how far is too far

[MikeNV]

I just harvested a good sized antelope w/ my .54 flinter shooting 85fffg and .530 swaged RB at.......125 yds. Shot from a firm seated position, thanks to the USMC rifleman training. Hit slightly high on the back and broke the spine.

 

[canyonman]

How far is too far?

When I can't keep ALL shots inside a 6 inch circle. That's my limit. What does that come out to... well with a good rest all my guns will do it at 100 yds. Freehand most at 50 yds. and one at 75. Sitting all at 75 yds. and one at a 100.

Bottom line once your gun is sighted in you have to practice various positions that you'll encounter in the field, then figure out your own limitations.

Larry

 

[Slamfire]

I use Buffalo's Ballets in my .50, charge it with 75 grains of ffg and reap about the same velocity and trajectory as a .22 long rifle standard velocity cartridge. So I sight in for 85 yards and expect the bullet to fall out of the kill zone at about 125. I really don't have a place where I can see that far on my property, but sometimes I go with a neighbor. :front:

 

[MikeChapin]

I generally keep everything under a hundred yards. Anything further starts getting to the point where the front sight is bigger than the impact area, so I can't place the shot like I feel I should.

All but a very few are taken at under 70 yards with another few under 25 yards.

 

[The Kansan]

How far is too far?

Depends on my comfort level - I generally keep shots within 40 to yards, but if it's one that I believe I can make, then I invarliably do make it!

I shot a doe in the head at 120 yards a few years back. Not because I was desperate or enjoy trying longs shots, but because I somehow knew I could make the shot.

That's the kicker for me - I ask myself if I believe I can make the shot and if the answer is "Probably" or "I hope so" then I pass. I decided against a 20 yard shot on a deer last year because, for some reason, I just didn't feel comfortable with it. Later that afternoon, I bet my best friend 10 bucks that I could shoot a cottontail that was sitting about 60 yards away and hit 'im in the head. My buddy said said "You passed up a 20 yard shot on a deer and now you think you can hit a rabbit in the head at 60?!! You're on!" A few minutes later, 10 bucks and one headshot rabbit richer I told him "I didn't believe I could hit that deer this morning, but I KNEW I could nail that rabbit!


Go figure...


...The Kansan...

 

[rudy parnell]

The story about the car and the train is an effective illustration of what goes on concerning velosity and mass. I see this story played out with the arrow and on the battlefield. Now, there is a scientific explanation for ballistics but it's not near as likely to be learned and remembered. I have a similar explaination that goes like this...If you shoot a cement bunker with a 22, then you don't get much but a bullet exploding on impact. If you shoot a cement bunker with a 50 BMG you got something. You keep chunking them bigger rounds in there and pretty soon you are going to get something! Oh, and about the arrow: Fred Bear didn't kill them elephants and Bears with a lite speedy arrow. He was chunking in the big stuff! I think you're best to catch your "game" up close and unaware. Then burn one slam threw'um. Make um see daylight! You are suppose to take pride in your work and do the best by the animal that you possibly can. Like the man said,"It's called hunting, not shopping". :m2c: adios!

 

[Stumpkiller]

Can't compare an arrow and a bullet. You can kill just as well with that arrow if you push it slowly through an animal (I once figured my "heavy" 700 gr cedar arrows have about 45 ft lbs of energy at 20 yards as I remember) and they'll blow through a whitetail's ribs on both sides. The same wound could be made with a sword thrust at 2 fps.

You can sit on your own broadhead and bleed to death in a stand (happens on occasion). No one ever died from sitting on their lead balls.

Except maybe from vascular degeneration. :crackup:

 

[roundball]

Can't compare an arrow and a bullet. You can kill just as well with that arrow if you push it slowly through an animal (I once figured my "heavy" 700 gr cedar arrows have about 45 ft lbs of energy at 20 yards as I remember) and they'll blow through a whitetail's ribs on both sides. The same wound could be made with a sword thrust at 2 fps.

You can sit on your own broadhead and bleed to death in a stand (happens on occasion). No one ever died from sitting on their lead balls.

Except maybe from vascular degeneration. :crackup:

Yeah, penetration is an interesting thing that by itself only tells part of the story...I can shoot a Muzzy 4 blade through a bucket of sand, but not my .30-06

 

[Dave K]

Yes, you are right on arrows, but actually the same applies as far as range. How far do you feel comfortable shooting and KNOW that you can place your bullet or arrow where you want it. Open sights for me is at about 100yds. with a gun. With a bow, 50yds. If you practice it, you will know it.

 

[Hoyt]

I'm not much of a long shot shooter...even at the range I can't hardly see the spot at 100yds. I very seldom set up where I can see anything much further than 75yds or so anyway. So bout 75yds. will be my max. unless I get a good shot at about 100yds..or maybe if.......

 

[Stumpkiller]

Open sights for me is at about 100yds. with a gun. With a bow, 50yds. If you practice it, you will know it.

100 yards with a mid-to-large bore m/l is a good limit. I set myself to 25 yards with a bow even though I used to field-shoot the 80 yard target with a bow pretty consistantly. I also know I can count to three while that arrow is in flight and it is 15 yards above the ground mid flight. A lot can happen in three seconds, especially with a live and nervous target.

Because you can hit a target is not the bottom line. It has to be under field conditions. There is no bench and mowed lane over a measured course in the woods. Everyone should also practice pacing off distances in the woods. it's surprising how few people can accurately judge distances in the woods.

Take a target or coffee can out into the woods and "attack" it from various angles. Loop around so you're not always pacing off the same distances. That's cheating, even if it is subconscious. It's also good practice for using available support, or lack of.

I used to lug a cardboard deer silhouette on a stake out to the woods to practice picking a sopt on an unmarked large deer-sized target. Deer don't have florescent orange dots or black bulls-eyes where you need them. Now I use a copier paper box (Roughly the size of a deer's torso. Keep your shots centered in the lower quadrant of the front half and you're in the vitals.

 

[roundball]

Yes, you are right on arrows, but actually the same applies as far as range. How far do you feel comfortable shooting and KNOW that you can place your bullet or arrow where you want it. Open sights for me is at about 100yds. with a gun. With a bow, 50yds. If you practice it, you will know it.

Pretty much the same here, although I'd go a little farther with a .54/.58cal, solid rest, at a standing broadside shot;

Back during my peak bow hunting years with a good compound, sights, rest, shafts, etc, I couldn't shoot at the same bullseye within 30-35yds as there was too much collateral shaft / fletching damage to other arrows...I did practice at 50yds often enough to know that I'd take the shot at a standing broadside deer in good light...also learned practicing at 50yds forces such a high degree of concentration and finesse that all shorter distances become a cake-walk after that...I miss it actually...but these doggone Flintlocks take up all my time now
::

 

[revehuntsman]

Have to go with the "what you're comfortable with" advice. I have taken one South Texas buck at 125 paces with a T/C .45 MaxiBall on 90 grs. fff. It was a broadside shot early in the morning. I knew I could place a heart shot at that range. But had I known what would happen when I touched off the round I would have passed it up. It was early in morning, heavy overcast, just enough light to get a good bead. I set the trigger and just as I fired the deer looked straight in my direction. What he saw, I'm sure, looked like an 8-inch naval gun going off! He immediatly bolted. by the time the ball reached him he had moved about 18-inches -- which meant a heart shot was now somewhere a lot lower. Bullet went in between the last and next to last rib and exited just behind the last rib on the far side. I wound up tracking him (surprisingly little blood) and found him about 100 yards along, plowed into the ground, falling at a full run. WHen I cleaned him out I discovered the reason for so little blood -- he had bled out entirely into the chest cavity. Both lungs were collapsed and the diaphragm was shredded. Even at that range, the round had plenty of killing power.
Since then I've limited my shots to 75-100 yards and wait until there is enough light that the mussle flash is not so evident.

 

[rudy parnell]

You know how some folks just think they got to have the last word. Well...I beg to differ with you on the comparison of arrows and bullets. That is to say that within this comparison ,there are some rules of physics that would apply. Energy is part of it. Why do you think that they make Mangus broadheads in 165gr. and not 85? The reason sir, is to transfer the energy of the heavier mass to the intended target. Granted this is all for nothing if you are shooting snow birds on a frosty day after mama's bread crumbs. You could use a sharp stick with a bottle cap crimped on the end and that would be over kill. Auh! but, if you want to kill a Cape Buffalo...you'll need a larger heavier shaft. Fred Bear did it. And Ted the nugent tried it ,but his shot placement was poor. I must confess that I have no first hand experience ,but I know these guys put an aluminum shaft inside a shaft for added weight. I think Fred used exceptionally long solid arrows to gain the weight needed to kill large dangerous game animals. There is also some corrulation with the spinning ball of a rifle and the fletching pattern and consequent spin of the arrow in flight. I believe also, that since both are projectiles they will follow a parabolic curve and like some have stated previously, maybe subject to the "Cirrilous Effect"...Now we're in the toilet bowel, no kidding! I don't know why it is but, when I am addressing you, Stumpy...somehow, I just know that this will not be the last word. Thanky and adios!