primetimearcher

How far do you guys shoot your bp at?

rockytop

My wife killed a doe with her .45 ml at 180 yards this year. That beat my longest shot with a .50 ml by 5 yards.

gelarson

With my Hawken 50, I can hit an 8 inch circle out to 120 yards consistantly and that is my limit with open sites.... at least for now.

cayugad

The distance you shoot your black powder rifles at will depend on the rifle, the optics, the projectile, your shooting ability and lots of practice. I have shot my Black Diamond XR out to 200 yards at paper targets. I would really have to have perfect conditions to try that in a hunting situation. The animal would need to be perfect, the rest would have to be perfect, and when the circumstances surrounding the shot were evaluated, I would have to know in my mind that I could make the shot. That means I probably would not take such a shot.

If you want a safe distance, consider your muzzleloader a 100 yard rifle. Granted no arguement it will shoot much further then that very well, but if you keep in mind this is a muzzleloader and you want to get the best possible shot because you only have one, there are times I do not take shots even under 100 yards. Even at close ranges because something is not right, I have passed on the shot.

Paul L Mohr

I limit myself to 150 yards, and I shoot a fair amount and know what my rifle will do at that yardarge. It is actually zeroed for that as a maximum distance ( it's zeroed at 130 and is 3 or 4 inches low at 150). It will also group fairly well at that distance (2 inches or so).

I do shoot out of an elevated blind with a wide ledge as a support, and it is over looking an open meadow that I now the yardages to each point. Plus I have a laser range finder. I wouldn't try this long of a shot out of a tree stand or off hand, I just don't shoot that well and I know it. But off from a decent rest at a relaxed deer it isn't much of a problem. And I shoot heavy bullets, so I am not worried about the down range energy. Truth be known though I haven't had to do it yet, most of my shots at this location come in at 70 or 80 yards.

Keep in mind it took some playing to get these results, and I know of others that can do better. I also know of many more that are worse. But one or two inch groups at 100 yards shouldn't be that hard with most common loads, as long as you do your part.

Paul

OLDSNOW

I practice at 200yds. all the time. I shoot an Encore 209X50 and a Savage ML ll. both of these rifles are scoped and have killed deer at 200+ yds.
This is not something that a person should do if they don't practice a lot. I shoot my ML's all year long. You must know how your rifle shoots to mark 200yd. shots. Also the wind can be a big factor at 200+ yds. Good luck.

txhunter58

I shoot open sights only, 100 yards max.

MLKeith

I limit my Omega to 100-110 yards. I actually am sighted one inch high at 80 yards and that just about hits dead center at 100. Most of my shots where I hunt are less than 100 yards and since I am hunting elk I don't expect my rifle to perform well enough to get good pass through shots at much over 150 yards since I only shoot 90gr. of Black Mag3 under 300gr. bullets. That comes out the muzzle just about 1900fps.