cayugad

A lot of us can shoot off a rest, bi-pod, shooting sticks, trees, etc and do a real good job of hitting what we shoot at. My question is..

WITH A MUZZLE-LOADER what is the furthest you have ever shot free hand and made a clean kill. Now I don't mean prone, off a knee, leaning into a tree, or over the hood of a car. I mean standing right there, rifle on the shoulder, and fire. Also besides the distance, what made you shoot? How positive were you of the shot or was this a reflex shot? Did you consider it lucky or really normal shooting? Tell the story if you can.

In my case the longest shot with a muzzle loader I can think of off hand right now was 35 yards. I was making a drive. We were in a corn field and I was on the edge of the field in the grass that separates fields. The rifle was a .54 caliber T/C Renegade with the 1-48 twist original barrel, loaded with a round ball. I heard one of the driver yell...DEER!! headed your way Dave. So I c0cked the rifle and shouldered it just as the doe broke the cover of the field. She never saw me I suspect as I was standing still. And she stepped out, she stopped, and looked back towards the drivers.

I remember setting the sight on her front shoulder, but really I do not remember touching the trigger. The Renegade roared and she took three steps and fell over dead, shot through the top of the heart.

What made me shoot is adrenaline I honestly think. This was without a doubt a reflex shot. And at the time, I was a fair to good free hand shooter as in my line of work at the time, we did a lot of free hand shooting. But I still consider this a little bit of luck as I never remembered touching that trigger.

Now I have shot longer then that. But more often then not, I leaned against a tree, or shot off my knee (one of my favorite when I was young and thin and could bend easy). A lot of them were from blinds off shooting sticks and even rests.

So how large a group would you have if you shot at a five inch circle at 100 yards ... free hand. If you are one of them competition shooters that are good at this, any hints for improving people like me is appreciated.

Semisane

My longest was twelve years ago. The range was in the neighborhood of 65 to 75 yards with a .50 TC New Englander mounted with a red dot sight.

It was the opening weekend of our muzzle loading season. I sat on a climbing stand next to a food plot all day Saturday (sandwich's and drinks in knapsack) and didn't see a thing. Dawn Sunday morning found me in a tree on a different plot, still seeing nothing. Since I didn't have anything with me that morning but a Thermos of coffee, I climbed down at 11 a.m. and headed for the camp.

Walking down a fresh "third row cut" through the pines I had my head down because of the torn up ground and root snags. Looking up, I spotted a yearling crossing the cut up ahead, then a second one. As I raised the gun a mature doe stepped out and stopped. She was looking down the cut row in the opposite direction from me. Like you, I didn't even remember touching the trigger. But I knew that dot was on her mid-chest when the BOOM occurred. She went about 40 yards after a 410 grain Great Plains conical punched through her.

HEAD0001

Cayugad you are exactly right about shooting off hand. It is a totally different world.

I shot BP sil. back in the 80's and 90's. My best was a clean 20 for 20 out to 100 meters. That was the best I ever shot. And only did it one other time.

Funny thing was another fellow did it the same day in the competition. So we had a shoot off. I am sure you are familiar with the size of the targets in a 100 meter sil. shoot.

So the range master set up a chicken at 100 meters. I spent 10 minutes psyching myself up for the confidence to make that shot. And sure enough I hit the chicken off handed at 100 meters. I thought for sure I would win. Then the other fellow stepped up and knocked the chicken off with ease. Man I was upset. I was shooting an MK-85 with a peep sight and he was shooting a FL with primitive sights. The range master went out to set the chickens up again. I told him no need. The other fellow was clearly a better shot than I. And I knew I would miss the second shot. I was actually mentally exhausted, and he was calm and collect. He was a better shot than I.

My longest live game shot at a deer was about 70 yards or so. Personally I would not take a shot any farter than that with a MZ off handed. It just ain't right to do so. Tom.

bronko22000

Ahh, I remember it well. I was a fairly warm January day during PA's primitive season back in 2007. But the warmer weather made for some quiet walking in the woods as the leaves were soft and wet fom the melted snow. My friend and I were still hunting about 150 yds apart. I was really taking it slooooow and after about 400 - 500 yds, I caught the flicker of a tail out about 75 yds. There were 3 doe casually feeding. I moved another 10 yds closer and figured I could make the shot. I was in some fairly open woods and the deer were right on the edge of some thick laurel. I eased down on my knee and realized that I was too low due to the underbrush. So I stood back up and one of the doe saw me and was trying to figure me out. I c0cked the hammer on my T/C Hawken flinter, slowly raised it to the shoulder pulling the set trigger on the way up. I settled the sights just behind the biggest doe's shoulder. She was quartering away head down. Touched the front trigger and kaboom. I heard the thump of the 275 Maxihunter striking home. It took a while for the smoke to clear due to the lack of wind. But when it did, I saw the unmistakable outline of a deer's white belly. It was my very first bang flop with a ML. And I felt a little smug taking her cleanly on her turf by still hunting.

50calty

Mine was last year with my Triumph. It was a doe deer at roughly 50 yards. And man did I pull the shoot. It was way to the right and high. Ended up hitting the rear in the spine. She dropped and bleed out less than a minute. I wasn't happy with the shot, but she went down. It could have turned out worse. Thats why I always try to atleast sit and shoot. I think if a person wants to be good at standing shots and moving shots. You need to shoot trap or skeet. That will train you eye and movement.

grizzly 2

This is sort of an odd question as most of us want to take the most accurate shot possible, so we take whatever rest or support is available, so...we really dont have alot to draw from.

The only one I can remember is when a button buck jumped up in front of me about 20 yards out. I started following it with the TC Hawken, but it was running away. It stopped and turned sideways at a fence line, probably 30-35 yards away and I made a good shot. This rifle was given to me because they couldnt get it to shoot anything. I found it would shoot the ballett with shotgun slug accuracy out to about 80 yards. This was years ago. I suppose I should send the barrel to TC, but I always felt a prior owner just abused it. I may take some JB paste to it this year just to see if it helps.

My favorite off hand shooting was with a 30-30 Winchester commemortive with a 26" octagonal barrel with a peep sight. THe event was only for rimmed cartridges and we shot at steel silouette targets and one big steel buffalo target all at 200 yards from various positions. My day, and even my week was always pumped when I'd hit the chicken standing offhand. Loved that shot. Cant remember if that 30-30 ever did knock that heavy buffalo over. One time in pratice before the event, I shot a round, hit the chicken off hand, felt pumped and aimed high on the buffalo with a 165gr spitzer going as fast as I dared push it. The buffalo fell over and I think I jumped for joy, knowing I was going to have a great shoot,,,until I looked down the other end of the range and saw 3 or 4 guys holding their bellies and laughing way too hard. One of them had fired their 45-70 at the buff at the same time I did

bronko22000

You heard my story, but Grizzly2 is right. You saw that my first instinct was to drop to my knee for the shot.

gregrn43

About 10yrs ago I was hunting a field growed up in sage grass and saplings. I climbed down about 11am and was walking back across the field when I saw a doe jump across the fence with a buck chasing her. They ran straight toward me, but turned and headed toward the woods about 100 yards in front of me, I reckon the doe must have spotted me. I followed him in my scope and touched off with the crosshairs right on the front of his chest. They werent running full blast just a good steady lope. At the shot I wasnt sure if I had hit him or not, I knew the shot felt good. Where he jumped the fence into the woods I picked up a dark blood trail, so I back out and waited a couple of hours. My wife and I came back and trailed him up. We found him in the creek dead about 250 yards from where I shot him. I had hit him a bit far back, caught the liver and the backside of the far lung. I stepped the shot off and it was 129 steps.

I realize that was probably not the most ethical shot to take. I just pulled up, followed him in the scope and shot. For many years I raised beagles and rabbit hunted all winter with a 22. I have shot lots a rabbits running with one. It did teach me how to lead on a running shot, although I admit I did hit that buck a few inches back from where I intended. I wouldnt take that shot now, because I dont feel as confidient shooting at running game as I once did. Out of practice.

gregrn43

I was using my White g-series with a 460gr super slug.

KD8LHS

I have only been hunting a couple of years, but have shot for much longer than that.

I regularly practice off-hand out to 75 yards, then kneeling to 100. If I can maintain a 5 in. group with that I'm satisfied. Naturally when sighting in I'll use a bench or prone, but those aren't normally available when hunting.

My first kill was last year. 110 yds resting against a tree.