200 yds , pistol, off hand...

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Hardtarget

New member
...well thats just not gonna' happen. At least not for me...and my vision. :D

I did make a range trip today (3/13) and had a good time. just for fun I put a cardboard target (3'X4'). Taped a balloon to it and took 14 shots to pop that thing. No...I'll never get a contract from an ammo co. as a pro shooter/spokesman. Too bad. :eek: Scared you, didn't I? The balloon was only 100 yards. Thats why I know for sure 200 will not happen for me.

I know some of you have better success at considerable distance with pistols. My hat is off to you!

Mark.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
Simply a matter of practice

I can routinely hit the 250yd gong at a local range with a handgun, offhand. And I will do it with any handgun, provided a spotter and enough ammo. With my guns, I know where and how to hold, and have been practicing for years with one particular Blackhawk. It is not as hard as it seems, at least for me. I recently did the same thing with a friend's .357 SIG. BY the forth shot I was on the gong. Windage is always a problem, as it varies from shot to shot, but once you get the sight picture for the correct elevation down, it doesn't change until you shift to a different range target.

Now, I know that not everyone has this skill developed, but I think anyone could learn, given time. I have been playing this particular game for the past 25 years, shooting offhand at rocks at about 200yds across the canyon that is my back yard. My favorite gun for this is a .45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk with a 7.5" barrel. Magnums shoot flatter, but kick more, and really offer less of a challenge. 9mm autos are real challenging, as there is no good reference point on the slide, so holding up enough frontsight consistantly is difficult.

You can even do this with .22s, but you need a very good spotter, and sandy/dusty conditions to spot bullet strikes for corrections.

It is a really fun game, and impresses folks who don't know the trick, but other than showing off it doesn't have much practical value. It is fun though.
 
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JohnKSa

Administrator
...just for fun I put a cardboard target (3'X4'). Taped a balloon to it and took 14 shots to pop that thing.
Click to expand...
It's a LOT easier if you tape your balloon to a steel target instead of a cardboard one...
 
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HammerBite

New member
It's a LOT easier if you tape your balloon to a steel target instead of a cardboard one...
Click to expand...
Thanks! I'll have to remember that the next time I'm showing off. I guess bullet splatter can be a good thing.
 
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MosinM38

New member
Lol....DO flukes count?
Day after I first got my Ruger Single Six .22, took a stupid shot (Just to mess around) at a gopher...Oh not too bad....only 175 yards away(Ranged). Dropped him the first shot:D Suffice to say it hasn't happened again.

But on-topic...With some practice you can hit at pretty long ranges....especially if your handgun has a 7 1/2" barrel.
 
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eastbank

New member
i carry a s&w md 60 in 38spl. with 2 inch barrel in deer season under all the hunting coats, at camp one day we were cleaning up a little around camp,drinking coffee as we did. one of my friends saw the md.60,and said what good is that little thing? i told him you never know when you may need a pistol. he laughed and said i,ll bet you can,t even hit my coffee cup, i said maybe. he took it down the lane about 60 yds and hung it on a tree limb, i shot off hand and it went in to a million pieces with one shot. he didn,t say a word just walked away. later in the week when no one was there but me, i hung up another cup on the same limb and shot the rest of the box of ammo all 49 rounds at it. i am still drinking coffee out of that very lucky cup. eastbank.
 
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Hawg

New member
Shooting a pistol at long range just requires practice. Use a long barrel and use the barrel itself as part of the front sight. That way you still have a sight picture with no holdover. A buddy and I were out shooting rifles at different size cans at varying ranges. I had my 1934 Beretta .380 in the truck. I shot at a quart brake fluid can at about 90 yds. and puffed up sand right next to it. Next shot hit it and it fell over. The rest puffed up sand close to it. If it had been a gallon jug I'd have nailed it every time.
 
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hogdogs

Staff In Memoriam
When much younger I had a few pistols and a revolver. All were .22lr 'cept my Ruger p-85. I routinely would set up 20 gauge hulls at 70-100 yards in the sand and pick them off. Yeah I needed a couple of "ranging" shots watching the dust fly. Now I need my glasses just to see a hull that far away. My most consistent shooter was a Smith & Wesson with a side profile like the 1911... that is also the one gun I regret selling the most.
Brent
 
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Hardtarget

New member
See? I knew there were several with good advise about long range pistol shooting. Ant I'll say thanks for shareing with me.!

For my efforts I was shooting a Colt, Diamondback, 6". Just as "fyi"...I'm 58 and my glasses help but not very much. Its hard to find that perfect front sight focus. Also, this shooting was the last of daylight...6:00 to 6:30 pm. Not the best time of day for great practice results.

Next time I'll try for a mid-day range trip and I'm going to try different strength glasses to get a more crisp look at that front sight. I'll also use a 4'X4' backing board...maybe I can get a handle on the holdover/aiming point/trajectory thing. :D

Isn't this shooting sport fun!? I've been shooting for 50 years. Never thought much about shooting longer ranges with handguns untill the last couple of years. Brings new, and renewed, intrest to the sport. Thanks for the input and responses. I'm already looking foreward to my next range trip. I've got more balloons!

Mark.
 
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guntotin_fool

New member
Working on the farm a long time ago, we had a really really fat wood chuck that would come out of fence line and eat around the fence posts. I was sitting on the porch and he was about 250 -275 yards away. First day, I shot twice, both hitting well short, the next day I hit close enough for him to skidaddle on the impact. same on the third day.

Fourth day I landed one right in his chest, shooting a 7 1/2 inch Blackhawk and using 38 specials. What made that fun, was that was the first day anyone was home when I took the shot.
 
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44 AMP

Staff
Out of print, and somewhat dated, but...

If you can find a copy of "Sixguns" by Elmer Keith (sadly I lost my copy years ago), he has some fine advice that still holds true, and he tells some good stories too.

Lots of people scoff at the exploits of Elmer shooting long range with handguns, but many incredible shots were wtinessed by others (including one of Elmer's friends who was a Judge IIRC), and I don't think they all were lying to support his claims.

One old trick for setting up a gun for long range shooting is to have marks on the front sight. Elmer had alot of work done by King's Gunworks back in those days, including having them inlay gold bars at different heights across the front sight blade, to be used as reference marks for long range shooting. It works. You can do this temporarily with paint (or nail polish, if the wife doesn't find out). Not as classy as gold inlay, but hey, it is cheap, easy, and you can use whatever contrasting color works best for you.

My particular .45 Blackhawk (7.5") and the load I commonly shoot (250gr @ 1100fps) has a pretty good reference point built in, for that gun/ammo combination, holding up the front sight to where the slope of the blade drops off puts you "on" at about 200 yards. Of course you still have to deal with windage ;)

Every gun/ammo combination will have a different amount of sight holdup for different long ranges. Part of the fun is shooting to figure them out! Put your target on top of the front sight, and just elevate the front sight above the rearsight, then shoot. Spot your misses, and adjust until you hit! FUN!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to shoot long range, from their "hind legs". I have used the Creedmoor style postitions, and while they do work, they just don't have the same "fun" factor for me.
 
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Majic

New member
We would walk over to the rifle range and shoot the 12 inch gongs at 300 yards. You walk your shots to the target to establish your holdover. Now we missed a lot but even then they would be close. It wasn't real hard to get one or two hits out of every cylinder shot.
 
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drail

Moderator
We used to do this at our club just to screw with the old rifle shooters who were too good to associate with us "handgunners". They would laugh at us when we would walk over to the 200 and 300 yard range. After a couple of loud CLANGS they would stop laughing. Great fun.
 
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Buzzcook

New member
A Ranger told me about getting a shooting demonstration from a couple of Special Forces guys.
Standard service 9mm hitting targets at 800yds.

The Ranger wasn't the type of guy you call either crazy or a lier to his face.
 
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