I did some 300 yard shooting with my Hawken

[idahoron]

I am planning to shoot my 45 for my upcoming deer and antelope hunts. I built this gun just for antelope and have never had the chance to use it. I got a chance to hunt deer with it in 2013 and got a good little buck.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd294/idahoron/2013%20deer%20hunt/Deer11small_zps20b123e5.jpg


I like to practice with this rifle at long yardage but the range I normally shoot at is only good to 250. I found a new place and got out to 300. The old spot I got out to 300 yards is too overgrown with brush now to shoot that far. I like to shoot long because i makes the 100 and 150 yard shots seem like chip shots. I never take a first shot at an animal over 150. That is just my own personal limit. I have never had to shoot an animal twice. But things happen. I have had all my guns sighted in for 300 yards except this one. I look at it if something happens and I have make a second or third shot I want the ability to make that shot if I can.
Well the first shot at 300 was high. I could see it with the spotting scope. I adjusted the sight and shot again. I could see I was about the same low. I adjusted again and I got a hit. I reloaded and got another hit. I walked down to look at the target and took this picture.

http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd294/idahoron/Muzzleloaders/300%20yard%20target%201_zpszjjfwpr5.jpg


I shot two more times and had the same results, I got two more hits. Both of those shots were a little lower but both were more centered.
The front sight is a Lyman 17 aml with a Lee Shavers insert. I use a single fine pin in and it is easy to see the target with this set up but much farther out and even this fine front sight would be covering up too much of the target.
I have only drawn 3 antelope tags in about 30 years. I got to make the best of this one. Ron

[Omnivore]

Nice!

You're going to make us ask, aren't you?

[johnson1942]

ron i always look forward to reading any post you post. good luck on your hunt and you have the gun for it. most likely your antelope will be 150 yards out more interested in the does than you. they really are increaseing around here. saw a herd of 100 of them a while back on a friends ranch. he even had a gas cannon to keep them away. as soon as it ran out of gas they went on his new alfalfa. i think some one shot a huge buck on that herd and let it lay. we took the head for the horns with the states ok and im going to make powderhorns out of them. antelope meat is good meat if you cool it right away. good luck

[idahoron]

The load is a 409 gr Paper Patched RCBS 11mm rifle bullet. Hardened to 8 to 8.5 BHN. 80 gr of pyrodex P with an over power wad that is 1/8"thick and .500 diameter.
I was videoing the shoot and I had a cardboard slip sheet behind it. The last bullet hit a little lower and rocked the target stand into the cardboard. The whole thing rocked back about a foot because the metal couldn't swing, and then toppled over. The video I did was field cleaning and shooting a traditional. I am also loading a "wrapping a bullet and sizing it" video. My camera wasn't good enough to see much at 300 yards though.

[crossxsticks]

Good shooting Ron , I wouldnt take for my stainless 45 renegade
my mold been dropping them 407.5 on average I been keeping them +or - .5 407 to 408 get 3 or 4 409 es out of prolly 50 and bout dozen lights I aint the best at casting 85 gr fffg. hope you dont have take a lookin at ya antelope shot at 300 with the 45 or you will have a stinking mess to dress with a end to end pass through LOL. I shot over a antelope one time bout 400 with hi-power that sucker turned and ran towards me till he got to within 100 yds and stopped they do silly things .

[idahoron]

How does your gun like them?

[koger]

Like Roger, I always enjoy reading your posts. I have a fast twist .45. and shoot a 430grain, 5 lube groove slug with a wide meplat up front, felt or oiled fiber wad underneath, 85gr. 3fffg or 90 2ffg. I have a nice recoil pad, double set triggers, browned barrel. I have peep sights, veriner mid range type, but also have the barrel drilled and tapped for a one piece weaver base, and use a 2 3/5 scout scope. I have taken a few whitetails, 2 dropped in their tracks, one was bedded down and never moved, shot a buck chasing a doe, nice 8pt, I was on one ridge, he was on another 80yds or so away, took a Texas heart shot offhand in a hurry, hit the ham knuckle, thru and thru 3 ribs, his shoulder and exited, he train wrecked. When I got their, I saw a bullet hole in the clay bank in fron of him, stuck a stick in, went 12 inches or so, dug the slug out, mushroomed to .90 caliber, still weighed 417 grains! I might bring this out to Rogers also, deer hunting!

[crossxsticks]

How does your gun like them?

havent got to the 300 yd stuff yet but sure got a hankerin , off the bench at 100 yd it eats x ring up . I will have to drive a ways to shoot 300 yd target hope it do as good as yours .

[newton]

I was browsing on here, and am glad to see you posting some long distance shooting. I was looking up your old posts about the .50 because I finally nailed down my first elk hunt this September. Got a cow tag for the muzzleloading season and will be taking my CVA out there with me. Only used it last season with your PP method, but it worked like a charm on the one doe I shot. Have you ever posted long distance shooting with that .50 cal hot rod? I was thinking you did, but not sure.

Since my gun is an inline, I am taking my chronograph out to the range Friday and am going to be looking for that ~1300 fps mark that you said your getting. I have researched it and they say that inline vs sidelock does not burn much differently, so I'm going to be starting with your 80 gr. load and working from there. I know that load did fine last year, but I just did not get to do much testing with it. While I highly doubt I will need to shoot long distance on an elk, like you, I want to be prepared for the opportunity if it presents itself. I visited the area I'll be hunting last week and there are some spots that I could potentially shoot quite a bit farther than 100 yards. I have access now to an area where I can practice out as far as I am comfortable with the sights I have, I figure that's going to be the limiting factor.

Curious also, you said your using a 1/8" wad on your 45. Do you still use the wool wad on your .50, or have you made the switch over to the hard ones? I have tried both, also some plastic ones Roger sent me, but haven't spent enough time truly testing to see the differences.

Sorry if this throws this thread off track, that's not my intention.

[idahoron]

I know that my son and I shot the 50's out to 300 but that was years ago. I am sure I wrote about it but I would have to look for it. The brush on my old range got too tall and I can't use it. This new one goes to 300 but no farther. I need to look for one to go a little farther.

I am getting 1310 out of the 50's and 1421 out of the 45 with 80 grains of Pyrodex P. I have not tested the speed of my inlines with that load. the barrel is about 2" shorter.

Yes I use the wool wad with the 50. While doing testing I tested both with and without. The groups were close but I trust the over powder wad. If I am in a hurry I have left it out and I have tested that too. I don't leave much to doubt when shooting these rifles.

[newton]

I know you don't, and that's why I don't doubt your results. I didn't have much time to test last year seeing how the gun I had been working with had the stock break on me right before the season, and I managed to get the inline in time to just sight it in. I used your 80 grain load and was shooting quite well. I don't have many shots over 100 yards around here, so that's all I practiced with it. I take that back, I did ring my steel a few times at 125 after I had sighted it in just for fun.

[johnson1942]

newton, it is good to see your still around and still shooting. your hunting knife is on a special peg next to my muzzleloaders.

[newton]

Yep, still here. I think they will have to wheel me out to the shooting range when I am older, cant ever imagine giving it up even though there are times weeks and even months go by without being able to pull the trigger. Just been REAL busy with work and home stuff, not to mention that every other spare moment I am preparing for the elk hunt. I am sure that in the future I will have down time and get to shoot and post more.

I'll take notes and pictures when I start real testing of my inline with ron's pp method and post results. I am going tomorrow to sight in the new peep sight I got for it, may have opportunity to try a few long range shots if time dictates.

Glad to hear the knife is well, I'm gonna make another to take with me this fall I think. That is a good steel for field work on game animals.

[newton]

I dug around for some old threads of yours Ron, did find some. Does look like you favor the 45 over the 50 for the longer ranges. Is this correct?

[idahoron]

Yes this 45 is wicked accurate out to 250 and going past that now will be fun. I challenged my son one time with his 243. I hung with him out to 200 if I remember right with my 50 but he got me past that. We were shooting pop bottles. the 16 oz ones and milk jugs.
I have two 50 renegades. the single trigger rifle is not as accurate as the double trigger one. That set trigger is super sweet on my son's gun.

[newton]

One more question. What is the width of your front sight?

[idahoron]

the front sight is .038" diameter.