Long range handgunning

[timothy]

I've been thinking a lot about long range handgunning and I've come to the belief that its the same as long range rifle shooting on a much shorter scale. One difference is many more people are willing to explore and develop it because targets arent near as far as long rifle ranges would be.
 
While I have myself done fairly decent work with smith and wesson and ruger revolvers at 75 and 100 yards from the bench, I've never been shocked at a complete miss at those ranges even on a good day. While the guns surely can be accurate at those ranges I believe I've passed the point of certainty of hitting with a handgun when I go that far.
 
People can hit things with a 30-30 win 94 at a mile if they take the time to figure it out and I've come to think of long range sixgunning the same way.
 
When dealing with long rage shooting everything comes into play and the slightest error become huge as the range increases. With an auto pistol I can keep all shots on a paper plate at 7 yards while intentionally changing and messing up the sight picture every shot. Why is this? Is it because I'm within the guns effective range? Am I stepping out of it when shooting a magnum revolver at 100 yards? I think so.
 
For me the hardest part at longer ranges is elevation. Expecially when shooting off hand. If that front site drops a hair I'll miss the target completely everytime. Another bear is grip consistancy. I cant count the times I've sighted a gun in dead on, and the next day it shot a foot high at 50 yards under the EXACT same conditions. Position of the sun, placement of the thumbs, perspiration on the hands, visibility and shape of target, not to mention trigger pull are all other fun things to experiment with and stress out over in the game of long range handgunning.
 
Im in no way condeming the art and will continue with it myself, but Im aware that at closer ranges I have much more room for error and wil STILL be able to hit what I'm aiming at with consistancy. I think thats what guns should do, and for me at least at long ranges anything can happen. Handguns are designed for closer ranges and at those ranges they shine. Go passed them and its like shooting a rifle at a mile, certainly possible but not very practical.
 
 

[Curtis]

This is a concept that my cousin simply cannot grasp.  He is one of those hunters that has always pulled out his hunting rifle a little before opening day, shot it a couple of times to make sure the scope didn't get bumped and then gone hunting.  Yes, he bags his deer or two every season, however when he decided to move into handgun hunting he could not get away with this practice.  He was convinced that his Blackhawk could not deliver the accuracy he desired even after I explained to him all of what you just said (grip consistency and all).  I picked up his Blackhawk and scope from him for cheap.
 
Then he saw what my 14" 7-30 Waters Contender was capable of in my hands and asked that I build him one.  I supplied him with same along with 100 rounds of hand loads tailored for his pistol.  After over a year when he had not asked me about any more ammo for the pistol I asked him how it was shooting and if he had bagged any game.  He shuffled his feet and said "I'm just making that pistol part of my collection." and I didn't ask any more questions (I can read between the lines).  I guess he couldn't shoot that one any better than the Blackhawk but was still unwilling to put in the range time required to become proficient.
 
Curtis

[kynardsj]

Hunting club I was in for 37 years had an 11 acre field in front of the main cabin. We made some steel silhouette turkeys, rams and one really heavy one we called "the thing." After a lot of practice I still couldn't shoot a group with a handgun at long range but got pretty good at clanging steel. Steel at longer ranges is a heap of fun. No doubt when you get a hit. One trick we always played on newcomers to the hunting club was to break a balloon about the size of a softball at 200 yards with a scoped 22 rifle. We'd hang it on a post out in the field. We'd laugh at folks shooting round after round and then we'd break it with one shot. What they didn't know was that we had already figured the drop at that range and had a bottle cap nailed above the balloon. Center the cap and break the balloon every time. Lots of fun back in those days. 

[atitagain]

I will relate this in the same way I relate golf to people I help.
If the face of your golf club is off by 2 degrees at impact, your ball is off by 30-40 feet at 150 yards.
It's the same thing with guns. If you move the tip of your gun barrel a 10th of an inch, your off by 12 inches at 100 yards. Which will put you off by 3 feet at  about 250 yards. The reason hand guns are harder to shoot is the shorter sight radius. And they just harder to hold steady. Personally, I prefer the single shots for longer range. Any gun that utilizes a single chamber will be more accurate. Especially at longer ranges. The biggest trick for me is finding a grip that I am really comfortable with. The more comfortable the grip, the better I can hold it, and the more confident I am with it.
Just my 2 cents worth.

[williamlayton]

Yup! When you are 70 and the tremors set in it is not even easy to shoot good groups, free hand, at 25 yards.
Blessings

[bilmac]

Back in the day when Elmer Kieth and the boys were playing with long range pistols they went so far as scribing visible lines on their front sights for refrence for different ranges. Then they leveled the rear sight with the reference line and put the target on top of the front sight.
 
 I had always just held over when I tried to streach the barrel, then I tried the Kieth method.  I found it to be a lot more accurate.
 
 I always thought that shooting at long range had some application when I was in LE. I was doing game warden type work, and thought that I should be able to shoot well enough that somebody armed with a rifle would not want to close with me.

[Ladobe]

I take handgun hunting very seriously, so have strong opinion about using them for hunting.   Like with anything else, what you get out of something is a product of what you put into it.   By default handguns require far more from you than the long arms do.   There are no fast shortcuts with a handgun... to do the crime with them (effectively/humanely/ethically) you MUST do the time first, second and along the way.   
 
I started seriously handgun hunting in the mid 60's with revolvers for big game, revolvers and autos for small game, and became very proficient at it through countless hours of shooting each of my hunting handguns in non hunting practice until I was very confident what I could do with it consistently.   The key when hunting was to stay within my current abilities with each handgun until I could do more with it when that was confirmed in practice.   The ranges got longer in steps over time, the speciality handguns I first got into in 1968 extended them much farther and became my go to for long range, some of them extreme range hunting.   Many could be used as effectively in field positions as far or farther than some can shoot their rifles effectively in the field.    Off a bench many specialty handguns can surpass any run of the mill rifle, even give bench rifles a run for their money.   When I started getting handguns chambered for wildcats that extended ranges even farther.   I also used rifles and shotguns for hunting all my life (and smokepoles from 1970), from when a kid growing up on a ranch.   The long guns had a big head start on the handguns, just in all the 22 rimfires alone I shot as a kid mostly in rifles.   But in the end I fired far more, make that many times more shots in handguns during the 40 or so years I hunted with them until the health failed than I shot in all the other firearms types combined in my entire life.  I did the time with handguns.   I don't hunt or shoot anymore with anything... it's been enough years now that it would take some serious extended range time before I'd even think of doing it again with handguns, and some range time even for rifles.   I'm sure I haven't lost it entirely, but the eyes are not as good and I am way out of practice to hunt with a handgun ethically.
 
FWIW-YMMV
 
 

[SHOOTALL]

wild , lets see no hitting a target with a handgun at 200 meters is not a speed drill its percision shooting and taking ones time is the rule. Also off hand is doable as proven in many IMHSA shoots . Light can play havoc as can clouds . The percision shooter has to learn to cope with these distractions along with learning to have a consistant grip. I shot out to 500 yards with a XP-100 in 7BR. I shot both 200 yard and 200 meter courses depending on range while being a member of IMHSA . I used single shot handguns and revolvers. I liked the 44 mag. the most . I have shot it to 500 yards at the range for fun. It takes constant pratice . You cannot keep the skills with out using them. I don't consider it like rifle shooting as you can't get three points of anchor like a rifle. Your head is never in contact with the stock . Just my opinion .
As a side note I have shot accurate rifles but to this day have never seen any group of rifles that out of the box will beat a XP-100 as a group. Never saw one shoot bad , most were 1 hole at 100 yards with IRON SIGHTS . Saw a guy with one hit 10 turkey targets in the head in a row , at 150 meters and iron sights.
Shoot a revolver long enough at range and it will become second nature , try a good Ruger Blackhawk or Redhawk  with good sights .