Advanced Marksmanship Helicopter target practice is fun!

[Super Bee 950]

This is the fun way to do target practice! http://youtu.be/qS9upO0jCCc


Using a supressed AR10 in this one. All you hear are the hits. http://youtu.be/MozavTza9YU

If you have a ranch in Texas with a serious hog problem, and at least 1000+ acres, send me a PM and we might be able to help you.

Sorry but the owner has no intention of letting the general public in his aircraft with a rifle.

For those curious about what this is like, its like shooting with every variable thrown at you all at once. If the aircraft is in the right position, you can hammer targets and its not that bad (based on a competitive combat shooter perspective). The more a target is off to your side, the more you have to lead. The further the target is below you the more you have to lead. Its like shooting trap and skeet at the same time. The angle of wind hitting the aircraft makes a big difference as well with its stability. The gun you use doesnt make that big of a difference (we used several) The one I am going to settle on is a mid length gas carbine with a muzzle brake and an EoTech

 

[SNIPERTARGET]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

bump for the kool factor

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Wish you could have seen my door gunner, George Ziets, in action in Viet Nam . . . .

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

John, you have one of the best jobs in the world. I can only imagine what 'going to work' each day does for you.

Wow.

 

[Super Bee 950]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

I dont do this full time. The owner of the helicopter is new to helicopter hog control. This is why we were doing the target practice. He wanted to figure out how to position the aircraft to be most effective. It was a learning experience for both of us.

I look forward to the next time when we will be chasing hogs!

 

[CaptRob]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

How hard was it getting used to shooting behind the target. I have never had the opportunity to do it but I imagine I would instinctively want to lead in front.

 

[Killer Spade 13]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Ya hang out on the skid, shoot straight forward and let the pilot play mini-gunship . . . Woooooooo Damn Hoooooooo ! ! ! ! !

 

[Super Bee 950]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Capt.

Lead, lag, etc is all dependant on the target speed. In our case the target was stationary. If the pig is running at the same speed as the helo, then aim center mass and fire. The more they are in front of you the better shot you have as you come up behind them.

 

[slowagon]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Let me prefice this by saying; 1. I can't spell that well and I'm typing this on an Ipod. 2. I have shot alot from moving helo's. [edit] 3. Awesome video! I've always wanted to go hot on some prairie dogs from the air.
You have to aim differantly if you're shooting on the left or right side of the aircraft due to the right hand twist of the rifling. Shooting from the right seat you lag, or aim behind the intended target as well as aim slightly above the target. Shooting from the left seat you have to aim low and lead the target.
These two exterior ballistics effects are known as Port-Starboard trajectory shift and projectile jump(vertical plane gyroscopic effect). Of course these two principals only apply to firing during forward flight perpandicular to relative wind to the aircraft.
Hovering fire is a whole differant animal. A lot of compensation for hovering fire is dependent on the altitude of your hover(above the ground). There are two main factors with hover fire, in ground effect(IGE) and out of ground effect(OGE) hover fire.
OGE is the easiest to deal with due to the disturbed air from the rotor system ending at the rotor tip path. Remember, helicopters use volume of air and not velocity of the relitive wind is not that much, maybe 30-50kts(34.5 57.5mph). Compensation for the wind will be to aim higher on the target.
IGE is the hardest scenario in which to make consistent shots. While in low hovers, the rotorwash(wind produced by the rotor) has no escape or clean path to exit. Consiquently, the rotor is also no longer receiving "clean" air from the top. It is in fact recirculating some of the air it has already used, creating an updraft just outside of the rotor tip path. So now, you have to compensate for the rotor downwash and the updraft cause by the recirculating air. A lot of the time firing IGE causes the projectile to "wobble" after it leave the disrupted air, leading to great inconsistancies in round impacts.
A lot of the time shooting extreme distances IGE leads the lateral stringing due another physics law called Gyroscopic Precession. Spin stabilized projectiles act as tiny gyroscopes. Have you ever taken a bicycle wheel and spun it holding the axle? Did you notice if you tried to turn that spinning wheel to the left or right it really wanted to flip from top to bottom? This is gyroscopic precession. Now take that same principle and apply it to the bullet. Our bullets spin clockwise when viewed from the rear. So as the bullet passes through the downwash it has a tendancy to shift right as well as down. Now as it passes through the updraft it will shift slightly left and down. Again, due to so many variable in ground effect firing is not so effective from a precision stand point.
I shoot mainly miniguns and modified MA2's from helicopters, so I have the advantage of quantity to equate to quality.

 

[Gunfighting Inc]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Slowagon, that was an interesting post. Thank you.

 

[JC Steel]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

Shooting from the right seat you lag, or aim behind the intended target as well as aim slightly above the target. Shooting from the left seat you have to aim low and lead the target.



There is no way if I am in a forward moving target, and I aim in front of the target, I will hit it.

Either seat, say at 100 yards off the ground, moving forward at say 15-20 MPH, you will most definitely have aim behind it in order to get hits. If you aim in front, you will miss in front, from either side of the helo. Right? LOL

If I am wrong, please enlighten me, because I plan on shooting some more out of a chopper here very soon, and would like to take the advice into account so I can get better. Thanks for the expertise, as I am certainly not an expert.

 

[Graham]

Re: Helicopter target practice is fun!

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jcvibby</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Shooting from the right seat you lag, or aim behind the intended target as well as aim slightly above the target. Shooting from the left seat you have to aim low and lead the target.</div></div>Where you aim depends on where the target is, and which way the helicopter is moving. <div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: jcvibby</div><div class="ubbcode-body">There is no way if I am in a forward moving target, and I aim in front of the target, I will hit it. </div></div>Actually, using reverse lead is the preferred method.