Shooting
Shooting is the ultimate life-saving and potentially life-taking self-defense skill. Guns arm those who want to defend themselves and others against murderers.
Skilled shooting is both an internationally competitive Olympic-level sport and the decisive factor in armed conflicts from home invasions to military invasions.
Related Ideas: [Gun Control], [Gun Rights], [Gun Safety], [Competition], [Recreation], [Violence], [Anti-violence], [War], [Peace], [Crime Prevention]
Related Games: America's Army teaches marksmanship in a realistic qualification scenario where you must hit 36 out of 40 targets to qualify for sniper training.
Factors: Dexterity, Training, accuracy, range, recoil, moving
SKILL FACTOR
There are a number of skills to master for accurate shooting.
Sight Alignment
The first step to shooting a target is aligning your sights with it. Open iron sights require eyes capable of great depth of field. Focus rapidly changes between rear sight, front sight, and target. Young, strong eyes are best able to manage these optical gymnastics.
Breathing Control
Breath control is important for accurate long-range shooting. When you are aiming with your sights, your breathing will naturally move your rifle around. You will breathe in, pause, then breathe out. When you breath in and out, the weapon will usually wobble upwards and downwards. Now here’s the really important part: For maximum accuracy, shoot only while holding your breath at the ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ of the breathing cycle. Your sights will wobble less during this part of the cycle, and it will be the only time your weapon will be accurate at longer ranges.
Trigger Control
Gently squeezing the trigger without anticipatory flinch or shifting the weapon ensures that sight picture is maintained as the shot is fired.
Range Factor
The farther away the target is, the more difficult it is to shoot accurately. Different weapons and ammunitions have different accurate ranges. The further the target is away, the worse the negative shooting factor.
Target Range Estimation
Knowing the distance to your target is essential for accurate long-range shooting to account for factors like gravity, wind and leading. It also lets you judge how accurate your weapon will be before you shoot. Many scopes have marks that can be used to measure relative distance. Laser rangefinders are also used for this purpose.
Target Acquisition
With a ranged weapon, you can shoot at any target you can see. A target is in line of sight if it is not totally covered by obstructions such as structures and people. Between you and the target.
Maximum range for a thrown weapon is five range increments. Some specific ranged weapons have shorter maximum ranges as specified in their descriptions.
Leading Moving Targets
To hit a moving target, you may need to lead your shot according to the velocity of your shot and the range of the target.
Shooting While Moving
Shooting on the move is even more difficult than shooting a moving target but it gives you a much better chance of dodging return fire against another shooter.
Melee Attackers Too Close
It is difficult to use a firearm against an adjacent opponent who is striking or grappling you, unless that opponent is helpless. The striker may disarm you or just hold the weapon pointed away from them.
Game Simulation of Shooting
Shooting accurately from a distance with a ranged weapon requires coordination, steadiness and practice. On a successful shooting chance against a target’s dodging chance, you can hit the target with a shot from your weapon such as a gun or bow.
Shooting % = luck(1-100%) + dexterity + skill – range – posture – recoil – weapon nonproficiency – cover & concealemnt – target's dodging +- other factors
Target Dodging Chance Factors
The target’s dodging chance incorporates a number of factors including movement speed, awareness, cover and concealment. See the Dodging skill description.
Preparing Aimed Shots
Taking time to carefully aim a shot can increase your chance to hit. Aiming gives a +10% shooting chance but you can only move at a walking speed while aimed. You can aim multiple consecutive seconds for maximum accuracy (up to your dexterity bonus). If you shoot more than once per second (semi-auto, autofire or otherwise), only the first shot is aimed and recieves the bonus. Aimed shots at motionless targets get double the benefit (+20%).
Automatic Misses and Hits
Shooting almost always has at least a 1% chance of missing (1% luck) and a 1% chance of hitting (100% luck). A natural 100% is also a critical risk.
Recoil factors
Shooting a powerful firearm causes the weapon to recoil backwards and upwards, disrupting your aim and ruining the accuracy of your subsequent shots until you can regain control. Automatic weapons have the worst recoil, because each shot fired in rapid succession reduces accuracy dramatically.
Posture Factors
Stabilizing your posture increases your accuracy and absorbs recoil.
Crouching
+10% Shooting While Crouching +10% shooting, –10% recoil reduction.
Crawling Prone
+20% Shooting While Crawling +20% shooting, –20% recoil reduction.
Using a bipod or tripod can double this.
Stance Factors
Shooting a rifle from a shouldered posture is more accurate.
Hip Shooting
Two-Handed Shooting
A two-handed grip is more accurate than one hand and absorbs recoil better.
Two Weapon Shooting
Shooting two weapons at once is possible but it isn't as easy as Jon Woo makes it look.
Shooting Damage
When you hit a target with a shot, you deal damage according to the type of weapon and ammunition (see technology/weapons). If your attack chance matches or beats the target’s dodging chance, the attack hits, and the weapon deals damage. The appropriate damage risks for the weapon apply.
Weapon Damages
Many ranged weapons like firearms have a number of features that combine to determine how much damage is dealt. For example, a light submachinegun with subsonic ammunition deals the submachinegun’s base 40% piercing damage –10% for the light caliber –5% for the subsonic ammunition. If the same wepon was loaded with explosive ammunition, it would deal 40%–10% +10% for the explosive ammo, or just 40% on balance.
Range Reduces Velocity
For each 20% of its maximum range a shot travels, it loses about –10% strength.
Minimum Weapon Damage
If penalties to damage bring the damage result below 10%, a hit still deals 10% stun damage. Only armor can eliminate damage completely.
Critical Hits
Critical wounding from shooting works just as it does with Striking (see previous skill description).
Missed Shots Go Astray
In most cases, when a shot misses, it lands somewhere out of sight. Accounting for every miss is of interest only to crime scene investiragors and simulation programmers. Occassionally though, it may be important to know where a stray shot goes.
Ricochets & Shrapnel
Straying Shots
A bullet that misses its target may hit an innocent bystander directly or ricochet and land somewhere unexpected. A grenade that overshoots might still land close enough to hit its target with a blast. At these times, a missed shot may strike an unintended target. Determine the path of the shot with this simple formula.
Shooting Cover
If a shot misses by a margin of failure equal to or less than the percentage of cover, the cover is struck instead the target. Do not include cover percentages when determining the degree by which a shot strays. See the dodging skill above for more information about cover.
Shooting Into a Fight
If you shoot at a target that is fighting, you suffer at least a –20% shooting chance because you have to aim carefully to avoid hitting the wrong target and if your shot misses by an equal margin of 20% or less you hit the target’s opponent instead.
Hostage rescue shooting skill reduces this penalty to –10% but still runs the risk of hitting the ally if the shot misses.
Miss Direction
The shot might deviate in a direction as random as the spin of a pencil on a table.
Miss Distance Off-target
Simulation: The deviation from the target might be a function of the target’s range from the shooter multiplied by 1/10 the percentage by which the shot missed.
Missing And Overpenetrating Shots Pass The Target And Keep Going
Projectiles like bullets that miss or overpenetrate pass by or through the target and continue until they hit the ground or something else. The direction determines if the shot passes on either side above or below the target. A line can be drawn from the shooter to the point a certain distance away from the target and continuing on past.
Simulation: If something else is in its path, they are struck instead unless they succeed at a Dodge chance against the shot at a +20% bonus.
Throwing
Shooting skill and dexterity makes it possible to hit targets with throwing weapons like grenades, baseballs and knives but their range is modified by the throwers’ strength advantage or disadvantage.
Missed Throws Scatter
Grenades and other dropped weapons scatter by a distance in a random direction away from the target.
Throwing Hand Grenades
Drawing a grenade, arming it by pulling the pin and throwing it takes time.
Overarm throws can pass over obstacles and land behind cover. Underarm throws can be dropped under obstacles like furniture. Grenades can be bounced around corners. Grenades can be tossed through openings like open windows and if thrown hard enough through glass.
For example, a gunman fires a rifle at a target behind partial cover. The target’s dodging chance is 80% including +20% cover. The gunman’s first shot chances 90% which hits. His second shot chances 70%, which misses the target and strikes the cover (20%) instead. His third shot chances 30%, which misses completely.
The shot missed by 30% without cover. The shooter is 100m from the terrorist, so the shot misses by 3m. The direction of the miss chances to be 90 degrees right of the original shot, 3m directly to the target’s right. Drawing a line between the shooter and a point 6m right of the target, it is found to point directly at an innocent bystander. The civilian rolls Dodge against the shot (DC 18) and scores 19, getting out of the way in the nick of time.
Blindfiring
You can fire at targets without seeing them directly, but your chances of missing or hitting unintended targets are overwhelming. Blind fire can be directed around corners, over walls, under cars while standing, etc. but several penalties apply. You suffer an automatic –80% shooting chance. Recoil penalties are doubled. You cannot use a shoulder stock to absorb recoil when firing the weapon away from your own body. Stray shots deviate twice as far. Blind fire is inaccurate but effective for supression.
Weapon Malfunctions
Firearms are explosive machines prone to malfunctioning. Different weapons have different risks of malfunctioning but most have a 1% chance each shot (natural 2% roll). A malfunction can be caused by a number of different circumstances and identifying the cause of the malfunction is crucial if you are to have any chance of resolving it before it is too late.
Ammunition Failures
Sometimes it is not the weapon but a poorly manufactured round that won’t fire or a misloaded magazine that won’t feed.
Jamming
The round is jammed in the chamber and must be cleared before the weapon can fire. Clearing a jam is normally a one second retriable 70% shooting risk. Procedures vary from weapon to weapon. Weapon malfunction is 5% more likely to repeat until the weapon is cleaned.
Automatic Runaway
Fully automatic shooting is more likely to jam (each shot runs the risk) and malfunctions are 20% likely to runaway rather than jam. The autofiring trigger sticks and the weapon fires out of control, wasting ammunition quickly. Halting a runaway is a one second 90% shooting risk. Hang Firing?
Cleaning
Cleaning a firearm requires an appropriate kit and 1-10 minutes of time. Failing to clean the firearm regularly will degrade reliability. A weapon that fires 5000 rounds without cleaning will suffer –20% accuracy.
Ammunition
Shooting generally consumes ammunition and keeping track of how much ammunition is still loaded and carried is important. Reloading and ammunition features are described in the Weapons chapter.
Facing and Strafing
Whereas most action games have only one facing controlled by the mouse, real people can twist their upper body to face to the left or right of their legs. They can run in one direction and fire in another. Sidestepping is allowed but at a slower speed. Siderunning is when you actually run while facing to one side and shooting. This presents a smaller target profile but can expose gaps in the sides of armor.
Weapon Proficiency
There’s an old saying, “Beware of the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it." Every gun is different and you must practice with the guns you use to be comfortable with their specific operational characteristics.
Close Quarters Maneuverability
Long rifles and shotguns are difficult to maneuver in tight spaces and can be disarmed and taken away from you more easily than short pistols.
Conclusion
Concentrate on proper technique. Never rush a shot. With diligent attention these routines will soon become second nature. Target acquisition, steady hold, and trigger control techniques can be executed smoothly and effectively even in “panic” situations. Mastery of these basic principles will result in confidence in your ability to hit even fleeting targets.
Reloading
Reloading time depends on the magazine style and requires a spare hand unless the weapon is hanging from a sling in which case you can let go of the trigger to reload if necessary.
Speed reloading is worth learning to decrease the time you spend unarmed.
Magazine carrying systems like mag pouches and mag pulls expedite the reload process by making reloading easier to do without taking your eyes off target. In a combat situation, preopening a mag pouch's velcro or buckle lid save you the trouble of opening it when you really need it.
Loading Magazines
Magazines must be loaded with rounds. Storing loaded magazines will not wear out the springs.
Dropping mags and inserting fresh ones is fastest, but it leaves behind precious magazines that should be reloaded and not left lying around.
Weapon Accuracy
Sig P220 fires 2-3” groups at 25 yards.
Gun Safety
Cocking Chambers The First Round
Remember, guns do not start cocked. You must cock them in advance if you want to use the quick draw later on. http://www.spw-duf.info/longgun.html
Shotgun Dangers
One aspect of the shotgun which is often overlooked is the wad which follows the shot or the slug out of the barrel. At close range it can do damage, which calls into question those who claim that you can safely perform hostage-rescue shots with a buckshot-loaded shotgun at close range.
The column of buckshot leaving an unmodifed shorter barreled shotgun will stay together for a little past one meter, after which it tends to spread approximately one inch per meter. This means that most shotguns have trouble keeping all the pellets of a standard nine-pellet 00 buck load on a stationary, police silhouette target, faced squarely, past 15 yards.
Concealed Carry Laws By State
Concealed Carry Quick-Draw Holsters
Like any carry system, if two hands are required to draw the gun, you can get seriously injured if the second hand is busy doing something else when you need the gun. http://www.spw-duf.info/holster.html
Wash Hands & Gloves Of Lead
Lead is a safety hazard so it is important to wash your hands and gloves after shooting to best avoid contact or ingestion.Required Equipment
In this type of carbine, the advantage is usually more an ergonomic than a ballistic one. Most people can place shots more accurately under stress with a shoulder weapon than with a handgun.
Long guns frequently offer ergonomic advantages as well. Most people can hold a shoulder-stocked firearm, which has an additional point of support at the shoulder, steadier than they can hold a pistol. Because the steady support of the long gun is usually the most critical component of its practical accuracy, many people find no disadvantage when they switch the long gun to the shoulder of their non-dominant side, as that leaves the dominant hand supporting most of the gun’s weight. This is useful if you have to fire from the non-dominant side of cover.
Combat Shooting
"Nobody rises to the occassion in combat. You sink to your level of training."
—On Combat by Lt. Col. David Grossman
There are psychological and physiological changes the body undergoes during that stressful period known as combat. See David Grossman's 'On Killing' and more importantly 'On Combat', the soldier's bible Pt. I and II.
Gunfights are different from shooting practice
There is a big difference between practice and combat shooting. As much as possible, practice the way you will fight. In a gunfight there will also not be time to (1) put on shooting glasses or (2) insert ear plugs. These are range safety procedures.
Full Auto Shooting Stance
Shooting fully automatic bursts while controlling recoil takes training and technique. The shooting stance to use is as follows:
- Bend over and touch your knees.
- Slightly bend knees.
- Put your one foot (non firing hand side) a few inches ahead of the other.
- Square yourself to the target.
- Stick your ass way out.
- Keep your head level and both eyes open.
- Bring your weapon slightly off the centre of your body to whatever firing hand side you use.
- At rest the weapon sits at 45 degrees. While firing, it is level.
"That's all. Sounds simple, right? Go ahead and try it. It isn't comfortable at all. Especially when you are wearing a helmet, flack vest, tactical vest, a shitload of clothes, and supporting a loaded weapon. Its manageable for a little while but then you feel it in the muscles like I am right now."
—Saryet
Educational Stuff
http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/educational.htm
Misfires
Guns misfire. Some are more reliable than others, but there are a number of misfires that can occur: magazine misfeeds due to bad magazines or ammunition magazine misfeeds due to improper insertion double chambering cook off
Clearing Stoppages: Tap Rack Bang
Pistol doesn't fire? Go to Tap, Rack, bang. Roll and do the analysis tomorrow when you've time to think about it. Drop the magazine and insert a fresh one if it still doesn't fire. Keep moving while this is happening. This drill must be practiced many, many times to become a drill that can (and will) be done without thinking. Add it to every practice session. But do this only at the range, as it requires live ammo. http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/edu2.htm
Squibs
it takes longer to clear squibs: firmly seat the magazine or (2) forget to change magazines or (3) completely close the slide "Unless I hear some sort of abnormal report, I will have performed the Tap Rack Bang before the thought of a squib has crossed my mind."
Moving Target Shooting
To hit moving targets you must lead them slightly by aiming a bit ahead of their path. How much you lead depends on the range and how fast the target is moving.
Precision Shot Calculation
A shooter uses mathmatical precision to calculate all factors affecting a shot into a resulting sight offset.
Position Factor
Getting comfortable and steady prone and braced with bipod Very long high-capacity magazines may interfere with prone position. Prone supported uses only bipod and bone support because muscle use shakes the sight.
Support Factor
bipods and tripods are ideal. horizontal and vertical surfaces like walltops and corners can be used. field-expedient bipod: sock full of sand.
Trigger Control Factor
Inexperienced shooters tend to flinch from anticipated recoil by tensing, moving their body forward, flinching and jerking the trigger. Squeeze the trigger smoothly when the target is in the correct part of the sight by relaxing and placing your finger as low as possible.
Smoking Factor
Smoking or coughing can compromise your position. Temporarily abstaining from smoking may cause nervousness that interferes with accuracy. Don't smoke and shoot.
Observer Factor
Having an observer to calculate sight adjustment and observe your shots can help you fire more quickly and improve chances on subsequent shots by +5%.
Breathing Factor
Time the breathing cycle such that you hold your exhaled and inhaled breaths for a few seconds during which you can shoot most accurately.
Recoil Factor
If a weapon recoils too much it will disrupt your sight picture, forcing you to reacquire a target.
Eye Relief Factor
You must get a proper sight eye relief to use the scope accurately. Heavy goggles and masks may interfere with a proper eye relief.
Stock Weld Factor
A shoulder stock should fit your body size comfortably and be held properly.
Sling Adjustment
A properly adjusted sling wrapped around your supporting arm can help absorb recoil.
Wind Factor
Winds are a factor because they drive the bullets off course. You must estimate wind and compensate for it.
Use minutes of angle to compute this formula:
( RANGE divided by 100 Velocity (mph) ) divided by ( 11 to 15 )[depending on 1000: 11,900: 12,700-800:13, 600:14, 100-500:15]
Multple Winds
Sometimes there will be more than one wind speed between you and the target.
Mirage Factor
Mirage is a way of estimating wind.
Conditions FACTORS
Wind reduces accuracy, especially for low-speed high-drag projectile weapons. Small and light bullets like 5.6mm have triple the wind drift of the 7.62mm (NATO?).
Angle
Shots from above or below a target affect trajectory.
Distance Factor
Range estimation is essential to computing all the factors that affect a shot and calculating appropriate holdoff.
Altitude Factor
Thinner air drags the bullet less. Warmer temperatures and higher altitude shots drop less over distance.
Temperature Factor
Thinner air drags the bullet less. Warmer temperatures and higher altitude shots drop less over distance. Generally, a difference of +20˚ or –20˚ F compared to the zeroing temperature means 1 minute lower or higher.
Humidity Factor
+/– 20˚ humidity causes –/+ 1 minute of impact.
Weapon Maintenance
Maintain an log book of how many rounds are fired to replace the barrel after 5000 rounds.
Zeroing Factor
A sight must be zeroed to shoot accurately. Zeroing or "sighting in" is based on the conditions at the time. Record the temperature, altitude, range and wind the rifle was winded for. When shooting in its original conditions, the rifle is zeroed perfectly and no holdoff is necessary. When shooting in different conditions, you must calculate the difference and use an appropriate amount of holdoff to place the shot accurately. A zeroed sight can be adjusted for windage(horizontally) and elevation(vertically) knobs.
Holdoff
If you cannot align your sight's windage and elevation, you must aim a certain holdoff offset away from your crosshair to hit the target. Measure in mildots and minutes.
Offset Factor
The amount by which
expanders stopped by clothing http://www.theboxotruth.com/docs/bot8.htm
In most RPGs, damage is a concept that unites injury with object destruction.
Injury
Macrodamage Different types of injuries are dealt with realistically, with a simple shadowrun-like "status" summary. Eg. Dead, dying, internally bleeding, bleeding, broken, scarred, dismembered, immobilized, stunned.
Microdamage
Specific injuries are accounted for, eg. broken nose, fractured
potentially fatal
internal organ damage
fatal
heart lungs
instant death
Central Nervous System (spine & brain) hits to the central nervous system cause instant death or paralysis.
Instructions on shooting postures