• FireTower@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    pulls out range finder from ~130 yards away. Proceeds to miss 7/8 shots completely on a 6ft3" 240lb man from the prone.

    • scops@reddthat.com
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      4 months ago

      He was a 20 year old kid who knew he was seconds away from death, who had just scared off a cop who had come up the ladder after him. I’m not sympathetic for him, but I could understand him being jittery and missing. Paper and clays don’t shoot back. It’s not true practice.

      • ikidd@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Yah, jesus, I get shaky just lining up a nice sized deer still, and I’ve been hunting for years. And I don’t have anyone breathing down my neck and 30 seconds to shoot.

        The fact he just barely missed with a shitty AR-15 at over a hundred yards is a minor miracle.

    • CTDummy@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      Didn’t the first shot only miss because Trump turned his head? After the first one you’ve got to deal with recoil/nerves.

      • monsterpiece42@reddthat.com
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        4 months ago

        I think it’s easier than you think, especially from prone and especially if you have any previous experience, which I assume the shooter did.

        Here’s a page out of a US military training manual to get an idea of how “wide” the front sight looks on a human size target. And remember, Trump is considerably wider than these silhouettes.

        • OutsizedWalrus@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          I’ve shot rifles. It’s not hard to do at a range after you’ve dialed yourself in.

          It’s a lot harder to pull off on the first shot under pressure on a hot roof.

          • monsterpiece42@reddthat.com
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            4 months ago

            Yeah I guess that’s a fair point.

            And at the end of the day, it was clearly difficult for him, or he wouldn’t have missed so many times.

      • FireTower@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I didn’t hear anything suggesting he used irons, that’d be a very odd choice. Most modern ARs don’t come with irons or an optic and you can get red dots much better than just irons for under $200.

        And irons would decidedly be harder but 100 yards still is very achievable by a novice who follows fundamentals.

        • OutsizedWalrus@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Sorry, in this case I’m referring to no magnification. Your right that’s there’s a bunch of things that could be sights without it being irons.

          The photos and media speculation seem to suggest that there wasn’t a scope.

          ——

          I still don’t think this is as easy as people make it out to be. Yes, a novice could put a tight grouping downrange - but could they do that on their first shot, on a hot metal roof, with adrenaline pumping.

          I know it typically takes me a few rounds at the range to get dialed in.

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Apparently, he tried to join his school’s rifle club but was rejected for having terrible marksmanship.

        • scoobford@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          I’m not commenting on whether that’s true or not, but it isn’t how it works in the south. If you want to play high school soccer or whatever, you have to quality by doing well in middle school. Some places, middle school is competitive enough to warrant tryouts.

          Extracurriculars are also rapidly getting more expensive. Too many parents want to pretend their kids are in the NFL or NBA or whatever.

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          ¯⁠\_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ I’m just relaying what I read in the news. I agree that it’s dumb for a club (as opposed to a competitive rifle “team”) to be like that, but it’s allegedly what happened nonetheless.