Pistol Distance: how far are you shooting?

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Just trying to get a quick snapshot of how far out you guys are going with your pistol shots.

When I qualify we go 3yd, 7yd, 10yd, 15yd.
As An instructor we go 25yd and 50yd
All with a Glocks in .40

While not bulls eye accurate at 50 I know I can get hits on a man size target with little effort.

how far out are you shooting?
 
I practice at about 20 feet. If i was law enforcement i would practice further out. I don't see any legal scenario where i will be attempting a shot further than 15 feet so i practice at 20. I have been tempted to take a shot with my pistol on the rifle range at a 100 yard target. Its against the range rules, so i haven't. At times i'm the only one at the range and i'm tempted.
 
I want to know where my shots go at 100 yards. I practice out to 50 once in a while but most pistol is 10 yards or less.

A couple months ago an active shooter in Austin, TX was taken out by an officer while holding the reigns of 2 horses at over 100 yards, just saying.

link to story
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
I practice at about 20 feet. If i was law enforcement i would practice further out. I don't see any legal scenario where i will be attempting a shot further than 15 feet so i practice at 20. I have been tempted to take a shot with my pistol on the rifle range at a 100 yard target. Its against the range rules, so i haven't. At times i'm the only one at the range and i'm tempted.

Do it. I can't see any logical reason why the range prohibits it.
 
Originally Posted By: LotI
I want to know where my shots go at 100 yards. I practice out to 50 once in a while but most pistol is 10 yards or less.

A couple months ago an active shooter in Austin, TX was taken out by an officer while holding the reigns of 2 horses at over 100 yards, just saying.

link to story


That was an incredible shot, i posted that story here some time back.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3563793
 
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I go the same as you, 3, 7, 10, 15 yards. The range goes to 25yards. The experts shoot out to 25yards and hit the center of the target. It's quite amazing to watch them. I'm lucky to hit the target at 25yards.

My eyes are a bit old for shooting out to 25 yards. The target is very blurry at 25yards if my front site is in focus.
 
My pistols are for civilian self defense. I practice out to 25 feet with also a lot of shooting from the hip at 3-10 feet.If someone is running at you with a machete from 15 feet you will not have time to aim or even raise your gun to eye level.

I also have a lot of archery hunting experience and I know that practice at farther distance then you would normally shoot makes realistic closer shots much easier.
 
I typically use the local steel range which goes out to 50 yards. I tend to pick random steel targets to shoot at in varying distances and randomly de-cocking the hammer, but I would say that about 70% of my shots are at 15 yards or less. At 50 yards I can put about 75% of shots on the target which is about 20" wide. All this is done with a P229 in .40 or a P290RS in 9mm.
 
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I'm thinking that in shooting someone further than about 30 feet away it would be difficult to prove that one was in immediate danger?
 
If you are shooting civilian SD purposes 95% of scenarios are going to happen within 3 to 10 yards. Outside of 15 yards I personally think it would be be difficult to justify SD. I practice handgun 80% at 7 yards and 20% at 15 yards. Rather than practice bulls-eye shooting, practice a smoothly raising the weapon to dominant eye, acquire target and fire style drills. Then practice alternate hand drills, then practice firing line of sight and from the hip without using sights, unload and load magazine smoothly then raise , acquire and fire drill, etc. Bulls-eye paper punching is fun and great to develop marksmanship and finger memory but be sure to practice other types of drills for SD purposes.
 
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3 yards??? Wow. You can't miss it that close, right?
I thought I was doing it too close at 15-17 yards. At 25 yards the accuracy suffers for me but 15-17 is better.
 
Pistols and long range don't agree with me, mostly due to old eyes and crude sights. The only exception is my Ruger MKII with red dot. I've shot that at 80 yards with fairly good results. Hitting a 3 inch rubber target (the self healing kind) about one out of every 3 shots. I can easily keep that one centered fairly well on notebook paper at 80 yards.

I can shoot 1911's accurately out to about 20 yards.
 
7 yards for C.Q.C. however I also practice out to around 25 yards all the time.. I actually spend a good amount of time fast drawing, moving, finding cover, and 3 rounds on target as quickly and as accurately as I can. Glock 19 & 26 are my preferred so I practice the most with them. I prefer the Human sized green/white targets found at Wal Mart, they are exactly like our government targets only Fed targets are just White/Black.
 
I like to shoot at 100yds just to see if I can hit the target at least once out of 10.

IMO, 10 to 15yds isn't a challenge at a man sized paper target.
 
Originally Posted By: totegoat
I like to shoot at 100yds just to see if I can hit the target at least once out of 10.

IMO, 10 to 15yds isn't a challenge at a man sized paper target.


It depends how you're shooting.

Put that target at 15 yards. Have it turned 90 degrees. When it turns to face you, pick up your weapon, fire three shots in 4 seconds.

Support hand only.

Let me know if they're all in the 5 ring...

It's a reasonable combat scenario. You're hit, can't use your strong hand, you have to switch, return fire, accurately and quickly.
 
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Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: totegoat
I like to shoot at 100yds just to see if I can hit the target at least once out of 10.

IMO, 10 to 15yds isn't a challenge at a man sized paper target.


It depends how you're shooting.

Put that target at 15 yards. Have it turned 90 degrees. When it turns to face you, pick up your weapon, fire three shots in 4 seconds.




Support hand only.

Let me know if they're all in the 5 ring...

It's a reasonable combat scenario. You're hit, can't use your strong hand, you have to switch, return fire, accurately and quickly.



AND.. be sure not to close your left eye doing this.. both eyes open, or if you must (I don't suggest it) close your right eye.
 
My local indoor range has a maximum distance of 25 yards. Using one of their paper targets that has five individual concentric circle targets printed on it I can hit within the inner three rings of each target consistently. My pistol is a 1989 vintage Ruger P85 and I use 115 gr FMJ ammo at the range.

Is that good? I feel like it is, though, my firearm is not the world's most accurate.
 
Yes, that is good enough for self defense, which is usually less than 25yds.

Professionals, on average, miss intended live targets many, many more times than they hit.
 
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