So I was watching Top Shot this week and they were doing a trick shot that made me think physics(Yes, I’m pretty weird at times.). Basically the shot is you have a can of soda in one hand and a revolver in the other hand. You chuck the can up and away from you into the air and then try to hit it in mid flight. The expert said the way to do it was to lead the can and let it fall into the bullet.
Am I thinking right that this could be simplified into just that old monkey and gun demonstration? By that I mean toss the can into the air. The instant you see the can start to drop shoot directly at the can and both the can and bullet will fall together and you’ll hit it.(I know harder than it sounds.) Am I thinking right if you shoot the can right as it starts to fall you don’t need to lead it at all if you do it that way? (Which would make hitting it easier.)
The idea that the can will be rather stationary vertically for an instant is basically correct but there is more to it than that. The point of leading a can you have thrown is to give yourself some time to set up your shot. The bullet travels fast enough that the velocity of a self-thrown can isn’t that important over setting up a good shot in the first place and that takes some time, no matter how small, even for a skilled shooter.
Leading a target is important for faster targets that are farther out like flying ducks or crossing skeet clays but cans are a close range target and are large enough that they don’t need to be led to ensure a hit. A stationary gun that fires at the center of a thrown can while it is rising or falling is still going to hit it without any leading because the travel time is incredibly short and cans aren’t that fast.
A bullet shot from a revolver will have a muzzle velocity that will typically be in the 900-1400 feet per second range. At the distance at which you can realistically throw a can and at the velocity the can will be going, the bullet is (practically speaking) instantaneous. Aim where the can is, not where you predict it will be. The only possible lead time that might be required would be to account for the fact that there is a delay between the time you decide to shoot and powder ignition.
Now, if you’re talking about shooting targets at several hundred meters, target velocity starts becoming a factor.
Not being snarky, but there is always a lot of misinformation on “reality” shows. I was very disappointed in that show. It could have been really good about actual shooting, etc. Instead it’s a joke about personalities.