"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Matt Barrow wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Capt.Doug wrote:

"John Galban" wrote in message
Amazing! Hitting a target in a moving airplane at several hundred
feet with a pistol! The odds are pretty slim. Military pilots call
that the "Golden BB". That one lucky small arms shot that, totally by
chance, ends up occupying the same area of space as the plane.


I dunno, I go shooting with a .44Mag revolver w/ 12" barrel and scope.
A
Cessna at low level wouldn't be so hard to hit.

D.



I shoot a Super Blackhawk (no scope) and I think hitting an airplane at
100+ yeards and 80+ MPH would be a pretty mean feat. You'd have to lead
just right, etc. I tend to think the "golden BB" moniker is pretty apt.



It's be tough for a novice, but not for someone who's even a fair
marksman.
You'd have to hold only about 10 feet in front of it (130fps for the
150@80MPH, 1400fps (?) for the .44 Mag round). Five feet in front would
just
about put the impact at the front of the cockpit.

Well, I'm a pretty fair shot, but this isn't easy even for a marksman.
Judging 10 feet isn't trivial at that distant and this presumes that you
know the exact speed and distance to begin with. Not many people can
hit a running deer at 100 yards with a handgun and that is a much slower
target.

And much smaller.

Think of the shot: if he would have held just in front of the prop, he'd
have hit the cockpit. A novice that knows you have to lead a moving target
at all would probably lead just in front.

We hit MUCH smaller targets moving at a corresponding speed in Sporting
Clays all the time, at up to 40 yards.

It does bob up and down a little which adds to the challenge
though!

Yet hunters do it all the time, with rifles AND pistols.


It these shots were as easy as you suggest, then the military would use
single-shot AA guns and save a lot of ammunition. Unfortunately, the
sniper's motto doesn't apply to shooting at aerial targets.

Context, please. Military AA guns don't fire at targets at 100 yards doing
80MPH. More like 1000 yards and several hundred MPH. And AA is now
radar/heat seeking.

Matt
The other Matt