310: Chapter 308: Fight While Running, Training Through Battle.
310: Chapter 308: Fight While Running, Training Through Battle.
Questioning delayed him, and by now, Gao Yang could see and hear the poachers running toward the sound of gunfire.
Gao Yang ran to grab his FAL, and just as he was about to leave, he turned back to check what kind of guns the two people in the back seat of the off-road vehicle were carrying.
All the guns in the vehicle were AK47s.
After a moment’s thought, Gao Yang yanked an AK47 from the passenger seat.
This way, he wouldn’t have to risk going back to where the guns were hidden to retrieve the other two AK47s, especially since the ammunition for the AK47 was already on him.
Now having picked up an AK47, he was ready to run.
Shooting while running was something Gao was very familiar with, and doing it again now was no big deal.
The only annoyance was that because the ammunition was not interchangeable, he had to carry three long guns and one pistol while running around.
Since it was a matter of shooting and running, he couldn’t just run without returning fire.
Noticing that the poachers were about seven or eight hundred meters away, Gao Yang calmly opened the cylinder of his revolver, ejected the spent casings, reloaded it with fresh bullets, and then put the revolver back in its holster.
He then slung the double-barreled shotgun and the AK47 one over each shoulder, crossed behind his back, and made sure they wouldn’t fall while he was running.
Satisfied, Gao Yang crouched at the front of the off-road vehicle, cradling his FAL.
After crouching down, Gao Yang first used a telescope to scout, picking a few reference points for shooting, and then he put down the telescope and waited for the poachers to get closer.
But as the first figure passed the four-hundred-meter reference point, Gao Yang began to aim his rifle.
However, at that distance, iron sights made the human targets appear smaller than the sight itself.
To hit them, it couldn’t all be about aiming; much of it was about instinct.
Although there were experts who could hit their targets in such conditions, those who could do so were truly masters among masters, and even then, it depended on luck.
Not confident in hitting a man at more than four hundred meters, Gao Yang waited until the targets were almost three hundred meters away, which was the limit of his naked-eye shooting.
Only then did he finally pull the trigger.
The first shot didn’t hit, nor did the second, but it seemed like the third shot may have hit his target.
Gao Yang didn’t know if his target had dropped to the ground on their own or if they had been hit by his bullet.
At least a dozen people had now covered the distance of three hundred meters.
Although he wanted to fire a few more shots, Gao Yang forced himself to stop shooting and began to run back.
This was not a good time to practice marksmanship; safety came first.
When Fedor taught Gao how to snipe, he had said that Gao should take every opportunity to practice shooting with iron sights, not to rely too heavily on scopes.
During World War II, professional snipers could often hit enemies three hundred meters away without scopes, and there were many records of blind shots at over four hundred meters.
For snipers back then, using iron sights was just a basic skill.
The more complex something is, the more likely it is to fail; the simpler something is, the more reliable it is.
That’s a theorem.
When you’re without a sophisticated and fragile scope, the shooting range left to a sniper tests the basics of their marksmanship.
If he had a scope, four hundred meters was nothing; Gao Yang even had a killing record at a thousand meters.
But without a scope, hitting a target at four hundred meters was almost impossible for him.
Gao deeply regretted not listening to Fedor, not practicing unassisted shooting when he had the chance.
Now that he really needed that skill, he was at a loss.
Gunfire erupted from behind, but Gao Yang did not hear the sound of bullets burrowing into the soil or the whistle of bullets flying by, indicating that the shots were quite far from him.
Unless he was particularly unlucky to catch a stray bullet, there was no need to worry about being hit.
After sprinting about two hundred meters, Gao Yang looked back and saw that there were still people doggedly pursuing him, varying in distance but the closest one was still about three hundred meters away.
Lying down on the spot, Gao Yang aimed from the prone position at one of the leading poachers and fired a shot.
Because he was shooting from a prone position after taking time to aim carefully, he hit with the first shot.
Gao Yang clearly saw his target stumble before falling.
Excitedly waving his hand, Gao Yang got up and continued running forward.
After making it another hundred meters, he lay down, faced back, and took another shot.
This time he rushed it a bit, but he still hit the target with the second bullet.
As he got up to run again, Gao Yang began to ponder the feeling of hitting his target.
He had extensive shooting experience and had developed a good sense for firearms.
Now all that was lacking was the experience of long-range shooting using the naked eye.
Reflecting on the feel of aiming and firing the shot, Gao Yang, feeling like he was on to something, lay down again.
After selecting a target among the relentless poachers, he reviewed the shooting actions he had just summed up, took careful aim once more, and pulled the trigger.
The distance was still around three hundred meters, but this time Gao Yang was very confident he could hit his target.
Indeed, as he had expected, his target went down at the sound of the shot.
Gao Yang was extremely pleased.
This time he didn’t immediately run but aimed at a new target.
However, he fired two shots this time, and his target still ran off quite happily.
Gao Yang reluctantly got up to continue running, then began to analyze why he hadn’t hit the target.
He felt his actions were no different from when he fired the first shot.
After some thought, Gao Yang figured that he might have missed the second target because he was too excited, which could have subtly affected his movements without him being aware.
Fedor had once said that a good shooter must maintain absolute calm at all times; shooting is a delicate activity, and being even slightly off could lead to wildly inaccurate results.
A mere hasty impulse could drastically alter one’s motions, and intense emotional fluctuations could significantly affect those actions.
Feeling that he had identified the key issue, Gao Yang worked on calming his emotions.
Then he lay down again.
This time, after aiming at a target, he once more made the shot, and the person fell.
And the second shot that followed immediately after also successfully brought down another target.
After two consecutive successful shots, he no longer felt the need to run, so he aimed at a third target and fired.
He didn’t hit with the third shot, but the fourth was successful again.
Gao Yang felt that the tricks he had figured out were indeed useful.
Although he missed with one shot, it was a normal outcome; hitting three out of four was already quite impressive.
This made him feel that practicing in combat was indeed more effective than target practice, as it offered quicker improvement.
Just as Gao Yang was about to get up and run again, he found that those who had been chasing him had all dropped to the ground.
With that, Gao Yang no longer needed to hurry.
The continuous running had made him start to breathe heavily, and now he could take the opportunity to rest and catch his breath.
(To be continued.
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