Can your woods carry gun ring steel at 100yds?

[Trey Veston]

I went to my range today to shoot a WWII sniper rifle and had a ball. At the end of the day, I realized that I had never tried to shoot the steel pig silhouette at 100yds with my SA XDM 10mm 3.8" OSP Elite. I tried it last time with my Tisas D10 1911 10mm and it did it on the first shot.

The XDM hit the pig on the third shot, and then knocked it down on the fifth shot. This was done shooting offhand, at 100yds.

I'm a mediocre shooter with aging eyes.

So if I can ring steel at 100yds, offhand, with a stock pistol, using cheap factory ammo, then that pistol is pretty freaking amazing!

 

[Big-bore-bob]

Nice shooting!! I frequently shoot the 100 yard steel gong at my local range with my handguns. It's great aim small miss small practice

 

[Bazoo]

I easily hit my 2/3 IPSC at 100 yards with most handguns. Most of the time on a good day, I can hit a 12" plate at 100 yards with a handgun so capable.

 

[vanfunk]

Nice job! That’s what it’s all about!

I never used to shoot handguns at targets more than 25 yards away. I guess I just figured it “shouldn’t” be done, lol. Over the past year, though, I’ve discovered the enjoyment of shooting steel plates and silhouettes at 100 yards, with the occasional pot shots at targets of opportunity at 200. This distance shooting has actually helped me with my close range target work, too. 10mm is great for this as it’s flat-shooting. The 5.7 is great fun, too as those little pills get out there fast (though the little “ping” on steel is nowhere near as satisfying as a 200 grain 10mm bullet at 1200 fps, “PING!!!”).

 

[Mark_Mark]

I went to my range today to shoot a WWII sniper rifle and had a ball. At the end of the day, I realized that I had never tried to shoot the steel pig silhouette at 100yds with my SA XDM 10mm 3.8" OSP Elite. I tried it last time with my Tisas D10 1911 10mm and it did it on the first shot.

The XDM hit the pig on the third shot, and then knocked it down on the fifth shot. This was done shooting offhand, at 100yds.

I'm a mediocre shooter with aging eyes.

So if I can ring steel at 100yds, offhand, with a stock pistol, using cheap factory ammo, then that pistol is pretty freaking amazing!

No!

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I tried it a long time ago but the only range I belong to now is an indoor and obviously at 25 yds. I used to hit the 4" spinners at 25yds with my 9mm Shield 3", consistently, but I've not tried it at 100.
It's on my short list for after retirement.

 

[JDeere]

Never had a reason to give it a try, it's my woods pistol...

 

[Remington1911]

Same, why would I bother. Now even with you bringing it up I am not sure I would bother.

 

[Bazoo]

My maximum distance that I'd be confident in hitting a deer would be about 75 Yards, with 50 yards being my super confident range.

Why would I shoot longer range with a handgun? The same reason I shoot short range... to shoot something that distance. I often times will shoot at a can or other object, and then back up a step or 2 between every shot/hit. When I find where I am not hitting it much, that's the range I work on to get better.

 

[.38 Special]

I think long range is the best test of a handgun, and also a great deal of fun. With the heavy revolvers I typically carry in the field, I can generally count on eight-to-ten MOA with iron sights and from field positions. Optics improve that, of course, as does artificial support - which can be anything from a tree trunk to a benchrest.

My EDC is a 340PD, though, and hitting a 100 yard gong with that thing would be a matter of pure luck. Just about the only scenario I can imagine in which I would need to take such a shot would be against a homicidal rifleman in a completely featureless desert. In that case I would empty the gun at him as quickly as possible and then run like hell.

 

[PistoleroWadcutterGANG]

Honestly, cake walk.

 

[SimonRL]

All of my handguns can ring steel at 100yds. It just depends on if I’m doing my job or not.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I once had a 1911 that was built as a CCO, using an Officers frame and a Commander slide, and a 9mm Kart barrel installed by John Harrison. It locked up like a bank vault.

A 5" gong at 75 yards was a fun challenge. With a 124 grain HP, I could usually get 90% hits on it, off hand.

 

[Hookeye]

I havent tried my HK or Sig 9mms at 100 yet.
For me iron sighted revolvers w 4" bbls were 50 yrd guns and 6" were good to 100. But my eyes aint what they used to be.

 

[Hookeye]

A VP9 w optic would be fun to try.
But am thinking a classic HighPower for a range toy.

 

[Armored farmer]

I kept a 100yd gong up for a few years. It's quite doable when you get the hang of it, even with a 22.
My standard deer gun sight-in distance was 80yds for slug guns and muzzleloaders and deer legal revolvers.
Yes. I'm willing to bet a steak that I can ring paper plate sized steel with 6 tries from this 7½ in Blackhawk in 45colt.

 

[trackskippy]

All of my handguns can ring steel at 100yds. It just depends on if I’m doing my job or not.

I agree. Pretty much any of them will make the hits, if "you" can make the hits. If you don't practice doing it, it'll be a lot harder.

I belonged to a club that required you to qualify at 100 yards if you wanted to shoot a handgun at 100 yards. Pretty simple test, they just wanted to make sure you could at least hit a 3'x3' target and weren't going to be that guy sending rounds over the berms and out into the surrounding neighborhoods.

I just happened to walk in on it being done and the boy shooting, was using what he had on him, a Chiefs Special. Leaned across a bench, he put 5 rounds in the scoring rings of the International Black Powder target they were using.

Only way you're going to get good at it, is to put the rounds down range getting there.

 

[doubleh]

Great shot. Now do it over and over again.

 

[SimonRL]

I havent tried my HK or Sig 9mms at 100 yet.
For me iron sighted revolvers w 4" bbls were 50 yrd guns and 6" were good to 100. But my eyes aint what they used to be.

I’ve done it with my 226 Legion and a VP9. I’m sure my VP9 Match would have made it a bit easier.

All of them have red dots mounted which makes things pretty easy.

 

[GE-Mini-Gun]

Best shot was 275 yds on a 12x18 silhouette with a S&W 625, iron sights, took 4 shots to land one on it, although the first shot hit the pole holding it just under the plate. YEARS ago, I used to be able to hit 2-liter bottles at 100 with first or second shot, again iron sight Ruger Super Blackhawk...needing glasses now, nowhere near as good as I used to be

 

[.38 Special]

Just for what it is worth, my long-time "standard" is one inch per ten yards for service-style handguns (10 MOA) and one inch per 25 yards for competition and field "performance" guns (four MOA).

That's purely mechanical accuracy, taking the shooter out of the picture entirely.

The latter guns tend to make 100 yard gongs (at least of reasonable size) fairly simple. The former can make things a bit of a trick, especially with short barrels...

 

[vanfunk]

I subscribe to the same metric, @.38 Special , thanks for posting it.

 

[The Happy Kaboomer]

I regularly shoot all my handguns at the 100 yard gongs on my personal range.........Even with my 2 in S&W 642...........Shoot enough and you can do it.