During the WWI and WWII eras these seem to be fairly popular pistol/rifle ranges to include machine gun fire...why?
The Army had a number of these ranges and I'm told the Navy may have even had such ranges on land and vessel.  The inactive 1000 incher I'm familiar with had exclusively 22LR, 45ACP, 30carbine and 30-06 munitions used.  Anyone know what purpose(s) these served the military?  Anyone know of any active 1000" ranges (civilian or military)?  Just curious what the training value of these were?  Simulated distance fire? Reactionary shooting?  Zeroing before deployment (seem like they were usually near ports)?  Who used them and how often were troops training to shoot to up to 87.3'?

1000/12=83.333333

They are still used

 

To answer the question.  It's to zero the rifle/get you on paper before you shoot at real ranges

Or 84.66 metric feet

Yeah it's the cursed 87 syndrome here I guess

I don't recall ever seeing an active one.  Where?

dunno but when I was a kid my dad brought me a whole ass load of 1000in zeroing targets he found at the reserve armory he was 1SGT at back in the 80s



Shot at those things for a decade

Where these typically used by all the troops?  Armors to deem a weapon service ready?  Other?

25M is far enough to get a close enough for government work zero , without having a larger and more expensive range



 

What about all the 22LR use?  Suggests to me that there was some skill development for novice shooters using noncombat weapons too.  
I've heard the Navy may still use 22LR for practice.  Any branches still train with 22LR?

Back when I was in, the US Coast Guard used the 1000 inch range for M16 qualification.



Basically a 8"x11.5" sheet of paper with a 2 inch bull's-eye.  How could you not qualify Expert on that?  

Fucking milliradians, how do they work?

Now they are called 25-meter ranges

 

In the military, before a Soldier (or Sailor, Marine, Airman, Coast Guardsman) fires his rifle for qualification, he zeroes it.



This is done on a 25-meter (1000-inch range) - and supposedly after a refresher in basic rifle marksmanship.



Using a specific target, the shooter fires groups of three rounds, concentrating on sight alignment, breathing, trigger squeeze, etc. When these groups are consistent, he then adjusts the sights of the weapon until the point of impact matches the point of aim and then verifies his 'zero' with a final group.



Machine gunners also conduct a table of fire on a 25-meter (1000-inch range) to validate their understanding the sights and of the traverse and elevation mechanism on the tripod and their understanding of how to engage targets before moving on to field fire.







This is easier that walking 250 meter or whatever down range to check targets.



25-meters or 1000-inches is also the standard small bore (.22) rifle range. Up through the 1970s many Army posts had indoor small bore ranges for rifle training (a practice started in the 1890s with the gallery model .22 Krag conversions, then the Model of 1922 Springfield, and then the commercial small bore trainers, then the M261 .22 conversion kit for the M16).

most AF ranges are 25m, used for m16/m4/m9 shoots.

PSSST.....I have one in my back yard.....very convenient for 22LR

One Degree equals about 17.76 Mils

Now THAT is an easy number to remember.

(Not my target....)



We used to qual at 25m if need be...

I used to have US Army Mossberg .22 training rifle I got from the CMP.

Ft. MacPherson in Georgia had a 25m range for the MP's to remain current, my ROTC battalion used it for marksmanship training with scaled silhouette targets (could even do an alternate qualification course on them).  



I thnk it's located at 33.701992, -84.441641 in Google Maps (range had overhead baffles to keep rounds from going anywhere, but wasn't a solid roof, there were some foxholes for shooting from, under the overhead cover).

 

I was in the Army 69-72.    That target was used for zeroing the M14 and M16A1 rifles.   The front sight is just the width of the black at that distance.   You float the black just leaving a tiny bit of white between the top of the sight and the black.   The bottom X is for the M16A1 with the 55 gr load.   The top X was for the M14.   Once you were hitting the X, the rifle was battlesight zeroed at 250 meters.  
this allows a quick test of zero when necessary.

With other rounds, you can mark your own X.   Sight the rifle in at whatever range you want and then shoot it at this target.   Make a note of where it hits and then you can zero/recheck zero when necessary.

I also make this type of target for different guns and ranges using construction paper.   15 inches at 100 yards for the AK.   Makes aligning the sights easy.   4 inches is about right for 1/8 inch pistol sights at 25 yards.   You can customize the black to fit your eye and sights,   A black triangle with one of the points down works for scopes.   Allows precise alignment of the crosshairs.

LOL you tried to use logic and reason in GD

Attend an Appleseed event and you will find out the value


FWIW- I shoot the 25meter reduced silhouette target all the time. Basically your sight picture is equal to that at 250m. Of course it is not exactly the same as shooting at 250m since you are not doping the wind and the trajectory of your bullet isn't the same (although theoretical POI may be the same) but it is a quite useful tool that translates into real longer range shooting skill.

However, I have had Fudds laugh at me when I shoot my AR or M1A at 25 yards but they usually shut up when they see my 100 yard (our longest range length) group fired from a standing position.

It is a serious skill building tool.



If you can consistantly shoot 1" groups standing at 25yards that translates ~4" at 100 yards --> "aim small-miss small" is not just Hollywood tripe.

Yes, when I went to basic training, we used the targets pictured above to zero. If you read any one of the countless threads on this board about zeroing an AR15, you will read all about 25 yard or 25 meter zeros. They allow you to shoot at a range where you can easily see the target and fire tight groups in order to establish your initial zero. This initial zero then translates to a much greater distance zero based on the trajectory of your bullet. Where the second zero is depends on what cartridge you are firing, what load etc. Let's say you zero at 25 meters and this results in a 250 meter zero. If you started out at 250 meters, you might not be able to fire groups that are tight enough to establish a good zero. You might also not even be on paper at 250 meters and have no idea where you are hitting unless you first got a rough initial zero at 25 meters.

As was also mentioned, this is a standard range for Appleseed shoots. All of the above applies as well as the fact that it allows them to teach the basic techniques of shooting a rifle in places where a much larger known distance range doesn't exist. In other words, not a lot of ranges are available that have long ranges.


And for those that think that shooting 25 meters is a joke. Take The Rifleman's Challenge. Put up a target with a one inch square at 25 meters (or yards) then fire 10 rounds in one minute WITHOUT using any kind of a rest. No bench, no sandbags, no bipods, no resting the magazine on the ground. You fire prone and if you know what you are doing you use a sling. Most people won't be able to do it. Every shot has to land within the square. Every shot. Not most of them, all of them.
This one inch square at 25 meters is 4 MOA. Again, most people think that they can easily shoot into 4 MOA and many can.............from a bench with sandbags. Now see how good you really are without the crutch.

This x87

The Rifleman's Challenge

There is nothing that kills a thread faster than suggesting someone leave the basement and actually shoot these AR15s everyone talks about.