What distance can you realistically shoot with iron sights?

My dad was a United States Marine. He shot the M16 & M14 out to 1000 yards back in Veitnam. He also scored Expert. So you tell me by that, Marines can shoot an M14 basicly a m1a, 1000 yards open sights.

I have Grand Pa's Star Gauged 1903. They brought two of them to his outfit to burn a few of their opposing force who were taunting their position. Thought they were out of range. I have never moved his long range sight since. It is set at 1200 yards to this day. He said after the first day they quit sticking their heads up. Interesting enough they also made a .22 LR 1903 Springfield. Used for training, but were also used in a few cases as a short sniper rifle. Quiet and deadly. I was told that the little .22 sound became terrifying to some. They hear that pewww sound and saw the deadly effect and it put the fear in them cause it was hard to tell where that came from. EDIT : I am one of those guys that shot 1000 yards at Camp Perry National Matches,. Did it for 17 years. The .30-06 drops about 11 feet @ 1000. Some of those salty old Marines were absolutely astounding. One tough old boot used to help me get on target if it was a tough day. He was one sharp character. You can many times actually watch the bullet fly. Cool..... When I began no one wore hearing protection or shooting glasses, no one. EDIT 2 : The 1000 yard target was a 6' X 6' square paper target with a 10" bullseye and a 5" X ring that are used at the National Matches. Everyone has to take a turn in the trench changing and marking targets.

The bottom line is not so much about how well the naked eye can see, although that certainly plays a role, but rather how big the target is. There is an obvious difference between shooting a whitetail deer with an open-sighted rifle at 100 yards ( a feat that most seasoned shooters can accomplish) and shooting a target the size of a 35 mm film cannister at the same distance.every single time the trigger is pulled.

One of the most remarkable feats occurred out West in the 19th century, when some buffalo hunters were holed up by Indians. One of the hunters killed an Indian with a breechloading Sharps rifle at a distance of slightly more than a mile. The weapon did not have a scope

depends on the rifle and the kind of sights. I've found older rifle sights, pre WW2, are much more precise than modern sights. for example, the really old stuff they got on 45-70 rifles pre-1900, you could actually hit a guy from 1000 yards. those were really precise instruments. these days especially with the cheap AK sights, they're really not for anything over 50 yards. even the Mosin Nagants sights from my '42 mosin, not actually usable beyond 100 yards because its simply not that precise. the front post is too big, the notch gives too much variable left & right, while it may work ok, but for target shooting realistically Id' keep it under 100 yards.

AR type rifles are much better than AK rifles with the iron sights, you can do 100 or 200 yards with an AR ironsights only. The M1A goes back to real rifle man's sights, precise and little room for error. the GI style from WW2 can do 200-300 yards easily.

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RE:

What distance can you realistically shoot with iron sights?

I know I know, irons are as accurate as the shooter, but often my irons are bigger than the target. What distance could you expect to get 6" groups with plain irons? I'm thinking specifically about the AR and M1A type rifles.

I have spent 30 years doing NRA Highpower Rifle matches - this is the only type of rifle competition allowed for state, regional, and national matches. You can only use the M1a, AR-15 or M1 Garrand in 'as issued' condition. We shoot at 200 yards standring off hand, 200 yards rapid fire, 300 yards rapid fire, and 600 yards slow fire...... all with iron sights. No scopes. If the range is long enough - we will pull off a 1,000 yard match.

At 300 yards rapid fire - an expert or master class shooter will put 10 rds in a 8"-10" group. This is 70 seconds to fire 2rds, then change out the mag and fire the last 8 rds.

At 600 yds you have 20 minutes to fire off 20rds. After each round the target gets scored and a scoring dot put in the hole. If you have a spotting scope, you can see where each round went.

Generally the matches start around 8am and last until 3pm. You shoot, score targets in the pits, and also score for a shooter in three different relays. You begin at 200 yards and work your way back - unfortuntaly, by noon the wind usually kicks up.

If you surf over to the NRA Competitive Sports web page you can find a list of matches in your local area. This is probably your best chance to learn to use an AR or M1a to it's full potential. And for many people it is their only chance to actually fire one beyond 300 yards.

At 600yds the X ring is 8" wide and the 10 ring is 3" more on each side. 'If' you are a good shot, can read the wind, have match 69gr ammo, and the bullets are measured for low coincintricity by a gauge.....and a match rifle. I have seen gifted shooters fire a sting of nothing but X's and 10's. Doing great at 600yds is 1/3 the shooters experience and talent, 1/3 the gun and 1/3 the ammo. You can't pull this off with a standard carbine that has a 16" barrel (seen it tried, seen it failed), And I've seen master class shooters defeated because they only had 62gr green tip ammo.

With a match rifle and match ammo a regular Joe can do ok at 600 yards once they settle down. Because the target is scored after each shot - you get immediate positive feedback. This so beats walking or driving back and forth.

I don't think most people saw the word "realistically" in your question. I would say realistically that 6" groups could be achieved by the average shooter (open sights) at no more than 100 yards from a bench, and 40 yards free-hand. (with weapons you mentioned).

Sorry, I work at a large ranch part-time during the hunting season and I've seen over, and over, and over again how most people are not as accurate as they would have you believe. LOL...once everyone is settled in we take them to the range to make sure their scoped rifles are "in" and everything and to give them a little range time. We have one lane that is 300 yards with a life size whitetail decoy at the other end just to bring them back to reality after they've shot at the 150 yard targets. Bottom line, most people are NOT nearly as good as they'd have you believe.

M1a Sights

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It absolutely is possible to hit at 1,000 yards with a 1903 Springfield with issue sights, but it is not an easy task. As others have pointed out, competitors at the National Matches held every year at Camp Perry in Ohio used the 1903 for many years with excellent success. They still use M-14s and M-1As with iron sights to compete at 1,000 yards. To hit at 1,000 yards using a 1903 you will need at least the following: -- Good eyesight or prescription shooting glasses if your vision is a bit shaky. The issue sight is tough for anyone without pretty decent vision. -- A thorough knowledge of the effects of wind on the flight of the bullet and how to compensate for those effects. -- Understanding of the effects of changing light and mirage on sight settings. Do you know what "light up, sights up, light down, sights down" means? Do you know what to do with your sights when mirage is "boiling?" -- A load that is at least the ballistic equal of the old M72 arsenal match load. -- Lots and lots of practice. Maximum range for a heavy boattail match bullet (170 grains or more) is about 5,500 yards, but no one can shoot accurately at that distance. The outer limit of accurate range for .30-06 is about 1,200 yards. After that the velocity of even the best match load will be dropping into or below trans-sonic, which means drop and drag go up exponentially. When the velocity falls far enough, the bullet will become unstable. At that point accurate shooting is no longer possible.

It would be better not to call either the AR or M1A sights "iron," which suggests an open sight, and these are aperture sights: optical, the same as a scope. Peep sights can be quite accurate, with 800 yard target shooting a tradition.

I used to be able to put 10 out of 10 at 500 meters with the M16 (not 6" groups). I knew a guy who was freakishly scary with a Springfield M1A National Match at 1000 yrds.

The military shooting teams use tuned rifles and shoot pretty tight at 500.