmer Keith who outlined the technique. However, I don't do it this way. I just hold over the target. I am usually shooting into a hillside and pick out something on the hillside that I aim at resulting in a hit on the target. This of course is just a game because my technique wouldn't work if there was no background to measure the amount of bullet drop against.
Like anything else, practice makes you able to do things that you might not have thought possible. Several years ago I was bird hunting when a coyote jumped into a wash in front of me. I held my shotgun between my knees and drew my Ruger P89, 9mm handgun. I knew I had a pretty good range estimate because regularly shot at such ranges. I knew where to hold because I regularly shot at such ranges. And I made a first round hit right behind the shoulder at 109 yards measured after the fact by a laser range finder. I don't consider being able to hit something the size of a coyote at that range to be any kind of a big deal. And I don't find it hard to believe at all.
When I was a kid, my dad belonged to a sportsman's club that had a handgun silhouette range. Beyond the Rams they had an elephant target. I used to shoot at it with my Ruger Mk. I, .22 autoloader. You could pretty easily spot your impact in the dirt. Before long I could hit the elephant target on demand simply because I knew exactly where to hold. I used to go out there with my friends in high school and amaze them by firing the whole ten round magazine from a rest, wait a second or two, then hear 10 rings from the target one after the other. Because they had never tried something like this they were awed, but it really wasn't hard if you had done it and knew where to hold.
It is similar to growing up as a kid with a BB gun and shooting in the same places all the time. You learn how much to hold over object that are there all the time and you can hit them on command. It isn't that you are a great shot, it is simply because you have done it hundreds of times.

 

[Range Ninja]

I work at a range and one of the most impressive things I have witnessed is a shooter who sandbag rested his Les Baer TRS and shot a 2" 5 rd group at 100 yds! I kept his target for quite awhile to remind me what good equipment and "familiarity" with your handgun can achieve.

 

[grendelbane]

The best advice that I can give is to use young eyes. Since that is no longer an option for me, I have not tried any serious long range pistol shooting in a while.

When I could do it, I discovered that the heavier bullets usually did better. The twist of most pistol barrels really over-stabilizes them, in my opinion. Selecting the heaviest, which usually means longest bullets helps to overcome this. You don't need a hot load, but you do need a consistent load. I wish that the 357 SIG had been around when I was 25 years old.

I still have a 4" S&W model 13 that will shoot 8" groups at 100 yards all day long, provided the operator does his part. I bet if you set up 6 targets, each one dedicated to a specific chamber, it would do even better.