Target Shooting - Is Anyone Telling The Truth?

[Old Grump]

I'm old school, bullseye and plinking off hand to learn. Bench to sight in. Its been my experience a good bullseye shooter can pick up PPC easier than it is for a PPC shooter to learn bullseye and a good pistol shooter will be a good rifle shooter but being a good rifle shooter doesn't necessarily mean you will be a good pistol shooter. I am no longer as steady on my hindlegs as I was 45 years ago when I first started shooting high power rifle and bullseye pistol competition and my eyes don't see as much detail as they used to but I can still break water filled milk jugs shooting one handed unsupported at 100 yards consistently and 200 yards once in awhile.

I shoot at 50' bullseye targets at all ranges with rifles and at 7 yards to 50 yards with all handguns to keep in shape for hunting and SD shooting because it forces me to concentrate on the sight. Cutting cards is a sometime thing if the light is right and I hold my face just right. 30 years ago it was just a show off trick I could do at will. Can't stand on the range and compete for 12 hours like I used to but for a few minutes I'll stand up to the line with anybody. Like previously posted I find the best shooters on the range aren't the ones who show up bragging about 100 yard hits on tin cans with their 44 mag and then can't hit paper at 25 yards, they have feet and yards confused and a lucky shot once does not equal hours on the range practicing.

The good shooters just show up, put up their targets, make a few small groups and go home. Doesn't matter if they are shooting a Hammerli or a S&W snubby. They generally don't show up with a large noisy crowd, a boom box, a cigarette dangling from their mouth and a 6 pack in their trunk next to their ammo.

Socializing is a good thing but if you're going to shoot, then shoot. Maybe its the dinosaur in me after having been taught by another pair of dinosaurs. Targets speak louder than bragging, you just have to ditch the bad targets before anybody see's them. If I'm going to brag its about the progress my students have made from barely knowing how to hold the gun to shooting the pants off of me. That I brag about.

 

[benEzra]

S&W 3913LS, 7 yards, 2 hands, 3 shots slowfire. Top two holes are siamesed.

Yes, a few inches at 25 yards is reasonable, if you go slow, focus on the front sight, and follow through.

 

[[email protected]]

50 yds

This is 10 shots at 50 yds. using one hand. Muzzleloading Pistol shot by
the wife. All these targets are shot using a round ball.

 

[[email protected]]

The Gun

This is the wife's gun . It is a .32 cal. using "0" Buckshot for the ball
using a .010 patch and 17 grs. Goex FFF for 1000 fps. Twist is 1-14.

 

[BADUNAME37]

15 shots

First time I ever shot this gun.
Standing, two-handed slow fire at 10'.
Winchester FMJ 130g 38 Special (non +P) loads (USA38SPVP).

 

[TEDDY]

shooters??

Old Fluff:you hit it I come from the North east,Mass and there are at least 3 clubs near almost every fair sized town.they are bulleseye shooters and many can keep their shots at 50 ft cutting the x ring out.at 50 yrds people like Barry Colt ex. could keep them in the 10 and x ring all day.I have seen them.and shot with them.I once scored Hamiltons targets and was terrified I would make a mistake he was a great shooter[national champ]and very nice person.

 

[gcmk13]

I don't measure my groups when I shoot. I know what "good enough" looks like, whether it's for hunting, self-defense, or whatnot. If I had to guess, I'd say I shoot ~ 3-inch groups with any given handgun I own out to 25 yds, and that starts to spread when I get out towards 50 yds. I can easily keep an entire box of 50 rds on a 9 in. by 9 in. peice of paper at 50 yards during a shooting session, even with a Walther P22 (outstanding pistol, btw).

Don't know if that is considered "good" or not. It is more than "good enough" in my judgement, at least for a handgun.

If you're not the guy two benches down who is shooting at a wine bottle set on the ground 20 feet away and putting rounds into the dirt 10 feet in front of it and 10 feet behind it, then don't sweat it.

The point of a handgun is to be able to put a bullet into a target the size of a human chest at under 25 yards. If you can do that, mission accomplished. If you want to try to do better, then go for it. Hey, the guys I saw missing the wine bottle were having fun, so I'm not going to knock them either. Sometimes you just need to shoot at tin cans to watch them bounce.

 

[BADUNAME37]

I'm with you, I don't typically measure my groups. If they look accurate enough, I'm happy. I'm always happy - the tighter group I pull.

I measured the group (three posts above) because the OP was asking about accuracy.

For my needs, I could be happy with that group, even though it was a bit closer than I usually shoot. However, for defensive purposes, the group was just fine. I would, however rather have hollow points or Gold Dot ammo with +P loads pulling a tight group as FMJ's are good but there is typically very little, if any, expansion.

 

[JZ06]

I'm fairly humble and think I'm "alright". typically, i like to be at about 20 feet or so to practice tightening my groups. these we're from today. the first time firing my new to me taurus 1911 .45 acp. I loved it! 170 rounds(20 we're hp's) and nothing but smiles!





my friend fired this one...hot daym this is sweet. i'm going to try and see if i can get them this close:

 

[1911 guy]

With a 5" 1911, I can consistently punch a paper plate at 25 yards. With the carry gun I had custom built, I can do some better because it locks up more consistently than an assembly line gun.

Sitting down and supporting my elbows or wrists will give me those braggin' groups, but I haven't found much use in benching a handgun. Except for braggin' groups.

 

[IndianaBoy]

After getting started shooting uspsa, I really don't shoot handguns, aside from my 22, for groups anymore. I know both my cz and my sig225 will shoot a tighter group than I can. That does not mean I am a 'bullet hoser' as a rack of steel plates at 20 yards or a texas star will flat out embarras a shooter who lacks good fundamentals. It doesn't matter to me if my bullet holes are touching, as long as I can mozambique past hard cover. . For what it's worth, I don't think I stand a snowballs chance of a 2 inch unsupported handgun group at 25 yards. I wiggle.

 

[sammy]

This is off hand at 15 yards shooting 5" shoot and see's. Pay no attention to the white tape. The left and middle target are 200 rounds from my TRS. The right target is 35 rounds of 9mm from my Glock 35.

 

[Three Man]

25 yards, Two hand hold unsupported from a 70 Series Colt 9mm, American Eagle 9mm FMJ 124gr, that I worked on to get it to shoot this good.

It took a lot of work, if there is a next time I'll just pick up a STI in 9mm.



When I go to the range people usually stop and watch me shoot.
I'm lucky with better than 20/20 vision and a steady hand.
I am getting older though and sometimes my groups open up.

 

[HB]

A few weeks ago I said:

Time to revise my statement.....
I shot an older subcompact S&W DAO 9mm yesterday, at both 7 and 15 yards. It had a little more recoil than I expected, but was not punishing in the least. At 7 yards, I could manage about fist-sized group firing pretty slow. I was happy, this isn't this hard. This was my first time shooting a centerfire pistol.

We moved the target out to 15 yards and everything falls apart! I could barely hit the target, mostly because I was shooting low b/c of the DAO trigger. I then got out my buckmark and preceded to shoot a group the size of a baseball..... I have new found respect for shooting good groups with a subcompact DAO! 15 yards is not that far, but it is probably out of range of a fight....

So I shot the gun again and I was awesome! At 7 yards, shooting 3 shot groups, I could put 2 in the same hole and one flier (about an inch away) consistently (5 out of 6 tries). Long shot strings yielded raquetball sized groups! At 15 I shot hand sized groups! This is my second time shooting a centerfire pistol and I'm proud. I still shot about 3 inches low though... Any Tips?

HB

 

[Smaug]

Ah, here's that thread!

Phydeaux - Check this one out:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=400051