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David E
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You do realize the rear sight is adjustable for windage....right?
100 yd Handgun Shooting
- Thread starter David E
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You do realize the rear sight is adjustable for windage....right?
Vern Humphrey
Member
Which guns are designed to have the target behind the front sight?
Let's see. Suppose we measure from the back face of the rear sight to the back face of the front sight, and find the distance to be 6". The target is 100 yards (3600 inches) away. So the ratio of sight radius to target distance is 1:600. By holding up an inch of front sight, my shot will impact 600 inches (50 feet) higher at 100 yards.
I'm shooting a .45 Colt, zeroed for 50 yards. At 100 yards, with a normal hold, the bullet will impact 6" low. That means to put the bullet on target, I don't need to hold up an inch of front sight, or even a tenth of an inch. I only need to hold up a mere hundredth of an inch -- barely enough to see when the gun is held at arm's length.
If we move the target back to 200 yards, that one inch of front sight subtends 100 feet at the target. If I hold up a mere tenth of an inch of front sight, the bullet will impact 10 feet higher.
How am I not going to have enough holdover at any range short of a thousand yards?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the S&W 629 have adjustable sights? Why wait for a "perfectly aimed" pistol? Just take a couple of clicks right windage!!
otasan56
Member
Good shooting, sir.
Esoxchaser
Member
My the 11 year old couldn't believe it when after a couple of mags he was consistently smacking a Do-All reactive target ball at 100 yards with his Ruger Mark III Hunter with the stock open vee sights. What really amused him was the lag time between pulling the trigger and the ball moving indicating impact.
budman46
Member
i think most are so astonished at the idea of hitting with a handgun at 100+ yd distances that they forget bad habits; they concentrate on the basics. i let them shoot at a rock 110yds away in my river...splashes provide instant feedback! nobody has ever had a problem hitting the rock with a little practice.
Vern Humphrey
Member
I have a pond steeply down hill from my house. The dam is about 135 yards from my usual shooting place.
And you're right about splashes -- it's easy to hit rocks, floating sticks and so on, even with a .22 at 100 yards or better when you can clearly see the bullet impact.
And you're right about splashes -- it's easy to hit rocks, floating sticks and so on, even with a .22 at 100 yards or better when you can clearly see the bullet impact.
wanderinwalker
Member
I love reading these threads, it confirms for me that I'm not the only one crazy enough to enjoy hitting things past 25-yards with a handgun! 
One of my favorite things is to plink at the 100-yard steel plate at my range with one of my 4" .357s. Normally I shoot double-action and firing full-power ammunition hits are more common than misses. It doesn't take much difference in hold to land them on the plate either. I should try the 200-yd plate sometime; it's half the size of a tank though (it might actually BE armor plate even...).
The other thing I enjoy is putting up a paper IDPA silhouette at 50-yards to shoot at with any of my pistols or revolvers. Maybe this winter's goal will be to learn to make all A-hits consistently with one of the .357s. Challenge accepted!
Last thing: We used to have a steel plate at 100-yards on the rifle range that was maybe 2-feet across (I think, it was a while ago) and circular. I watched two young guys (older than me at the time) hitting it some from the bench with their scoped deer rifles, missing a couple. They high-fived each other. I stepped up and dropped 8 of 10 on it with my Glock 17, then walked away.
Edited: removed post title.
One of my favorite things is to plink at the 100-yard steel plate at my range with one of my 4" .357s. Normally I shoot double-action and firing full-power ammunition hits are more common than misses. It doesn't take much difference in hold to land them on the plate either. I should try the 200-yd plate sometime; it's half the size of a tank though (it might actually BE armor plate even...).
The other thing I enjoy is putting up a paper IDPA silhouette at 50-yards to shoot at with any of my pistols or revolvers. Maybe this winter's goal will be to learn to make all A-hits consistently with one of the .357s. Challenge accepted!
Last thing: We used to have a steel plate at 100-yards on the rifle range that was maybe 2-feet across (I think, it was a while ago) and circular. I watched two young guys (older than me at the time) hitting it some from the bench with their scoped deer rifles, missing a couple. They high-fived each other. I stepped up and dropped 8 of 10 on it with my Glock 17, then walked away.
Edited: removed post title.
shooting at 100 yards is a part of my load testing. 148 grain hollow-base wadcutters out of my 357 mag are super accurate at 50 yards and scattergun accurate at 100.
load up the 180 grain truncated cone bullets and accuracy is good from muzzle to 100 yards and beyond.
always nice to know what your load will do at 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. if the load is good to 100 yards, it should be good at most any distance beyond that.
murf
load up the 180 grain truncated cone bullets and accuracy is good from muzzle to 100 yards and beyond.
always nice to know what your load will do at 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. if the load is good to 100 yards, it should be good at most any distance beyond that.
murf
WaywardSon
Member
It is interesting what many new shooters consider good shooting...or long distance. I no longer shoot bullseye, or any other competitive discipline...my interest now is handgun hunting and most of my shooting is done at 25 & 50 yards. A little over a year ago I decided to get my CCW permit. The range portion of the class was shot on the standard police silhouette target at 7 yards I think. Hadn't shot at anything that close in forever. Maybe ever.
I don't consider this particularly good shooting given the distance. The gun was my 4" 686...got bored and started shooting double action What amazed me was that many folks were having trouble keeping their shots in the black! Not all of them were newbies either. I can only attribute that to lack of training and proper practice.
And yes, since you asked...I did kill a couple of deer this year with my Ruger SBH in .44 Mag. First deer with a handgun & both inside 40 yds.
The real fun IS in shooting at longer distances...especially if you have a background where you can see your shots landing. There is a lot of good advice in this thread on sight picture and technique. Hopefully most will put it to use.
I don't consider this particularly good shooting given the distance. The gun was my 4" 686...got bored and started shooting double action
What amazed me was that many folks were having trouble keeping their shots in the black! Not all of them were newbies either. I can only attribute that to lack of training and proper practice.And yes, since you asked...I did kill a couple of deer this year with my Ruger SBH in .44 Mag. First deer with a handgun & both inside 40 yds.
The real fun IS in shooting at longer distances...especially if you have a background where you can see your shots landing. There is a lot of good advice in this thread on sight picture and technique. Hopefully most will put it to use.
Yesterday was a perfect day for shooting. When I was finished shooting steel with my rifles, I decided to shoot a couple of my handguns. Shooting a steel USPSA (metric) target at 100 yards really makes a guy watch the fundamentals. After a little warm up I was doing sub 2 second draws and .5 second splits.
Vern Humphrey
Member
Wad cutters are "aerodynamically challenged" and are poor choices for long range shooting -- I like a semi-wadcutter or Keith type bullet, although my current .45 bullet is a Lee 452-255-RF which does quite well out to 135 yards, which is my usual "long" range.
WaywardSon
Member
While I have used them in the past, and they certainly make a difference...I do not currently have a scope on any of my handguns. No doubt my aging eyes would benefit from one...just hate to lose the ability to easily carry the weapon. I do have a red dot on one of my Ruger MKII's. They are a great aid...especially in teaching new shooters.
budman46
Member
wayward,
nice d/a work at 7yds. i love long distance, too, but a cop pal told me, "5 yds it's self-defense; 100 yds...murder!" so, i have fun at distance with all my handguns, but do the close-up drills, too.
nice d/a work at 7yds. i love long distance, too, but a cop pal told me, "5 yds it's self-defense; 100 yds...murder!" so, i have fun at distance with all my handguns, but do the close-up drills, too.
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David E
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Your cop pal is wrong.
I'm curious, what would he call 6 yds if only a maximum of 5 yds is "self defense?"
My old department had an incident that required an 85 yd shot on an active shooter. Murder?
The local PD had a 75 yd shot on an active shooter. Murder, also?
It depends on the situation, not the distance.
I have to wonder if the forementioned police officer's shooting skill runs out at 5 yards. David E is absolutely right. It is the situation that should dictate the response, and distance is determined by the responder's ability. I have yet to read a statute concerning the use of deadly force that says anything about a specific limit on distance.
wanderinwalker
Member
budman46 said:
I love the "if it's more than XX feet it's murder" crowd. I was practicing with my 22/45 at 25-yards one day and a fellow shooting at a target at 30-feet or so hit me with that statement. I just shrugged and said "shooting squirrels, soda cans and pine cones isn't murder." He left me alone after that.
Seriously, a handgun can be used for more than just defending yourself from other people.
As I understand it, the logic(?) behind this statement is that at 100 yards an assailant doesn’t represent a lethal threat that would represent justification for responding with deadly force. Under such circumstances a person could safely evade or retreat.
However if the attacker is armed with a firearm it should be considered that if one could hit them at whatever longer distance was involved, they in turn could do the same to you; and to evade or retreat you might have to expose yourself to the incoming fire.
As always, it depends on the situation and circumstances.
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coolluke01
Member
I think this falls under "don't underestimate your enemy" Many (including the 12 jurors) don't think a 100 yards with a handgun is reasonably possible. I for one would not feel safe in the slightest if those on this forum were looking to do me harm even from 100 yards with a handgun. It's not only possible but as proven here it's probable.
How would we know what the skill level of the shooter is? As has been said already, blanket statements are not profitable.
Having said that, we do need to be careful and try to see things through the eyes of those that will judge in the end. It is "common knowledge" that handguns are not capable of hitting anything farther than 50 feet. This is not an easy thing to overcome, and I doubt the Judge will allow you to take the jury out and teach them to shoot a handgun at 100 yards to prove it.
How would we know what the skill level of the shooter is? As has been said already, blanket statements are not profitable.
Having said that, we do need to be careful and try to see things through the eyes of those that will judge in the end. It is "common knowledge" that handguns are not capable of hitting anything farther than 50 feet. This is not an easy thing to overcome, and I doubt the Judge will allow you to take the jury out and teach them to shoot a handgun at 100 yards to prove it.
budman46
Member
i think my cop pal meant that shorter distances were normally viewed in a defensive light and longer were considered offensive...for civilians!
everything i've read over the years has impressed up me the fact that your life will be usually be quite complicated if you, a civilian, shoot someone fataly...even when acquitted in a criminal action civil actions can cost $$$...concensus is to run, run, run if possible. my cop pal concurs.
everything i've read over the years has impressed up me the fact that your life will be usually be quite complicated if you, a civilian, shoot someone fataly...even when acquitted in a criminal action civil actions can cost $$$...concensus is to run, run, run if possible. my cop pal concurs.
Vern Humphrey
Member
The solution is everyone should practice good citizenship and have their lawyers spayed or neutered.
Rob G
Member
Like many others have said this thread has confirmed that I am not totally crazy. My friends and I have access to some land that is large enough for us to have multiple shooting areas set up. On one of them we have a steel silhouette target that we can shoot at from as much as 400 yards. I love shooting it long range with handguns and with my favorite Kimber can go 8 for 8 at 150 yards.
And I do agree with what others have said, at that range it's all about the basics.
And I do agree with what others have said, at that range it's all about the basics.
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