Everything I Know Is Wrong

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Parapliers

Moderator
My experience with handguns has always been informal. We would go to the gravel pit and set up some cans and shoot until we ran out of ammo. One of our favorite targets was the ubiquitous 1 quart oil can. We would set these up at 100 paces. No one had any trouble hitting them. We usually only counted how many times we missed. We mostly used 9mm pistols or .22s because the ammo was cheap. The first time I saw anyone shooting large silhouette targets at 25 ft was at a police range. I figured it was a familiarization exercise or weak hand eyes closed or something.
Anyone else learn the wrong way like I did?
 
What is wrong with police firing at big targets at short range? That might be the only way they can qualify.

Seriously, even if we take 100 paces to be around 50-75 yards instead of 100 yards, a quart oil can is a good target. You can learn range estimation and hold just fine. The trouble is that there is a tendency for folks to say things like "I can hit cans at 500 yards with my .22 Short, but I can't hit anything with paper targets." The fact is that a target will show just how well you do shoot, while stories about hitting cans are just that - stories.

Jim
 
My dad taught me to shoot with a .22 rifle at a friend's farm. He saved trash that would make good targets. Old light bulbs and mom's empty hairspray cans were the best, because they'd pop when you hit them.
 
Most SD encounters are within a few feet. No real time to aim.
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Ummmm.... er...... 1.5 seconds is real time....... real short time, but one can, with practice, draw, aim and fire in less than that.
 
Ummmm.... er...... 1.5 seconds is real time....... real short time, but one can, with practice, draw, aim and fire in less than that.
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Sure, but can you hit a quart oil can at 100 paces in that time?

BTW, in my world 100 paces is close to 200 yards. A "pace" is every time my right foot hits the ground. A "step" is every time a foot hits the ground.

Anyway, an oil can at even 100 steps (90 yards) would still be a near-impossible handgun shot for me. If I was lucky I'd hit it once every dozen shots or so.

No one had any trouble hitting them. We usually only counted how many times we missed.
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Sounds like a group of rather exceptional natural handgun marksman to me. Ya'll should be competing and winning trophies, gear and all the other stuff they put up as prizes!
 
Wrong Again Already

Thanks, Sport 45, 100 steps it was.
Civilization crowded us out we had to move to the public ranges. Never liked indoor ranges and the outside one we had access to turned into a trash dump. Got real scary a couple of times. Now we have a beautiful new public range that is clean and well regulated but it isn't any fun.
 
100 steps(what jim said)

Two questions.
1Are you a midgit? Or how big are your feet?
2 Are you counting both ways?

Seriously. I have seen some of the best shots in the world miss that size at half that distance.
 
If you have no trouble hitting an oil can at 100 yards then you need to be shooting in NRA Action Pistol matches.

All you need to do is to consistently hit a 4" circle at distances of 50 yards and under (based on my calculations that's much easier than hitting an oil can at 100 yards) and you're guaranteed to win the Bianchi Cup which would probably net you 5 figures in prize money.

You might have to practice some for the mover, but the maximum distance there is only 20 yards.
 
Good call on correcting the "pace count" discrepency. I know mine and was gonna say somethin is off. I do about 64 paces for 100yds.

In his defense, he said "learned" as in kids age. Maybe a kids 100 steps is only 40-50m.
I wish this guy would jump back in here and give us a real "guss-ta-mation" in something more universal than steps. He's gotta see the controversy he's started. It's now no longer about how we all were taught but how much a crack-shot God gifted him... :rolleyes:

Was he being sarcastic to the rest of us, needing big paper targets? (And saying, "everything he knows is wrong") What could he possibly think he's doing wrong taking sniper shots w/ a pistol?

Anyway fun is fun the OP, seems honest enough, just needs to state a "real" distance.

By the way, the guy who's Dad saved "cool" targets that would "pop"... Sounded like a real cool Dad, reminds me of mine. :D
 
It's not surprising to me that this,

Parapliers said:
We would go to the gravel pit and set up some cans and shoot until we ran out of ammo. One of our favorite targets was the ubiquitous 1 quart oil can.
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became this.

Never liked indoor ranges and the outside one we had access to turned into a trash dump.
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As a kid I did a lot of shooting at aerosol cans, light bulbs, coke and beer bottles, etc. The difference was that we went to the dump (landfill) to shoot. My dad would have tanned our hides if we had ever taken a bunch of trash out in the fields and shot it up.

Parapliers - I like your handle :)
 
For fun I took a "man" target out to 75 yards, shot at it with my Colt SAA, 45 of course, using one hand to see if I get any "heart" shots.

I shot 50 rounds and most were inside the "man's" body, and most of those were inside the kill ring that was on it, but I only counted shots that hit the heart area and that was around 7-10.

I also took my Colt out to shoot the same "man" target at 200 yards. I shot it from the bench of course, with my heavy factory trigger and crude iron sights.

All in all on the 200yrd I landed about 12 body hits out of a box of 50 fat 45's. Not great, but I was amazed to see I could really hit it with no marked point of reference on my sights. If I had a revolver with clean adjustable sights I think I would of done a lot better.

It was pretty fun shooting that 200yards, every twitch and muscle in your hand you can feel and see.
 
Range was 50 yds . The dumpy range is the one that has had a million dollar makeover. The 50 yd markers are a little short of where the old berm was. I was the best shot of my group but there were only about a dozen of us who would shoot together. I've never been competitive. It was all for fun and camaraderie. The only competitive element was that I liked to show off with my Beretta model 950 .22 short. That made some of the guys mad so I quit doing it.
 
If he can hit an oil can at 100 yrds, offhand, with an pistol more than he misses..... I aint messin with him. Must be wearing a cape with a big "S"
 
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