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Gun people: Is it possible to hit a quarter at 50 yards with a .380?

rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
I'm just curious.

I heard someone once say they could consistently hit a quarter sized target at 50 yards with a .380 handgun. Does anyone think this is possible?

I am pretty proud of myself when I keep all my shots on target at 25 yards with a 9mm and standard targets. Am I a bad shot or was the other guy telling stories?
 
Possible yes. With enough practice, this isn't really THAT hard.

Ever watch top shots or whatever that show is called? They make way harder shots than that consistently.
 
I've shot at 50 yds, and it's hard to see a baseball sized target... let alone a quarter. I say not just bullshit, but WHALESHIT
 
How consistent? like, one every ten shots (that is still pretty damn good).

Some guys are just really good and he could be one of them.

If history channel can have Tom KNaap shoot a 22 through a washer in mid air, I'm a belieber.
 
I was gonna mention Miculek and say that even he couldn't do it. In general, no handgun is even that mechanically accurate, and the person firing it, even less so.

Put a quarter at even just 30 yards and I'd bet world-class IPSC shooters wouldn't be able to hit it with any consistency.

And I'm even disregarding any ballistic inferiority of .380 and assuming that it's getting a large boost in accuracy from a likely fixed barrel design.
 
Someone was full of shit. I doubt a .380 clamped in a bench rest is even capable of such accuracy.

Anyway, I'd rather try such shot with a .22 target pistol than the average .380 pistol with a short barrel that is only designed to put lead into a man-sized target at fighting ranges.

And I've watch a lot of the Top-Shot shows:

*BANG*
"Man, that was close."
*BANG*
"Almost hit it that time."
*BANG*
"That one was REALLY close."
*BANG*
"Oh Boy, that barely missed."
*BANG*
"Bulleye! Our Top-Shot makes the impossible shot again!"
 
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Here's the best I could come up with for bench-rested .380 numbers. People just don't put this stuff into reviews of CC firearms...

PS3AULs.jpg


So at a whopping seven yards, you're starting to lose your chance to hit a quarter. Granted, the G42 is locked breech. A blowback gun with a fixed barrel may be capable of greater accuracy- I was trying to find a similar chart for a PPK, P232, Bersa Thunder, ect, but was unable.
 
Paladin3 said:
Someone was full of shit. I doubt a .380 clamped in a bench rest is even capable of such accuracy.

Anyway, I'd rather try such shot with a .22 target pistol than the average .380 pistol with a short barrel that is only designed to put lead into a man-sized target at fighting ranges.

And I've watch a lot of the Top-Shot shows:

*BANG*
"Man, that was close."
*BANG*
"Almost hit it that time."
*BANG*
"That one was REALLY close."
*BANG*
"Oh Boy, that barely missed."
*BANG*
"Bulleye! Our Top-Shot makes the impossible shot again!"
Click to expand...

Yea that's why I asked before calling bullshit.

I have watched a ton of Top Shot and while they do make some great shots, they are never with small caliber pistols at long range. They tend to go for high caliber at long range or cool things that blow up at shorter range. The only one I saw that was close was on the finale when they were challenging each other with shots, kind of like HORSE in basketball. Someone tried a 50 yard shot and didn't even come close and neither did anyone else.
 
Define consistent.

Also, with my .380 I have issues keeping tight groupings, even at 25 yards. Obviously, I'm not a pro, but I'd ask to see some proof. That's really tough to do.
 
It depends on what his definition of "consistently" means. It would be a difficult shot, but definitely achievable. With enough practice I could see someone hitting it several times out of ten shots, consistently. 22Plinkster on YouTube is someone that comes to mind that could do it.
 
A quarter is just under an inch in diameter. At 50 yards hitting it consistently means your groups are averaging roughly 2 MOA. Most people can't shoot anywhere near that well using a rifle with iron sights, so forget about pistols.
 
Merad said:
A quarter is just under an inch in diameter. At 50 yards hitting it consistently means your groups are averaging roughly 2 MOA. Most people can't shoot anywhere near that well using a rifle with iron sights, so forget about pistols.
Click to expand...

Yeah not without a bench rest. Hell, even on a bench most guys with even scoped rifles look like they are using a shotgun. Fucking ridiculous.
 
z1ggy said:
Define consistent.

Also, with my .380 I have issues keeping tight groupings, even at 25 yards. Obviously, I'm not a pro, but I'd ask to see some proof. That's really tough to do.
Click to expand...

With a competition-grade 5" 9mm (as in, practical shooting, not a bullseye gun) I can shoot maybe a soccer ball sized group at 25m.

Using the previous description of a 'world class' competitive shooter, like an Eric Grauffel or a Ben Stoeger, I think maybe they could do baseball or softball-sized. Of course, part of their strength is being able to whiz around a corner and do a double tap without even thinking, with the goal of hitting an area that is something like 12"x6"...and there's a reason they use such a 'generous' target, and not something absurd that no amount of training can condition them to hit consistently. Practical handgunning makes the conditions harder, 'cause if it was down to the mechanical accuracy of the gun, they'd either all be tying each other [with groups bigger than a quarter], or it would be a technology race.


What's nice is that it's easy to pick out bullshit when it comes to claims of shooting prowess. Why? 'Cause the people who say this stuff don't realize how entirely outside the realm of possibility their claims actually are. It's not 'ooh, I can hit a watermelon at 300 yards with an iron sighted AR'...that's doable. Fuckin' hard, but it can be done, and it can be repeated. No, it's 'I can hit a tic-tac at 100 yards with a .32 pocket pistol' or some shit.https://www.google.com/search?espv=...a=X&ei=SEbiVPyUHqnGsQTpuYCQAw&ved=0CBwQvwUoAA
 
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