It's not all that difficult. Depending on your actual zero, you may not have to hold over much of at all.
Do you ever shoot 3x5 or 4x6 cards at 25? That scales up to 12x20 and 16x24.
It's not all that difficult. Depending on your actual zero, you may not have to hold over much of at all.
Do you ever shoot 3x5 or 4x6 cards at 25? That scales up to 12x20 and 16x24.
I was about to bring up you and the range.Originally Posted by SecondsCount
There is a 12x12" steel target at our 100 yard range that I like to engage for fun.
Years ago my former wife had a 9mm 1911 that had a Kart barrel, fitted by John Harrison. I could regularly hit a 70 yard 5" steel circle using a handload with 124 grain Precision Delta HPs. Accurate ammo really helps
For a 9 mm, I barely use any holdover.
You don't need to.
Doesn't read posts longer than two paragraphs.
100 yards with a G34 Gen 5 and RDS is very doable on realistic sized targets. Good ammo such as AE will help. You will want to turn down the brightness to get a finer dot as when zeroing. Drop is minimal 6-8” at 100.
If you do shoot from a rest try to rest your hands/wrists/ forearms rather than the gun itself. If you have to rest a gun I would rest the base of the magazine rather than the muzzle but preferably you want the resting portion to be “meat.”
What type of targets do they allow ? Paper only ? Or steel ? If paper a USPSA /idpa target might be a good start.
Unfortunately your biggest impediment is likely to be fudds or range officers as described earlier in the thread.
You might want to ensure the Range allows shooting pistols on the rifle range. One of the two outdoor ranges I usually shoot it has 100 yard rifle only Bay which tends to be for more serious rifle shooting and a 100 yard mixed use rifle and /or pistol bay which tends to be more plinking. On the mixed use bay if people are shooting pistols at short distances it’s not uncommon for their peripheral hits to pass through the backer and strike 100 yard targets a few lanes over.
I have had this exact conversation a half a dozen times at my club range. The rifle guys typically only shoot one shot per minute, or just 3 shots then rest and chat. They are very disturbed by the rate or amount of gunfire from a pistol guy on "their" rifle range. I shoot rifle and pistol when I go, as it is a 40 min drive. The pistol bays are a quarter mile from the rifle bays, and I hate to load everything back up in the truck and drive to the pistol bays and unload again.
Look me up when you get back in the neighborhood, I have a good spot to shoot out to 600 or so yards.
There was a guy I knew that used to shoot some exhibition type shooting, stuff held in peoples hands like business cards, or mouth, he used to shoot cigarettes out of his wifes mouth. He shot a Colt SAA 45, and all one handed. He was also a phenomenal long range shot, all fired one handed as well. I was told he was quite good shooting stuff like coins in the air, though we didnt do any of that when i shot with him. Last time I recall talking to him about hunting, he said he shot an antelope at around 365 yards, with the 45, one handed. I have no doubt he did, as when I shot with him he was quite capable of making first round hits on basketball size rocks at 300 yards, one handed. Many locals were shooting one handed, partly historical interest, partly "If Bob can do it, why not try it?"...so I started doing it more, not just as a "Well, one should be able to shoot somewhat proficiently one handed so Ill do it every now and then" concept. It became a challenge, I ended up shooting the majority of my pistol stuff one handed for most of the past 15 + years, and the majority also at 2-300 yards. Its not as hard as it first seems, once the initial wild fliers become less common, the improvement is slow but steady, same as shooting two handed at distance. I can explain to almost anyone the basics of sight use and the first few shots are often all over the place, then quickly tighten up once they bear down on the basics of sights/breathing/trigger control and see the results in the shots closing in on the plate.
My sights on the g19 are set to hit an inch or so above the top of the front sight at 25 yards. he 300 yard hold on the 18" plate is the top of the rear sight held even across the lower 1/3 point of the dot on the front sight, with the plate split as centered as i can on the top of the front sight. A friend got a new g20 a few years ago, when we first went to shoot it she asked how to hold on the 300 yard plate, i told her my hold with my g19, and she hit it the first shot i believe. Similar velocity, similar hold. I mainly use WWB stuff for general shooting. the hollowpoint loads ive shot needed a little more front sight held up at 300 yards.
Its surprising how much more sight you need to hold up from 200 to 300. 200 and under takes very little front sight held above the rear.
Smith revolvers (like 19s, 586, 29s, guns with good sights) are vastly easier to hit with at distance, but the spongey triggered glocks can still shoot surprisingly well all things considered. I tried the 24" 600 plate once, I had a spotter with binoculars telling me where i was hitting, I couldnt tell, I managed one hit in 10 shots. Id like to do it more, but I havent been able to shoot much the past few years for a variety of reasons.
Shooting distance isnt rocket surgery. Knowing a few basics of sights and such helps cut the learning curve. Trying to hold the top of front and rear sights even then holding some imaginary amount above and covering up the target can work, or picking something above the target to aim at, but if you shoot somewhere else or some other target or distance, your probably going to be off your game. Holding some amount of front sight above the rear, and keep the front sight/target relationship the same is the easiest to be consistent with. Experience teaches you how much, and be able to make educated guesses at unknown distances.
If ones eyesight cant make out the longer targets well, the merit optical device that attaches to your shooting glasses makes a huge difference in sight/target clarity. Cutting back or eliminating caffeine, computers, reading and TV also all help your eyesight for distance shooting. I believe Bob wouldnt drink coffee for 3 days before a exhibition shoot.
The old 300 yard plate
Shooting spot with 300 and 600 yard plates indicated
600 yard plate looking back
Last edited by Malamute; 01-24-2022 at 11:28 AM.
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
I had to hunt around on my phone to find this picture. I took the picture in December 2015. I had spent the day shooting different guns at distances. I think I remember that I was holding the front sight up with the center of the tritium dot centered with the top of the notch. The groups aren't as good as they might have been.
I think I did a write up about the day here at PF but I couldn't find it.
edit: found it. Starting at post #106 of my training journal. https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....in-Chair/page3
Last edited by BN; 01-24-2022 at 11:42 AM.
That is super interesting and very cool.
It would be interesting how the holds changed if shooting on flat land instead of from a significantly elevated shooting spot.
Yes, I would guess you could reduce your elevation correction considerably with that angle. That 600 is significantly longer than my longest poke.
I dont recall any particular difference in hold at different locations due to varying elevations/angles of the targets. Nothing ive done has been at particularly difficult angles from level, the primary advantage to getting away from level is you can see better where your shots hit in relation to the target. Its largely trial and error, the more you do it the better you get at it on first round hits. Almost anyone can walk the shots in, like I did on the 600 yard plate with a spotter, its more difficult to consistently make first round hits and consistent follow up hits. Keith described it once along the idea of "Its luck, but the more you do it the luckier you get".
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Oh I was referencing how much vertical sight float you’d have to do if the target didn’t have an extra 70 yards to fall. So where you put your sights for something horizontal would likely have to compensate a lot if it didn’t have the drop.
Shooting skill wise it’s no easier or harder. It’d just that you might have to hold more into the sky.
There was that Austin Texas officer who took a one handed shot at 100+ yards with his service pistol while holding the reins of his horse with the other.
We did that on a different forum as a challenge so I picked a faster, lighter bullet.
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