Hopeful New Revolver Hunter

[xae289]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum, brought here via Max Prasac's "Big Bore Revolvers". I've been a casual hunter for several years now, a few weekends every year, but taken one or two deer each season (and 1 coyote) thanks to hunting on a friend's very productive property. No bait or attractants, just a lot of deer around. I started with a Rem 700 in .270 Win then a .300 Blackout AR build (110 gr supersonics), and graduated to taking deer using handloads with each. However, in my neck of the woods all of my game have been taken within 50 yards. That along with a healthy dose of reading firearms history gave me the itch to hunt with a revolver.

I bought a S&W 629 5" Classic in 2020, but it was bought as a woods gun, not intended as a primary hunting gun. Despite that, last year I decided to dedicate myself to practicing with the intent to hunt with it. I started in May, but didn't think I was good enough by last November, so I just took a rifle afield. Regardless, I kept practicing regularly and this February got a great deal on a lightly used 7.5" Ruger SBH in .44 Mag. The extra barrel length improved my groups and adding a Bushnell TRS-25 mounted on a Weigatinny No Drill pic rail got my 6-round groups down to just over 3" at 25 yards and around 8" at 50 yards, all off-hand. I'd like to shrink my 50 yard groups, else I'll limit my shots to a rangefinder-confirmed 40 yards max.

With that intro, I have a couple of questions.

I worked up a few handloads that work well for me on paper and I have 2 top contenders. One is a Hornady 300 gr XTP right around 1230 fps using H110 and Magnum cases. It's about tied with the runner-up as my most accurate load, and I much prefer the recoil over my 240 gr XTP load at 1440 fps.

The other is a Matt's Bullets 280 gr RNFP-GC with a 0.3" meplat that I push to about 1065 fps with Longshot in Special cases. I spoke with Matt and at my request he cast them for me at 11 BHN without his usual heat-treat for these bullets. He said it would be possible to cast them out of 20:1 alloy for something softer and more malleable.

Am I on the right track with these? Does either seem like an obviously better choice? I don't want to change anything about the 300gr XTP load. But with the cast bullet, I could easily load them hotter with H110 in Magnum cases and/or order a lot cast out of 20:1 alloy.

Also, does anyone have tips on practicing from a rest? I've tried shooting from a benchrest with either my wrists resting on sandbags or the frame of the revolver just ahead of the trigger-guard, never the barrel. Both result in wild POI shifts, always hitting much lower. Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this.

[sixshot]

Hello & welcome to the forum. Sounds like you are pretty much doing everything right to me, plus you have 2 nice 44's to get you going on deer. The loads you mention are going to work just fine & I doubt you will ever recover a bullet so just focus on bullet placement because you have good loads going for you. If you are holding 6" groups or so you should be fine shooting from your rest, just put out some markers if you can to help you know your max distance & then focus on your aiming point. It sounds like you are hunting whitetails so you should be able to whack an unsuspecting deer & it won't go to far, just stay with that trigger squeeze all the way through the shot & you will be eating backstraps for supper.

Dick

[bigbore5]

Practice from a rest is useful, but you should also add practice from field positions and at different angles to target relative to your body position. Deer are often to the sides and you can't shift your position much without spooking them at handgun ranges.

Your loads sound fine.

[bigbrowndog]

When shooting from a test try and utilize the same form you would use when shooting afield. I prefer resting the frame like you mentioned because I can do the same rest when hunting using my shooting sticks or pack or even a tree limb. Just like the other advice given, I’d say work on your shooting from field positions because that’s much more important what you can do from a bench. Some changes in position and shooting form can cause POI shifts, that’s why consistency is so important. On your loads, it’s tough to beat a good 240gr bullet for medium game.

Trapr

[contender]

Welcome!

Excellent info above. As noted,, you are on the right path. I'll throw in a little different thought to consider.
Have you gotten with a GOOD instructor in revolver shooting to see if they can teach you things to make your handgunning better? Not just "any" instructor,, a revolver instructor,, or heck, find a place where serious revolver shooters go, and get to know the good ones & study them.
My point is you may learn something that improves your techniques that improve your accuracy. ALL of us can learn & benefit from others, if what the others are doing works!

[potatojudge]

If you're blind hunting, build a little shelf to accommodate pistols specifically. Mine has a two level window sill- one lower area for a thin bag under the butt of the gun, then a taller bag goes on the upper portion to support the frame. It's a very steady arrangement and the grips won't get chipped sitting on a hard surface.

I bet with an improved rest and more practice you'll see your range start stretching out to 75 yards pretty easily.

I wouldn't worry too much about one load vs the other. Look for the level of recoil you can shoot accurately and realize more power isn't necessarily better.

That 629 should be pretty easy to scope, and a 2 or 4x Leupold is helpful when lighting isn't the best.

David Bradshaw has a lot of great posts here describing good shooting technique. Worth searching for and studying.

[rufus]

How versed in handgun shooting are you ?
Not casting stones I’m just asking.
When shooting handguns focus has to be in front sight and trigger pull(straight back and not torquing gun left, right up or down)
Focus eye on front sight, rear sight and target should be fuzzy. Our eyes can only focus on one plane at a time. When the shot trips it should be a slight surprise and again front sight focus.
Bradshaw should chime in here hopefully. There is none better than him.
David

[KRal]

Welcome! When shooting from a rest, you need to do just that - rest it. Many shooters try get rock solid and grip the gun tighter and put downward pressure into their rest to be steadier. All that will cause lower impacts. As mention by others, just focus on front sight and good trigger squeeze while letting the gun “rest” while keeping the same form and grip you would shooting freehand. As far as your loads mentioned, if they/you shoot good, any will work fine.

[xae289]

Thanks for all the replies and advice so far, I appreciate them all.

To clarify, almost all of my practice, including the group sizes I mentioned are standing, unsupported. I do occasionally sit and shoot turned to face either side like I would in the field. I plan to do more of that the closer we get to deer season (November for me).

I hunt from tree stands or on the ground in natural concealment, either standing or seated. Come to think of it, I never used a rest in the field with a rifle, not even the tree-stand's frame. I guess that answers my question regarding a rest – probably better not to worry much about it. Though I will take KRal's advice next time I try it and "rest" the revolver instead of muscling it down. My POI shift is exactly what you describe.

In terms of training for revolvers, I've gotten some good coaching from a few older ROs, one of which is a revolver hunter who has given me great advice and input. Beyond that I've never heard of any local instructors that specialize in revolvers.

David, I appreciate the tips. In terms of irons, I'm terrible at consistent iron sight alignment so I put a red dot on the SBH and the optic shrunk my groups in half.

I appreciate the feedback on the loads. I'll stick with whichever of those two I shoot more accurately come November.

[Big Bore]

One area that helped me tremendously as a handgunner, that I don’t believe was mentioned before is not trying to control the recoil. Kim’s post about truly resting the gun and not gripping too firmly accomplishes the same.

But…once I stopped worrying or trying to control recoil, the more accurate I became and the tighter my groups got. Bottom line for me, was to let the gun do what it was designed to do. Recoil isn’t going to hurt. The day I finally figured this out was the day I stopped feeling recoil and the day shooting handguns became a lot more enjoyable. Good luck!

[ridgeline]

xae289 said:

Also, does anyone have tips on practicing from a rest? I've tried shooting from a benchrest with either my wrists resting on sandbags or the frame of the revolver just ahead of the trigger-guard, never the barrel. Both result in wild POI shifts, always hitting much lower. Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong?

----------

Welcome from another hopeful new revolver hunter. This particular issue also interests me since I'm trying to get a couple of new single action revolvers dialed in before I start practicing from field positions in prep for actual hunting (both small game w/ rimfire and deer w/ centerfire). Previous to my new interest in revolver hunting I was only concerned with short range accuracy from smaller double action revolvers, primarily for self defense purposes. Now, in trying to eliminate as much human error as possible (which I'm sure is plenty in my case) for longer ranges, I've tried both approaches that you mention. Resting my wrists on the bag gives me the worst accuracy of the two, and while resting the frame just forward of the trigger guard on the bag is better, the results still aren't as consistent as I was hoping for to assist in making tweaks to get them set up properly. In The Custom Revolver, Bowen suggests the latter approach, but it's hard for me to tell how much human error is still messing with my results. Short of testing with something like a Ransom Rest, any suggestions for shooting from a soft rest in order to get things dialed in before moving on to more realistic field positions would be much appreciated.

[bigbrowndog]

When checking loads from a bench, I use a large rifle bag that is kind of designed to squeeze the forend of the rifle. I take the bag and turn it 90* and allow the revolver to rest on top of the bag. But also push the revolver down into the bag so that it can actually sit on the bag without me holding it. Then I grip the gun with me elbows resting on the bench on a padded surface, the gun is supported by the bag not by me, I’m merely gripping and trying to make a clean trigger break and maintain an accurate sight picture. This allows me to be comfortable and consistent, I place either a 8x10 piece of leather or same size piece of fire hose between the gun and the bag to keep cylinder blast from destroying the bag. This method is relatively easy for me to replicate in the field by shooting off of a smaller bag or my pack. Comfort and consistency are both necessary for accurate shooting, if you force yourself into a position you use more muscle tension to maintain it and this causes your body to use more oxygen and leads to shorter clear vision.
Some folks will shoot using the butt of the revolver as the rest, with it placed on a small bag or pad it works for them and seems relatively easy to replicate in the field. However you are required to supply all of the support to the gun to keep it steady and up on target.
Trapr

[xae289]

I wish I knew how to post pictures, but I hit the range today for some 50 yard shooting. I decided to give KRal's advice on shooting from a rest a try. I placed the frame of the revolver just ahead of the trigger guard on the rest. I focused very hard on maintaining my normal grip and only letting the rest help me stabilize the revolver instead of pressing weight down onto it. With that technique, I put all 6 rounds in the black of an NRA B-8 target (25 yd rapid fire).

I then tried resting the barrel of the revolver because I had seen pictures of people doing that before. I got 3 more in the black, but I guess I started putting some weight down on the revolver because I also printed a neat 3 shots of that group about 5½" low.

I then made some really pointless zero adjustments in my red dot that placed my 20 shot off-hand group low and to the right in a 9.5" pattern excluding 3 wild fliers.

A bit of a frustrating range session, but I haven't shot a 50 yard paper target in a long time and wanted to see where I was. I'll go back to 25 yards next session and then back to 50 again the next week. In the meantime, I'll be dry-firing daily.

[handgunhuntingafield]

I just rest the butt of the gun. I carry a small shooting bag roughly 2x3x4" that fits in my pocket and I can use it in about any situation. This also keeps me from blowing up bags. On a double action gun I also make use of Hogue Big Butt Grips. These grips are commonly used by Bianchi Cup shooters in the prone.

Just rest the gun and don't push down....let it roll under recoil. Front sight or optics reticle in perfect focus. It just takes practice and before long you'll be able to start extending the distance.

[wilecoyote]

Jul 16, 2023 16:38:36 GMT -5 xae289 said:

I wish I knew how to post pictures, but I hit the range today for some 50 yard shooting. I decided to give KRal's advice on shooting from a rest a try. I placed the frame of the revolver just ahead of the trigger guard on the rest. I focused very hard on maintaining my normal grip and only letting the rest help me stabilize the revolver instead of pressing weight down onto it. With that technique, I put all 6 rounds in the black of an NRA B-8 target (25 yd rapid fire).

I then tried resting the barrel of the revolver because I had seen pictures of people doing that before. I got 3 more in the black, but I guess I started putting some weight down on the revolver because I also printed a neat 3 shots of that group about 5½" low.

I then made some really pointless zero adjustments in my red dot that placed my 20 shot off-hand group low and to the right in a 9.5" pattern excluding 3 wild fliers.

A bit of a frustrating range session, but I haven't shot a 50 yard paper target in a long time and wanted to see where I was. I'll go back to 25 yards next session and then back to 50 again the next week. In the meantime, I'll be dry-firing daily....---------------------------about dry-firing, a terrific exercise can be placing a dime over any flat portion of the upper frame, or of the barrel, if any:  in double action, if the dime falls, we've done something wrong_