Quote Originally Posted by Beetlegeuse View Post
Another sketchy "world record" shot (but this time with a pistol)

Retired ICE Special Agent Victor Avila went really long recently, setting a new distance record for pistol shooting. Avila hit a steel target out at 2,010 yards....

This happened about two weeks ago but I'm just hearing of it. Not a lot of details available but he was shooting an obviously highly customized O-frame Colt in 10mm with a telescopic sight and a brace. The target was 36"x36" steel so at least that much is "kosher." But he wasn't shy about mounting the brace to his shoulder, which calls to question the basis of the claim that this was a "pistol" shot (when SBR is closer to the truth). And although they make a big to-do about not using a bench rest, he does appear to be leaning against the door of an SUV for stability. Some of the reports state that it was a 90-minute shooting session but there's no mention of how many boxes of ammunition he went through before he rang the target.

Plus the whole set-up was sponsored by the manufacturer of the brace, which is a collapsible unit meant to be worn on a policeman's Sam Browne belt.



That must be a 600 MOA scope rail. At least. And yes, he has his cups on backwards.

Actually, it reminds me of the (800MOA) micrometer-adjustable scope rails the guys ginned up in The Quest for the Two-Mile Prairie Dog.



No, that isn't distortion from parallax, that really was an 800-MOA scope rail.

These are screen captures from the target camera video:


The one on the left shows the bullet in flight pre-impact. There's no way to tell from this image for certain (the camera appears to be below the center of the target, and 'fish-eyeing' at the edges of the target shows it was quite a wide-angle lens) but judging from the perspective of the bullet I think it's safe to say the fall line was well beyond 45°, maybe 60° or more. More like a mortar round than a bullet.

The image on the right is the very next frame. The mark on the left is the point of impact. The dot on the right is the ricocheting bullet (which looks to have "bit" on the target and is bouncing slighty upwards).

A highly edited video of the shot is here.

I'm inclined to call bullshit on this one. It's a commendable feat, and spotting in particular had to be a pain in the ass because subsonics leave no trace. But (in my humble but unerringly accurate opinion) there's too much mincing of words as relates to to shooting terminology and "rules" about what constitutes a "world record" for this one to have any credibility. What's to stop me going out into the Bonneville Salt Flats and shooting a Thompson Contender pistol chambered in .220 Swift straight up and claiming my target was the third rock from the sun? And I can prove mathematically (backed up by time of flight) that the bullet traveled more than a mile before impact, and if I can manage to find the bullet that's pretty indisputable proof that I hit my target (even if it wasn't witnessed). With rules as loose as these, how does that not make me the new record-holder?
Even if it wasn't bullshit (which you're probably right it is), he still cheated so much with the scope, the brace and leaning that you can't honestly say that's a pistol shot.