I know what I prefer, but don't want to bias responses. Let me lay out the scenario with some easy numbers. Ignore what the bullet is actually doing in terms of drop or drift.

Let's say your usual target is a 1" bullseye at 100 yards. You are shooting a rifle with a 5-20x scope and generally use max magnification when at the 100 yd range.


An opportunity presents itself to practice at a 25 yd range.

Question:
How do you set up the most realistic practice?

Choices:
Scale the target down to a 1/4" bullseye and keep the scope magnification at 20x
Keep the bullseye 1" and reduce magnification to 5x

 

A great deal of the answer will depend on the caliber being shot.....

Rimfire - no problem, reduce the target size and reduce the magnification and practice anything other than prone shooting.

Centerfire - I'd take a pass on the "opportunity". The diameter of the projectile is going to cover any size of scaled down target. Thus negating any practical benefit.

Just my opinion. And I practice "a lot " in both live and dry fire.

Andrew

quote:

Originally posted by El Cid 92:
Rimfire - no problem, reduce the target size and reduce the magnification and practice anything other than prone shooting.
Andrew

I think if you do both, the apparent target size would be 1/16, not 1/4

It depends upon what you’re trying to accomplish with your practice. If it’s the ability to hit a 1 inch target at 100 yards (i.e., a target about 1 minute of angle in size), then the target should be reduced at 25 yards. Otherwise, at that distance 1 inch is approximately 4 minutes of angle in size regardless of the sight magnification, and becomes four times easier to hit than a 1 MOA target.

I have explored similar issues myself, and one complication with simply scaling the target down in size for close range shooting is the diameter of the projectile. Most shooting for “score” permits claiming a hit as long as the bullet hole touches the edge of the target. The thread in this section about a member’s rifle chambered for the 30BR cartridge touches on that. Just as handgun bull’s-eye shooters discovered decades ago that the 45 ACP was better for competition than 38 Special or other calibers because it shoots the largest diameter bullet, a .30 caliber bullet is better than 6mm or 6.5mm bullet for such disciplines.

Therefore, to be realistic and provide the same challenge when shooting at close ranges, the target needs to be scaled down not only for the distance, but to address the fact that at closer ranges the bullet in effect becomes larger. For example, if we’re trying to hit a 1 inch target at 100 yards with a .30 caliber bullet, at 25 yards that’s like shooting a bullet 1.20 inch in diameter.

When I designed a 1/4 distance short range target to shoot at with .22 rimfire bullets that was equivalent to a target that I usually shot at with 0.30" bullets at ranges from 50 to 150 yards, I not only scaled the target size down to 1/4 of the original, I also calculated how much more it had to be reduced to not be shooting with the equivalent of bullets 0.88" in diameter.

Shooting position? What are you shooting?

^^^^

.17 HMR off a bench

Guessing a indoor range? If so, can you shoot offhand standing and reverse kneeling?