I’m mostly a rifle shooter as well. Mrs Geek is very anti-gun and I haven’t shot anything for about twenty years, but I’ve recently (the past six months or so) gotten back into rifle shooting. I bought an 1853 Enfield civil war musket (replica) which is what I mostly shoot these days. My eyesight being what it is, I’m happy when I just hit the target at 100 yards. I also own a .22 rifle, but I don’t currently own a handgun.
When I was younger, my neighbor’s father used to take us out to the range and let us practice with handguns. He had a .22 that was notorious for misfiring (and then firing at some random time interval afterwards :eek: ) and a 9 mm that he let us shoot. He also had a German Luger that we weren’t allowed to touch. I’m probably pretty rusty now, but back then I was a decent shot, though I certainly wasn’t ready for competition shooting or anything.
You are absolutely right in saying that learning from someone who knows what they are doing really makes a big difference.
Yeah. No kidding. I shoot a .357 Ruger GP100 at 25 yards. I hope to hit my target that is an 8-1/2 x 11 inch piece of paper. A chest sized, center of mass man sized target at 25 yards. Provided that it’s a still target.
With 4 of my 5 pistols I can consistantly put 10 out of 10 into a pie plate at 50’, offhand.
With one of my .22s, an S&W 22A1, I can usually put 8 out of 10 in the black at 50’, offhand.
That’s about as good as I’m ever gonna get, too.
My excuse is that I’m an old guy with bad eyesight, (which is true).
You can really improve your grouping by slowing down and acting like each shot is your first. A problem I see with a lot of people shooting semi’s is that they seem to think there are points for speed. Ok, in some contests there are, but at the range they don’t usually charge by the hour so slow down and make each shot count.
I noticed a few years ago that my first shot with my gvt model was usually an X, but each subsequent shot (is that the right word? “subsequent”?), each shot after the first got farther away from the center. I don’t know if it’s psychological or what, but if I take my sights off target and reacquire, my accuracy actually improves with handguns. Granted that’s not going to work in a SHTF situation, but that also an entirely different type of practice.
I’m competent with the .357 that I own. But not as accurate as some of the other dopers here (I mean hitting 4in at 25 yards? Suddenly I feel very average!). But I don’t own it for pinpoint accuracy. I own it for portability and peace of mind.
Now on the other hand, put a Remington Model 700 Light tactical rifle in my hands and I become Annie freakin’ Oakley. I guess I’ve always been more comfortable and more accurate with rifles . . .
A rifle is much easier to shoot than a handgun. And much more accurate.
Here’s what’s interesting: a rifle is self-explanatory… give someone a rifle, and they’ll eventually figure out how to use it with acceptable accuracy. It will take practice, obviously, and they may never be a “crack” shot. But they’ll figure it out for the most part.
Not so with a handgun. (At least in my opinion.) Shooting a handgun requires the shooter to do things that are not necessarily intuitive. To be good with a handgun almost always requires one-on-one training by someone who knows what they’re doing.
Of course! What, with those puffy sleeves and pantaloons! How the hell could you miss?!
Crafter_Man, the Buckmark is god’s way of making people think they can hit anything. It turns out that a person’s will is stronger than the flight path of a .22 LR.
What sucks is that the fit-feel and style of my Vertec is everything I like, but I can’t hit shit with it. My best bud has an HK .40 that I can hit everything with, but it feels clumsy in my hand. If anyone has a good suggestion for a similar fit-feel in a .40 or.45, I’d love to hear it.
I’m an OK handgun shot (Not the best in in my shooting club, not the worst either) but what I do have is the ability to shoot effectively with pretty much any handgun- I know a lot of shooters who can’t hit anything unless they’re using their own personal (and often customised) handgun.
I’ve never shot competitively and some paper targets seem to have different sized bullseyes. The one that has the bullseye the size of the circle you make when you touch the tips of your thumbs and forefingers together? I can still consistantly place 6 of 6 through that bullseye as far out as the clip on the pulley will take the target (the end of range?) .
You guys are all probably talking about the bullseye thats the size of a quarter though, and getting 5 of 6… or 6 of 6… through a quarter at the end of the range is just awesome.
I don’t normally shoot at 25 or 50 yards, my house simply isn’t that big. I shoot at seven yards, with rapid target reacquisition. 3" - 5" groups is normal. 9x18 Mak or 9mm. Back in the day, I was a consistent EXPERT in the Marine Corps pistol qualification with the 1911 and M9. Not at all competition level, but better than the average bear.
4" groups at 25 yards with my Ruger Mark III (.22).
4" groups at 15 yards with my Ruger GP 141 (.38 wadcutter).
But there’s good… and then there’s GOOD. A good friend of mine back in the mid 1990s was an instructor at the FBI Academy at Quantico. We were shooting at a local range (Gilbert’s in Newington, if anyone knows it) and I was complaining about the little Makarov .380 I just bought; I couldn’t consistently hit the black at anything past 15 yards and was loudly announcing what a poor piece of machinery it was.
He asked to see it, slid in a fresh magazine, and put five shots in the X-ring at 15 yards. Then he safed the gun, returned it to me, and said, “There’s nothing wrong with that weapon.”
Never a trophy but then again I’ve never competed. 4" groups with a Beretta 92 at 25 yards are typical for me right hand. Left (weak) hand they’d spread out to 6-8" On the move I can reliably maintain the 2 down-1 up firing order under 15’ After that, it’s all center mass. This isn’t something that’s required or the RM’s do, just a personal goal. I haven’t been on the range since earlier this year, though I typically run 500 rounds through each weapon every year, this year has been hectic so I haven’t kept up. I think if you keep it loaded and accessable in the house you ought to be as proficient with your gun as you are the TV remote.
Mostly if I can see it I can hit it repeatedly with longs or shorts on single or auto,if the targets moving or I am or both.
Also standing,running,kneeling, rolling ,sitting,prone,on my back and various other positions,except when I get the shakes which I do get now and again.
Not as good firing in darkness.
I’m pretty crap firing longs left handed but reasonable with shorts.
Much the same as others, give me a quality .22 and quality match grade ammo and I’m deadly accurate at 25 yards and decent enough at 50. With my HK USP .45 I’m pleased if the whole clip goes into a torso sized target at 15 yards. It’s not the gun, it’s really me but I’d like to see how I’d fare with one of those $3k “race guns”.
