Acceptable accuracy in pistol cartridges?

[crabo]

What do you lever fanatics consider to be acceptable 100 yard accuracy in the pistol cartridges with cast boolits? I would guess that the sights might be a limiting feature.

Does anyone firelap their leverguns?

thanks,

Crabo

[JesterGrin_1]

Look here http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=19429 This is on the .44 Mag Marlin. :) and welcome to the insanity lol.

[KCSO]

This depends on your eyes, I use to want 2" or better when I could see that well. Now days anything under 3" is good enough. Originaly the 93 Winchester was expected to shoot under 4" with factory irons and better with a peep. It also depends on what you are shootinig. A deer is a pretty big targer samo samo on an iron plate. A prarie dog is a different story. My old rossi 1970 era, shoots ammo it likes into 1 1/2" at 100 yards.

[Char-Gar]

If the rifle and round can hit a soft drink/beer can at 100 yards, that is good enough for me. These rifles were not designed or meant to be target rifles.

[Lloyd Smale]

Id consider 3 inch good for one

[DanWalker]

Being able to hit clay pigeons set on the berrm at 100 yards is good enough for me.

[9.3X62AL]

Rifle or handgun caliber, ANY levergun that can beat 2" at 100 yards makes me ecstatic. 3" at 100 yards won't get kicked to the curb, either. I would say that half of my levers can meet or beat the 2"/100 standard, and the rest can stay inside 3" with loads they like. ALL of my leverguns have benefited from 500-1000 rounds of history before pronouncing them "capable" or "sub-standard".

Good point about "minute of mule deer". Largely due to gunrag hype, A LOT of venison chasers go afield with a lot more rifle or handgun or scope than is needed for the task. A part of sportsmanship involves "passing" on marginal shots, and the main thrust of the gunrags is that the wundermagnums eliminate the need for this discretionary assessment.

Utter hogwash, my opinion--if a hunt boils down to a need for taking a shot because of money/time/energy invested, you need to stick to punching paper AFAIC. If yer feeding a family with yer field work, that's another thing entirely--but most of us are only involved symbolically in the harvest these days, and should hold the game animals in higher esteem than as simply "trophies" or "meat packages". One rifle I'll be using this year as my "iron sighter" with castings--a Win '73 in 44/40--has more deer harvests to its credit than most entire gun collections can boast of making. 200 grains at about 1100 FPS, no great hammer at all--but well over 100 muleys and blacktails have fallen to its report. And this rifle WAS used to feed two generations of my family, from the late 1890's into the Great Depression.

Rant concluded, and we'll now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Gunrag nonsense just chaps my hide sometimes, so thanks for indulging me a little.

[DanWalker]

Preach on brother allen, preach on......
As for me and the rest of the Galena choir, all I can say is "amen"

[Dale53]

Al;
You kind of hit on a VERY good point. I have passed up many a shot for various reasons (unsafe, not 100% sure of my shot, etc) and only felt good about it later.

The most certain way to success when deer hunting (any hunting, really) is to do a good bit of scouting before the season, keeping in mind that game behavior changes with the time of the year (deer especially show a marked change in behavior during the rut, etc). You need to just get out in the field and practice your stalking skills. You can only learn by doing. My hunting success increased at a quantum rate after I learned to actually stalk deer. Small game practice helps a lot, too. Learning how to move and conduct yourself in the field in such a manner that you don't spook game can really pay off. You can also explore game trails and scrapes and learn when and where to watch and listen. Amazing how much better a hunter I became after applying myself to the task long term.

The easiest and most productive way to hunt is put a tree stand in the right place (a place frequented by deer) and simply "ambush" the animal.

However, by far, the most satisfying way of hunting is with a short range bow, handgun or rifle, locate your deer before that deer discovers you, and then stalk to close range before taking the shot. You do NOT have to be Daniel Boone to do this, either. You just have to have an understanding in deer behavior (or whatever animal you are hunting) and then play that hand.

Dale53

[Single Shot]

Good point about "minute of mule deer". Largely due to gunrag hype, A LOT of venison chasers go afield with a lot more rifle or handgun or scope than is needed for the task. A part of sportsmanship involves "passing" on marginal shots, and the main thrust of the gunrags is that the wundermagnums eliminate the need for this discretionary assessment.



"However, by far, the most satisfying way of hunting is with a short range bow, handgun or rifle, locate your deer before that deer discovers you, and then stalk to close range before taking the shot. You do NOT have to be Daniel Boone to do this, either. You just have to have an understanding in deer behavior (or whatever animal you are hunting) and then play that hand."

Dale53

RIGHT ON BROTHERS!!

I hunt to fill the freezer all year including Groundhogs. Being an ETHICAL BOW HUNTER is the best learning you can get about hunting. Still Shoot a recurve. SEE MY MOTTO BELOW. NUFF SAID.

[9.3X62AL]

Bowhunters REALLY get the picture about stalking game and fieldcraft. Total agreement with Dale about the concept of "hunting" vs. "shooting" a game animal.

The BEST hunt sequence I've ever had was in 1999, last day of the season--and didn't get a shot with my muzzle loader, after sighting a BIG buck at sunrise--following him all day--and finally having to "call" the hunt at nightfall. A great day afield.

[44man]

Dale is 100% right, he is a hunter! I have taken a beating for years on sites when I would say shooting a deer from an elevated, covered blind at 200 yd's is not hunting. I had to quit saying it. :coffee:
Now here it is being brought up again and I see a lot of you agree. Makes me feel good.
I gave up rifles almost at the start of trying them. I sat on a neighbors property once and as I looked around as far as I could see, I told myself "This is ridiculous." I could kill a deer no matter where it showed up.
Now days all the dudes sit in fenced property with no other hunters to disturb them and shoot over huge food plots where the owner knows every deer and will tell the dude to shoot that one.
They are target shooters! :Fire:

[felix]

I am not a hunter, so, to me, anything that requires a "long range" rifle would not be hunting, but instead would be sniping. My best shots ever were at swinging blackbirds/ starlings on tops of trees 200 to 300 yards out. Calling a shot like that is pure luck of the draw and does give me a thrill when a hit is made. ... felix

[6pt-sika]

I think it's great if someone wants to stalk , when they hunt .

However .........................................

I am an addicted treestand hunter , be it with bow , ML or some firearm . I will also sit on the ground from time to time .


The "BEST" way to hunt is what ever an induvidual is happy with . I've hunted greenfields in Alabama from shooting houses and to be honest I prefer my little treestands in my own woods . I've also stalked mulies in Montana and it was okay although I prefer to sit and watch .

By far my most preferred hunting is (of course) from a treestand in the marshes of Dorchester County MD for sika deer . Could you stalk them , possibly ! Would it be productive yes and no . And in the marsh the same can be said for the treestand [smilie=1:

All in all , I am for whatever a person likes . It doesn't effect me if someone else prefers stalking 100% , unless of course they are poking around where I am .

The bottom line is hunting is for the most part a thing you do for pleasure and if one form suits you better then another great . :drinks:

[6pt-sika]

Good point about "minute of mule deer". Largely due to gunrag hype, A LOT of venison chasers go afield with a lot more rifle or handgun or scope than is needed for the task. A part of sportsmanship involves "passing" on marginal shots, and the main thrust of the gunrags is that the wundermagnums eliminate the need for this discretionary assessment.





The biggest revelation I ever had hunting was the first time I killed a deer with a 30-30 shooting my medium cast bullet loads .

In the past I had used just about every 7mm to hit the market and a few that hadn't .
Over the course of the last 20 years I have tried a broad variety of calibers and rifles on deer . Mainly because I owned them and thought I should use them at least once . Now my focus is more on levers and a growing desire for single shots .

I get a lot of pleasure from shooting a deer with one of my old Marlin's shooting a cast bullet .