Gunsight Distances - someone "official" pls clear this up!!

[Waffle]

I've had this discussion before but have never heard or found a correct answer .....the reason that I bring this up is that in another post, some one basically said that 4k was equal to 12,000 feet. Or in other words: The gunsight is mesured in Yards / Meters.

I find this very hard to believe.
The "k" stands for kilo and is used to designate 1000 of whatever unit you are measuring, be it meters or yards

If this is true, then a plane that is 1.2k icon range would be 1,200 feet away from you.  not 3600 feet or 3900 fett depending on yards / meters

When formation flying if a plane shows d50 away from you...I find it hard to believe that it is actually 150 feet away,if measured in yards...or 164 feet if measured in meters

If we were measuring in meters, then when a plane is d2.5 that would be 2.5 kilometers away would be 8,202 feet. Or roughly 1.5 miles.

If planes are pinging targets at 1.2k out - to some folks this would mean just shy of 4000 feet (meters) or 3600 feet (yards).

I'm under the conclusion that 1.2k = 1,200 feet.

Imaginge it would be pretty hard to hit another plane at distances greater than 1000 feet.

Someone clear this up pls....lol

Are sights measured in Yards / Meters or Feet.....
My Vote goes to feet....

 

[Toad]

Yards.

The "k" is for "thousand".

Do a search, HT spelled it out for repetitive non-believers some time ago.

Don't matter enough at true gun range anyway.

[Waffle]

So then 1.2k is 1200 yards???  That equates to roughly 3/4 of a mile.... seems a little long to me. Isn't 3/4 of a mile about the range when snipers start to loose accuracy? Let alone a shaking moving platform firing upon another moving target?





also did a search on this topic and measurement of distance, , but found no "official" words. Maybe need to look further...

[JB73]

yes waffle it is YARDS...

2.6k in AH is 2600 yards + or - 100 (ie 2699 yards still shows 2.6k)


that is why so many get upset about the b17's killing them at D1.9 or up to D2.1 near 30,000 feet alt.

thats over 1 mile 1.9k = 5700 feet
5280 feet = 1 mile or 2.2 kilometers.


get on the highway and watch the mile markers. find a long straight strech and choose an object @ 1 point. then drive a mile away and identify that object. (good luck)

[fullback]

1 mile = 1.609 km

[mos]

Yes, that's the range at which guns begin losing accuracy.  Which is exactly why you shouldn't fire at that range, duh.

[Arlo]

Originally posted by Waffle BAS

Are sights measured in Yards / Meters or Feet.....
My Vote goes to feet....

 

Oh look .... a vote! Sorry ... your "vote" doesn't count. The distance won't change through democracy.

And yes .... shooting from 1000 ft is better than shooting from 3000 ft (1k .... yards).

[medicboy]

it is yards.  The 50 cal's on the american planes for example have an efective range of around 1k, or 3000 ft.  Don't think of it in sniper terms.  Snipers are trying to hit a small target with one shot, doing the machine gun approach extends your range.  But really it is just a waste of ammo, It would take all of your bullets to shoot down a plane at 1k, don't shoot till you are under 600 yards for bombers and 5oo for planes, the closer the better.

[Waffle]

lol ~I usually dont shoot unless target is under d700, but I tend to laugh at getting pinged from d1.2.....I 've just heard many opinions on the distance (or confusion). It still just doesnt sink in that an icon will be almost 3.5 miles away at 6k.....seems like alot.....



wonder how hard it was to id a plane at 3.5 miles?

[Toad]

Two things that some of you are forgetting.

The higher you go, the thinner the air. The thinner the air, the less the resistance on the bullet and thus, longer range with higher velocity. Big between sea level and 25k.

Second, how many of you guys have been up in the mountains on a clear day. You look across the valley and think it must be about 2 miles over to the other slope and then your guide tells you it's more like 5-6 miles over there.

Guess what? The higher you go, the farther you can see clearly too.

Just some things to think about.

[Gunslinger]

that is why so many get upset about the b17's killing them at D1.9 or up to D2.1 near 30,000 feet alt.

People dont realize that if they approach a B17 from the rear at level flight they will practically run into the bullets

Remember this:  The tail gunner on a 17 has the advantage he doesnt have to fly the plane and He's shooting with a HUGE tail wind...his rounds have less resistance than the ones shooting at them.  I'm no balistics expert by any meens but I know shooting into the wind is less accurate than the opposite.

People also dont realize when you get a hit from that far out from two moving objects its usually luck...but when you throw a hundred rounds down range your chances of getting lucky increase in your favor considerably.

Even a 5.56mm M16A2 W/ no scope (in the hands of a trained shooter) is extremly accurate even at 500 meters on a point target (average build man).  800 meters on an area target (group of people)

all
happy hunting

[Waffle]

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment....

Question? When you spot a plane at d 6.0 and you both turn head on for a pass...how long does it take before you merge?

Seems like around 5 seconds....

If plane "A" and plane "B" are d6.0 (3.5 miles) apart and doing 300 mph heading directly torwards each other, it takes approx. 20 seconds for each plane to cover 1.75 miles (roughly 147 yards/sec)

If each planes speed is increased to 400mph, it takes 15 seconds to cover 1.75 miles (195 yards per second).

Granted there are many variables in this equation, but it still seems to me that head on merges from d6.0 out take less than 5-7 seconds till merge.

If both planes are travelling at 400mph and have to cover 3000 feet to merge from d6k(we'll say d6k is actually 6000 feet instead of yards for this exercise )

well 400mph is 586 feet/second...this equates to a little over 10.2 seconds for a plane to travel 6000 feet. So if both planes are heading towards on another in a straight line, it should only take about 5 seconds for both planes to cover 1/2 the distance and merge

To me, It seems that this is about the right time for an icon to appear at d6.0 until the merge......I don't think its ever taken more than 10 seconds from my experience from d6.0 to merge.


just my 2 cents......

Game on!

[Innominate]

heres an easier way to figure it out.

Have a friend park on the ground at sea level.. Fly over them at 3000 feet.  When directly over them, you will see them 1.0 away from you.

Its yards.

[Waffle]

so by this - when a plane is at 18,000 ft, and you are at sea level....you get d6.0k as icon?

So when behind and below nme bomber formations....when the distance is 6.0--if you have speed, can you climb the 18,000ft to hit them? even 18,000 feet in a 262 would be a chore...

[scJazz]

Originally posted by Innominate
heres an easier way to figure it out.

Have a friend park on the ground at sea level.. Fly over them at 3000 feet.  When directly over them, you will see them 1.0 away from you.

Its yards.

This is totally and utterly correct beyond any doubt. The distance marker you are reading is without question measured in yards.

A side effect of this is the measurement of a targets altitude. At times you'll find bombers flying high above you. When you think your right under them... take distance multiply by 3 and add it to your current altitude. This is the way I setup intercepts on buff groups.

As to another comment the effective range of a .50 bullet is 1700 yards or very close to 1 mile in AH. Yes, a single bullet fired by a sniper is unlikely to hit the target but what happens when you fire 100 bullets in the same 10 yard patch of space in a half a second?