TargetTalk

Hello All,

We all have seen this amazing feats from exhibition shooters,, like shooting a rope with a single action colt 45, a coin in the air, etc, etc.
Lately on youtube shorts, i watched this guy from Brazil on flip flops with a break open air rifle shooting at peanuts from about 12-15 steps,, i estimate that would be about 10 yards,, 10 yards = 16 steps. He shoots from his backyard at all sort of things, aspirins, try to split a card in half, razor blades, a candle light , etc etc, etc.
So,
if a gun, air gun , revolver, etc,, shots from a rest or ransom rest an X number of inches groups,, say,, an break open air rifle shots say,,3/4 of an inch or 1 inch at 10 yards,, how is it possible to hit a peanut at 10 yrds,, apparently all the times.
or Annie Oakley 22 lever action shooting aspirins at whatever distance.
I wonder if there is a scientific explanation I am missing here. I have tried to search for that answer before, but some say that breaking a 1/2 inch rope with a 45 colt at 10 meters is not that difficult,, that would be like a single action colt 45 can shoot 1.5 inches at 25 yards,,
something like that,,
but a peanut from a break open air rifle? or that 22 lever action at aspirins ??

I wonder if somebody knows more about this.

My first question would be veracity. It would be easy to make many videos of 'trick' shots and only make YouTubes with the impressive ones. When I shot benchrest air rifle it wasn't hard to shoot a fly on the target, but it was impossible to do repeatedly.

No one can fact check such videos, they don't violate You tube's rules, and they are incentivized by monetization.

These "Exhibition Shooters" never seem to appear at scored Matches . . .

. . . wonder why that is . . . ?

it makes me wonder also......
Stan

They really are good shots. Some of those "feats" are not that difficult to do, but more difficult to do every time. Shooting aspirin tablets at 10 meters is quite doable. I used to shoot muzzle loaders and "splitting the ball" on an axe head and breaking the clay bird on both sides is also quite doable. When we were kids we used to shoot out a lighted candle with a BB gun.
I always us bowling as an example. Everyone can throw a strike now in then, but very few can throw twelve in a row to get a perfect game!
Rick

Wait a minute...............

You guys saying them riflemen on shooting forums are not taking a out of the box Ruger 10/22 and getting 1/2 inch groups at 100 yards "all day long"?

It's on the internet after all!

These guys have never gotten over Annie Oakley shriveling their masculinity.

For some reason this reminds me of when I posted on a shooters' subreddit a picture of a 10m air pistol target on which the 50-shot group, with the exception of one shot, was well inside the 9 ring.

One guy decided to respond saying that he could make a group the same size from 50 yards. When I posted a picture of the group that the Olympic gold medalist shot and tgat it wasn't very much smaller than mine, he said he could easily beat that.

The moral of the story -- don't believe everything you see on the internet.

Many years ago, Walter Winans wrote a book on revolver shooting. He covered exhibition shooting in one chapter...it took skill, but also not making the shot too difficult. Hit the ace of a card deck, for example (a 9-ring shot in AP). Use a .44 revolver, and it's not a terribly challenging shot. Or suspending a ball from a string...you loop the string so that it goes around the ball, and over a 3/8 inch dowel. Which makes the actual target width 3/8 inch, plus a bullet diameter (half on each side). Again, use a .44 revolver. Challenging shots, but not excessive.

Of course, Winans really WAS a top-flight shooter. Amongst other things.