Off-hand, golf ball, iron sights at 25 yards - Can you hit it?

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SoonerP226

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I was always taught as a kid a head shot or nothing but back then all i hunted squirrel with was a 22 cal pellet rifle
My grandpa always shot squirrels in the head. My dad said he’d be walking through the forest with my grandpa, and before Dad knew there was even a squirrel around, Grandpa’s rifle would swing up, there’d be the crack of a .22, and a squirrel would drop to the ground with a hole behind its ear.

Dad said that hole was always in the same location, and when Grandpa could no longer put the bullet in that spot, he hung up his squirrel rifle.

Grandpa said when he was in Europe during WWII, he visualized the Germans as squirrels leaping from branch to branch. He said he got a bunch of them, but the one he missed blew up the tank he was riding on.
 

SoonerP226

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Back when I was shooting regularly, I probably could’ve hit a golf ball at 50 yards. It would’ve been with iron sights, as that was all I had.

These days I doubt that I could even see a golf ball at 50 yards, let alone hit it.

Back in the day, my grandpa could toss a quarter-sized rock into the air and shoot it with his Winchester .22 pump, but he was shooting regularly for food.
 

Sgt Dog

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There is a cool thread on here called “Random stuff you have made”. I posted these there and might be of interest here.

The really small targets are for air rifle BPCR competition. But I can’t recall distances - which change with size of animals. If you blow it up there are chickens, pigs and turkeys in addition to the 2” +or- long rams.

The larger set is for .22 BPCR. Only chickens are off-hand.

Chickens - 50yds/m (golfball size)
Pigs - 100
Turkeys - 150
Rams - 200
 

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Bill_Long_Tan

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I was making my rounds of pawn shops today,,,
I overheard a conversation about hunting squirrels with a .22 rifle.

The man was saying that he hunts with open sights,,,
And regularly takes them at 50 yards or more.

I never challenge someone when they say stuff like this,,,
If I say anything at all I say; "I don't think you know what 50 yards is".

Anyways, after he left I got into a conversation with two other gentlemen,,,
They were both around my age (I'm 72) and hunted as kids,,,
None of us had a fancy rifle and none were scoped.

Heck, my rifle at the time was a single-shot Springfield,,,
It probably cost less than ten bucks brand new.

We sort of agreed that 25 yards was the average distance,,,
Where we could be confident of making the shot.

I did manage to take a few squirrels every now and then,,,
I'll certain that most were even closer than 25 yards.

Anyways that got me to thinking about my shooting habits, fiery-arms, and skill level,,,
Now that I'm all old and decrepit.

I'm somewhat OCD in my shooting habits,,,
For the past couple of years since I've been retired,,,
I've stuck to a routine of choosing my rifles for a specific purpose.

1) I have a CZ-457 At One with a 4-16 x 44 scope for 200 yard long distance shooting off of a bench using bags.
2) I have a CZ-512 Rifle with a 4-12 scope for silhouette out to 100 yards prone with a good bi-pod.
3) I have a CZ-512 Carbine with a red dot for Faux Steel Challenge and 50 yard plinking.


Now I'm home with a few (several?) adult beverages under my belt,,,
And I got to thinking about my squirrel hunting days,,,
My Pop always told me to go for head shots,,,
I wasn't always successful but I tried.

So now that I got to musing on the subject,,,
If hitting a squirrel head were the benchmark for accuracy,,,
It then follows that a measure of a shooters accuracy could be like this.

With whatever rifle/aiming device you want to use,,,
How far away can you hit a squirrel head,,,
Or in lieu of a squirrel, a golf ball?


I have a Mauser es340b with iron sights,,,
I think it would be an ideal rifle for shooting off-hand,,,
The targets would be golf balls (or eggs) at 25 yards distance.

So I think I'll make me a little stand to hold ten golf balls,,,
And use it as the 4th rifle, aiming device, shooting stance, and distance.

4) I have a Mauser es340b rifle with iron sights for off-hand shooting of golf balls at 25 yards.

I propose that my personal benchmark for accuracy could be,,,
Using any rifle, aiming device, and shooting stance,,,
How far away can you hit a golf ball?

Like I said,,,
I'm just musing.

Aarond

.
With a 12 guage and 9 shot im good for at least 50yds....lol
 

Hooper

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Can do.
Not consistent hit with either hand, but I use golf balls a lot. I find them at a Park where some guys practice. Love to throw down a few Golf balls when I am putting up my paper targets and use them for practice. Once in a while one will travel pretty far after a shot hits them. A direct center shot will only roll them slightly.
 
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When I was in high school I shot every day. There was a place on the north Canadian you could just drive up and start firing from the side of the road into the river. I would throw a shotgun shell as far as I could chunk it and with my Marlin 22 shot that thing a hundred times trying to get it to off. Never made that happen but that was my target for a long time
 

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