On the topic of aiming

Some of you may know this information already, or have seen it in one recent Sniper thread. I saw some kiddies playing pretend in a sniper thread and started to throw in real shooting information. Of course, none of them showed any interest in the skills of marksmanship, would rather argue with each other. I thought is was some useful information but under the wrong topic, so I regurgitated it in this thread with minor edits. Remember, this information relates to shooting in general, and not specifically paintball. However, a projectile in subsonic flight follows most of the same rules.

The basics –  Front sight, soft slow trigger squeeze, don’t hold your breath or you will shake. When in position use skelatal support not muscle support or you will shake. Do it the same everytime if you expect consistant results.

You have all heard of MOA but what is it really? It’s a minute size slice of an angle, 1/60^th of one degree.

M-minute O-of A-angle

1 MOA @ 100 yards is 1.0472 inches. You can estimate by saying 1 inch per 100 yards.

MOA (in) = [tan(1/60) X distance to target yards] X 36

Practial problem:

Some newbie zeroed my scope poorly. My scope has 1/4 MOA adjustments. I shoot a group at 500 yards and decide I want to bring my point of impact up 5 inches. How do I adjust my scope?

A= 4 clicks up.

I decide to play at 25 yards with my rifle. My group lands 4 inches up and 3 inches left. How do I zero it for 25 yards?

A= 64 clicks up, 48 clicks right.

I will give you some tips for shooting with the normal iron sights without bringing up target holds:

1.) Move the front sight opposite to how you want the impact to move. (If the impact is to high, then the front sight is to low.)

2.) Move the rear site in the direction of desired impact.

To determine how much change is needed in inches, multiply in inches the amount of correction needed at the target by the sight radius (the distance between the rear and fron sight in inches). Divide this by the inch distance to the target (100 yards = 3,600 inches.)

For example - If your rifle is shooting 10" high at 100 yards, and has a 20" sight radius, the math would be:

(10" X 20")/3600" = 0.056"

You would bring the front sight up or the rear sight down 0.056" to hit your target.

I covered the basics of sight adjustment, now holding for wind:

This is guesswork but there are methods. Remember, your projectile is more vulnerable to wind near the end of it's travel. This is because down range the projectile is moving slower, and also the wind has been acting on it longer. Wind is usually never constant - if you are shooting 1000 yards it may push your projectile left for the first 200, then towards you for the next 50, then the wind will curl and go right for the rest of your projectiles travel. Remember, the wind sock by you was reading left, but the last part of travel and most significant distance covered the wind was right. I say it is guesswork because it will shift.

So, to accurately correct for wind you need to make a little chart of how many inches your projectile gets shifted at a given range with a given wind speed. For wind direction you only need to memorise these shifts at anolog clock directions 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00. I would put data for 5 knot, 10 knot, 15 knot, 20 knot, 25 knot, and 30 knot winds. Wind coming from 9:00 will have the same effect as wind coming from 3:00, it will just push the projectile in the opposite direction.

So if I go to shoot and see that a wind sock down by the target reads a 15 knot wind coming from 7:00. I have to look in my notes or remember what 15 knots shifts the projectile at 1:00, say it moves point of impact 3" left at this distance, then correct the direction for the shift that pushes opposite 1:00 (the 7:00 wind sock). My POI is going to be 3" right.

Range estimation with MOA and mil-dot recticle.

Most weapons either scoped or iron sighted are graduated in the MOAs. I explained a MOA earlier in this thread... now we will take it further for range estimation. Really easy if you have a scope with stadia lines of 1MOA:

[(size of object in inches) X 100]/size of object in MOAs = range in yards

Now if you don't have that fancy scope you can use your front sight also. First calculate the MOA width of your front sight:

21600/[(sight radius in inches X 2pie)/front sight width in inches)] = MOA

Now to use it for estimating range. Say you calculated your front sight to be 8MOA with the second equation I gave you. How far away is your target? You want to shoot at a target with a 20 inch torso and your sight blanks it out perfectly. Use the first equation I gave you.

[(20" torso) X 100]/8MOA = 250 yards

Now for the scopes with mil-dots! Mils (3.6" @ 100 yards, or 36" @ 1000 yards). 1mil = 3.438MOA

Remember when measuring the length of a target in mils to go from the center of the dot or hash mark to the center of the next one, not the edges. They are 1/4mil wide and 3/4 mil apart. Heres your equation:

[(size of object in yards) X 1000]/size of object in mils = range in yards

If a 6' man (2 yards) is 4 mils in your scope then he is exactly 500yds away. 2 X 1000/4 = 500

MOAs are 3.438x more precise then mils, but if your shooting a cannon at a building or vehichle use mils.

I took a photo for you all, so that you may see some common calibers:

http://img187.echo.cx/my.php?image=dsc001703fl.jpg

I will go from left to right. First is the 30-0-06, this is the smallest caliber I would shoot at 1000 yards. Next to that is the Win .308, this is a solid killer out to 500 yards. After that is the 7.62 x 39, this medium cartridge is what most of our troops get shot at them, and is comparable to our narrow flatter shooting .223 that is fired in the AR military rifles. This includes the AR-15 derivatives M-16 and M-4. The AR-10 has a Win .308 chambering. I wouldn't trust a 7.62 x 39 or .223 to have enough energy to be a one hit killer past 300 yards. All three of these rifle bullets in the photo are 7.62mm in diameter and considered .30 cal. On the other side of the paintball you get pistol bullets. I would not expect to do much with these past 100 yards. First is the .45 ACP and next to that is the .40 S&W. Both of the ones in the photo are hydra-shock hollow points, so they look a little bit shorter then the normal ball ammo. Right of those are the 9mm luger and .22L bullets. I consider the 9mm a cap gun bullet - people survive getting hit by these all the time so long as it avoids a critical organ. The .22L is a great cartridge for target practice. It is quiet, comfortable to shoot, and match grade ammo is cheap. Don't underestimate the .22L, the bullet is small and fast- here is a photo of my .22L rifle.

http://img187.echo.cx/my.php?image=dsc001736tb.jpg

 

If you want to add to this, correct me, or ask a question, feel free to post.

That's well and good, with a real gun. Seems like too much work for a Paintball situation; when the balls never do the same exact thing twice.

paintballs shoot to un-predictaly to be aimed. Spay and pray baby

Even in paintball, you still want to aim. Anything beats only watching where you paint is landing and adjusting for that. If you look down your barrel and fire, see where your balls land, then lift your muzzle and memorize for a moment what that sight picture looks like, you can hold it on a target faster and easier when you know where your shots will land. Paintballs are not accurate, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to aim either, you have to make up for their inaccuracy. I would like to show you what a marker can do when you actually benchrest it with good paint/barrel, and consistant velocity and pressure. There is a difference on the paintball field between those who can hit a mask with their first couple shots at 30 feet and those who cannot.

At least you know what dirrection to move your sights. I said this wasn't all for paintball.

aaaaa, i love speedball

I suppose you shoot high power = )

Most of that info isn't to useful with paintball seeing as how must do not use sights and if they do the sights aren't good enough to zero in with and the paintballs do not hit the same point every time.

By the way Small bore is better than high power = )

DBibeau855 wrote: No one here shoots by feel? I used to stick a bunch of medicine bottles on my fence, and peg paintballs at them. Not really aiming at all. Just going by feel. Its just like pointing your finger at something.

I do. I used spots on a tree instead of medicine bottles though. 
 

borntopaint wrote: DBibeau855 wrote: No one here shoots by feel? I used to stick a bunch of medicine bottles on my fence, and peg paintballs at them. Not really aiming at all. Just going by feel. Its just like pointing your finger at something. I do. I used spots on a tree instead of medicine bottles though.

Instinctive point shooting is how I train combat shooting most of the time. It serves well in paintball, but sometimes you need finer brush strokes.

Great post.

I'll be the first to admit I didn't read the whole thing....But it was still a great post.

cdacda13 wrote: paintballs shoot to un-predictaly to be aimed. Spay and pray baby

haha so true