I thought I would give it a go shooting standing, unsupported when I was at the range recently (rifle). It's been a really long time since I tried.

I sucked trying to hit my 8" plate out about 80 yards.

I have been working through some back issues, but that aside, I feel like I'm just far too unpracticed shooting rifle at any kind of distance with a 1x red dot unsupported.

Just guessing, but I'd probably be 50/50 on a 12" target at 50 yards on a good day.

Anyone else come to this realization and improve? Open to suggestions and tips.

I've never shot pistols at distances longer than 25 yds.

Hell I can't see a plate at 80 yards, well I might see it but no way I'd know if I hit it or not...

Most likely not...

55 yards handgun
200 yards rifle

I occasionally practice standing unsupported handgun shots on human torso targets at up to 100 yards. Certainly doable. (Hint: Handgun fundamentals don't change.) Most of my handgun practice is 25 yards and in, though.

I've also practiced standing unsupported rifle hits on man-sized targets at out to 200 yards. But most rifle practice is 100 yards and in.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
I've never shot pistols at distances longer than 25 yds.

Meant this to be for long guns, but I did have to try out my P365 on the rifle range the day I got it - mostly just wanted to test the cycling. I hit the 100 yard gong a time or two. It was interesting to see the impact spread in the dirt berm at that distance.

I have an 8" round plate at 100 yds that we shoot all the time.
This is a shot from a few years back when I had the old square plate there. Trying out the .357 sig barrel in my X-5. It was fairly easy at 100 yds offhand.

Have another plate at 200 yds but it gets far fewer hits, it should last a very long time.

With a rifle I would never take a shoot at game standing past about 80 yds, just not a good rifle shooter without a rest.

100 meters/yards.

20 years ago : playing cards at 60 feet
need to hit it ten out of 15 shots.

10 years ago moved it up to 45 feet


now , I imagine about 30 feet

Last time I tried that, it was no problem at over 100 yards with a .22LR pistol. From the hip. Of course, there was a huge sand mound behind my target. And my target was a 55 gallon drum.

Shooting stances which require sighting have always felt a little uncomfortable for long periods. I'm good for a hundred rounds or so.

A good friend of mine & his wife lived in his wife's aunt's rent house for a while. It was on 10-12 acres & had a small shooting area on it, roughly 100yds from the house to the targets.

They had a steel silhouette set up & I could consistently hit it wit ha Marlin 60 with open sights.

Tried with a pistol & have no idea if I was even close.

It helps to have a sling that you can wrap and create tension on - kind of a third point of contact if you will. It helps me keep the point of aim from wandering as much while I'm sighting. I find I can do much better that way than without the sling.

I have done some shooting at hundred yards with deer rifle and slug gun. I can keep the slug gun within paper plate size target. The rifle does a little better. It has been 5 years or so since I tried that, so may not be as good as I once was :-)

With handguns I typically won't go past about 15 or 20 yards (because that is about the length of my "range" in the back yard. I could do longer shots, but it would take a lot more effort - so I don't.

Most pistol distance is 25 yards or less. 7 yards is the practice distance I shoot for defensive pistol. I will try a few shots at 50 yards.
Rifle is mostly 100.

Friends and I shoot a game on my range shooting offhand at an 8" steel plate. You have a total of 10 rounds. Start shooting at the 15, then 25, then 50, then 75, then 100. You have to hit the plate to be able to move to the next point, or keep shooting till your 10 rounds are gone. Most of us can pretty consistently get to the 75 yard line and then our numbers thin. The goal is to hit the plate at 100 and still have rounds left. Most of us need multiple shots to hit the plate at 100. However I have no doubt that any of us can hit a human sized target at 100. It's great practice for refining sight alignment, grip, and trigger management. Pretty surprising that a group of over 60's can get that kind of accuracy out of a handgun from offhand but we are all lifelong shooters.

Before my rotator cuff and C. diff experiences last year, with a centerfire rifle over iron sights I guess I'd be okay out to three hundred yards on a 16"x16" target, on a good day.

Pistol, two hands unsupported at 75 yards I hit 10 of 10 on a 16"x18" target in a two-gun match I shot. At 50 yards, I could keep them all on an IDPA target, with at least 50% being zero points down.

Once I reloaded some 9x19mm ammo using bullets that I discovered were unstable. I'm talking perpendicular keyhole from my P226 at less than 7 yards.

So I made about 200 of them and for giggles shot them at an IDPA target, two-hands, unsupported at 100 yards.

Once I got the elevation hold figured out, of the remaining 175 or so, I managed about a 35% hit rate, keyholing all the while.

IMO the key to offhand rifle shooting is using a sling, getting good bone support, paying attention to breathing and sight alignment, and trigger control.

Shooting. I would probably say about 1000 yards with a rifle. Probably about the same with a pistol. Yeah I’d be comfortable shooting at that distance.

Now if we are talking about actually hitting anything.....

Practically speaking with a rifle 75-100 yards. Maybe a little more with a sling but probably not much. I wouldn’t be printing itty bitty groups either.

Pistol....I am pretty much done at about 20 yards.

Before I got old . .

Pistols - 200 meters (IHMSA, open sights)

Rifles - 500 meters (NRA High Power Rifle Silhouette, scopes allowed)

I can reliably hit 12" steel targets at 200yds unsupported with my 10.5" bbl AR15 and irons. That's about as far as I think I'd take a shot as I can't see much past that.

I shoot by Braille these days.

When I used to shoot IHMSA I shot 200 meters.