Max kill distance for PRB

[airmansteve]

So, question for you all. Does anyone know what the longest range confirmed kill is for a PRB either in a military or hunting scenario?

I know the PRB is kind of like the bumblebee, it doesn't know it isn't efficient at longer ranges so it just keeps on killing! :rotf:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Hopefully, you won't use the answer to be your new hunting distance.

 

[nkbj]

Anybody have a graph with diameter on x, yards on y and number of kills on z? No? Oh well, me neither but it would be great to see.

 

[tg]

I have not realy heard much talk about such things, some talk about 150+ yds shots with .50+ cals now and then, it might be that to take very long shots 200+ with a PRB might be considered... or some may think it would be considered unethical/unwise and not the type of think folks would brag about or admit to?

 

[airmansteve]

Nope, not going to be my new hunting distance. Just curious. The woods here in Northern Michigan are too thick for much over 50 yards anyway.

 

[jethro224]

Max kill distance is probably a lot farther than you can shoot accurately with open sights. Would depend on caliber more than anything.

Max confirmed kill distance... there are some pretty far distances claimed in some Revolutionary War tales. Others can tell you the details better than I can.

 

[airmansteve]

Jethro, thats probably true! The RB probably does have more range than I do!
I have read of 400 yd + kills but I don't know if those were RB or conical/minne.
The gun club has a 400 yd range and I have been toying with the idea of trying to ring the gong with my .50 with proper hold over etc. I have rung it with cartridge rifles and open sights.

 

[jethro224]

Can't hurt to try. I would. :grin:
If you're sighted in for normal distances I would guess you'd need about 8-10 feet of hold over :hmm: plus whatever windage fits the day you try. No doubt you can ring that gong with enough practice... and maybe a good spotter.

 

[necchi]

Closer to 40 feet holdover :grin:

 

[S.Kenton]

In the book "The Frontiersman" by Allen Eckert ..it's mentioned somewhere ( I can't find the passage now)That it was recorded in one of the soldiers diaries,that a sharpshooter shot a horse out from underneath one of the opposing forces officers. When it was " stepped out" it was said to be more than 400 yrds...my memory of the passage is a little foggy....I'm sure that woulda been PRB for that time period, (late 1700's)..and is quite possibly exaggerated..

 

[John Wasmuth]

Not an impossible shot by any means.

 

[rabjr]

For a hunting scenario I can confirm Max kill range to be 75 yards so far. :thumbsup:

 

[S.Kenton]

yes..not impossible at all. Especially taken into context that the rifles they( assuming your talking about our for-fathers) carried were an extension of themselves, meaning they used them as a means of survival and used them quite often. I would imagine that one would get to know ones rifle pretty well under those circumstances.

 

[airmansteve]

Beware the man with just one gun...

 

[zimmerstutzen]

The larger the ball, the further it carries energy and velocity down range. However, with a given amount of powder, that larger ball also starts slower than smaller balls with the same powder. The was once a guy near Shartlesville PA that shot rather long distances at deer with a chunk gun of a very large caliber. He had his distances marked by painting trees and rocks along his shooting lane and also used a picnic table as his rest. I had heard of a hit on a doe at close to 400 yards, which would have been an arc like a mortar

 

[John Wasmuth]

Exactly.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

yes..not impossible at all. Especially taken into context that the rifles they( assuming your talking about our for-fathers) carried were an extension of themselves, meaning they used them as a means of survival and used them quite often. I would imagine that one would get to know ones rifle pretty well under those circumstances.

When one grows up with a gun in hand the very FIRST thing one learns is not to wast powder and lead on chancy shots. Hitting anything at 400 yards with a round ball is pure dumb luck and only the purely dumb would attempt it on game.
In a military context if the target were a line of infanty standing shoulder to shoulder and ten ranks deep then throwing a ball out there does offer the chance that it just might hit someone, flock shooting so to speak.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

:thumbsup:

 

[S.Kenton]

I would never attempt a shot like that..however in the context in which the example was given, a military sharpshooter or 18th century sniper, could and would.
check this out. http://www.angelfire.com/tx4/Corps/Sniper.html

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I couldn't get that link to work.
But if the question is how far would a round ball be lethal if by wild chance it might happen to hit something, then it becomes a question of the minimum velocity needed for lethal penetration. The Lyman BP handbook only goes out to 300 yards. At that distance a .495" ball started at 1800 fps will be down to 584 fps. That's about like a lightly loaded pistol at close range and that is lethal. Add another hundred yards and you probably lose another hundred fps. At that speed it just might bounce off a heavy wool coat or a deer's side, inflicting no more than a bruise. So I would think 400 yards would be at least very near the maximum lethal range unless one used a very large caliber.
Oh wait, now that link does work. :idunno:
They say a longrifle sniper "could hit an enemy up to 300 yards". I would say "occasionally, yes, consistently with the first shot, no way". You're talking about 10 feet of hold over and 4 feet of wind drift from a 5 mph breeze. At estimated range across uneven ground with no wind flags a hit at 300 yards would be far more luck than skill, even assuming the rifle and ball were inherently accurate enough to make the shot, which I doubt. Even with modern barrels, and balls and fine aperture sights few people can hold a roundball group from bench rest much smaller than 8-10" at 200 yards and 300 is about four times harder.