How tough a shot is this...?

T

tobnpr

New member
Hi guys;

New member here. Recently have gotten into shooting with my two sons (13, 17) and we're having a ball. MUCH better than video games to keep them occupied, right?

Anyway, we've been target shooting our rifles, learning the ropes, and hope to do some hunting this fall. Watching the guys shooting handguns looks like quite an interesting challenge, and I believe we'll make the progression to them soon.

So now for the question. One of the range safety officers was being a great help to my older son helping to get his new Rem. 700 (.223) and Bushnell 2400 scope zeroed. We started talking handguns, and out of the blue he says "If I can hit that bowling pin from here, would you be impressed?"

I had no idea what bowling pin he was referring to. The Open Range has three berms- 25, 50, and 100 yds. Beyond the 100 yard berm, all the way across the back of the range, was a much taller berm at 130 yards. That's where he pointed. Two-thirds of the way up the berm, I could barely make out the bowling pin lying in the sand. I grabbed my binocs, and the guy grabbed a handgun- looked like a 9mm, but I'm not sure.

Anyway, standing, with no rest of any kind, iron sights, he squeezed off six shots- and damned if he didn't hit that bowling pin- at 130+ yards- 3 out the six shots. The misses were no more than a foot off.

I stood there dumbfounded. Like I said, I know Jack about handguns- but it sure seemed to me like one hell of a feat.

Was I justified in being as impressed as I was?

Maybe this should have been posted in General Discussion, sorry if I posted in the wrong section.
 
robhof

I went to the range with my 357 max DW and was waiting for some young guys shooting all around the 200yd gong, to finish so we could call the range cold to set targets. They had a bundle of 30 round mags, so I took aim and waited for them to feed another mag and I fired 2 shots; rang the gong twice and packed up my stuff. I wasn't going to try repeat that success and the joy of leaving with them still staring down range at the gong was priceless.
 
He's prolly taken that shot many times and learned how much off/where he needs to set his sights.
Click to expand...

+1

Why do you think he made a point of asking you if you wanted to see him do it? :D
 
No matter how many times he's taken that shot, it is some darn fine shooting. We're talking a 3-4" diameter target (at it's widest point). A lot of shooters would be pretty proud of doing that at 25 yards. I sure would.

Now he is shooting at five times that distance. That is the equivalent of 1 1/4" at 25 yards. I'm sure there are shooters who can do that, but I'm not one of them and I don't know any of them.

Tell you one thing. I wouldn't want him shooting at me, at any distance. :)
 
Any time someone says ya want to bet I can do, fill in the blank, that person KNOWS they can do fill in the blank they have practiced until they can do it 90 +% of the time.

The man's shots were still impressive.
 
Get involved with handgun metallic silhouette. After a few years of this you'll do much better. 130 yd bowling pin ? That may take exceptional eyesight!
 
I used to shoot regularly with an older gentleman, one of those quiet, subdued, elderly statesman types.

He had a S&W equivalent to my Colt Detective special, both were .38's of course, . . . and he could regularly pop the larger DelMonte peach cans 3 or 4 out of 6 at 100 yards. He just knew his gun, his load, and his ability.

The only trick I could never get him to do, . . . was teach me how to shoot that well :rolleyes:

And to the OP: yes you should be impressed with the bowling pin shooter. Whether he had done that once, twice, or 200 times, . . . bowling pins at 130 yards is good shooting.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
There was a time I could do it. I doubt I could now; just haven't shot enough over the last several years.

I need to work on mid-range moving targets at this point. Out to 40 yards or so.

Daryl
 
long range pistol

Last week I was shooting a police style target at 360 yards with Glock 17. I know I will get all kinds of flak but I really did. It took a little practice to figure the hold over but once I did I was able to do it.
 
Tough. I am happy in nailing a 35 gallon barrel at 175 yards (garunteed hits on it). Likewise a 2 foot rock at 100-150 yards is dead meat.

I think a great deal of people could do it with a little extra trigger time.....AND..you gotta have good eyesight to go with it. Mine's shot. I don't think I could even see a bowling pin at that range....
 
Personally – I think that shot(s) was awesome! It has me reconsidering my next handgun. I guarantee you that I don’t have a handgun that will hit 2 out of 6 at 130 yards … even with the handgun rested somehow!

Come to think of it, I am not sure my old eyes would let me hit that far out with any kind of handgun either. :confused:
 
Bowling pin....130 yards....Dam fine shooting regardless the amount of times hes done it.....For me anything up to 25 yards is pushing it,but then again i don't shoot past that.
 
He obviously has a lot of "practice" there, after all- he is one of the safety officers.

I just find it incredible to be able to hit such a small target, at such a long distance, esp standing with no rest of any kind. There's no way to even SEE the pin, since it's gotta be obscured entirely by the front sight, right?

Very knowledgeable guy, like I said he spent the better part of two hours patiently helping my son dial in his scope and shooting technique. I hope to learn alot from him.
 
This may be of interest:

http://www.handgunsmag.com/tactics_training/shot_022305/

I just find it incredible to be able to hit such a small target, at such a long distance, esp standing with no rest of any kind. There's no way to even SEE the pin, since it's gotta be obscured entirely by the front sight, right?
Click to expand...

It’s a feat all right – but I am sure he’s aiming way high of the target allowing him to see the target.

Welcome to TFL by the way ...
 
Yes that is impressive shooting. It doesn't matter how much he practiced the shot, still impressive.

I have heard of some very long distance shooting with handguns. Some that I would need to see first hand in order to believe.

What I hope you find more impressive is that, given good training and lots of practice, you and your kids could be making that shot.
 
He's a pretty fair hand.

It's fun to shoot even farther. The linked article didnt mention adjusting your sight picture. Holding the front sight the same on the target, and lowering your rear sight in relation to the front seems to give more consistant hits at longer ranges. The 18" plate at 300 yards wasnt impossible with the ex's g-19. Could do maybe 3-5 hits per 10 rd mag when practiced up. It doesnt take nearly as much front sight as you'd guess at that range with that velocity of cartridge. The 45 auto wasn't very easy to connect with at 300. The 4" Smith 29 with medium vel loads, with it's match grade triggger and excellent sights is a good longer range plinker, much better than the autos that I've shot.

Maybe I just read to much Keith as a kid. There seems to be a fair number of other deluded individuals around the area that did also. Banging away at those ranges, and sometime farther, has more fans than I'd realized.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top