What is the farthest shot you would feel comfortable with a handgun?
- Thread starter Rebel9793
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With a question like this, Clint Eastwood says it best..."A man has to know his limitations".....I practice beyond 200yards ALOT with my hand loads a 6" open sight S&W 44mag. I am a experienced handgun hunter and shot competitive IPSC so my comfort zone varies on conditions. I am also a follower of Elmer Keith and I share his philosophy of maximum handgun hunting range.
Full story at Hornady.com
Some perspective. That is my big Polaris X2 where the deer dropped.
With a 22lr Hyper Velocity, 40 yards is where I took this grey fox. I wouldn't go much farther not because of the distance but the lack of killing power with a 22lr.
I practice longer range shooting with all my guns...
Full story at Hornady.com
Some perspective. That is my big Polaris X2 where the deer dropped.
With a 22lr Hyper Velocity, 40 yards is where I took this grey fox. I wouldn't go much farther not because of the distance but the lack of killing power with a 22lr.
I practice longer range shooting with all my guns...
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I will not carry a gun for self defense if I cannot consistently hit a 2.5 inch group with it at 15 yards from an offhand stance. I figure that a 2.5 inch circle – about tennis ball size – is what I would need for a proper head shot. If the range happens to be much further than 15 yards I would shift to center of mass.
Perhaps, consider this...
Target at 10 yards. You probably don't aim at the entire target. You aim at a smaller circle within the target, like the X or the 10 ring or if in silhouettes, the A section or blah blah. Whatever the target style, you're aiming at a subset of that larger target.
Now target at 100 yds. You still probably want to aim at a smaller subset of the entire thing, you just can't see the subset. So you have to "imagine" the subset. Just like when you look through typical sights, you imagine the space on both sides of the rear notch to be "about equal". You imagine the top of the front sight being aligned with the top of the rear sight. Do the same with that little gnat nipple sized target way down range. Imagine a line bisecting the circle vertically - that will help you get on target left to right. Imagine a horizontal line across the target, that will help you get on target high or low. Imagine a box or smaller circle within the larger circle. Imagine "equal amounts of circle" on either side of your sight picture.
Send it.
Sgt Lumpy
With a handgun, since I seldom shoot one at distances greater than 25 yards or so...... I will say 25 yards. I have no doubt of my ability to hit a stationary man-sized target at some greater distances than that, given the time to aim properly....but "comfortable" ? No, maximum "comfortable" distance would be about 25 yards.
Dragline45
New member
Hitting targets at 100 yards with a pistol is not impossible or very hard to do with just a little practice.
armsmaster270
New member
I have shot B-27 Silhoute targets at 100yards with a S&W Model 19 4" using Winchester 145gr Silvertips and all rounds hit the chest cavity. Thats all I need.
Very much depends on the gun.
A little snubnose, I would be deadly inside 15-20 yards.
I feel like I could shoot a deer inside 50 yards and feel ethical about it, especially if I have a red dot sight. That is about where I am at as far as hitting a target the size of a whitetail's vital organs.
50 yards or less is about the typical distance a shot presents itself out in the woods here. The woods are thick, and beyond 50 yards there will usually be so much between the muzzle and the deer that I would question myself, and at that point its about time to just put the gun down and wait for another.
A little snubnose, I would be deadly inside 15-20 yards.
I feel like I could shoot a deer inside 50 yards and feel ethical about it, especially if I have a red dot sight. That is about where I am at as far as hitting a target the size of a whitetail's vital organs.
50 yards or less is about the typical distance a shot presents itself out in the woods here. The woods are thick, and beyond 50 yards there will usually be so much between the muzzle and the deer that I would question myself, and at that point its about time to just put the gun down and wait for another.
OkieCruffler
New member
Common response from those who can not fish.
OkieCruffler
New member
Have you ever tried to shoot a pistol at long range? Or are you content to sit in your arm chair and call others liars?
Winchester_73
New member
Put me down for 50 yds offhand, 2 hand hold. With 6 shots, I believe I could hit a pie plate at least 3x. The last time I shot 50 yds, I kept most shots, perhaps 70% inside a 12in circle. Its nothing to brag about, but on the other hand, I'm better than I was, and if I practice more, I can get better and better. I seem to collect more than I shoot, but I do enjoy shooting. I have trouble finding the time unfortunately.
So, you self confidence lackers who think there's fish stories, which one's? Which posts/posters do you think are lying? I haven't seen a description of accuracy in this thread that I don't see every week at my local range, from several shooters.
On target at 50 yards with iron sights? That's my post. Do you think I'm lying? Do you think 50 yards is unobtainable? I see people do that all the time. I've seen people put at least one round in the target at 50 on their first time at the range.
I've got one pistol that I've put 100,000 rounds through. A few hundred of those rounds were plinking. The rest of them were either serious study or matches or qualifications. Do you suppose that after 100k repititions of something, you'd tend to get pretty good at refining what needs to be refined and eliminating what's causing distractions so you can make the shot?
Missing round hole in the 50 yard part of the image below was at 11 o'clock, just outside the 7 ring. I've since adjusted my sights.
No fish here. If you're anywhere near Phoenix, I'll take you to the range and show you how to believe you can make the shot. I'll be there this Sunday morning.
Sgt Lumpy
On target at 50 yards with iron sights? That's my post. Do you think I'm lying? Do you think 50 yards is unobtainable? I see people do that all the time. I've seen people put at least one round in the target at 50 on their first time at the range.
I've got one pistol that I've put 100,000 rounds through. A few hundred of those rounds were plinking. The rest of them were either serious study or matches or qualifications. Do you suppose that after 100k repititions of something, you'd tend to get pretty good at refining what needs to be refined and eliminating what's causing distractions so you can make the shot?
Missing round hole in the 50 yard part of the image below was at 11 o'clock, just outside the 7 ring. I've since adjusted my sights.
No fish here. If you're anywhere near Phoenix, I'll take you to the range and show you how to believe you can make the shot. I'll be there this Sunday morning.
Sgt Lumpy