Have you ever fired a machine gun or bump fire rifle? People who have never fired a machine gun think that all you have to do is point it in the general direction and mass killing will happen. At 400 yards a slight movement in the barrel will throw the shots off by yards at the target area ... generally shooting high and punching holes in the sky.
Yep. US Army basic training Fort Polk, LA Nov 1971 - Feb 1972. We had to fire an M60 for familiarization. We also were trained with automatic fire from the M16 at night fire days so we could do that and get familiar with tracers at the same time. As for your point about the range, I measured the target area to be around 350,000 square feet at a distance of 750-1500 feet at a downward fire of 15 to 25°. I have not fired a weapon with the Bump Stock because I absolutely have no need for it. I hated the M16 because I could not feel confident in hitting 300 meter targets. I subsequently took my annual re-qualifications with an M14 and loved it. In addition to my handguns my baby is a National Match MiA with a bipod and a scope.