Citizen Makes 165yd Shot With Revolver to Stop Murderer From Ambushing Cop

B

Bartholomew Roberts

Moderator
Here is a Youtube video of the citizen telling the story in his own words:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g1n8cmwhIY

And here is a local news story covering the press conference of the shooting (written): http://www.brownwoodnews.com/index....v-park-shooting-video&catid=35:news&Itemid=58

The short version is that in a trailer park altercation over a neighbor's dogs, the criminal killed the owner of the dogs, the dogs and the owner's wife and then grabbed a rifle to set up an ambush for police. A local citizen saw the criminal attempting to ambush the responding police officer and made a 165 yard shot with a .357 Magnum 5" revolver which connected to the leg. The murderer turned to fire at the citizen (whose name I still don't know) and the officer was able to grab his rifle and take cover behind his vehicle and end the fight.

I thought there were a number of interesting aspects to the story:

1. It seems I read the argument that you will never need to take a shot over 25yds frequently; but it does occasionally pop up. That this shooter pulled it off with a pistol was even more impressive.

2. A great case of citizens and police working together to support each other, as well as a department that recognizes the benefit of this and welcomes it.

3. A lot of bravery on the part of the citizen to start a pistol vs. rifle fight from 165yds away when you have the pistol.
 
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Hats off to the citizen.

And to the comments by Sheriff Grubbs.

Sheriff Grubbs also noted that some may take this incident as an opportunity to promote gun control; however he felt it is an example of importance of the right to bear arms.

“Had this citizen not had a gun, this could have been a whole lot worse,” said Grubbs.
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I use to shoot metallic silhouette up to 200 meters with my service revolver (a 4 in. Model 28 Smith, 150 grs LSWCs). It wasn't the drop that got me, it was the short sight radius.

The un named citizen made a great shot.
 
Well done, unnamed citizen.

And a fine illustration of the principle that you can't know ahead of time what you will need to be able to do to solve the problem.
 
Superb shooting.

Ya gotta love Vic Stacy, risked his life, shot the perp 5 times.

“…I hit him again, and I put 3 more in’em.” Mr. Stacy said he is an “average working person…tryin to help an officer out.” [Newsroom Report]

Old school. God bless him.
 
A fine citizen stands up and says"No!"

And,you know,that guy already killed two people,the dogs,and was preparing to kill the LEO.Who knows what would have happened next.The bad guy may not have stopped then,so who knows how many lives the gentleman with the .357 saved.

One form of shooting I enjoy is just calling a shot on the next hill..."See the little pink rock left of that clump of sage?"

With the idea you cannot make the shot if you do not take the shot.

I hit some,miss some,and get real close a lot.

Don;t expect a hit every time,but try shooting at a reactive target at 150,200 yds.You might be surprised.
 
Long range pistol accuracy

I have a thread here somewhere that discusses this topic exactly. After writing it and discussing with you fellas I decided to focus on it at least one mag every range trip.

I can now put a whole mag from the Glock 27 on a human sized cardboard silouet at least 7/10. If I am shooting off hand we are talking no grouping at all but 70% of em hit the silouett. If I get some sort of support averages go up and groupings get tighter.

I have no idea how well I would preform if that piece of cardboard was moving around and had the potential to shoot back. I would at least have a fighting chance.

Props to this citizen who knows how many lives he saved!
 
And that gentleman is why they have targets set up beyond 7 yards on every range I have ever been on. If you only shoot so called self defense distances and never stretch your abilities to improve your shooting skills then you are flat out wasting your time and your ammunition. Especially with the .357 magnum, it's been making killing shots at long distance for a lot of years.


1935
Major Douglas Wesson

Antelope - 200 yards (2 shots)

Elk - 130 yards (1 shot)

Moose - 100 yards (1 shot)

Grizzly Bear - 135 yards (1 shot)
http://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/357magnum.htm
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It's been my experience that if I am zeroed with my gun at 25 yards I am only 2" low at 100 and I hold my point of aim at the same place regardless if I am close or back a little ways. At 200 yards I change my hold from 6 o'clock on the bull to center hold on the bull of an 8" target and consistently group 4"-6" below the target with my 158 LSWC. (Don't ask about my group size :D). On a silhouette target I hold in the middle of the head and drop all my shots in the upper torso so it wasn't that difficult a feat for this guy if he has been shooting long distances with his gun. Don't know who he was or what he does but I bet he is a handgun hunter.
 
That was a very good shot and all of us in the law enforcement community appreciate this citizen's willingness to take action.

When I was doing firearms training at the academy, I was frequently asked by trainees why they needed to shoot at 50 yards with a handgun when most police shootings happen at very close range. My response was,Yes, most shootings are at very close range,but not all of them are and we want you to be prepared for the one time that it is not so close. When you get home this weekend step off the distance across your local McDonald's parking lot." They usually showed up the following Monday and said, "Sir, I see what the instructor means about the reason for 50 yard shooting."
 
"Older" gentleman as well.

I rather think Brother Vic had fired that revolver a few times before this episode.

He had to do something and had to do it quick. Yessir, he did.
 
M9 at Range

I had an opportunity to observe US Army soldiers practice break contact drills. They were using M-4 carbines and M9 pistols shooting at pop up silhouette targets at increasing ranges (from near Zero to 300 yards). The soldiers used bound and cover to fight their way out of reach of the "Enemy".
Their instructor would make them switch to the pistol at times. I think the point was that if your primary weapon is out of ammo or malfunctioning, if you still have a pistol, you are still armed. Some pistol hits were made at even the longest ranges.
 
The .357 mag is the one revolver I would consider carrying, . . . and this story is the reason.

Of all the standard wheel gun calibers out there, . . . I have always had good results with this one.

It looks like our citizen / hero liked it too, . . . thank you and a job well done to him.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Reminds me of the scene from Lonesome Dove where Gus shoots the Outlaw from long distance. What a grand pistol shot, I'd have loved to seen that.
 
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