Distance shooting with a pistol, how to train for it.

I shoot my Blackhawk 44 and Rossi ranch hand 45 at 50yds, mostly at clays on the berm after sight in on paper. Several hundred 44s down range this way. Looking at the left over targets at the range from other shooters I'm seeing 8" groups at 15yds, although they might be doing speed drills. Shooting a handgun accurately at 25+yds has many big variables. Without actual sound instruction and more practice than most non-reloaders can afford it's harder than most people think. Harder than 100M offhand with a rifle I think. The problem I find is the target is so small and the sights so large in comparison that unless you use something like a 6'oclock hold its difficult to get a consistent aiming point on the target. Granted I'm using clays or 100M small bore rifle targets. I don't think ballistics is as big a problem as poor shooting technique. Limitations of 40 something+ eyes with irons really show up here for me too.
 
I often shoot 22, 9mm and 45 ACP handguns at 100 yards. Mostly because it's fun. My main target is a 12x16" gong. My best is 6/10 hits. Average is 2-3/10.

But what's interesting is that there is a dirt bank behind the gong which shows the misses. While their are some wide 3-4 foot misses, the majority are pretty close. Close enough that a person would definitely be risking their life if they were standing there.

Of course the gong isn't shooting back and it's not a high stress situation. You would be crazy to go toe to toe with a guy with a rifle but I'm sure shooting your pistol from cover at the rifleman could make him pretty uncomfortable
 
We do 50m shooting in PPC from sitting, prone and barricade. Point of aim is very similar to that of 25m. Never tried 100m. It gets to be like rifle shooting at those long distances. Control your breathing and take your time
 
Can't have a gong on ranges in Ontario, not unless it's buried in a very expensive bunker. Makes for a lot of walking if you want meaningful feedback on your longer distance shooting. Or I suppose I could tote binoculars.
 
I have a 1911 in 45 & a Ruger Mark1 target...booth shoot 100 yards. 12x12 plate. I have a ScopedTaurus Model 608 in 357 , was shooting 200 yards at a 2ft x2ft target. Its sad when I'm at the range and the guy beside me cant do better with a rifle. Not kidding.
 
I sometimes shoot my Hammerli single shot target pistol at 100 meters under the ideal shooting conditions of a lack of wind and good light.
Target is an eight inch shoot&see high visibility paper target.

There is some difference in bullet drop between 50 and 100 meters. But not by too much, because it is sighted in for 50 meters anyways. I use SK Rifle Match ammo.
 
I really like his description of the "sight picture-picture" and I find that very valuable when shooting any iron sighted pistol rifle or carbine.

Without a visual 'map' of exactly where you should hold those front and rear sights against a good and contrasting target background, you are lost in the dark.
 
Gatehouse said:
But what's interesting is that there is a dirt bank behind the gong which shows the misses. While their are some wide 3-4 foot misses, the majority are pretty close. Close enough that a person would definitely be risking their life if they were standing there.
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When I first tried shooting at 100yds with my Redhawk I was pretty surprised how close I could keep most of them. At least 6/10 would be in an IPSC silhouette at that range and the others close. I figured the same as you, that I could keep someone very nervous with a handgun at that range. I have shot out to 200yds with the Redhawk and it is still pretty good but the drop is such that it gets hard to have a consistent sight picture and the target is awfully small compared to the front sight blade.


Big Bad said:
Can't have a gong on ranges in Ontario, not unless it's buried in a very expensive bunker. Makes for a lot of walking if you want meaningful feedback on your longer distance shooting. Or I suppose I could tote binoculars.
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If you have a berm to shoot into, pick a spot or big dirt lump and shoot at that. The dust will show POI and give you an idea of where you are hitting. It's not ideal, but you have to work with what you have. Any decent scope should pick up handgun calibre sized holes in paper at 100yds, too.


Mark
 
Find where your gun is zeroed by doing as the video showed. Many commercial pistol sights are pretty random whereas many mil/leo come from the factory at at distance prescribed in the contract usually 25 yds.

After that it's trial and error to see where the front blade distance above the bore intesects and then at what distance it diverges(and the bullet impacts above/below line of sight).

Or if sights are completely adjustable set the sight at a certain distance that suits you and the move forward and back to observe how/where the POI is relative to the same consistent sight alignment.

In addition to that, if you have nuclear sights(dots) did you shoot the dot when you "zeroed" or the top on the front sight blade? they may nt always be the same.

My Sig has tritium dots so I shoot the dot, which isn't the same as the top on the front blade exactly but it necessary for me to do that to have subconscious consistent muscle memory at night in order to properly align the sights.
 
How you setup your sight picture will impact how distance affects the POI as well. A combat sight picture (#2) will be less affected by distance than a 6 o'clock hold sight picture (#1)

I setup my IPSC guns with a combat sight picture, and my target handguns with a 6 o'clock hold sight picture

Site Pic #1 vs Site Pic #2.jpg
 

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I've been stretching out to 100 yards using some hot loads in my .357 Dan Wesson. It's gun to 'lob' them in after shooting rifles for a while.

 
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