Accuracy?

[rdstrain49]

At what range does your accuracy fall off? I can shoot clover leaf groups at 50 yards, and very decent groups at 70 yards, but 100 yards, forget it. The reason I ask is because I shot at a club match last week, they had the double bull Buff for a 100 yard target. With my rifle, no problem but the smoothie, no chance.

What say ya?

 

[Stumpkiller]

I figure 60 yards is my outside accuracy range.

Certainly not clover leafs (with my low blade/no rear swamped 16 bore) but I can keep five in 5" offhand at that range. Good enough for deer.

 

[smo]

I figure 60 yards is my outside accuracy range.

Certainly not clover leafs (with my low blade/no rear swamped 16 bore) but I can keep five in 5" offhand at that range. Good enough for deer.

I've missed em' close as 25 yards :shake: :redface: :redface:

 

[BrownBear]

I've missed em' close as 25 yards :shake: :redface: :redface:

Welcome, Friend! :rotf:

 

[Docgp]

I'm still a neophyte to fowlers so 25 yds is my max at this time. I'm enjoying the learning curve so far though.

Doc

 

[tenngun]

I figure 60 yards is my outside accuracy range.

Certainly not clover leafs (with my low blade/no rear swamped 16 bore) but I can keep five in 5" offhand at that range. Good enough for deer.

I've missed em' close as 25 yards :shake: :redface: :redface:

:metoo: a

 

[Britsmoothy]

I just get closer until I think I have a chance.

B.

 

[wattlebuster]

With my 12 ga its 60 an under for me. All my hunting spots is 50 an less anyway with about 25 yrds being the average.

 

[rdstrain49]

Thanks for the reply guys, but I think we may be talking apples and oranges. I fully understand and agree regarding hunting distances. For hunting my max is about 40 yards with a smoothie and 100 to 125 with a rifle. Understand, at those distances everything must be just right.

What I'm trying to understand here is shooting matches with smooth bores with targets set out to 100 yards. Anyone ever seen this or is this just some weird thing with our club? Anyone have any success with a smooth bore at 100 yards. I'm not sure that decent groups, say 5 to 7 inches, are attainable with a smoothie. Are they?

 

[George]

Anyone have any success with a smooth bore at 100 yards. I'm not sure that decent groups, say 5 to 7 inches, are attainable with a smoothie. Are they?

I think they are, but going by the discussions by most people over the years, I'd say not many would agree. I'm not a competitive shooter, and have shot my smoothie at 100 yards only for my own curiosity, and not often, at that. Here's a typical target, 20 gauge flintlock, 46" barrel, no rear sight, 4-inch group from casual rest at 100 yards.



And at 75 yards, same gun, same load, 3 1/2-inch group 17 years earlier.



Spence

 

[BrownBear]

Anyone have any success with a smooth bore at 100 yards. I'm not sure that decent groups, say 5 to 7 inches, are attainable with a smoothie. Are they?

I tried and ran into a limitation for me before I ever got that far.

Accurate shooting to the potential of the gun depends a lot on consistent head position. And that depends on good stock fit. I'm gangly and need some extra LOP. Never had a smoothie built for myself, and all the others I've tried were too short. I'm not saying I could hit your accuracy standard with the longer stock, but I suspect I'd come closer to it than I can with any short stock I've tried.

 

[smo]

With all variables off the table ,theoretically a smooth bore should hold tight groups at a 100 yards . In a perfect range environment and keeping the loading procedure the same. Mounting and sight picture the exact same from shot to shot I can see where 5 to 7 inch groups are a reality at 100 yards. Off Hand ! A shooter would need to have nerves of steel to pull it off at 💯 yards. At 50 I've seen targets of one hole groups off hand out of a smoothie. Luck maybe, possibility.... for sure. Can I do it .... not a chance in # £ \ \ ! Good Luck in your endeavors. It sounds like your well on your way to success :thumbsup:

 

[Many Klatch]

Well this has been kind of discussed on the Steel ball bearings thread, but I found that a .60 ball bearing in my 20 gauge could hit targets at 100 yards. I only carried them because I was often in matches shooting against rifles and there was always that one target way out there that I normally would not have a chance with.

Normally you are correct, 60 to 70 yards is about max for the normal smoothbore.

I have seen a friend with a .54 smooth rifle hit a deer sized gong at 120 yards. With a Bess I was once able to hit a man sized target at 230 yards once out of three shots. Hit the target in the foot. That happened to be a really unusual match shot off the top of a mesa at a target in the valley below.

So as long as the ball is moving it is possible to hit targets if the stars are aligned and you are really lucky.

 

[Artificer]

Back in the 70's when I competed in the Northwest Trade Gun matches at Friendship and more local matches using my Pedersoli Brown Bess Carbine, I got to the point I could hit in the center of a One Gallon Milk Jug at 100 yards, from the offhand, almost 9 times out of 10. This was after growing up doing mostly offhand shooting, having been trained in the Marine Corps to shoot offhand and having gotten tips from a mentor who shot his Charleville w/PRB. That mentor could hit the gallon milk jug almost every time at 100 yards and from the offhand position.

I am very glad Spence got in on this discussion.

In another thread, I asked Spence how he loaded his smoothbore for that kind of accuracy. Spence informed me that he used a wad on top of the powder and before he loaded his PRB. I think that may be part of the reason he gets better accuracy. No one I knew did that back when I was competing with my Brown Bess Carbine.

Gus

 

[tenngun]

Just to throw a monkey in to the wrench, in 1605 in Switzerland smoothbore shooters competed shooting at a 30 inch target at 570 feet, 190 yards, that same year riflemen shot at 805 feet, 268+ yards off hand no less ( I never shoot off hand if I can avoid it).

 

[Trot]

On a good day I can hold a 10 inch or so group at 100 yards offhand with my .58 Carolina gun, But, it does have a rear sight.

 

[Trot]

On a good day I can hold a 10 inch or so group at 100 yards offhand with my .58 Carolina gun, But, it does have a rear sight.

 

[BrownBear]

That sounds about right. I have a 62 caliber smooth bore Green River drop-in barrel on a Renegade. It has a modern adjustable rear sight, and with the right load it's in the same neighborhood. But I've also removed the rear sight and shot it. Groups more than double- again probably due to the poor stock fit and my difficulty with consistent head placement.

My 62 caliber rifle is capable of 4-6" even with my old eyes. That may the fairer measure of the effects of rifling versus smooth when the sights are the same on both.

 

[George]

Are you trying to find out if anyone can do well with a smoothbore shooting offhand at 100 yards, or if a smoothbore gun is capable of shooting good groups at 100 yards? Are we talking about shooters or guns?

Spence

 

[hanshi]

The smoothbore I own is a tight .62 and has a rear sight. I can get pretty good three shot groups at 50-60 yards but for five shots the average is about what my hand can cover, 5 " + or -. I've never fired it beyond that. I don't compete but I hunt and that level of accuracy works for me. Some who spend lots of time with their smoothbores do get fine 100 yard accuracy fairly often.