How far can you hit ?

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David E

David E

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How far away can you hit, say a basketball, with a short barreled gun?

Short barreled being 3" or less.

I want to keep SD scenarios, legal repercussions, etc out of it!

For example, I scored 97.2% on a 50 yd qualification course, which included weak hand shooting at 25 and 50 yds using a Model 38 Airweight fired DA throught the 50 rds.

I've hit an IPSC target at 50 yds with my Beretta Model 20 in .25 acp

I've hit a metal plate at 110 yds with my Kahr K-40

My point is, even short barreled guns can be fired accurately at longer distances than most folks realize.

How about you?
 
I may not do it every time, but my new little Walther PPS seems to be capable of about 6-7" @ 50 yards, so I'm going to say 100 yards on a basketball out in the open. I have some other guns that might do the same: a Walther PPK .32 and S&W 3914.
 
I won a lot of beer money in the Army shooting ammo cans at 100 yards with a 2" Chiefs Special.
Also a 2" metal pipe on the range at 125 with a National Match 1911.

Can't do it quite as reliably now as I could then.
But I wasn't 68 years old and half blind then either.

rc
 
The guns are accurate enough. For example there's a video on You Tube of a guy that has practiced a bunch which can achieve fairly regular hits on a target at 200 yards with a snubby revolver.

The issue is the attention and skill of the shooter knowing how much hold over to use and to do so accurately.

For example, my 1911 shooting regular 230gn hardball at regular velocity for this round required around 6 feet of holdover to hit around and on a half height welding cylinder out at 200 yards. The difficulty was in finding something to aim at up there that was directly above the target. Out of 20 rounds that I shot once the basic rangeing in was done I got two hits and lots of close misses.
 
Aiming at something above the target never worked for me.

I always set the target on top of the front sight so I could see it.

Then find out how much space on the front sight ramp or place on the slide I had to hold on to hit it.

rc
 
rcmodel said:
Aiming at something above the target never worked for me.

I always set the target on top of the front sight so I could see it.

Then find out how much space on the front sight ramp or place on the slide I had to hold on to hit it.

rc
Click to expand...

Yup. Hold the front sight aligned with, but taller than, the rear sight, then perch the target on top.

Elmer did it that way, too.
 
I can reliably hit a 9" paper plate at 50yds with an LCR. Once you dial it in (lot of drop with those low velocities out of short barrels) it is pretty consistent.
 
Shooting small guns at 52 yards is one of my favorite things.
The idea being that anyone can shoot well at 50 yards with a 4-6 inch handgun but you have to work at it to keep all the bullets on the target while standing at 50 yards shooting a "pocket gun".

A few pictures.

The range.
My friend's daughter shooting at a white foot square steel plate with a 22 and seldom missing.
Natat52yards.gif

Shooting a 3 inch 38 J Frame DA. Personally I don't like DA shooting but do it enough to stay in practice.
This is my second 50 yard steel target. It's a 2 foot square steel plate.
38DA50yards5misses-1.gif

Ruger LC9.
RugerLC952imissyardtarget.gif

Even the real little guns do well. Like this 380 Micro Desert Eagle.
MDEat50yards.gif
 
I'm good to about 50-55yds. But I'm pretty consistent at that range, whether it's a snub nose, 3" 1911, or 5" 1911. Group size changes, but hits to COM are there.

I have highly corrected vision, and whether it's handguns or rifles, if I'm shooting iron sights, much more than 50yds and I'm guessing more than aiming.
 
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Well there was 200 meters on metallic rams using a Colt SAA .45 7 1/2"

And 200 yards shooting at a 200 yd. bullseye rifle target with a .32 Colt 1903 pocket pistol (only 2 shots out of 7 on the paper). :what:

100 yards inside the K-zone of a B-27 silhouette target using a Colt Detective Special (Old model with pencil barrel and high front sight).

80 yards on a 10" Dia. steel plate using a Government Model .45 Auto.

I suppose if I took the time to think about it I could come up with more. One thing we have in Arizona is lots and lots of distance... :D
 
I hit a 4" wide by 6" tall target at 50 yards with my G26. It was about 0 degrees and I took a few tries but I got it.

I would love to see some of you guys post some videos of your long range shooting. Check out my latest challenge. Don't mean to hijack your post here OP but I though this might be appropriate.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=661995
 
If one can see where one's misses are going, a good shooter can hit something that size at 300 yards, given enough tries.

Eventually hitting a target is not very impressive unless that one hit leads to a string of hits.
 
while standing the farthest iv tried shooting a handgun is at 20 yards(max range for my indoor range) i can do about a 5 inch group with my hi power
pretty lousy compared to many here but its the best i can do at a distance.
if it matters this is with 115 grain wwb.

much past 15 yards i find while focusing on the front sight the target is not only blurry but more importantly the width of the front sight starts to cover so much of the target i find it very hard to shoot precisely
 
100 yards is about the furthest i have had a chance to shoot and i know that i can hit a milk jug at that distance with almost any of my smaller pistols/revolvers.
 
I've never tried shooting past 60yds,but i have ahanging 12x16" plate at 60
on my home range and useually dump a couple of mags of what ever Im shooting each range session.With my eyes thats a fairly long shot.With my 1911 Im about 95%same with my 75B,With the wifes kahr 380 and my PM9
about 60%.With the G19 and G27 about 75%.
 
David E said:
How far can you hit ?

My point is, even short barreled guns can be fired accurately at longer distances than most folks realize.
Click to expand...
Within 25 yards, I can shoot my Glock 27 comparable to G22 and place shots (slow fire, rapid fire and double taps) within 1/2 sheet of 8x11 copy paper targets to 15 yards and full sheet at 25 yard with slow fire. At the 50 yard range, hit various metal targets and regularly hit a farming disk target set at 100-150 yards.

Hickok45 rapid fire with G27 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdqIhmu9Fuk

Hickok45 slow fire at 230 yards with G27 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMEg4y54Dk
 
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I hit a metal silhouette target about the size of a B-27 about every time at 75 yards with the Judge PD Poly. Using either 45LC or 000 buck. I'll see if I can snag a video of it this week.
 
These days I seldom shoot past 7-10 yards or so, mostly because the range I go to only has 7 yard pistol ranges, so I really don't have much idea.

But, back in the day, when I was shooting with an IPSC club, I didn't have much trouble hitting a pepper popper, or an 8" steel plate at 50 yards with my stock Government Model 1911.

I don't even shoot rifles much past 50 yards though. I guess that's because I grew up hunting with shotguns and buckshot, so I have this mental block that says 50 yards is a LONG shot. I've just never gotten used to the idea of shooting at something farther away.
 
I can hit pizza box sized targets at 100 yards with a Kahr K40 like the op. Only tried past 100 a few times with not much repeated success. Not much fun past 100.

Hickok45's 230 yard gong vid's are pretty impressive.
 
Snub 30 yards give me a 3 inch or long barrelled pistol or revolver and I can hit a volley ball all day at 50 yards and a basketball at 100 when I had a 6 inch barreled revolver.
 
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