200 & 300 Yard Patched Round Ball

[Candle Snuffer]

It would appear (according to the weather reports) that tomorrow and Sunday is suppose to be near, or up to, 50+ degrees for both days.  Today it got near 60... Who'd a thought?

Anyway, I think over the weekend (since hunting season is over) I'm going to dig out my big targets and head to the range for some long range practice from 200 & 300 yards.  I haven't done this for awhile and have been kind of missing it.  I never take shots anywhere near this far when hunting, I might add.

Sometimes I just like to see what I can accomplish at these ranges with patched round ball, and open sights.  You really have to put your 'Kentucky' windage & elevation into play (especially the Windage if the winds blowing) and I kind of enjoy this as I'm not really out there shooting for 'group' but rather for just hitting the target which measures - 17 5/8" wide x 30" long...

I never get board shooting, but I do tire of shooting 25 to 100 yards after a while and this 200 to 300 yard shooting adds renewed energy - even if I just come close to the target, though I haven't had to bad of luck in the past with these ranges.

Anyone else shoot these longer rangers with patched round ball?  I'm pretty sure the NMLRA Schutzen Matches use the patched round ball from 200 yards offhand, but they also use peep sights which I don't when doing this type of shooting.  I just prefer my fixed iron sights like our forefathers used.  It ought to be fun, and I like the challenge!

 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

When my jaeger was new back in '96 i used to go out and shoot out to 300 yds regularly.  I had a leaf sight that when flipped up gave me a good long range picture, and with a little practice, I was able to keep shots into 10 inches at 200 offhand.  I won several gold nuggets at long range matches at provincial matches where the furthest range was a reputed 275 yds. offhand.  The target was about the size of my computer screen.  It's so much fun plunking a .60 cal ball on a steel clanger out there.

[Daryl]

Taylor and I used to shoot about every weekend when he was posted in Squamish and I was in Surrey, both in BC.  The range we used, the Squamish Rod and Gun club, was back up by the Little Chief, a granite face below the Big Chief (i think). Anyway, up on the granite face was a kind of a V shape full of dirt, on a sharp angle that had a large light coloured rock near the bottom of the V.  The rock stood out very nicely against the dark earth.  The rock was about 12" to 14" in diameter and the range was 325 yards to the base of the rock face. We shot a lot of balls at that rock, offhand - Taylor with is .62 Hawken, and me with my .50  with RB's and my girl friend's (later my wife's) .36 SenEa(same rifle, same gal), that one with little 128gr. maxis.  We rarely missed, once getting 'The Range'.  YOu just find out how much front sight you need to hold over the rear and do it the same each shot.  I also found out is was fairly easy to rap off 5 out of 6 out of my M29, sitting against a rear tire, gun brought up between my knees.  Elmer's load, of course.  The point is, RB's can be effective at that range - at least for plinking and that's what it's all about.

 Jump forward 10 or more years and find us on our Prince George club range - a full 300 meters. We had about a 2, maybe 3 foot diameter round steel (saw blade) plate hanging up on the 300 meter rack.  The .69 Calibre English rifle Taylor built for me had a third leaf in the Express sight that was filed in for that plate's range.  That rifle never missed and I don't remember anyone who shot it, shooting other than offhand - everyone would hit first shot - not many fired a second.  None that I can remember.  That target was used sometimes as the last shot at our rendezvous - the odd other fellow hit with their smaller rifles, but that .69 never missed.  327 yards is a good poke for a round ball.  The .69's accuracy load was 165gr. 2F and for that shot or any past 75 yards, difficult to beat.
So - Marty - fill your boots. Large bore muzzleloaders can be quite accurate at 300 - from about .45 on up.  Neil Hunter of this forum used to ring that plate with his .45 - RB all the way - or was it the 200 yard plate?  Memory's a bit fuzzy there.

[Harnic]

I'm going to go down to the local machine shop & talk the owner out of a piece of ½" steel plate big enough to cut a 2' round gong from.  I'd like to add a 200 meter gong to our club's monthly shoots!  Would be a lot of fun to poke at!

[Candle Snuffer]

Good to see we have others here with the same interest in long range patch & ball.  It's windy today 30 - 35 mph winds, but come this late morning (10 - 11 o'clock) I'm going to head out to the range anyway.  Instead of paper I'll take one of my gong setups so I don't have to chase targets.

Harry, depending on what distance you'll be shooting from, I have found that 3/8" thick steel works pretty good from 100 yards on out.  Might save a few dollars on metal if you want to give up that 1/8" in thickness?  Of course, the 1/2" stuff does
allow for both short and long range shooting and target longevity.

[Daryl]

Problem with heavy plates, is the .40 barely won't move them and the deaf guys I shoot with can't hear the 'clink'. Nice thing about the .69 is anyone can see the plate swinging and the wooden support creaking, not to mention the CLANG of the hit.

[Candle Snuffer]

Well RATS!

Just ran out to the range (I live about a mile from it), and it's just far to windy to shoot at all today.  I guess the weather man just had to get the wind forecast right today...  Talk about windy!!!

So, new plan of the day.  Clean up workshop so when I decide to build a 20ga. Northwest Trade Gun I won't be ankle deep in sawdust and wood chips...

We'll see what tomorrow brings (weather wise) for getting some shooting in?

[Glenn Hurley Jr.]

Recently, I mounted a 16" diameter gong above my 200 yd backstop.  The gong is made of 3/8 " steel and is painted orange.  A few weeks ago I started shooting at it with my 50 caliber longrifle and PRB.   I had a blast!  It is really fun to hear the gong ring , a lot more fun ( for me) that punching holes in paper.  The farthest I shot that day offhand was 125 yds, with about a 25 mph wind.  But I returned to the house with a big smile on my face even though the shooting conditions were miserable.
Now that I know where to hold, I will keep backing away from the gong until I reach 200 yards.

[Harnic]

Thanks for your thoughts on thickness Joe, I was thinking the heavier plate would be best so I can poke at it with my 45 Sharps way out there on the power line from time to time.  I'm afraid that 520 gr slug might penetrate 3/8" mild steel plate.

Thanks for rubbing it in that you can shoot there Joe!  I too live about 1 mile from the club, but we're still a$$ deep in wet snow up there!   It's also at the bottom of a chute that spills down from the local ski hill so there is a constant flow of very cold air flowing down... temps are always 5-10 degrees colder than here at home, all year round!  Works great in summer, but now...?!

[bob in the woods]

I have a Ram hanging at 300 yards. It is made from 1/2 inch plate. I can hit that thing without too much problem at all.  Once you figure out the sight picture, it's a matter of the wind. Lots of fun!
We used to have 200 yd shoots here all the time. This was at the military range in Kingston.
[Not allowed now } . We took tuns marking targets at the butt. I loved being in the pit and hearing the whistle of a round ball comming and then smacking the target.  Once we had a fellow shoot a very respectable target, only to find out that he bounced every shot in !  He figured it out on the second shot, but was afraid to change anything in the middle of his string, so he just kept on with the same sighting and bounced the rest in.    Long range shooting with a patched ball is a hoot.

[Roger Fisher]

Ranges longer than 100 yds quite scarce around these parts!  Ol Bl Mt in our state does have 1 rentry match ea Aug shooting closest to the X on a Jaeger style backround w a round bullseye at a buck a shot.  Some folks are able to show the correct amount of frt blade over the rear sight notch to do the thingl  Some of us hold over and do well also.  Some times win the donated $100 bill!   Btw this is a 200 yd offhand open sight match.

[billd]

Now we know where Roger gets his extra spending money from.

[Daryl]

Bob - Cody, I mean the mad Monkey hit the 145 yard whitetail gong at  Hefley a few years back, by bouncing his squib loaded .50 onto it. The ball barely made it 1/2 way before striking the ground then had the nerve to bounce right onto the target, 'tinking' the deer.  They punched his card - I'd have made him re-shoot with a real load or called it a miss 'seeings ta'how it might have been a stone what hit that target. 

[Candle Snuffer]

Yes, but Daryl when I was in basic training a lifetime ago those ol' Drill Sgt.'s use to tell us that a hit on the 300 and 500 meter targets were still hits even if the bullet did bounce up there (or debrie) and cause the sensors to topple the target...  If it wasn't for that I doubt I'd of won my M16 Expert Rifleman's badge...

[Daryl]

Good point, Marty.

[Candle Snuffer]

   I can't believe I admitted that! 

[Daryl]

Well, you know this is a 'truth pulling' web site .  We've all admitted some sort of 'erant ' behaviour here - but taking hits for ricochets - now that's pretty low.

[J.D.]

Well, you know this is a 'truth pulling' web site .  We've all admitted some sort of 'erant ' behaviour here - but taking hits for ricochets - now that's pretty low.

Hey, be nice. A friend and I consistently hit 18 inch dia gongs at 100 yards with a bess, though many hits are bounces. IMHO, at hit is a hit, is a hit.

Ray once hit a swinging target, placed in the woods, at about 125 yards with a bounce. His was the only hit with a smoothbore.

IMHO, aim low, hit 'em wherever, as long as you hit 'em. 
J.D.

[Roger Fisher]

Sure, rollers count so long as the silohuette moves!

[Candle Snuffer]

Hmmm,,, perhaps a match where you have to bounce the ball into the target???

Lets see,

hit target with no bounce .25 cents (25 points)
hit target with one bounce .50 cents (50 points)
hit target with two bounces .75 cents (75 points)
hit target with three bounces $1.00 dollar (100 points)

Kind'a just the opposite of the old neighborhood baseball game we use to play called 'Five Dollars'...  Now this would be something...

[Roger Fisher]

Don't remember so well; but I do recall that a shooting matches 'were' held in Germany where the shooters shot ML across a calm lake and skipped the ball off the wassa into a target on the far bank.   

Anyone on the same wavelength on this?

[Curt J]

In regard to the Schuetzen matches at Friendship, those guys are primarily using bullet guns, not roundballs. Some years ago a friend of mine managed to stay right with them on a calm day with a roundball schuetzen he had built, much to the surprise of nearly everyone. They are shooting 200 yards.

[Daryl]

Curt - I am not surprised - on a calm day it is amazing how good the accuracy can be. As I related earlier in this post of our 325 yard shooting down in Southern BC, there was rarely any wind on that particular range - we were very consistant with RB's with rifles of .50 to .62.  Our target, I can still picture it now, was about 12" to 14" in diameter. It's whitish surface stood out as a shining mark on the dark earth in the big V-crotch of rock.

 There was a wear mark in the browning of Taylor's big .62 Hawken, that when the front sight was held high for the proper sight picture, this wear mark made a white line across the top of the rear sight, making a good sight picture for that range.  It's difficult to describe this sight picture, but easy to use and maintain, shot to shot. The front sight was the placed on the rock, of course, and was easily lined up with the centre of the barrel & rear sight notch.

 The .50 I was using, had a high buck-horn sight. The front sight, held between the 'horns' and even with the top of the horns, gave the proper sight picture on that same rock.  We weren't afraid to use heavy charges, which showed up in the excellent accuracy we obtained at seemingly long ranges.

 Guy & his young son showed up at the range with a scoped .303, shot a bit but wouldn't shoot at the rock when challenged by Taylor - said it was "out of range for my rifle.  Taylor, standing there with his loaded Hawken, said "it isn't for mine", and promptly splashed a ball off the rock's face.  I then put a 128gr. maxi onto it with Tracy's little .36, then pulled out the 4" M29, dropped to Elmer's reclining sitting postion, back against the rear tire of my pickup, gun between my knees and splashed it 5 out of 6 with the 275gr. SWC's.  12 year old kid asked his dad - "why you can't you hit it, Dad" - guy just said, "get in the truck" and they left.  Yeah- we used to shoot a lot in those days.

[northmn]

The trick in longer range shooting with a RB is that of unknown ranges.  After while one can find references to lob them in with.  It still takes a pretty steady hold for longer ranges as a little sight misalignment pulls off a long ways.

DP

[Daryl]

I agree, DP - 'Ol Elmer used to say "hitting at long range with a handgun is an accident, but if you practise long range shooting with a handgun every day, you'll have more long range accidents than the next guy".  Same goes for muzzleloading rifles or smoothbores for that matter - practise! practise! practise!  We've a couple smoothbore shooters here, who shoot the club trail every weekend of the year, barring sub -20 weather. Their shooting prowess shows as the first part of the course, with ranges out to about 60 yards can be aced and has been many times by them.  Only a few rifle shooters do as well.