Shooting Long Range With A Handgun

[JimT]

longrange2.jpg

Years ago .. shooting close to 300 yards with a .45 ACP 1911

taylor.jpg

20 or so years ago shooting rocks at long range with a Freedom Arms Model 83. I found it much harder to hit consistently at long range with a scope if you did not adjust the elevation. Unlike open sights, it was harder for me to compensate with the sight. But I don't care for scopes on a sixgun and hardly ever use them. That's just a personal preference.

IMG_0828.JPG

The front sight on my Linebaugh-built Ruger .45 ... the bar on the front sight is the 200 yard mark with the 300 gr. #457191 bullet and my standard load. You just hold 6 o'clock on the target, drop the rear sight down to the mark and it's on at 200 yards. I learned through lots of shooting where to drop the rear sight to at 300 ... 400 ... 500 etc.

[marlinman93]

Great pictures Jim! Something everyone should try if they can find the right place to play with doing it! I find it a lot of fun whenever I have the opportunity to play at long range handgunning!

[piller]

It can be tough to find any place now to shoot long range.

[JimT]

It can be tough to find any place now to shoot long range.

True .. unless you live in the western lands with lots of open space.

[GunnyMack]

I remember watching Bob Munden shooting a 2" 38 at 400 yards at balloons. Granted the splash of the bullet on the steel plate was probably responsible for the ballon breaking but still a stubby barrel & 38s is a feat.
I haven't done any long range pistol shooting since school and that was on the trap range. I stood on station 1, 27yard line and holding my K22 I called PULL! Target came out and I broke it, 3 times in a row. Then I decided I better quit while I was ahead!

[JimT]

Smart move, Gunny!

[Sixgun]

Long range shooting has always been a passion with me. For some folks, long range shooting with a handgun is 50-100 meters. I consider 200 meters a minimum and prefer 250-350. After that too much comes into play, like when holding up the front sight as sometimes you have to have the barrel perched up behind the rear sight.

As with Jim, I also do not like scopes on handguns...they belong on rifles......at our silhouette matches the scores with metallic sights are usually better....

I believe this is the best front sight ever conceived on a handgun, the 4 position Smith & Wesson adjustable front sight that's on a 10" Model 29. Just dial it in on that little dial?...or whatever they call it.

This thing shoots like a rifle but nothing shoots as good as the 10" heavy barreled Maximum that I usually use with 180 jacketed.---006

The 2" Colt Slip gun in my avatar was knocking down the 200 meter 80 pound rams with ease with a solid 2 handed hold off the bench.

[Sixgun]

In his book "Sixguns" Elmer talks about some of the crazy shots he has done....like shooting an eagle out of the air at 100 yards or running jack rabbits at 200 yards with the Smith n frame 45 acp....He continues that near all people will disbelieve his deeds but if you shoot often enough these shots will not alarm you. I used to shoot at sparrows and the like out in the pasture from my back door step......distinctly remember it was in '76 I walked out back with a Ruger old model .22 and lined up on a sparrow...shot and forgot about it....

Day or two later I was walking out there and there it was, dead.....85 yards....around that time I did the same with a Model 59 Smith 9mm auto. As usual I was the "first on the block" to get new stuff and that was when the 59 came out. Standing at the back steps there's this feral cat strutting along looking for songbirds to eat. Well, that cat ate but it wasn't a songbird, it was 115 gr. Sierra.....a bit over 100 yards...that cat took off a hundred miles an hour, ran about 50 yards then plunk!

Crows....used to shoot em out of trees 75 or more yards away before this area got built up. I could go on for another hour but you guys would call me a braggart! Not me! Oh no sir!... I never brag as the truth is not bragging.

Single action Colts and N frame Smiths, all from back in the day when craftsmanship was paramount which ended before ww1 for Winchesters and about 1970 for most everything else, unless you wanted to pay big bucks for custom stuff like Freedom Arms. I consider them custom because I've never seen that kind of workmanship on any big name gun since the 1930's.

[JimT]

I've been to the Freedom Arms factory several times .. maybe 4 or 5 ... but anyway .. there is a lot of handwork on them .. fitting the grips correctly and making sure the gun is near perfect ... so 'custom' ain't a bad word. All top of the line firearms are (were) pretty much custom.

[Sixgun]

Yea Jim....considering the fact that the early guns were done on belt powered machinery......as you know there was none of this CNC and lathes that were down to 1/10 of a thousandths. I'm guessing that today its push push push as today's consumers really don't know what real craftsmanship is. Some guys will show me their new guns with a smile that's a mile wide and me looking at the wavy polishing, rounded edges, uneven corners, crooked dovetails, scope mount holes drilled off center, gritty trigger pulls,..blah, blah, blah I can only smile back at them and say, "nice! dude".

But I'm being untruthful.........

The manufacturers blame it on labor costs....only a small part of it.....the biggest issue is more money for the investors and others at the top.....everyone wants to be a DuPont today.....

As it left

[JimT]

Wasn't that the one you were gonna trade me for my Star9mm?

[Sixgun]

Fergit that Jim,,,,no Star......now, maybe that straight shootin' Rossi levergun and we will talk. But of course, I'll have to add a few c notes....

It's killing me....believe it's unfired......and I'm dying to shoot it. It's part of my retirement and one day it will help to pay bills and to be truthful we both have shot so much stuff we can play it out in our heads and know it will go "bang" and maybe group 2" left and 1" high so why mess it up when we can grab one that's already been shot.

Got a '73 in the same condition that came out of a DuPont estate.

[JimT]

Well Sixgun ... they have been telling us for years that "freedom ain't free!"

[marlinman93]

I only shoot long range once or twice a year, and it's usually at 400-500 yds. as longer than this gets too few hits on the dingers. And since I do so on just a couple occasions it takes me 6-8 shots to finally figure out where to hold again. Once I get my sight hold back on it's not that tough to get more hits than misses.

[AmBraCol]

Long range is all perspective. 'Round here the longest I could shoot safely would be around 145 meters (IIRC) and there's so much grass grown up there that even in a dry spell I'd not be able to spot my misses and so get on target. One of my favorite "long range" sessions was when I set up at 50 meters to shoot my Baikal IZH 46M 10 meter pistol. I had to hold most of the barrel up over the rear sight, hold the front sight at the top edge of the cardboard target backer and try to get that sight picture consistent from shot to shot. I ended up with a three shot group of an inch or so at 50 meters, but it was at the bottom right corner of the 3 foot or so tall cardboard backer and the pellets were stuck in the first paper layer of the corrugated cardboard. With any kind of breeze and the tiny .177" pellets, all bets are off. That was a perfect day to pull it off, don't know if I could duplicate it now or not.

[ollogger]

Long range shootong with hand guns is lots of fun!
I shoot alot of steel at my place out to bout 200 yards, any farther with my muffs i cant hear it hit
up the road a few miles are the chalk bluffs & cliffs, great fun up there as you can always see the bullets hit
distance? any where from 200 - who knows maybe 600 yards, also great for burning off a bunch of ammo
in some kind of lever gun, no scopes except if i want to pester the prairie dogs with a 99 in 243


ollogger

[Walt]

Ollogger, get yourself one of them there new electronic earmuffs, turn up the volume and you'll be able to hear those hits from a good distance.

[ollogger]

Ollogger, get yourself one of them there new electronic earmuffs, turn up the volume and you'll be able to hear those hits from a good distance.

Walt i had a nice pair & i left them on the back of some ones 4 wheeler trailer & away they went
never to be seen by me again, i know im a bit of a tite wad
at least i didnt lose my 99 that day

ollogger

[Griff]

I mighta told this story before, but... at the end of Jeffrey's Rd outside Irvine, CA was a rifle/pistol range open to the public, (now long buried under suburban developments). The Range Master there was an old coot named Charlie... Never knew any other name or anything about him other'n he was a retired Marine. When someone would complain about the $5/day range fee, Charlie would bet them that he could hit a manhole cover on the hill behind the range on the first shot from his 1911... if he missed they'd shoot for the day free. I never witnessed a miss. It was an uphill shot about 500 yards, or so Charlie told me. One time after a while someone that'd been there, taken the bet, balked at Charlie doin' the shooting... So Charle volunteered me and my .53 Hawken. Although I'd never before tried such a shot, Charlie assured me that if I aimed where he said, I'd ring the gong. So, standing there between the range master shack and the end of 50 yard pistol range, I hefted that Hawken, aimed at the creosote bush just above and left of the manhole cover and squeezed off a shot. Yes, the feller paid his $5 fee and never said a word... I could only occasionally hit it with my 1911, after many, many attempts.

[Walt]

Ollogger, I hate to admit it but it seems like if I don't forget something or screw something up these days, it's an unusual day. It ain't getting any better.

[Sixgun]

Ollogger, I hate to admit it but it seems like if I don't forget something or screw something up these days, it's an unusual day. It ain't getting any better.

Relax Walt.....that's called "getting old".......I noticed it around 62 or so and 6 years later, it's no better. Now, if your 40, you better put down the weed. ----006

[Walt]

Yup, I'm afraid you're right, Sixgun; gettin' old. Last month was 72.

[marlinman93]

Yup, I'm afraid you're right, Sixgun; gettin' old. Last month was 72.

Me too Walt, and if I set a tool down during a project it better be in a large open place, or when I turn to grab it I'll spend 20 minutes trying to figure out where I left it!

[Sixgun]

Yup, I'm afraid you're right, Sixgun; gettin' old. Last month was 72.

You have to look at the bright side of getting old.....you no longer have to worry about saving money.......your probably not going to have to move..(same house for 48 years for me)........you don't have to replace any clothes, machinery, tools, etc......you don't have to worry about who you might offend...(my favorite)......any money that you do spend is for fun things........to heck with politics as that never changes.......you can belch, pass gas, and stink up the bathroom and normal people expect that from old people......no longer caring about if your socks match or if your clothes have a stain on em......

The only downside of getting old is finally coming to the realization that dogs, cats, and other pets are better than people, even extended family.....000006

[JimT]

IMG_0657.JPG

[Walt]

Vall. I have a solution for those pesky tools that crawl away and hide. I point my index finger at 'em and yell STAY! That seems to help.....every now and then. All right, maybe not so much.