Spray and pray

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Spray and pray is a derisive term for firing an automatic firearm towards an enemy in long bursts, without aiming. This may be done especially by the poorly trained. It differs from suppressive fire as the shooting is sloppily directed. This term does not apply to appropriately focused fully automatic fire, true suppressive fire, as possible for a well-trained user.

In the Rhodesian Bush War and elsewhere, spray and pray was used to describe the firing of a relatively inaccurate weapon, such as a World War II Sten Gun. The US Army used the same term for the use of the M3 submachine gun.

Drawbacks of uncontrolled automatic gunfire are the low likelihood of actually hitting an enemy target, the large amounts of ammunition needed, and the increased risk of it becoming friendly fire.

[edit] Alternatives

An alternative method for achieving effective fire is to use either single shots or controlled, aimed bursts after locating the opposing force. Many armed forces employ selective fire assault rifles such as the M16 Rifle and other small arms with a burst mode instead of, or in addition to, a fully automatic mode, to encourage soldiers to use effective fire techniques.

The term spray and PREY can also be used to describe a "mag dump" into an enemy position. The only difference is that it is designed to kill a large number of targets rather than suppress them.

[edit] Other uses

'Spraying and praying' may also refer to someone who is behind cover and shoots their firearm around the cover without looking at their target, usually out of fear of being exposed. They are 'spraying' ammunition, and 'praying' that it will hit their target. This use of the phrase was made by paintball and airsoft players about 'noobs' that are afraid of getting hit.

The term has been applied in video games featuring automatic weapons, usually first-person shooters, in which players fire blindly hoping to hit a target. The term is synonymous with spamming. An example of this is in the game Counter-Strike.

This term has also been used by U.S. Defense Department strategist Thomas Nichols to describe the launching of early-model submarine launched ballistic missiles, as it was impossible to target them properly due to difficulties in precisely determining the position of the launching submarine.^{[citation needed]}

'Spray and pray' is also similarly applicable to a certain method of photography. It is usually a derogatory term, used to describe a photographic technique of taking a large number of pictures in the hope that at least one will be acceptable, as opposed to the technique of carefully composing each individual shot for optimum lighting, posture, and other techniques. However, in some photographic areas, notably in photography of sports or some forms of photojournalism, where posing individual photographs is not practical, spray and pray is the best method for obtaining the maximum number of acceptable images, so long as careful control of exposure and focus are maintained.

This term may also be used to describe an approach to communication, where mass broadcasts or leaflets are dispersed in hopes that everyone in the intended audience has received the message.^{[citation needed]}