SHOOTING AT AND HITTING AERIALS WITH P&S

A challenging and fun way to hone your shooting skills at home, is to use an airsoft pistol to shoot at empty pop cans tossed up in the air.

Of course, it only should be done in your garage, and only if doing so is "legal" where you live.

It also is a simple way to measure just how effective any given shooting method is for Close Quarters use.

If you can consistently hit small rapidly moving aerial targets at Close Quarters with a shooting method, you also should be able to hit much larger and stationary or slower moving targets in Close Quarters situations.

So the question is: How many aerial targets in-a-row do you think you could hit using your method of shooting with an airsoft pistol, and on a consistent basis?

0 - 2 - 4 - 6 - 8 or more?

I found that it is not easy to hit cans tossed into the air using an airsoft pistol, and even at 6 to 10 feet.

However, after a fair amount of practice, I can "consistently" hit 4+ cans in a row, and even more at times. For example, I recently hit 10 in a row, and then 11 in a row.

Because airsoft BB's can go all over the place, I put together a simple and cheap shooting bay to help keep them in one area.

The bay consists of 3 old sheets that make up back and side drops. See the pic below. Another sheet and two fluffy bath rugs were used as a BB catch basin. Small alligator clips were used to "stitch" the sheets together.



Note the 2 boxes in the pic that are used to hold up a board with cans on top of it. One grandson uses a spring airsoft gun and thinks shooting the cans off of it, is great fun.

To hold the pop cans for tossing, I use a small box that is placed on top of the old step stool shown in the photo. I place it back from the bay and by my weak hand, so I can easily grab one can after another, and toss them up. The speed of the cans, and their distance, height, and direction varies with each toss.

The stand from which the target and pop can are hanging was cobbled together with some "old" pieces of pipe, and some fittings and duct tape. Hangers or wires and alligator clips can be used to hang targets.

As any type of shooting can be dangerous, always use safe gun handling practices.

Also, WEAR EYE PROTECTION and suitable clothing. Recently, a BB hit my glasses and hard.

DO NOT TRY THIS WITH A REAL FIREARM.

After I had been practicing about 1 hour per day for a week, I made a video in July 2006. I hit the first 4 cans, and I believe one out the last two also was hit. You could hear a sound when a can was hit (clank or wonk), but they didn't move much.

The time for making a shot, was .2 to .3 of a second, as I tried to keep all shots below the top of the flannel sheet used as a back drop.

In Oct, I thought that I should try again, and hit 7 cans in a row.

Watching it, it is clear that there is no time to align/use the sights, or even get a flash sight picture.

All there is time for is to point at the target and pull the trigger.

Here is a pic of one of the pistols used. I used it sometimes, and another one, at other times. Both are "airsoft" BTUG -161 made by UHC and purchased from Blazing toys in CA http://blazingtoys.com.

Note that the aiming aid is positioned so that when I grip the pistol, which has a big fat grip, the web of my hand will be up against the inner most part of the back strap, and my index finger will be pressed against the aiming aid. That assures index finger and barrel alignment.

I cut off part of the trigger guard and added a trigger extension to make it easy to pull the trigger with my middle finger. I would prefer to use a gun as is, but then I don't design or make them.



As a general point of interest, after receiving a new gas airsoft gun in 9/06, I tried it out shooting at pop cans tossed into the air and in its stock configuration (with no changes to the trigger guard or trigger, and without an aiming aid attached).

I shot 2 strings of 9 hits in a row on pop cans which I consider to be pretty good.

So I asked myself, "Why do you need the aiming aid since it is obvious, that you can shoot and hit small aerial targets using Point Shooting, and without the aid?"

I answered myself with: "Well a "real" gun will be jumping and bucking in your hand when you are shooting multiple times and fast, so anything which can help you mechanically, naturally, fast, and accurately aim and shoot is still a good idea."

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