Long Range Handgun Anyone?

[Blackhawk]

I wanted to leap in on this conversation. I have been mostly leaving my rifles in the truck for the past few years. I never looked at handgun hunting as a truly long-distance shooting proposition. I hunt in Texas, in the Piney Woods and the mesquite and cedar brush country where you can make long shots if you try, but a great portion of this country is custom-designed for closer range shots like bow hunting and black powder muzzleloader hunting. I have grown fond of shooting feral hogs with my pistols. I have both of S&W's big boys. My 500 S&W is short-barreled 5 inch, and my 460 has an 8 & 3/8s inch barrel with a Burris scope. I shoot heavy, lead cast bullets. Wild hogs here are a large problem and several of my neighbors allow me to hunt their property and I like making sausage with my kills. I like to sneak up on them, and 100 yards is a LONG shot for me. But that is still long-range hunting in my book.

I just bought and still have not shot a new Springfield Armory 6in. bbl longslide, 10mm, just to have fun with. I was supposed to go last week but my feet were too swollen and I missed that hunt, but I am going to try again this week. Hope I can send some pictures soon.

I OWN THE 500 S&W, AS WELL AS THE .454 CASULL RUGER TOKLAT.both ere topped with Nikon scopes and shoot very well. In all honesty, the .500 with the 8 &3/8" barrel gets to be a little hard to carry without a well-fitting guide holster. So with that being said I normally reach for my Ruger when weight becomes an issue. and I am going on an extended hunt.
Let me know what your thoughts are on the 10mm. !
Hunting with a revolver will up your gamesmanship to a whole nother level!
OBTW 240 grain Horandys in the 454 and 350 Grain Hornady XPT s in the .500
I prefer to work at ranges between 50 - 75 yards typically. Although I have shoot game at up to 100 yards.
Typically Moose or Elk depending on which state I hunt. (the Northern States for these animals)

 

[shorthair1]

Hello all,

I was just wondering if anyone has done any serious long range work with standard pistol cartridges such as 9mm, 45acp, etc.?

I'd be curious to see the data if anyone has it.

Thanks,
Dan

Read Elmer Kieth's " Hell I was there" snub nose 44 spec at 400 yds.

 

[Ernie]

Read Elmer Kieth's " Hell I was there" snub nose 44 spec at 400 yds.

I have done some distance shooting with a 357 magnum revolver

 

[Treeslug]

I OWN THE 500 S&W, AS WELL AS THE .454 CASULL RUGER TOKLAT.both ere topped with Nikon scopes and shoot very well. In all honesty, the .500 with the 8 &3/8" barrel gets to be a little hard to carry without a well-fitting guide holster. So with that being said I normally reach for my Ruger when weight becomes an issue. and I am going on an extended hunt.
Let me know what your thoughts are on the 10mm. !
Hunting with a revolver will up your gamesmanship to a whole nother level!
OBTW 240 grain Horandys in the 454 and 350 Grain Hornady XPT s in the .500
I prefer to work at ranges between 50 - 75 yards typically. Although I have shoot game at up to 100 yards.
Typically Moose or Elk depending on which state I hunt. (the Northern States for these animals)

Sorry it has taken me so long to reply, but I was driving (operating) a dozer and tore my meniscus in my right knee, and though I did shoot the new 10mm, I did not kill anything with it. I will get back to you when I do. I was, however, a bit disappointed in the 10mm pistol. Many failures to feed. Several failures to return to breach.

 

[sscoyote]

Man can't believe i didn't see this. A number of years ago there was an article written by Ed Wosika entitled "How to Shoot Your Pistols Accurately at Extremely Long Range". Roger Clouser also wrote about it years ago in Precision Shooting publications. They were detailing the front sight applications for long range shooting like Elmer Keith used. When I read this stuff I was fascinated with the math behind it. I don't believe either writer detailed the math nor believed in first shot applications using it, but i started researching it years ago, and what a fun ride it's been. I don't shoot the semi's in straight-walled cartridges at all, but have used it with 3 air pistols and a Ruger Mk III 22 with amazing results. One of the airguns i've used is the diminutive Crosman 1377 pumper shooting a .03 BC pellet at 400 fps mv. What I did was paint a small white box section in the middle of the front sight to be able to establish a 3-unit system of subtension basically. I measured each unit with calipers, and the sight radius of the pistol's iron sights. The equation for MOA is front sight measurement x 3438 / sight radius. For milliradian use 1000 for the second variable instead of 3438 (i round off to 3400 since that margin of error is very insignificant with iron sights and it's much easier to remember). Once measured and calcd. I had 3 units that added up to right at 80 MOA trajectory compensation. I had to try it out so I set a 12" pie plate at 80 yds. once which was right at the bottom of the front sight (assuming a 20-yd. top of front sight even with top of rear sight zero). Had a 10 mphish 3 oclock wind that day which surprised the heckoutame that I could hit the plate several times after i aimed several feet into the wind at that distance.

Another time I was at Randy Engels airgun fun shoot he has every year not far from my home. I thought to pull out the gun to test it at 50 yds. on a 10" buffalo silhouette steel tgt. and after running the ballistics it called for ~1.4 units down for whatever the MOA correction called for at the range (been awhile now). At the first shot i heard a "tink" and about fell off my chair. I think i hit it maybe 3 out of 5 shots. It was great my ballistics were matching the MOA calcs I'd made.

One last time I thought to calc windage too, but this time I used a sight radius to my eye from a sitting position, and was able to hit a pebble on the side of a road bed at 40 yds. by aiming the calcd vertical and horizontal correction with the front sight according to the ballistic programs calcs. I was ELATED it worked so well. Love this stuff and the math behind it.

If you use the Keith aiming system though (put target on top of the front sight) you have to use a sight radius to your eye like windage. Try it sometime it might just blow your mind like it did mine