Riflecraft and Simulated Distance Targets

I'm trying not to break the chain on my rifle practice, so I've been spending 15 minutes a night dry firing at a simulated distance target. Because the 500 yard target was the one I had the most problems with, I only made that target, but will probably make some 300 and 175 targets just to cool down. At 500 yards, the "bell" is a little larger than a dot, and focusing on it fatigues my eyes after 10 minutes.

Making simulated distance targets isn't too hard when you think of it as a ratio.

If you want to shoot a 12 inch target at 400 yards, but you only have 4 yards in which to practice, you want to solve for the size of the target at 4 yards.

As a ratio, this looks like this (all measurements in yards)

Target size        Simulated size 
--------------- =  --------------
Target distance    Available distance

.333     X
---- = ---
 400     4

Which we solve by criss crossing the equation;

400 * X = .333 * 4
400X = 1.332

Get the X by itself by dividing both sides by 400...

400X / 400 = 1.332 / 400
X = 0.00333

So a 0.333 yard target at 400 yards would be 0.00333 yards (0.11988 inches) at 4 yards. The numbers here are round enough to check ourselves to prove the method works. A 0.333 yard target at one hundredth the distance is one hundredth the size.

Grab your calipers and see if you can achieve a clean break with good follow through to confirm hits on your simulated targets. Obviously, this training doesn't account for bullet drop or wind, but we're focusing on your fundamentals.