Long Handgun shot?

[greener]

A civilian is credited with saving an officer's life by shooting the bad guy. Three hits at 165 yards. http://www.guns.com/texas-gun-owner-sho ... 10236.html Later article indicates he was shooting with a .357.

The newsletter I found this in said that it is not a big deal with a little practice. How many folks do you know who could make those shots?

[Bullseye]

What a story! The good Samaritan did a great job assisting the officer who was in deep trouble. According to his own account, he hit the perpetrator with four of five shots which is remarkable at that distance and especially under those stressful circumstances. It also sounds as if he may have done this without the aid of cover, based on his comments of being hit in the legs by stones when the shooter took a shot back at him.

The article mentioned the shooter as having an AR-15 but the Samaritan's account he said the shooter threw another round into the rifle and shot back, which doesn't sound to me as if he had an auto-loading rifle.

In any case this was the best possible ending to a very tragic situation, where two innocent people were murdered over a senseless dispute over dog waste.

R,
Bullseye

[stork]

It's not something I would attempt any more with open sights. My eye's just don't focus on that front sight without my shooting glasses which have a prescription to be able to focus at that distance.

With any of my dot sighted Rugers, Hi Standards or Marvel conversion, I wouldn't hesitate (at least on very small game or targets). My friend and I have a running contest on long range hits with the 5 1/2" Ruger with a dot when we are out shooting prairie dogs. He is in the lead with 172 yards and I'm 4 yards behind.

I'm recalling a test that was done several years back (haven't found the link yet)on thawed out turkeys (already dead and in the bags). The author got complete penetration out to 300 yards, even with a denim jacket and shirt over the carcass with the lowly 22.

One test I did find was over on Snipers Hide.
http://www.snipershide.com/forum/ubbthr ... 01&fpart=1

Now that my ADD has taken me off the subject matter, it was still a hell of a shot string by an experienced marksman.

FWIW

[ruger22]

I read another account of this, but don't remember where. It said the Samaritan had a rifle, but didn't elaborate on kind or caliber. Still, 165 yards is no little skill with any type of gun.

[stork]

This "CRS" stuff is irritating isn't it Ruger.

[ruger22]

This "CRS" stuff is irritating isn't it Ruger.

I've always had this bad quirk of remembering things that don't matter, like some useless fact in a magazine I've just barely glanced at. I'll remember it a month later. Something I try to remember sometimes just won't stick.

I guess just so I remember where my house is, and my wife's name during certain activities, I'm okay...........

[blue68f100]

What a good story with the civilian helping out one of our public servants.

The longest I have shot a hand gun (MKIII) is about 80yrds. With a rest I can do pretty good with a dot sight or scope (better at that distance). My eyes just don't give me precision without any help.

[Medicine Hat]

This "CRS" stuff is irritating isn't it Ruger.

I've always had this bad quirk of remembering things that don't matter, like some useless fact in a magazine I've just barely glanced at. I'll remember it a month later. Something I try to remember sometimes just won't stick.

I guess just so I remember where my house is, and my wife's name during certain activities, I'm okay...........

I can relate to that. I heard it said (and agree) that "my rememberer is failing, but my forgetter is working better all the time."

[charlesb]

Currently I CRS, but it looks like I'm progressing toward CRAFT.

Most of my long-range handgunning has involved scoped pistols, but once I did a comparison of three 10mm automatics at 100 yards, and those were all open-sighted guns. I was looking at 10mm autos as potential deer guns, at the time.

My longest pistol shots ever were at folded-over newspaper placed on a hillside, three hundred yards off. I was shooting a 10" bull-barreled TC contender in .357 magnum caliber, sitting on the ground with the gun's forearm supported by my knees. The contender had a Leupold 2X scope mounted on it.

The load was a 180 grain semi-spitzer FP crunched down over enough "I ain't sayin" ball powder to fill the case entirely when dipped. - I think the bullet was a Speer, but I'd have to look it up to be sure. The load was developed for Hunters Pistol Silhouette competition, and I do not recommend that anybody attempt to duplicate it.

I held onto the gun with both hands, it was a kicker.

After several shots to get my Kentucky windage figured out, it was not hard at all to keep the shots on the paper. - A rock on the hillside above it and to the right gave me a good reference point to put the crosshairs onto.

There was a 10" Ruger Super Blackhawk on hand that was scoped... It did well too, but one of my buddies managed to burn his hand pretty good by bracing up too close to the barrel/cylinder gap.

Ouch!

The .357 mag contender once did well for my brother at Raton - then the scope mount broke and he had to go over to a spare barrel that he had on hand, in another caliber.

A few months ago, I gave my Ruger MkIII Hunter .22 pistol a workout at 100 yards, using a Burris 2x scope. We would line clay birds up at 100 yd, and pop away at them from the bench with the Mk III.

The trick was to shoot the curved rim part of the clay, not the flat center - as a center hit would often produce a hole without busting the clay.

My scope setup for 10 yrds ( farm pest control ) worked out to be dead-on at 100 yards, as well. Something about the height of the scope above the bore, I guess. - A lucky coincidence more than anything else, as I was utterly amazed to find that no hold-over was required.

A last comment on the subject of long-range pistol shooting:

All of my rifle scopes now have the BDC dots or ovals below the crosshairs, that make holder-over calculations so easy. - Has anyone seen something like that on a handgun scope?

I guess everybody can tell that I'm kind of partial to 2x handgun scopes. Note that the 2X Leupold mounted on the .357 contender made it through thousands of practice rounds, and was still good after the scope mount finally broke.

If I remember correctly, it went into honored retirement atop a bull-barreled S&W model 41, with Conetrol Custum mounts.

[bigfatdave]

I've done 100 yards with my Ruger mkIII target pistols (tweaked and upgraded thanks to Dr Bullseye's tutorials!)

Stock mkIII target sights, some spotter shots, and an 18" gong I could hear hits on (OK, it was an old steel wok I'd replaced in the kitchen, shut up and stop laughing) at 100 yards. It was a lovely day with just a breeze coming from behind me - and a cursing frustrated rifle shooter to my left, MISSING that target almost every shot while I hit it with a handgun! (to be fair, he later discovered that his .22lr faux-AR15 had the wrong sights mounted on it from the factory)

I had a number of 10 for 10 strings, probably averaging 7 or 8 in 10. An 18" circle target isn't that different from a torso or large critter, I'm working up to shots like that with my RIA TCM 1911a2 pistol, I'm out to ~25 yards so far and need a nice day (and a new gong) to do 50y & 100y ... I think it will do it with less hold-over.

[Bullseye]

I've done the same with a 1911 at 100 yards. 18" at that distance is a good "Minute-of-Man" measure. Coincidentally, I found that I had to hold over approx. 18" above the target frame with the 1911 to hit in the aiming black at 100 yards, which is about a 36" drop.

It started out on a dare. Some folks were watching me nail the target at 50 yards, single handed, and said, "I bet you can't do that at 100!" There was a "dinger" set up at 100 yards at that particular range so I turned and shot. Ding! And a collective "DAAAMN!" went out from the group. "Do it again!" So I did several more times just to prove it wasn't luck. I have a lot of fun when I decide to go out to the public ranges. I meet a lot of nice folks each time I go too. Later, I started experimenting with a 50 yard full-face set up at 100 yards just to see how accurate I could be at that distance. I found I could regularly keep the shots in the aiming black, but within that circle was a wide spread of hits. Hold the aiming black up against your chest and you'll find diameter of the ball is about the same as the width of your body, so I feel confident I could make a solid shot at that distance. However that is under range circumstances and all that goes out the window in a confrontational situation.

R,
Bullseye

[bigfatdave]

Oh yes, absolutely a range trick, done in nice weather, without anything on the line, with just the right amount of caffeine in the bloodstream

[Biggjimm]

I was watching the Leo's play around at the fop range the other day while waiting for them to get done so I could shoot. They were supposed to be practicing for their upcoming qualifications but one said "betcha can't do....." & when it was all said & done they're was four of them shooting a 4" orange stick-on target in the center of a 8" steel target at 150yds+ with their .40 cal service pistols. Most of the shots were in the orange but all of them hit the steel. I knew the one, he's a Sgt. Who was a military trained sniper & currently is the firearms instructor for the dept. & the capt. of the dept's competition team. The other 3 are on the shooting team as well. Needless to say I was impressed. I said I felt a lot better knowing our Leos could shoot & he said not to get too relaxed because most of the guys do good to hit that steel at 20yds but he's working on that. I enjoy watching him shoot & he is always eager to teach me & my kids when we are out there shooting. Hopefully someday I will have the experience, training & discipline to shoot like that with a handgun. I am a pretty decent hand with a rifle but was amazed when I started really shooting handguns at how much different & more complex it was to shoot half as good with a handgun as a rifle. I find it is one of the most satisfying & relaxing (and expensive) past times I have. Sometimes I get in a mood I guess & my wife will say "why don't you go shoot your guns & come home with a better attitude". Probably don't have to tell you how long it takes me to grab my range bag & ammo bag & be in the truck.