... and I only got 3 of the 7 on target. .45 ACP Dan Wesson, no idea what grain or any of that, but they were "Federal" rounds. My ears just stopped ringing!
Take it from me, a guy who has lost a lot of his hearing from too many explosives going off hear his head, yeah you gotta wear hearing protection. As for your accuracy, keep practicing. It will get better.
I will "third" that you need hearing protection. You might need to use a gun to defend your life one day. You will use your hearing, or what is left of it, every day for the rest of your life.
25 yards is way too far away. I made the same mistake when I got my 1911. You need to bring it in close, make sure your sight picture and trigger squeeze are good, and slowly work your way out. Try it at 3 yards, 7 at the most. I think you'll find that you're a better shot than you think.
25 yards?!? It's a handgun not a sniper rifle. Ash is right on. Try 15-20 feet; that's practical distance for a handgun. Shooting slowly (1 shot every 3 seconds or so), you should be able to keep them all in the 8, 9, or X ring. For a newbie, hitting the paper 3 out of 7 at 25 yards is actually not that bad...
I didn't really have a say in the matter as far as the distance, I just shot from where the guy who let me fire it stood. I've read all the threads on range shooting, so I know what you guys mean, starting small and working back. I tried mentioning this to the guy and he just sneered and muttered. He is the type of gun owner that makes the rest of them look bad.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like that in the hobby. Hopefully, the experience didn't ruin it for you. If you end up getting into shooting, don't forget to post pictures of whatever gun you end up buying .
He claimed to be sighting it in, but really he just got e new toy. His gun, his ammo but he's still an idiot IMO. He really doesn't have any respect for the weapon and while talking about how light the trigger was, he proceeded to idly hold it safety off, with a finger hooked into the trigger guard. The safety in his head is permanently in the 'off' position.
shooting for fun is great. However if I am taking someone out for their first time, the last thing I am going to do is put in a situation where they will be frustrated / disappointed. We want folks to know how enjoyable shooting is. We don't want to turn them off by handing them a rifle and say something along the lines of "Here is the rifle, the target is 300m that away, figure out for your self how you are gonna hit it and don't dare bitch at me if you have questions or are bored." Instead we should be taking first time shooters to the range and hand them the pistols and set them up at 3 to 10 yards down range. Or hand them a carbine with a red dot optic (Aimpoint / EoTech / ACOG) and let them use that at a close distance (25 to 50m). Get them into a situation to where they can actually enjoy it. We need to be prepared to answer the most inane questions with benevolence and patience but don't overload them with data. Give them instruction in correct stance and sight picture but don't obsess about it, don't become a Prussian drill corporal. Do what we can to let them have fun. This type of outing is just a familiarization exercise. They wont learn any bad habits this way. Then if they do show an interest that is when we can start to teach them the basics and finer points.
FWIW I've got deadaim with a semi-automatic 14g shotgun. Did a skeet shoot with the Boyscouts, and hit all of the pigeons- that was my first time shooting. If I do start shooting I'd rather work up to the 1911 than jump in at that caliber, I'll admit I nearly pissed when I touched that first one off. Damn thing is 10x louder when it's in your hands.
Army pistol ranges have the farthest targets set at 50 meters. We used to joke that, with our ragged-out WWII-era 1911A1s, it took "indirect fire" to knock those targets down. I actually managed to hit them more times than not, though, and I don't consider myselft all that great a handgun shooter.
Yes, but you were in during the Spanish American War (or at least back when they had "ragged out M-1911s".) Marine pistol ranges sometimes have a 25 yard line, but the furthest you ever shoot from for score is 15 yards. I suspect the Army doesn't have much longer targets than 15 yards these days.
You must mean 12 gauge. 14 gauge shotguns are a rarity; I don't think anyone makes commercial ammo for them. A semi-auto 14 gauge seems very unlikely...
This was late 80s for the Army into the early 90s for National Guard (using active duty ranges at Fort Hood).
A 1911's a 1911 with regards to range. I don't care how new or fancy it is, you're just lobbing bullets at 50 yards with one.
There was an interesting article in guns and ammo a while back on long range shooting with 9mm 1911's. OK, actually, the article sucked. By the guy claimed he could hit paper all the time at ridiculous ranges... like he was Elmer Keith with a .44 magnum.
You're probably correct. I was guessing, this was... over 10 years ago. I defer to your superior knowledge, I knew it wasn't a 12g, so I went with the next logical step down. Interesting aside, the owner of the range had more reloading equipment than Ramen.
