Nomercy448

I would challenge that the above observation is not evidence that dropping prone and shooting a coke can at 100yrds is difficult, but rather it is evidence that most gun owners and hunters you hang around simply aren’t shooters, trained or practiced.

My counterpoint is found in the world of Precision Rifle Competition. The average competitor at any given match has been competing for less than a year, and has fired less than 5 matches. The “average shooter” here is exactly that, just an average guy/gal. They are just dudes/chicks, not sponsored or professional shooters. The “coke can” game described above is effectively the first shot of almost all stages - start standing, move to position and engage a target. EXCEPT - we only allow a MAXIMUM of 2moa targets for prone stages, and only 3MOA for positional stages (firing off of obstacles, typically only a single support point). The first match for a lot of folks goes terribly - they’ll either miss fast or hit slow, which means they run out of time and have their unfired shots counted as misses. By their 3rd match, the average shooter has the swing of things, and I would challenge that the evidence of match scores and times supports that the average shooter - the average weekend warrior dude who comes out to shoot - would not struggle dropping prone and engaging a coke can at 100yrds in 10 sec or less.

As direct evidence, we shoot standardized stages with a shot timer as tie breakers at every match. The most common is the Skills Barricade: start standing at port arms, run to a barricade (4” thick) and engage a 10” circle at 400 yards (2.38moa) with 2 shots from 4 positions. This target is considered “big,” because the stage is designed as a true race. Again - 2.38moa at 400 yards is considered BIG when firing from a barricade, let alone prone. At the match I shot this weekend 60 out of 155 shooters hit all 8 shots, with an average time of 57.67 seconds. 100 out of 155 hit 7 out of 8 shots, and the average time for all 155 shooters was 59.67 seconds. That’s doing TWO coke cans instead of 1, clearing both in under 15 sec, and repeating 4 times back to back. Which is pretty typical - time to first shot is typically under 10 sec, and follow up transitions are typically under 5 sec. The fastest shooter of the day was 30.81 seconds. The Average score on that stage was 6.7 impacts out of 8, with an average time of 59.67 seconds, the mode shooter (actual dude in the middle) hit 7 of 8.

Again - the average of these are just dudes/chicks, but 2/3 of them managed to hit 7 of 8 targets relatively slightly smaller than coke cans in under a minute, moving through 4 positions balancing on a barricade, and far enough out to have wind exposure...

A few MINUTES spent chatting and offering some constructive advice, followed by a few sessions practicing the new skills is all that stands between “never shot a rifle before” and success on a coke can at 100yrds.