So close, yet so far

[Oleg Volk]

Had a pleasant experience plinking at a quart container filled with water at about 150m, from a hillside to a hillside. Couldn't see well enough to tell the container with a white label from a rock of about the same size. Hitting was easy with an AR15 once I figured out which was my target (note, get cheap monocular and add to web gear) but I got an funny thought going.

With 16" barrel, .223 will only fragment out to 150-170m. I could see and shoot clearly out to at least 200, which is to say past the "really nasty" range of my cartridge. Hmmmm... Worse yet, even on a hazy day, anyone lurking in shadows can use a scope to see and fire out to 400-450 in that particular part of the country. Without serious optics, I can't even see a threat that far out, much less engage it. Puts being a rifleman into perspective as far as ability to do damage vs. vulnerability go.

Must have been even more fun for people who carried Stens and were limited to 50-75m effective range for aimed fire...

 

[Art Eatman]

Yup. 20" to 24" gives more horsepower for the longer shots. Short barrels make it handier at close range--room-cleaning, urban combat and the like.

Some things never change.

Art

 

[Andrew Wyatt]

An okay solution for the situation is to work in teams of two, one with a squirtgun (minor caliber rifle) and one with a scoped bolt gun.

the squirtgun guy shoots things in close, the boltgun guy doesn't.


Another acceptable solution is to carry a major caliber semi auto rifle with a scope, which is acceptably good at both roles.

 

[Blackhorse]

If it wasn't for good optics I couldn't hit much of anything bigger than a quart oil can at 150 yds. Got older, glasses got stronger.

 

[MuzzleBlast]

Must have been even more fun for people who carried Stens and were limited to 50-75m effective range for aimed fire...

That's why those blokes had a bunch of other blokes around them armed with Enfields. The STEN man did the close-in work, the Enfield guys did the distance work.

 

[Correia]

I guess I'm lucky in that I seem to have good distance vision, because I can still hit stuff out to some pretty long distances with iron peep sights, but I certainly suck with a scope!

 

[Jamie Young]

When I go to the 100-500yd rifle range, I always think about the stories where guys call in air support or artillery for targets that are 200-300yds out. That ain't that far away to Me. Just goes to show how bad of a shot some of our troops must be.

 

[James K]

It doesn't just depend on good shooting with the rifle. It depends on how many there are and how well they are dug in. A dozen enemy among rocks and natural cover will be hard (read "impossible") to kill with rifle fire, while napalm will do a very nice job.

Yes, I know. On a nice safe rifle range with no incoming fire, it is easy to believe you are good enough to pick off anyone who would show. If you could see him. If his clothing was white with a black dot on it. If he stood up and waved.

A man with an irregular head covering and coat the same color as the rocks and exposing little of himself, might be a different story. Not to mention that the enemy might have mortars, RPGs or something else a lot nastier than AK-47's.

Jim