Apparent Target Size

[Johnny Longpants]

After reading the thread on providing target style (big/close vs small/far) I wondered how one would characterize what is big and close vs small and far so I setup an Excel sheet to give me relative comparisons between target plate size and distance.   I found it helpful so I am sharing.  The calculation is based on the angle subtended from the point of view of the shooter as a target of given size is moved outward.  Using a few common plate sizes (14", 16" and 24") you can see how moving the plate away from the shoot reduces the effective size to the shooter.  The table shows angles in degrees.  So if your gun is pointed more than half that angle away from "straight at the target" you will miss. 

 

You can see then that a 14" plate at 5 yrds is pretty much the same as a 16" plate at 6 yrds and a 24" plate at 9 yrds.    Setting at 5 yrds is about twice as "easy" as setting at 10 yrds.  In other words setting at 10 yrds requires your angular deviation when firing to be half of what you are allowed at 5 yrds.

 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

Serious question:

Does this mean that a shooter of a certain degree of Proficiency at a 14" plate at 5 yards will

still have that same Proficiency at a 24" plate at 10 yards?

 

Proficiency means speed and hit percentage.

 

..........Widder

 

[Doc Shapiro]

59 minutes ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Serious question:

Does this mean that a shooter of a certain degree of Proficiency at a 14" plate at 5 yards will

still have that same Proficiency at a 24" plate at 10 yards?

 

Proficiency means speed and hit percentage.

 

..........Widder

 

 

That depends on what's going on between the ears. 

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

1 hour ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

Serious question:

Does this mean that a shooter of a certain degree of Proficiency at a 14" plate at 5 yards will

still have that same Proficiency at a 24" plate at 10 yards?

 

Proficiency means speed and hit percentage.

 

..........Widder

 

Actually, speed wise, the further out the faster one can shoot a string if the arrangement of the targets are identical.

 

Less movement from one target to the other...ya know

 

Phantom

 

 

[Ozark Huckleberry]

It’s also useful in other ways, and you can think of it in terms of MOA (minute of angle) — rule of thumb is 1” = 1 MOA at 100 yards.

 

At 8 yards, a 16” plate is roughly 200 MOA. 

 

At 2 yards, 200 MOA comes out to about 4”. 

 

So I can tape 4” targets on the wall 6 feet away for dry firing practice, and have about the same visual presentation as 16” plates at 8 yards. 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

4 hours ago, Doc Shapiro said:

 

That depends on what's going on between the ears. 

 

Exactly, Doc.    I wanted the OP to see that a simple equation on paper doesn't translate to

shooters performance in an actual stage scenario.

 

..........Widder

 

[Red Eye Jim]

4 hours ago, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

Actually, speed wise, the further out the faster one can shoot a string if the arrangement of the targets are identical.

 

Less movement from one target to the other...ya know

 

Phantom

 

 

 

Well you could fix that with relative target placement.    (Spread the far one apart a little further...)

 

 

[Phantom, SASS #54973]

53 minutes ago, Red Eye Jim said:

 

Well you could fix that with relative target placement.    (Spread the far one apart a little further...)

 

 

No practical reason for doing that...so...