I don't know about most folks but I carry a 642 revolver, I'm pretty good with it out to 15 yards, 15 to 25 I keep them on an IDPA target, not all in the 0 down center tho. It ain't the same as shooting off a bench with a bullseye gun, it ain't even like precision pistol at 50 yards. If I were to get into a fire fight with 5 or 10 guys I'm a goner. 1 or 2 guys at 10 feet, I got a chance. Ain't no guarantees.................................
Long range distance for self defense
- Thread starter TraumaRN
- Start date
Are you convinced that they practice any more thoroughly? I talked with the trainer. When he said that they always use that fifty foot range because of the solid benches for all of the gear, it implies that they don't go to the fifty yard or 600 yard berms.
Sure, maybe he's not the only trainer, maybe they go to the other private range for longer range practice, but the implication of what he said is that they fire their rifles at the same distance as they do their pistols. 30-50 feet.
No, I don't think that banging at a silhouette at fifty feet with a combat rifle is training, it is the opposite, IMO. it's a rifle If you intend to use it at longer ranges as well as close ranges, learning how to keep it in the kill zone at 30 feet is actually rather detrimental when you have to reach out to five times that distance. Starting out without a challenge doesn't start you off on the right path.
pete.
There is one guarantee that you can have. It's murphy's law. The one time that you need that gun is going to be when you are stuck in traffic and a guy with buckshot about six cars up thinks that you slept with his wife.
What is the best way to win a gunfight?
Not sleeping with anyone else's wife is a good place to start.
There is one guarantee that you can have. It's murphy's law. The one time that you need that gun is going to be when you are stuck in traffic and a guy with buckshot about six cars up thinks that you slept with his wife.
What is the best way to win a gunfight?
Not sleeping with anyone else's wife is a good place to start.
OneFreeTexan
New member
Briandg, I enjoy your posts, A lot of wisdom there, even if it isn’t popular
That doesn't always work. I had a stretch of threatening phone calls a few years back. Some yahoo was using my name and meeting a woman at a bar I had never heard of. It didn't end until I got the local sheriff's office in contact with the jilted husband. I am pretty sure that the guy doing the cuckolding was a professional colleague.
This has caused problems with the phone number spoofing. People are finding unfamiliar numbers on phones and answering machines and assuming that a stranger is calling their wives or husbands, and comedy ensues. I've had my name taken and used, and I've had a number of people call me back and demand to know why I was calling them. Some are nasty. sometimes I get nasty. One guy thought that his wife was cheating and wanted to pound me. He found the number on her phone somehow.
One time I got one that I looked up and it turned out to be a local insurance office. He nearly cried on the phone when I called him and told him that his phone had been scammed. That's cold, messing with a businesses number and spamming it out by the thousands of calls.
I never imagined that I would receive physical threats because of a phone call that I didn't even make. Danger lurks everywhere!
One time I got one that I looked up and it turned out to be a local insurance office. He nearly cried on the phone when I called him and told him that his phone had been scammed. That's cold, messing with a businesses number and spamming it out by the thousands of calls.
I never imagined that I would receive physical threats because of a phone call that I didn't even make. Danger lurks everywhere!
Doc Holliday 1950
New member
I practice regularly(2times/week) at 15 feet & sometimes up to 40 feet at my indoor range. I feel that only in an extreme situation would I attempt a shot further than that. From what I've read about "Stand your Ground" laws here in Fl. I'd be in big quano
if I ever tried to shoot long distance with a Pistol/revolver. In my mind, I carry concealed for one reason & that's to protect my wife, myself and other innocent bystanders. SD shooting long distance just does not appeal to me
if I ever tried to shoot long distance with a Pistol/revolver. In my mind, I carry concealed for one reason & that's to protect my wife, myself and other innocent bystanders. SD shooting long distance just does not appeal to me
In practice / training, 50 yard shots are not that unimaginable. Look at Precision Pistol (Bullseye) competitors, they do it one handed. In an actual self defense circumstance, probably more like 25 yards would be max. But, if someone was lobbing shots at me at say 100 yards and all I had was a handgun and no cover, you best believe I'd be returning fire, while moving to cover of course. .
I'm still maxing at 25 meters; not ready to try farther than that. I was short on ammo yesterday, so I didn't do a lot at long range. I was using a target that looks like the outline of an oversize bowling pin. With a double-handed grip and elbows supported on the shooting table, I got three in the "head" and one in the "neck" (and one flyer). With a double-handed free-standing grip, I got all five in the "body". I've been shooting regularly for only a couple months, so I was rather pleased with myself. Practice may not make perfect yet, but it does make for improvement 
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armoredman
New member
I tried it after the Garlic Festival shooting, set the 3/4 IDPA steel out to 55 yards, (thought it was 50, paced it wrong), and drew from concealment, fired three rounds standing. If I didn't get two clangers I moved to a braced position, (assumed to be concealment, or HOPEFULLY cover), and fired three more. If I didn't get two clangers I was dead because even in the middle of the hubbub of screaming and running he has GOT to notice someone shooting AT him eventually. This was one good group...
BUT, that was three rounds - where did number 3 go? Grandma wheeling away frantically on the other side?
It was quite humbling how many times I "died" doing this goofy little drill. Of course with a RIFLE it became quite easy, but even in AZ it's not usually practical to carry a rifle everywhere. I now try to do this semi-regularly, try to get better. This was on a brightly lit open square range, with the target standing there waiting to get hit and not shooting back at me. Doing this force on force with simunitions would be eye opening indeed.
BUT, that was three rounds - where did number 3 go? Grandma wheeling away frantically on the other side?
It was quite humbling how many times I "died" doing this goofy little drill. Of course with a RIFLE it became quite easy, but even in AZ it's not usually practical to carry a rifle everywhere. I now try to do this semi-regularly, try to get better. This was on a brightly lit open square range, with the target standing there waiting to get hit and not shooting back at me. Doing this force on force with simunitions would be eye opening indeed.
Smoke Jensen
Inactive
It is if you are involved in an "active shooter event". Taking out an armed person shooting up a school or business may very well present a 50’ shot. That would be legal and the right thing to do. My carry gun is sighted in to 50’.
New practice regimen
Thanks to all who have responded. I decided to extend the range of my defensive shooting practice. It’s been eye opening and shown me how much training is ahead. First goal to gain proficiency/mastery at 35 yards with .357 and 45 Colt and then 50 yards. Additionally , started using a PACT timer to follow my times from drawing from concealment to target (ouch, I’m slow). The longest range I can practice is 120 yards but that’s a long way off
Thanks to all who have responded. I decided to extend the range of my defensive shooting practice. It’s been eye opening and shown me how much training is ahead. First goal to gain proficiency/mastery at 35 yards with .357 and 45 Colt and then 50 yards. Additionally , started using a PACT timer to follow my times from drawing from concealment to target (ouch, I’m slow). The longest range I can practice is 120 yards but that’s a long way off
One of the best ways to get real proficient with a hand gun is to practice with a 22 lr. I use a browning buck mark and a SW 617. I first start at 3 yards than move to 5, and 7, 10,15, 20 and 25. At this distance you will notice that your group and point of aim is spot on at 3 and 5 yards, but once you move to 7 and beyond you began to notice that the accuracy will began to falter a little.
One thing that I notice when I shoot at 50 or 100 yards with my 1911 is that you really don't have to adjust your aim high. You basically aim where you want to hit, if you try to compensate by aiming high you may end up shooting high. I recommend shooting into a berm if possible when you get started, as this will show bullet impacts which is very helpful.
One thing that I notice when I shoot at 50 or 100 yards with my 1911 is that you really don't have to adjust your aim high. You basically aim where you want to hit, if you try to compensate by aiming high you may end up shooting high. I recommend shooting into a berm if possible when you get started, as this will show bullet impacts which is very helpful.
It is a long observed fact, that when put in a crisis situation, most people will do what ever it is that they have trained to do, and practiced doing. Right or wrong for the situation, when you don't have time to think about it, you will react below the conscious level.
Examples abound in life, here's a couple,
A fellow I knew was an avid bow hunter. The previous year he had missed a shot on "a grand buck" at 40yds.
He had enough range behind his house, and practiced all summer, nearly every day, so he wouldn't miss that 40 yard shot again. The next deer season, a buck popped up 15 yards from him. He lined up, and shot right over it.
Now, bow trajectory is more extreme than pistols, but you get the idea. Don't just practice ONE thing all he time.
If you haven't practiced at long range, go ahead, but leave the timer off for a while. Martial arts masters will tell you that when learning you should make haste slowly...this means learn what to do, but don't try to be fast, fast is for later...look at how they do kata, its done slooowly, done to learn the right forms and counters, learn them until they become something you don't need to think about.
There are similarities to be found in pistol shooting as well. I shoot handguns at long range for recreation. Been doing it long enough its not a difficult task. I don't try to rush, I focus on getting hits. I've found this makes shooting at closer range easier, and shooting faster at close range becomes a matter of practicing something you already know how to do.
Examples abound in life, here's a couple,
A fellow I knew was an avid bow hunter. The previous year he had missed a shot on "a grand buck" at 40yds.
He had enough range behind his house, and practiced all summer, nearly every day, so he wouldn't miss that 40 yard shot again. The next deer season, a buck popped up 15 yards from him. He lined up, and shot right over it.
Now, bow trajectory is more extreme than pistols, but you get the idea. Don't just practice ONE thing all he time.
If you haven't practiced at long range, go ahead, but leave the timer off for a while. Martial arts masters will tell you that when learning you should make haste slowly...this means learn what to do, but don't try to be fast, fast is for later...look at how they do kata, its done slooowly, done to learn the right forms and counters, learn them until they become something you don't need to think about.
There are similarities to be found in pistol shooting as well. I shoot handguns at long range for recreation. Been doing it long enough its not a difficult task. I don't try to rush, I focus on getting hits. I've found this makes shooting at closer range easier, and shooting faster at close range becomes a matter of practicing something you already know how to do.