• cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Question: As a non-American and therefore with no gun or weapon knowledge, what is the range of riffles or commonly available guns that one could buy off a regular gun shop?

    • DragonTypeWyvern
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      5 months ago

      He used an AR-15 which in theory is accurate to about 300m for a proficient shooter, but amateur shooters shouldn’t really expect more than 100m. If he hadn’t fallen for the marketing campaign he’d have just used a deer rifle and probably gotten the bastard for half the cost.

      That all said, a lot of rifles have theoretical effective ranges that only apply to top marksmen, so anything would have worked if he’d had a steadier aim, but that’s easier said than done.

      • mbfalzar@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 months ago

        My basic training was with an M16A2 manufactured in the 80s and after a couple hours and ~100 rounds of practice I could group center with iron sights at 500y (457m) and that’s functionally the same gun. Effective range for an AR-15 should be the same 600y(550m) as the old M16s from the 70s and 80s, extended to ~1000y (914m) with extra training, better sights, and a match grade rifle

      • Hotzilla@sopuli.xyz
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        5 months ago

        He probably also aimed for the head, which is way smaller target than body, especially in this case. In military training was mainly to shoot to body, because it really doesn’t matter in combat.

    • Cobrachicken@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Depending on how the gun was configured/chambered, and weather conditions, I think it’s quite hard. Also considering he probably only had shooting range experience, and was a kid under heavy stress.

      Also not American, but at roughly the same age trained on the HK G3, which uses a bigger caliber and longer barrel, under simulated stress conditions could hit a target at about 400m reliably. After intensive training, and “hit a target” does not necessarily mean a headshot, but somewhere on the body. We were explicitly told to aim for the biggest mass, not fanciness.

      I think that shooter was misguided in many ways, and also by advertising, as already mentioned in this thread.