100 yard shooting standard

[farmbif]

It seems that a standard range for shooting is either 100 yards or 100 meters.
does anyone know the history of this?
was it begun during naval battles, such as the 1588 British attack on Spanish ships in English Channel where the British Admirals ordered all ships to fire upon the Spanish at 100 yards so the cannon would have devastating impact on the Spanish wood gallions of the era?
the English used 50 pounders at 1000fps at 100 yards

[Wayne Smith]

I have no idea but here in the East generally a 100 yard shot at a deer, rabbit, or anything else is usually the maximim. Unless you are shooting over a bean field or something like that for a longer range, but usually 50-75 yards is the common range.

[farmbif]

exactly, the 100 yard shot. most ranges are set up for at least several 100 yard lanes for practice.

[Bent Ramrod]

I seem to recall that archers used to have their contests at “100 English yards.”

An early matchlock arquebus would be pretty challenged at that range.

[memtb]

We zero our big game hunting rifles @ 300 yards. Conveniently, we have a 300 yard range in the back yard! :D I guess that I could sneak a bit closer! :wink: memtb

[Mk42gunner]

Personally, I think the 100 yard standard came about as we as a nation forgot about measuring in rods (16.5 feet). Barbed wire is still sold in 80 rod rolls, which equals 440 yards or ¼ mile. Therefore 20 rods equals 110 yards.

I thought about this years ago when I was reading some of Elmer Keith's old articles were he mentioned how a rifle grouped at 110 yards. I didn't really think he was an early convert to the metric system, then I read that he had experience surveying, and I think at that time they were still measuring in chain lengths (no idea how long that is).

Robert

[AZ Pete]

a chain length, as used in surveying, is 66 feet. Ten square chains is an acre.

[Hick]

and... many older military rifles have sights with settings in increments of 100 yards (100 meters for European models). For example, the sight settings on an M1 Garand are 1, 2, 3, 4... corresponding to 100 yards, 200 yards, etc. Most Mausers had similar numbers, corresponding to hundreds of meters. In all these cases, 100 was the lowest setting.

[country gent]

The old smooth bore military muskets were thought effective to 60 yds. For many years the gold standard was MOA at 100 yards for rifles. With the optometry and rifles with iron sights 100 yds was a long ways not counting the rifles and ammo of the day. It was also much easier to make a 100 yd range, a long with setting up and using, each time you checked targets it was a 200 yd walk.

[poppy42]

Personally, I think the 100 yard standard came about as we as a nation forgot about measuring in rods (16.5 feet). Barbed wire is still sold in 80 rod rolls, which equals 440 yards or ¼ mile. Therefore 20 rods equals 110 yards.


Robert
Kinda Explains why a roll of Field fence is the Length that it is 330’. Based on how old English measurements of rods and acres. Never really thought about it till I read your post

[M-Tecs]

I know of very few 100 yard only ranges in the Midwest or West. Most are 200 yard minimum with 300 yards being very common. The only standard I am aware of is the MOA which is 1.047" at a 100 yards so lots of people shot at a 100 yards to test the MOA claims. Other than that I am not aware of 100 yards being standard??? For SD handguns 25 yards and under is standard as is 50 yards for 22LR rimfire. For Bullseye Pistol it's 50 yards.

[megasupermagnum]

I have never been to a range that didn't have a 100 yard target. Annandale, MN target range is 100 yards (technically about 92 yards since they moved the berm). Cokato MN (rainbow sportsmen club) is 100 yard standard. Staples, MN public range is 100 yards. Alexandira, MN gun club is 100 yards. Aberdeen, SD range is 100 yards.

There's no history behind it, what else would it be? It sure wasn't going to be 129 yards. I guess I can understand 200 yards, but not everywhere has that much space. Just about anywhere with enough room to build a range can go to 100 yards, and that's all there is to it.

[Outpost75]

The 100 yard range was based upon volley fire with muzzleloaders and has little application to modern arms beyond that in trying to build police and militia ranges in built up areas, that was the longest distance which could be had with reasonable ease given the land available. It was also a common sporting distance going back to the black powder era.

In the traditional military doctrinal sense, anything less than 200 yards was considered "short" range for rifle and carbine, 300 yards was "mid-range" 600 yards "full" range and 1000 yards "long" range, going back to the days of the Trapdoor .45-70 and the Krag.

Cavalry men in the west after the Civil War were expected to hit an 18 - inch barrel head at 200 yards with the Trapdoor carbine and out to 100 yards with the .45 Single Action Army revolver when firing rested over the saddle of a bedded down mount.. Indeed, that us why most 19th Century military arms shoot high with the issue sights, because troops were told to hold on the belt buckle inside 200 yards and to hold center of mass beyond that. Battlesight zero with the ladder folded down on the Krag or '03 Springfield was about 450 yards, and with the Infantry Trapdoor 200 yards and the Cavalry carbine 150.

[M-Tecs]

In the traditional military doctrinal sense, anything less than 200 yards was considered "short" range for rifle and carbine, 300 yards was "mid-range" 600 yards "full" range and 1000 yards "long" range, going back to the days of the Trapdoor .45-70 and the Krag.



Very true. That being said the NRA (if I remember the date correctly) changed the 600 yard to mid-range in 2014. Since then NRA Mid-Range (Prone) High Power Competition is 300, 500, and 600 yards. I haven't been following it closely but there was talk of creating an extreme long range class for past 1,000 yard.

A little history on the change

https://www.mrra.org/disciplines_midrange.htm

MID RANGE EXPLAINED
There have been several questions about the new mid range course. As your hard working HP chairman I have attempted to get those answers. I will try to pass on what I have learned and explain some of the possibilities & combinations of shooting this course; but first, a short history lesson.

TODAY'S HISTORY LESSON

Until about the mid 90's everybody had 1 high power rifle classification. This one classification served for everything, over the course, 1000 yard, 4 gun 600, Palma, standing, service rifle. The NRA, at the request of shooters, agreed that prone shooting was clearly different than over the course so they created the LONG RANGE classification. Long range was defined as prone matches fired at 600 yards and beyond. Six & five hundred yard scores fired in conjunction with over the course matches were not used toward your LR classification. Only scores fired in 600, 800, 900 and 1000 yard matches such as 3 gun or 4 gun 600's, 1000 yard and Palma were used in this system. As it developed, scores fired at 600 were averaging higher than those fired at 1000 or in Palma matches. This was partly due to the fact that there are very few ranges to practice and compete in 1000 yard and Palma shooting. Conversely there are a lot of 600 yard ranges and lots of 600 yard competition. Also by its nature Palma and 1000 yard are more difficult even without the handicap of fewer opportunities to shoot these longer distances. Wind and flag reading skills are more critical at 1000 yards. The bullseye has a different perspective on the 1000 yard target. This requires different aperture settings on the front sight. The result of this was that most shooters earned their long range classification shooting at 600 yards. When these 600 yard shooters shot Palma and 1000 yard most were disappointed that they were not shooting the same class scores. Many said the heck with it and gave up Palma and 1000 yard while others wrote to NRA about the problem. NRA listened and created the new mid range course for those who do not have access to Palma ranges. So now you have the opportunity to shoot two different competitions with two classifications in prone slow fire.

ON TO THE GOOD STUFF

Since the prone scores at 3-5 & 600 are generally a little higher, the NRA decided to increase the percentage averages for each class in the new mid range course. You will now have to shoot 1.5% higher for each particular class. For example high master long range requires a 97% average whereas high master for mid range will require a 98.5%. This means you will need to average 444 out of 450 for high master on the standard mid range course; and 788 out of 800 in the 4 gun 600 events.

The basic course of fire is 2 sighters and 15 shots for record in 22 minutes at 300, 500 & 600 yards. The course can be fired with any suitable prone rifle and with iron sights or any sights. Suitable rifles or cartridges can be AR15's through 338 Winchester single shots and everything in between that you normally see on the high power range. The program will state any limitations such as iron sights or any sights. See my editorial at the end of this article regarding cartridge limits. The NRA will keep national records for individuals and teams in this event at registered matches.

Very few clubs have firing points at these three distances. Fortunately the good news is that there are many variations in this mid range competition. For example the 4 gun 600 we all know and love is a mid range match. Those will continue just as in the past at most clubs. A 4 gun mid range can now be fired at 500 yards on the MR65. At this time (December 2006) the Northstar Rifle Club in Red Wing is the only Minnesota club that has firing points at the 3 distances to shoot the so called standard mid range match of 15 shots each at 300, 500 & 600 yards. Northstar has several mid range events scheduled for 2007.

VARIATIONS

Here are some possible combinations of mid range competition. At Northstar I am planning on the 45 shot mid range with iron sights. This will be followed by a 20 shot string at 600 with iron sights followed by a 20 shot string with any sight for a total of 85 shots. This could be done in reverse with any sight allowed in the first 2 and irons in the last 20 shot match, but I'm going with mostly irons. If your club has only 300 yards you can shoot a 4 gun (20 shots each) just like the olden days of 4 gun 600. It would be fired on the MR63 and could be set up with all irons, all scope or half and half. If your club has only 500 yards it's the same as 300. You can also shoot 1 iron and 1 scope at 300 followed by 1 each at 500 or 600. If you have only 3 and 500 you can shoot the 15 shot each range with two 15 shot strings at 500. I would guess that fired this way would not count toward national records. You can shoot 2 scope matches at 300 and 2 iron matches at 5 or 600 or reverse.

[facetious]

I had always heard that it was because one inch at a 100yd's was one minute of angle.

[waksupi]

I had always heard that it was because one inch at a 100yd's was one minute of angle.

But it isn't!

[Mk42gunner]

a chain length, as used in surveying, is 66 feet. Ten square chains is an acre.

Good to know.

Floating around in the semi-useless trivia folder in my head, I had a recollection of 66 feet being called a cable length for purposes of naval gunnery in the days of sail.

Robert

[jonp]

a chain length, as used in surveying, is 66 feet. Ten square chains is an acre.

I remember when I was cruising timber we used chains. Rods, Chains... all seemed odd to me and why the metric system is much better but I won't do the metric, I'd rather learn rods, chains, hogsheads, and so on.

[jonp]

a chain length, as used in surveying, is 66 feet. Ten square chains is an acre.

1 Acre = 1 chain (66ft) x 1 Furlong (660ft) = 10sq Chains

The original acre I've read was the area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day similar to 1 Horsepower being the amount one horse could move 550lbs 1ft in 1 minute.

[AZ Pete]

1 Acre = 1 chain (66ft) x 1 Furlong (660ft) = 10sq Chains

The original acre I've read was the area a yoke of oxen could plow in one day similar to 1 Horsepower being the amount one horse could move 550lbs 1ft in 1 minute.

a furlong being 10 chains.

10 square chains is 1 chain x 10 chains which is 43,560 square feet, which is an acre.

I learned this in Forestry school, and surveying and cruising timber sales. The "chain" was pulled through the woods, with a lead chain man and followed by a tail chain man, adjustments were made for slope, and oddly the modern "chain" is a steel tape, usually two chains long with a tail, if memory serves....it was over 50 years ago that I used that skill.

[jonp]

a furlong being 10 chains.

10 square chains is 1 chain x 10 chains which is 43,560 square feet, which is an acre.

I learned this in Forestry school, and surveying and cruising timber sales. The "chain" was pulled through the woods, with a lead chain man and followed by a tail chain man, adjustments were made for slope, and oddly the modern "chain" is a steel tape, usually two chains long with a tail, if memory serves....it was over 50 years ago that I used that skill.

It's been 30yrs since I cruised timber in AZ, UT and ID so my memory is kinda dim on these things. I didn't survey so didn't measure things like that. We had our points set and used a compass to get the direction of the next one then aerial photo's to confirm the location. Kinda interesting and the photo's were good enough to pick out individual tree's in detail.

[JSnover]

If the OP is asking why 100 yards became a standard increment it might be as simple as 100 paces. As in, when you didn't have a chain or any other measuring equipment handy you could pace off 100 'yards' and call it "close enough."
A 'correct charge' of black powder used to be enough to almost cover the ball in the palm of your hand. Close enough back then.

[GregLaROCHE]

Sight in at 100 yards makes it easy to calculate boolit drop at longer distances.

[waksupi]

If the OP is asking why 100 yards became a standard increment it might be as simple as 100 paces. As in, when you didn't have a chain or any other measuring equipment handy you could pace off 100 'yards' and call it "close enough."
A 'correct charge' of black powder used to be enough to almost cover the ball in the palm of your hand. Close enough back then.

For me It takes 120 paces to make 100 yards.

[BrutalAB]

Without any research into the matter, i assume its because we like 1's and 0's
And 10 yards is fairly useless for measuring a rifle, and 1000 yards is a bit beyond most peoples skill level.

Also have a theory that maybe 100 yards or so is where a standard 20/20 vision will give you a pretty clear idea of the intent of the object in your sights.

Just thinking out loud.

[wv109323]

I think it is 100 is a nice round number and that should be approaching the maximum distance of aging eyes and open sights common to hunting rifles for an effective shot on large game. I think 100 yards became the standard before rifle scopes were common.
Feet and yards became the common increment of length measure over rods, phathoms , cubits, and others. We have lumber in 2"X4" and 4'X8' sheets of plywood. 8 foot ceilings and such.
So I think bullet trajectories became calculated in yards as opposed to any other unit of measurement in the USA. Therefore knowing bullet velocity and BC you can calculate bullet drop at any yardage desired.
All trajectories from manufacturers in the US are calculated in yards.

[M-Tecs]

Again I agree that 100 yards for rifles is commonly used but don't believe common use and a standard are the same. Most handgun ranges are 50ft, 25 yards or 50 yards. Handgun Silhouette is shot at 50, 75, 150, and 200 yards. The medium size calibers, Field Pistol, mainly comprise straight-cased pistol calibers and are shot at 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. The smallest caliber, Smallbore, is for .22 LR and is shot at 25, 50, 75, and 100 yards. Post round ball military rifles generally had minimum sight settings of a 100 yards and much longer as max.

Lots of ranges are in meters also. 100 meters is 109.36133 yard so it's almost 9.4% different.

For most rifle hunting application 100 yards is an easy sight in distance that has merit at 200 yards or a little further.

It's also easy for gun writers with one inch groups at 100 yards. Beyond that I don't see 100 yard as a standard and it not even close to being the gold "standard". For a lower cost public or a private range 100 yards is adequate nothing more.

[Outpost75]

For me It takes 120 paces to make 100 yards.

We were taught 6 paces to 5 yards using the Ranger beads....

[AZ Pete]

the "military step" is 30 inches as practiced while marching in formation. Thus 6 steps is 5 yards.

At least that is what I recall being taught one very hot, humid day at Ft. Polk, LA 50 os so years ago.

[pworley1]

It just makes things simple.

[JSnover]

I wonder how practical "100 yards" was way back when the first recognizable guns were developed. Maybe the max effective range, might have been about that far but I don't know if "yards" existed as a unit of measurement back then.

[JSnover]

For me It takes 120 paces to make 100 yards.

Same here, I just don't know if 30" was a 'standard pace' at the time.