I\u2019ve been aware since I was a junior shooter that the sights sit above the centerline of the barrel, and if there are obstacles between gun muzzle and target, those obstacles can stop the bullet. I was firmly reminded of it in my worst of ten stages in a shooting match last Sunday. The stage was titled \u201cEscape From Haiti\u201d by the creative designers of the Florida State Sunshine Games IDPA match held at Central Florida Rifle & Pistol Club\u2019s welcoming range in Orlando. Since it was deemed too dangerous for shooters to fire from the back of an actual moving truck as they ran a gauntlet of \u201carmed looters,\u201d the targets were arrayed across a broad space, some of them 25 yards from the shooter, and the contestant had to leap onto a board supported by heavy springs to simulate the movement of a \u201ctruck.\u201d It felt more like shooting while standing on a raft in high seas. Firing across an arc of almost 180 degrees at half a dozen targets, many partially obscured to represent them being behind cover, the shooter had to engage three of them over a high wooden wall in front of the bouncing platform that represented the truck\u2019s cab.<\/p>\n
Well, when I got done, cleared, and unloaded (and checked for seasickness), a review of those six targets showed four of them hit solidly \u2013 and two, in the center, missed cleanly. The big green dot of the fiber optic front sight of my S&W Performance Center Model 625 revolver had been on target each time the hammer fell, the rolling shooting platform notwithstanding. I figured it out as I walked back uprange after scoring. Atop the wooden \u201ctruck cab\u201d wall behind which I\u2019d fired were two distinct bullet dings. The sights had been high enough that the gun below them obscured the fact that the wood was in line with the bore. The round-nosed full metal jacket 230 grain bullets from my Remington-UMC ammo had hit the wood at 845 feet per second, deflecting upward enough to barely pass over the heads of the targets, according to observers.<\/p>\n
Live and learn. In a famous police countersniper incident, a cop on a roof had to take a shot from some distance behind the parapet. His crosshairs were comfortably above the edge of the wall, but his .308 rifle\u2019s barrel wasn\u2019t. The bullet hit the wall in a puff of concrete dust, instead of the gunman it was aimed at. Fortunately, the police rifleman spotted the hit through the telescopic sight, bolted another round into the chamber, and got back to business. One wonders how many deer hunters have tried to thread a bullet through a tangle of branches and into some venison, only to end up saying, \u201cHow could I have missed that buck?\u201d Very likely, the same syndrome at work.\u00a0 Those who use AR15s and M4s, whose sight planes are considerably higher than their bore planes, need to pay particular attention to this. I didn\u2019t, and it cost me a huge point loss. Compared to a police marksman on a roof \u2013 or a fighting American in Iraq or Afghanistan \u2013 I got off pretty cheap from the mistake.<\/p>\n
Live and learn.\u00a0 Live long enough, and you forget and get reminded.<\/p>\n
Shooting from replicated bouncing truck. Top edge of wooden structure at left is below line of sight, but level with bore, and in a moment…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
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