Target Ideas needed for 50 yard shooting

[DanWalker]

Hey guys. I'm in the process of doing some 50 yard accuracy testing of various alloys(Per 44mans advice) and am having a heck of a time with the 3" orange target dots I'm currently using. What are you guys using? I'm just unable to get a precise aiming point with my iron sights at that distance.

[dubber123]

A 2.5" Black bullseye on a LARGE piece of white paper is my favorite for iron sights.. I adjust my sights so it groups below the bull, so I can't see whats going on with the group until it's over. Good luck.

[AzShooter]

4" dot for these old eyes and I aim at 6 O'Clock with the front sight just toughting under the black dot and equal white on both sides. Gives me the best groups.

[Bret4207]

I'm half blind. I find a "V" in a contrasting color works for me. Squares and circles just don;t cut it anymore. I aim at the bottom of the "V".

[44man]

As my eyes get older I find a three dimensional target of some kind really helps. Tape something up and adjust sights to not hit it.

[45 2.1]

What target can you see well at what distance? Take that target and scale it up to the distance your useing. You will see the same sight picture you normally use by doing that.

[Calamity Jake]

I like the NRA slow fire 50 yard pistol target, I don't remember the #.

Also look at the NRA SR21.

[fecmech]

Bullseye is a precision game and guys have been clustering neat little groups in the 10 ring with irons for one heck of a long time. Pistol open sights are a very course sighting arrangement and I think the standard 50 yd bullseye center fits best for open sights.

PS 50 yd centers are B6C targets

[frank505]

The NRA Bullseye targets are hard to beat, I also like the blue targets from Denver Target.

[BarryinIN]

The dollar stores sell saucer-size paper plates in the party supplies section that I use. They are around 7" diameter and I get 22 in a package for a buck. That's a fairly good size and price.

[healey55]

I use stick on 3" shoot and see's in black. I stick em on regular paper and put two of those (one on top of the other) on a standard (for my range) cardboard.

The three inch bull is small enough for me to have something to aim at and the paper is good to write on and put in a binder later with the data.

[cptinjeff]

Sometimes I find that if I don't put the "aiming" place it helps. Such as shooting a paper plate with no dot or a plain piece of paper. Your eye will center the sights on the center of the target. I find I wobble less shooting for the middle of a target than shooting at a square/circle in the middle of the same target. Just another option to try, and yes, I know it sounds counter intuitive. You just have to find the right size target with no center for your range. I find a plain piece of letter sized paper is good for 50 yards.

[OutHuntn84]

Get ya a thin sheet of scrap ply wood or thick card board and go pick ya out a few choices of colored duck tape and make your own! I take a brown and make a 3'x3' square with it and take a silver and make a cross across it and then take a red and rip it in half long ways and put a smaller cross in the center of the silver cross. So ya got red on silver on brown. Best thing about it after you shoot just rip off lil squares of duck tape to cover the holes ( duck tape on duck tape sticks goood ) and if ya want you can even write on your lil square which shot group it was. With the selection of colors you can really make a good contrast of colors YOUR eyes pick up on and you can customize the disign to what fits YOUR needs. :Fire:

[Doc Highwall]

For a post or blade front sight I like the target to appear as wide as the front sight it helps in sight alignment.

[GabbyM]

For my eyes orange is hard to see the edge of. Black on white seams to be more clearly defined.

At are varmint rifle matches the chicken eggs at 200 yards are easier for me than soda cans turned on end. The cans are shiny like looking at a light bulb. No where to center the cross hairs.

[gray wolf]

Darn men --we are getting old--but having fun Eh.
At 20 yards I can still see a 1 inch shoot and see dot. ( thank goodness )
But the standard irons on my Springfield are very blurry, If I had the loot I would just have it scoped and be done with. But that ain't gonna happen so I do the best I can with what I got left. I do go along with the old--aim small miss small--so I shoot the smallest target I can see.
I run them off on the puter--6, 2 inch circles to a page of stiff paper. I then put a 1" black or red dot in the center ( shoot and see stick on ) or magic marker.
As the distance gets greater, the target needs to be a little bigger for me to get the same or near same results.
Shooting at 7 yards or ten yards has become less of a challenge for me as I get more proficient at the greater distance.
There are so many mind games we can play on ourselves with different kinds of shooting practice. I guess it depends on what kind of skill you are trying to perfect.
50+ yards for hunting, 7/10/ 25 for defense, multiple targets, double taps.
It's all fun and one day you show up and WA-La there is an improvement.
I am happy knowing I just made it there, EH. Some days the shooting is a plus.
Sam-----------Edit to say " I am happy to be able to just answer these posts "

[Larry Gibson]

Upside down "T" is the best for me. The leg and cross bar are 2" thick for 50 yards and 1" thick for 25 yards. Very easy to set the upside down T on top of a standard partridge sight sight picture and keep it squareed. The upright leg over the front sight blade keeps it centered. The size of the T and how thick it is can easily be adjusted to your sights. The bare should appear the width of the rear sight and the upright leg should appear as wide as the front sight blade. Easy to make and very accurate to use.

I think I learned of it many years ago from reading Bill Jordan, Charles Askins or perhaps Skeeter.

Larry Gibson

[MtGun44]

OK, Larry just beat me to it. I agree exactly; 2" thick upside down T for 50 with open sights.
Easy to make on computer and print on paper, then Xerox up a bunch.

Works better than any other 50 yd pistol open sight target I have tried. Second place is
a black triangle about 3-4" on a side, point down, on white. Aim at the bottom point. I find this
best at 25 yds.

Bill

[DanWalker]

OK, Larry just beat me to it. I agree exactly; 2" thick upside down T for 50 with open sights.
Easy to make on computer and print on paper, then Xerox up a bunch.

Works better than any other 50 yd pistol open sight target I have tried. Second place is
a black triangle about 3-4" on a side, point down, on white. Aim at the bottom point. I find this
best at 25 yds.

Bill
BRILLIANT!
Can't wait to get home and try these ideas.
Gotta wait a week to try them.

[dbldblu]

I have been using a 4" square, will have to give the triangle and the T a try.

[healey55]

I have to agree with 44 man on the 3D thing. I never shot at ranges much until lately and am not thrilled with my groups. I find it is hard to hit a 3" bull at 25 yard but if I see a stick on the berm that is an inch or so I can break it into splinters with a shot or two.

I don't know why that is but it just is.

[35remington]

I will third the idea of the inverted T.

The horizontal crossbar gives a positive index of elevation, and the vertical crossbar allows you to center the slghts correctly. Since front/rear sight alignment is so critical with iron sights this configuration gives you the best confirmation that things are as they should be before you pull the trigger.

[bbailey7821]

Upside down T, with 3 inch wide lines. Works well on my 10 inch bbl SBH.

[markinalpine]

:Fire: Print your own :Fire:

Here are a few websites with PDF files for downloading, or with links to more target sites, or both:
http://www.targetz.com/
http://www.varmintal.com/atarg.htm
http://www.protargets.com/targets/index2.htm
http://www.mytargets.com/
http://www.angelfire.com/ma3/max357/targets.html

Mark :coffeecom

[BD]

As I get older the thing I find that helps with any iron sights at ranges over 25 yards is to take a roller and some white paint and put a fresh coat of white primer on the backer board, then staple up black targets, whether they are dots, circles or t's. I paint right over whatever is there. I spent a lot of time shooting at large black dots over the years. And, I can generally still hit them if I can see them. Unfortunately with my eyes these days an 8" black circle @ 200 yards can easily get lost in the background clutter and shade if it's not on a fresh white background.

The other thing I do is bring a can of safety orange spray paint for the gongs at 200 and 300.

BD

[Mk42gunner]

I like to use black target pasters on a sheet of typing paper. One works well at 25 yards for iron sights, or at 100 yards for scope use. At 50 yards I put two side by side.

Whatever you shoot at, you need to be able to clearly define a spot to put your front sight, then focus on the front sight.

Robert