Sharp Shooter Vanity

none | today | Me

[Vor Lady]

All of you FR shootists, I have a question for you: Would it be possible/likely to INTENTIONALLY graze a man's head without killing him, shooting at night in a wind, with no scope using an 1870's rifle? Supposedly the person making this shot was a Civil War trained sharp shooter. The target is moving into the light of a wind blown campfire when he is shot. I say this is hard to believe. Can any of you shooters give me your two cents? Oh, this is fiction for a western someone is writing.

[CJ Wolf]

sure, you can. It’s fiction.

[Vor Lady]

I checked the Misc, Vanity box but this looks like it is in News/Activism. Can you please move it?

Thanks!

[Red Badger]

YEP! TIS POSSIBLE!.........

[jdm]

Only vanities of this high-caliber (har, har) get to stay in News/Activism. :O)

[krb]

Anything can happen, once.

[Old Sarge]

Sounds to me like the target’s guardian angel retired his wings after deflecting THAT one...

[CholeraJoe]

I don’t believe that even a trained sniper with a night vision scope would attempt that shot. The margin of error between missing, grazing and a bloody mess is entirely unacceptable.

[bill1952]

I have added “banglist” to your keywords.
The idea is preposterous.

[Wisconsin]

Range?

[squarebarb]

I think it is entirely possible.

First, what kind of a rifle is he using? If it is the 1870’s it is probably a Spencer. They were fairly accurate.

Secondly what is the range? A Spencer’s range was about 400 yards.

‘By the light of a campfire’. Is it a big campfire throwing a lot of light? In fact a campfire would help outline the victim. If the victim is not wearing a hat that would be even better as hair lights up in that kind of light.

If the shooter is a sharpshooter he has lots of experience and knows his weapon and could easily do it.

So there. If you need more information Google ‘Civil War guns’ there is a mine of information.

[Hot Tabasco]

Would it be possible/likely to INTENTIONALLY graze a man's head without killing him

I'd say its possible but I wouldn't want to be the living target for the person practicing the shot.........

[JWinNC]

You don’t mention range/distance, but regardless that is pure fiction.

jw

[Hegemony Cricket]

[ElkGroveDan]

Sounds like a job for Mythbusters!

[Condor51]

In short — No.

[Vaquero]

Whats the range.....at close range with a real sharp shooter its possible....

....one of my favorite things to do is to sit on my 2nd story deck with my kids bb-gun and shoot the heads off of dandelions (shoot through the stems) which proliferate in my back yard....

this is at around 25 feet max...

(ps I am in possession of 2, 1873 Winchesters circa 1880’s...they shoot pretty well too)

[absolootezer0]

need more info, like distance, wind direction, moon phase, and exactly how close you want the graze.
also, 1870’s rifle? a sharps might do it, but i doubt anything else would.

if you want it to whistle next to his ear, no problem.
if you want to blow a hole thru his hat, no problem.
if you want it to make contact.. that’s really iffy.

[Yo-Yo]

It depends a whole lot on the distance involved. If you clamped the rifle into a bench rest so it absolutely could not move, you would still have enough variables (minute changes in powder charge, bullet weight, wind, barrel fouling, etc.) that you could not do it at 100 yds. At 10 yds, maybe.

A modern hunting rifle will have a five shot group of about 1" at 100 yds from a Ransom (clamped) rest. That's the difference between missing and killing.

However, how much more likely is it for TV cops to drop a bad guy from 100 yds with a snub nose .38 Detective Special? Suspend disbelief and enjoy the story.

[Tijeras_Slim]

No.

Most black powder cartridge rifles, such as the Sharps, even with vernier sights, are pressed to shoot close to 1 MOA. At 200 yards, one might be able to confidently make a head shot, but graze? I don’t think so.