Which of your handguns for a long shot wager?

[toroflow]

Nov 16, 2012 9:15:45 GMT -5 bobwright said:

This'n:



Though I don't bet, gambling against my religion, I'm a deep water Baptist.

But this Super Blackhawk does the job out to 200 meters.

Bob Wright

That's PURDY Bob, who did the color case?

[bobwright]

Nov 16, 2012 19:11:42 GMT -5 toroflow said:

Nov 16, 2012 9:15:45 GMT -5 bobwright said:

That's PURDY Bob, who did the color case?

Doug Turnbull


Bob Wright

[salmonriver]

Here on the river we give em the try with a 6in '54 k38 masterpiece. The boys from Illinois were good on them turkeys to 300. Now an 8in plate is definitely smaller than a gobbler but then I reload. The Eyes Have It. And let the best squeeze win.

[pbslinger]

Scoped- 8 inch DW 357 Supermag.

Open- 6 inch DW 357 Supermag or Riverhead Abilene 8.5 44 mag hunter - silhouette

Not as consitent, but quite accurate- 30 Carbine Blackhawk

[bradshaw]

The IHMSA handgun targets are duplicates of the NRA rifle silhouettes.

Critical dimension of the ram is: 12" back-to-belly x 24" shoulder-to-butt.
Distance: IHMSA 200 meters; NRA rifle 500 meters.

The pig @ 100m represents the roadmap for doping the effects of wind and light at 150m (turkey) and 200m (ram). The turkey presents the optical challenge of a tilted football which, at 165 yards, keeps trying to pull your eye off the front sight.

Providing a bullet of excellent retained stability:
* A revolver which groups 2" @ 100m should print 4" @ 200m.
* A revolver which groups 4-5" @ 100m should print 10" to 12" @ 200m, making it a losing proposition for silhouette.

All revolvers from the same production line are not equal. No production revolver of which I am aware has outshot a PROPER Dan Wesson .357 mag, .41 mag, .44 mag, .357 Maximum/Super Mag (or .375 Super Mag with cast bullets only), although Freedom Arms Model 83's have at times equalled the DWA.

Accuracy wise, in my experience:
Freedom Arms varies the least from gun to gun.
Ruger varies the most from gun to gun.

Compared with a tight shooting revolver, a loose shooting gun exhibits an exaggerated cone of dispersion at extended range. A perfect bullet cannot correct this, due I suspect to variable birth canal of its launch. If all dimensions of a revolver are tight, except for a loose groove diameter, an oversize cast bullet may turn it into a super-shooter.

A straight shooting revolver is every bit as wonderful to take afield as an accurate rifle. Accuracy is mandatory for a revolver to live in my holster.
David Bradshaw

[seancass]

I hate to bump my own old thread, but I find this subject ridiculously interesting. I was thinking about posting a very similar question when a search brought up my own thread! Although, I was actually wondering what everyone shoots Way out there, say 500+ yards, but I'm guessing the answer is similar. I know there are a lot of new members here so maybe some of them will find this thread interesting.

Personally, my choice has evolved somewhat. I've done a little work with my 44cal SBH Bisley Hunter and if my scope is dialed in, I would like to not miss at 100 and maybe even 150, once i know where to hold. At 200, I'd like to hit more than miss, but again, I'd have to learn the correct hold. I'm hoping to play around with some IHMSA this summer, so maybe I'll really get to figure this stuff out! I also picked up a couple new guns that are totally up to the task, as soon as the user improves a little. More summer projects that I am Really looking forward to! I think I found a range that will let me play out to 500 or even 1000 yards. That is definitely on the list of goals! Actually, hitting something at 1000 yards is near bucket-list material!

Mr. Bradshaw, you've posted a few guns before that would certainly do the deed, curious which handgun you'd pull out of your safe. May have to change the wager in your case, unless someone is really foolish with their money!

I think the question is more about confidence than accuracy.

[AxeHandle]

Looked back over the thread and noticed that, while I ran my head, I never picked a gun... With the standing "No Single Shot" rule on a calm day inside a few 100 yards I'd grab my Sako 222 repeater and never look back. Built on the action that was Ken Tapp's long range gun at the 1988 Masters it came to me as a M16 magazine fed 7mm TCU repeater in a bright red fiberglas stock. Took it to a good friend who rebuilt the beast for me. When it was all said and done he remarked that it would have been easier and cheaper to have bought a new Sako action to build the gun on. 500-1000 yards with a repeater? I'd buy another Sako action and have a 6mm BR repeater pistol built!

[seancass]

Axe, if someone sees that gun and bets against it, they deserve to lose their money. Ya got a revolver or semi-auto that you'd gamble with?

[shorty500]

under the prescribed situation i want my FA 4-3/4 m83 with ACP cylinder installed. that setup has a nasty habit of doing strange things that people often dont believe it should be capable of

[AxeHandle]

Okay... Okay... Push come to shove I'd grab a scoped FA.

[bradshaw]

Seancass.... Silhouettes, standardized in NRA Rifle Silhouette, were adapted to handgun by Lee Jurras----mid-1970's----with distances standardized by IHMSA as:
50 meters----chicken
100 meters----pig
150 meters----turkey
200 meters----meters

The ram's body measures 12" by 24" wide. Due to aspect of a football stood on a kickoff tee the turkey, downrange 164 yards, remains the most optically insecure target on which to glue a sight picture. In proportion, the pig is the largest target, offering the clearest sight picture. Shot at 100 meters, the pig is the roadmap for windrift calculation, as the chicken is too close and blows off the stand too fast for a hard read.

A front sight .125" (1/8") wide subtends roughly 1-foot @ 100 meters, 2' @ 200 meters. Your subtension determined by your eye relief. The closer the front sight to your eye, the more it covers.

Given its propensity for drift on a light breeze, the .22 LR defines "squirrely" at 100 yards and loses it completely at 200.

For another rough calculation, reckon a revolver bullet drops 4-times at 200 what it drops at 100. Conservative.

Remember, a shot is thrown farther off target by jerking the trigger than by a poor sight picture. Remember also, there is no such thing as FOLLOW THROUGH without a clean squeeze.
David Bradshaw

[AxeHandle]

Might change my mind. Give me a little time to settle into these Banshee revolvers. Relatively (revolver that is) speaking a 75 grain 6mm spire point at 2200 FPS might do some good! After all we are talking hitting the steel not knocking it down!

[contender]

Well, I just found this, and it makes me think a bit. I have my Contenders which as noted, are "easy" compared to many others. I have no doubts I can hit stuff out beyond 200 yds with a few of them.
But the discussion is more about revolvers & such. And I fully agree that a LOT depends upon the shooter as well. Minor flaws in how a shooter handles a revolver at short ranges isn't often seen, but when you add distance, they become well magnified. So, in looking at my bunch of revolvers, I have several I could use out to 200 yds effectively IF,,,,,,,,, I do my part.
I have a sweet 454 Casull that while it's not been completely wrung out yet, I see it is up to the task. And I have my El Dorado in 45 Colt, that so far, I'm smiling a lot at 100 yds even though it too hasn't been fully dialed in with things yet. Both of these guns are "newer" than some of my others. I also have a 44 mag Ruger that was worked over by somebody. It has a chopped down bbl to 5-1/2" but it too is scary accurate. I have a sweet Super Redhawk in 480 that has been a steel smacking fool with whatever I've put in it, even in peoples hands who have never tried long range pistol shooting. I also have a handful of Rugers that while I don't have a place to fully test them, (I'm limited to 100 yds at my range,) have shown me they can easily be 200 yd gong ringers. Most are in 357 Maxi, 44 Mag, & 45 Colt. Now I do enjoy my 327 Mag Blackhawk at 100 yds, and last fall at a "gathering" at my place, the group had put up a bunch of clay pigeons to shoot at with their 22 rifles at 100 yds. Well, I sat there & watched a while, then pulled out the 327 Maggie, and was enjoying their remarks after I hit a few of the clays.
So, I do have quite a few in my safes that are capable,,,, IF,,,, I do MY part.

[Ken O'Neill]

Back in my IHMSA days, I would have picked my favorite 10 1/2" SBH, with which I would have expected to hit 90% + or so of the targets out through 200 meters. Unfortunately, that gun lives somewhere else now. Today, I would pick my 9 1/2" FA 353 .357, or my 7 1/2" FA 654 .41 Mag.

[bulasteve]

Yrs ago I did alot of long range lead flinging with my SBH 7.5". Not much the last couple of decades. The new NM FT .44spec 5.5" shows much promise though. Last sunner at camp we had a piece of cardboard on the new 200yd range, it was @ 12-14" wide and 24" high. I sat at the table with a rolled sweater under my wrists and put 4 holes in that carboard outta a cylinder full. I was quite happy but don't know if I could replicate that shooting on demand !   steve