Who/why--100 yards?

[Willyp]

I often have wondered who decided a weapon should be tested at 100 yards for accuracy??? Any one know why?
I had time to do some wondering,we were surround by flood waters for a couple of days! I am sure glad we live on a hill!

[crabo]

That's all most public ranges have available? Average 30/30 distance? We are used to looking at a football field?

[perotter]

Really it should be 110 yards. As the US was is measured in rods & 100 yards doesn't work out well with rods.

My family's private range is 110, 220 & 440 yards. That's where the fence rows are.

[161]

Haven't heard that measurement for years. Dad who is 89 would give distance in rods. Lot of the old farmers used it but you don't hear it around here much anymore. The younger guys I work with wouldn't have a clue what a rod is.

[Jim]

FROM THIS SITE (http://www.gloverfamily.com/docs/landmeasurements.htm).

Surveying Measurements
1 yard = 3 ft = 0.9144 meter
1 rod, perch, or pole = 25 links = 16.5 ft
4 rods = 1 chain
1 chain = 4 rods = 66 ft = 100 links
10 chains = 1 furlong
1 link = 1/100 of surveyor's chain = 7.92 inches
25 links = 1 rod = 16.5 ft
100 links = 1 chain = 66 ft
1 furlong = 10 chains = 1/8 mile = 220 yards = 660 ft = 201.168 meters
8 furlongs = 1 mile
1 mile = 80 chains = 320 rods = 1,760 yards = 5,280 ft = 1,609.344 meters
league = 3 statute miles = 4,828.032 meters

[darkroommike]

100, 200. 300 yard distances simplify calculations of MOA. Minute Of Angle is roughly a 1-inch circle at 100 yards.

[Blammer]

hmmmm

[Larry Gibson]

MOA is based on a circle of which the radii is not relevent. Regardless of the radii a MOA is still a MOA. The radii will effect the width of the MOA but a Minute Of Angle is still a Minute Of Angle.

Larry Gibson

[357 Voodoo]

MOA is neither meters or yards its a measurement of angle. The use of distance is used in the calculation of the angle.

60 seconds in a minute
60 minutes in a degree
360 degrees in a circle

[frnkeore]

Franklin Mann (The Bullets Flight) did all his testing at 100 yards. His #1 reason was that all testing could be gaged againt other loads and for experimemtal testing that simplifys things and you can directly compair your accuracy BUT, if you test at 100 and shoot at 200, they may not correlate. I was caught out twice by that. I still start my developement at 100 but, I finish it at 200, the yardage that I shoot in competion, before I shoot a match with it.

It's twice as fast to walk to the 100 yard line though :)

Frank

[TXGunNut]

I'm guessing convenience and practicality. It's far enough to determine if a rifle or shooter is going to be accurate but not too far to walk & post targets. Some folks can even see boolit holes @ 100 yds.:bigsmyl2:

[Char-Gar]

Football field?

[zomby woof]

First number with triple digits and it's a nice number.

[para45lda]

:hijack:

From what I could find it may come from the earliest matches in England. Wimbeldon had matches of 200 yards.

Creedmoor started at 800 but I could presume shorter ranges for younger shooters or possibly (gasp) women.

Found a cool link for anyone interested in a little history.

http://riflemansjournal.blogspot.com/2010/04/history-story-of-creedmoor.html?m=1

Wes

[Bret4207]

I don't know why or who, but I know that Ned Roberts and a lot of the old timers used rods. Our roads are based on rods IIRC. A 2 lane road is supposed to be (used to be) 1 rod wide. Ya know, for that matter, a foot was the measurement of some long dead Kings foot. Why use some guys foot for a distance? Who knows? A grain was the weight of one grain of wheat from an ancient type of wheat the probably isn't even grown anymore. IIRC railroad track width is based on the distance between Roman Empire wagon wheels. It's what we're used to, don't over think it.

If you really want to mess with your head, consider that we apply value, sometimes immense value, to slip of paper that isn't even big enough to wipe your butt with and has that much real value. Why do we consider gold or diamonds valuable? Can't eat them, they're hard to find, limited use. If you start thinking about the why of things, sometimes you end up questioning the why of EVERYTHING and it messes your whole day up. BTDT.

[bcp477]

Because you GOTTA pick something......and 100 is a nice, round number ! Does it have to be more complicated than that ?

As for rods.......I broke mine years ago.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...... :)






Philosophically speaking..... I really don't care.

[mousegun]

100 yards is convenient because:

It's far enough to show shooter/firearm accuracy without worrying about windage and mirage so much.

I allows a target with one inch markings to be used to adjust sights for MPBR with standard drop tables.

One inch at 100 yards is a close approximation to a one MOA click on a sight knob.

With my 33 inch gait I can pace 100 yards off with 110 brisk steps and be within three feet of the mark.

100 yards allows reasonable cease fires to check targets at the local public range. Ever notice how long it takes the guys shooting at 200-300 yards to get back across the yellow line?

100 yards is the longest range I can shoot a center fire pistol and not look totally stupid.

It's close enough to 100 meters (109.36 yards) to ignore for practical purposes.

Longer than 100 yards requires serious glass to see target holes.

Using rods takes at least an HP50 calculator just to get sight adjustment numbers. Metric ain't much better.

Only question I can think of is why anyone would want some other distance. Except the French, and look at the mess they're in.

[45 2.1]

MOA is neither meters or yards its a measurement of angle. The use of distance is used in the calculation of the angle.

60 seconds in a minute
60 minutes in a degree
360 degrees in a circle

1 MOA = 1.0471976" at 100 yards(twice that at 200 yds...etc.). This is based on the Tangent of one minute of angle. This holds true regardless of distance.

[greywuuf]

now should we get into mils ? and the two version in common usage ?

[bigted]

I often have wondered who decided a weapon should be tested at 100 yards for accuracy??? Any one know why?
I had time to do some wondering,we were surround by flood waters for a couple of days! I am sure glad we live on a hill!

gotta chime in here. i don't know bout anybody else but i started out in the shooting game almost a lifetime ago and what i started doing was hunting. i could see very well at 100 yds and when i needed to test my guns i used this yardage to sight em in at....primarily i used open sights and almost without exception the ani-mules i shot were well inside 100 yards. i learned the important talent of stalking a animal to deliver my shot with fast death to be the end results. this again with open sights.

now we have way more shooting done with high power scopes...[ me included since my ol eyes went south and i came north]. the scope powers now allow pretty precise shooting out to at least 200 yards. so the yardage has changed for hunters as the equipment evolves...same thing has happened since the beginning of time....new equipment = longer distance for engagement.

just my 2 cents worth...im waiting for change from my 2 penny's...lol.

i still have open sighted guns and enjoy shooting rocks...cans...jug fulls of water...and occasional target.......but when the target is game i now relie on my scope guns for the humane shot that still is and always will be...to deliver a very fast death for the game hunted.

[madsenshooter]

Silly guys, everyone knows a rod is for fishing!

[selmerfan]

One Sunday morning before church the wife was getting the roast ready for lunch before they left. Her parents were visiting that weekend and her mom offered to help in the kitchen. The wife got the beef roast out of the fridge, set it on the cutting board and cut both ends off, threw them in the garbage, set it in a large pan, then covered it with foil. Her mom looked at her a little funny and said, "Dear, why did you cut the ends off of the roast and throw them away?" She replied, "Because that's how I saw you get a roast ready for the oven." "Oh honey, we couldn't afford a bigger pan, so I cut the ends off to make it fit in the pan we had!"

We do things because the people before us did them. Look at some of Ben's posts - he groups at 80 yds, what's wrong with him? I think that's the available distance of his range...

[scb]

I often have wondered who decided a weapon should be tested at 100 yards for accuracy??? Any one know why?
I had time to do some wondering,we were surround by flood waters for a couple of days! I am sure glad we live on a hill!

Is there something else you'd prefer?

[G. Blessing]

At some point it was probably the MPBR (maximum point blank range) of all rifles, on average... the range at which common cartridges/loadings had a minimum of drop/rise.

personally, its as far as i can see an average game animal(deer/elk/moose) clearly enough to identify it, and safely hit it with open sights/no binos etc... might have something to do with that originally too.

G.

[HiVelocity]

I guess that we can come up with almost anything to provide an answer here regarding the 100 yard standard.

I was told by several "experts" (lol!) many years ago that the rifle manufacturers were the ones who set up the "standard" of 100 yards. They were faced with testing their rifles with the applicable ammunition for both accuracy and advertising purposes.

Allegedly, on a golf course somewhere in Massachusetts, several manufacturers got together and since they were used to playing golf; set the standard of "100 yards".

Not real sure I believe this, yet, I've heard worse stories on various topics that happened to be fact, not fiction.

BTW, the ammo manufacturers new "standard" for centerfire cartridges was established at a "4" group at 100 yards in any rifle of that caliber. If it shot into this standard, it was released as acceptable for hunting.

Just my $.02 worth.

HV

[Ed in North Texas]

now should we get into mils ? and the two version in common usage ?

Haven't used mils since I was in an Artillery unit. Shooting on a different order of magnitude (M-110 Howitzer). :coffeecom

[badbob454]

I'm guessing convenience and practicality. It's far enough to determine if a rifle or shooter is going to be accurate but not too far to walk & post targets. Some folks can even see boolit holes @ 100 yds.:bigsmyl2:

my vote is with this post , thats why i like the 100 yard targets

[rhbrink]

now should we get into mils ? and the two version in common usage ?

Lets get into mils, and what is the two version?

[greywuuf]

Links at the end:

A "mil" is supposed to be a "Miliradian" and being that a radian is an expresion of angular measurement that is derived by using a formula containing Pi.... an approximation has to be used.
Further when artilery adopted miliradians they used an approximation of a radian, and depending on who your are depends on which aproximation you use, it boils down to how many mils are in one full circle.

A NATO circle has 6400 IE: 1 mil = 1/6400
a mathematicians circle has 6283
Formerlly in Russia and Finland 6000
and Sweden with 6300

Finland and Sweden have either recently or will soon change to the NATO standard.

realize that in theory a "mil" is no more accurate than the MOA ( as applied by shooters) they are about close approximations, in practice it is usually good enough

and a few quick links to help illistrate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_mil

I have not had to think about that since I was involved with 3d terrestrial mapping. ( GIS)

[Bill Torzsok]

My missus tells me that a rod is what you hang curtains from.

[Northface37]

I cannot speak for everyone however I am an avid gun hunter from WV. Our terrain is mainly rolling hills or mountains as some call them (nothing compared to Rockies). But none the less I have always chosen to sight my rifles in at 100yds due to the fact that with the given bullet trajectory of the 30.06 (which is what I use) I will be able to put a kill shot on a deer from 0-300 yds. Now in terms of MOA as several others mentioned previously, I know that your accuracy at 100ys is targeted towards 1 inch. Iapologize if this sounds elementary and repetitive but when firing 3 shots all 3 shots should be within that 1 inch area. Thats just how I have always come to look at it and where I kind of set the bar/ target range for myself.

[44MAG#1]

One "mil" rounded is 3.600 inches at 100 yards. Thats it. It is simple to figure. No dilly dallying around.
This is used in trajectory formulations etc. along with inches such as in the JBM trajectory program.
No need to complicate matters.

[Artful]

I don't know why 100 for rifles but my guess would be it's the farthest distance most would compete with 22LR and the shortest with highpower rifles on a range and it's a nice round number and a good brisk walk.

[GH1]

I don't know why or who, but I know that Ned Roberts and a lot of the old timers used rods. Our roads are based on rods IIRC. A 2 lane road is supposed to be (used to be) 1 rod wide. Ya know, for that matter, a foot was the measurement of some long dead Kings foot. Why use some guys foot for a distance? Who knows? A grain was the weight of one grain of wheat from an ancient type of wheat the probably isn't even grown anymore. IIRC railroad track width is based on the distance between Roman Empire wagon wheels. It's what we're used to, don't over think it.

If you really want to mess with your head, consider that we apply value, sometimes immense value, to slip of paper that isn't even big enough to wipe your butt with and has that much real value. Why do we consider gold or diamonds valuable? Can't eat them, they're hard to find, limited use. If you start thinking about the why of things, sometimes you end up questioning the why of EVERYTHING and it messes your whole day up. BTDT.

It's my understanding that gold was considered valuable from ancient times due to it's appearance, ease of workability, and corrosion resistance.
As far as diamonds go, in my opinion they are the greatest snow job of modern times. They're not rare by any means, but rather the cartel that owns 75% of the worlds diamond mines releases a very limited amount annually, creating artificial demand. When you combine that with the fact that women love them for their appearance and men as a rule are always eager to please women, you get ridiculously inflated values.
GH1:smile:

[btroj]

Why 100 yards? Why not? It seems to be a common range distance. I am sure that at some point someone decided that was a good distance for some sort of competition but who knows why. I suppose I could ask this- does it matter why?

[hatman]

Back when we were setting this thing up, I told them that was as far as I was gong to walk to set up my target and it's been that wayever since.

Gene

[caseyboy]

Because it is half way to the chickens??

[wills]

FROM THIS SITE (http://www.gloverfamily.com/docs/landmeasurements.htm).

Surveying Measurements
1 yard = 3 ft = 0.9144 meter
1 rod, perch, or pole = 25 links = 16.5 ft
4 rods = 1 chain
1 chain = 4 rods = 66 ft = 100 links
10 chains = 1 furlong
1 link = 1/100 of surveyor's chain = 7.92 inches
25 links = 1 rod = 16.5 ft
100 links = 1 chain = 66 ft
1 furlong = 10 chains = 1/8 mile = 220 yards = 660 ft = 201.168 meters
8 furlongs = 1 mile
1 mile = 80 chains = 320 rods = 1,760 yards = 5,280 ft = 1,609.344 meters
league = 3 statute miles = 4,828.032 meters


You forgot varas.

[helice]

Most folks my age don't want to walk much farther than that packing anything as heavy as a staple gun.
The distance seems to make sense for rifles like the 44-40 or 38-40.
As a boy I was most impressed by the sound of it. Older hunters said "A hun'ert yards." Now don't that sound impressive.
And to add to the nonsense of measurements - An acre is a rod wide and a half mile long. Now who thunk that one up?