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Bob, That "WACK" when the round hits the target is scary isn't it! It's amazing what a Minnie bullet will do to a 4 X 4 post. Bill

Bill:

Sure is.  My target stands 5' 10" by 18" wide.  It is made from 4x4s with a 3 inch facing made of overlapping planks.

And sometimes a round will just blow a plank off the target.  At 100 yards scary.

It just reenforces my opinion that the reason most casualties were inflicted between 100 and 125 yards is because the officers just didn't understand what a deadly weapon their troops were armed with.

The Imperial Valley Living History Association in CA puts together a two day annual live fire event that includes cannon, cavalry, and infantry(sometimes all at once).

I always help organize it and it is one of my favorite events.

we have competition in which groups try to split a 4x4 post in the least amount of time.

there is even what we call the combined assault where both sides will try to take a set of earthworks and raise there own colors faster than the other side.

we have quite a few different competitions and everyone always seems to have fun.(no serious injuries so far!)  

  Hallo!

 Back in the Way Back DAze, the N-SSA used to have the "Stake Event" where each team of eight men were required to cut a stake in half along a one inch black line (or plain) at 50 yards.

 (As things got more "competitive" and the shooting was "against the clock," sometimes the two halves of the horizontally suspended stake would be gone safe for say a half inch of wood left- that even an impact shot to one end or the other would not snap or break).  So the "more competitive" teams were successful in getting the event thrown out as unfair.)

 Curt

An interesting thing happened at the local range some time back that sorta falls into this discussion.  There was an informal competition that allowed any and all weapons.  There was one character shooting a .58 caliber Civil War replica on the firing line with the other fine gentlemen who were mainly armed with their modified AR-15 space guns.  When it came to tighter groups the modified space guns handily out shot that .58 cal gun.  However, because that .58 caliber slug punched a full half inch hole in the target it actually clipped the X ring a couple of times more than the minuscule .22 cal holes.  That did indeed raise some eye brows among the high speed, low drag crowd.

Curtis,

When I talk to spectators, I tell them the maximium effective range of any military rifle, using iron sights, is 300 yards. Doesn't matter if it's 1855 or 2005. You just can't shoot accurately farther than the human eye can see.

A lot of us have been on those military ranges, where the "pop-up" targets look to be about 1/8" inches tall at 300 meters. Beyond that, you're kidding yourself. (And, wasting ammo.)

We won't even discuss the later years of my military career, when those 300 meter targets no longer existed!      

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Bill wrote : We won't even discuss the later years of my military career, when those 300 meter targets no longer existed!

Bill,

At that stage of your career you aim to hit in front of those pop up targets hoping to stir up enough gravel, dirt clods, and other debris that will maybe, perhaps, possbily hit that mostly invisible silhoutte.

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Curtis Makamson wrote :   Bill, At that stage of your career you aim to hit in front of those pop up targets hoping to stir up enough gravel, dirt clods, and other debris that will maybe, perhaps, possbily hit that mostly invisible silhoutte.

Curtis,

I know all about shooting low at pop-up targets. My problem was that if I didn't catch the sun reflecting off the target, as it came up, I had nothing to shoot at. I shot "expert", on a regular basis, until about the age of forty-five. After that, I didn't shoot "expert" any more. I was not a happy camper!    

Bill,

I don’t know whether you have a crystal ball or have a touch of clairvoyance, but you are describing me.  In my younger days I shot a bit of Army competition with National Match 14’s at Benning, McClellan, Camp Shelby, Camp McCain, Contonement, FL, and Chaffe, AR.   Then some changes began to occur that were not too keen.  Some of the various parts got out of sync, eyes needed alignment, various leakages started, and then malfunctioning components had to be ousted from the chassis.  All of this resulted in my targets getting closer and larger if there was any possibility of them being threatened by me.  There toward the end I really did not pose much of a threat to them.

Bill, Curtis,

You mean we were shooting at targets?   That explains why my TI wasn't too happy with my performance