.45LC @ 100 yards?

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Dudemeister

Dudemeister

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Do you think a Ruger Vaquero with a 4.3/4" barrel can shoot @ 100 yards?

I'm sure the bullet can go to that distance and beyond, but the question is how high off the target would I have to aim to get the shot on paper.

Right now, at 15 yards the gun shoots 2" low and 1" to the left.
 
There are so many variables there's no way to tell you how much holdover you will need to hit a target with a 45 Colt round @100 yards. You will have to shoot @100 yards to fine out.

Bullet weight, muzzle velocity, temperature, wind velocity, elevation and a bunch of other things will effect the POI.
 
ArchAngel is correct, of course, but... as a general thing I find that I'm holding between a foot to a foot-and-a-half high at "standard" .45 Colt velocities, with a 25 yard zero. And "as a general thing" is fairly valid considering the accuracy one can expect with a short barrel revolver at 100 yards - if you're shooting ten inch groups, it scarcely matters if your required holdover is twelve inches rather than sixteen!
 
Your success will depend much more on YOU than the gun. Try it and see. Bearing in mind that Ross Seyfried was able to shoot MOA at 100yds with his custom Bowen .475 #13. Iron sights, 5½" barrel. ;)
 
Can it do it? Most certainly. How much are you gonna have to hold over? Try it. With my 4" Blackhawk and the rather standard 250 gr LRNFP 8.5 gr Unique I don't have to hold over the top of a milk jug very much at 100 yards.
 
Take a large (3'w X 4' h) piece of cardboard and put a white paper plate toward the top. Aim at the plate and start shooting groups of 6. The important part is getting the group, if you can't get that then nothing you do to the gun or load will help.
Once you establish a grouping then measure from center of group to center of target and you have your hold over.
Take the distance in increments, I prefer 25, 50, 100 yds, as you move out you might find that the gun is not capable due to barrel to frame alignment or barrel over or under turned so sights don't align, there are an amazing amount of guns that have these problems and distance will shake them out.
 
The best way is NOT to guess a "hold over" abover your target...

But rather, just stick up a little front sight above the back sight....use the same center or 6 o'clock hold on your target. Then you will soon learn how much front sight needs to be seen. This works so well that some guys have acctually had small lines of gold inlays installed on there front sight ramps referanced to different distances.

The shorter the barrel the more elevation you will get from the front sight.

You will find that with a little practice you can use this method to shoot 500yards and beyond
 
freedom475 said:
The best way is NOT to guess a "hold over" abover your target...

But rather, just stick up a little front sight above the back sight....use the same center or 6 o'clock hold on your target.
Click to expand...

Respectfully I disagree. This may work for some but here are my reasons for not doing it.

All sights are different. Unless you stick to the same gun 24/7 you're never going to get used to how much more sight has to been seen for one distance, let alone multiple distances.

Maintaining a constant good sight picture is one of those key things to shooting well. Get that down and it will be a constant for you. After that holding a bit over, or holding a bit to one side, or leading a running animal becomes easy and almost second nature the more you shoot a given firearm.
 
It's certainly doable, just go on YouTube and see what guys like Hickok can do with a snub nose .38 special. I have a Vaquero in .357 and I've never tried it outside of 25 yards, I imagine it wouldn't be pretty. The would not be the fault of the gun, however.
 
Correct, hold over in my mind is the amount compensated for at a distance beyond point blank sighting, elevation is probably a word better used.
Covering your target with the blade will not be helpful with accuracy.
 
Sorry but freedom475's suggestion is the only way to shoot accurately at long range.
Click to expand...

Never had a problem hitting what I want by holding on a spot above a target. So there's not just one way to get it done.
 
Believe me, folks who do this sort of thing often, do it the way we described. While a great many things in the shooting world are debatable, this is not one of them.
 
Pretty hard to hit something at long range by aiming at something above it.
Cause then, you can no longer see the target.
It is hidden behind the front ramp and barrel.

Holding front blade above the rear sight with the target perched on top of the blade is the ONLY way to get really proficient at long range.

rc
 
First, I'd say you'll need to get the sight issue sorted out. If the sights need adjusted you could send it back to Ruger to have that taken care of.

As for shooting 100 yards with a handgun, I've done it with a Ruger MKII .22LR. I was shooting with a friend who was surprised to find that I could haphazardly put half my rounds on a 9" paper plate at that range. Once you figure out where to adjust your point of aim to, it's not that hard to make some hits. I used to be quite good with a SIG P-225 out to 100 yards, and was even pretty decent with a .357 at that distance, but I haven't been that good in quite some time.

I think if you want to learn 100 yard handgun shooting you should definitely invest in a Ruger Single Six to use as an understudy to the Vaquero. The cost of practice ammo will allow you to shoot a lot more and the principles learned with a rimfire will apply to the centerfire.
 
I think it can be done, like others have said, it will depend on you though. I can hit a 14 inch square steel plate at 100 yards with my 4" 586 with 158g JHPs loaded with a max charge of 2400. We do this at the cabin up north, so it's not something I do all the time. It will take a cylinder or two to get in the groove and usually we start at 50 yards and work our way out. I can hit the same plate with my 6" 29-2 with 8g of Universal under a 240g LSWC, usually 4 out of 6 shots at 100 yards. Shooting handguns at longer ranges is more fun than shooting paper at 50 ft., for me anyways. I can also hit the same steel plate 9 out of 10 times at 100 yards with my Ruger 22/45, once in a while. It all takes practice. But it can be done.
 
It will shoot 100 yds easy. Now whether you hit your target is another story.

Seriously though, I used to make beer money hitting a 100yd gong with a 1911. The ballistics are pretty similar, so give time to dope things out, and it's a known 100yds you should be able to figure out hold over fairly easily.
 
Snag, I've done it both ways now and I very much prefer Freedom's description. Your way, which is how I first did it, I can't see the target and I have to sight on something I can see that is directly above the target. That's fine if there is something up there. Otherwise I'm aiming blind. The other way where I lift the front blade up higher than the rear edge I've got the target in sight and can still see a more or less normal sight picture to even up the gaps either side of the rear notch.

In fact it works so well that somewhere along the way when I can figure out how to "calibrate" a mark I'm going to lightly notch and paint fill some hack marks for 100 and 200 yards on my SBH front blade with the sight zero being at 50 and simply use a slightly "6 oclock" hold for closer in.
 
You may find this article on long range revolver shooting interesting. This guy shoots 24" steel gongs at 1,000 yards with iron sights.

“On one occasion after the serious 1,000 yard target work was finished, we turned our offhand attention to a 12-inch, 200-yard steel gong on a side hill. It was so big, close and such a lark to hit we grew tired of it in short order.”
Click to expand...

http://elmerkeithwasdeadright.blogspot.com/
 
I mentioned in another thread that Elmer Keith had written extensively about long-range pistol shooting in his book, "Sixguns".
Keith even designed special sights for the hold-the-sight-up-higher-in-the-notch method, with inlaid bars of gold (gold was a lot cheaper back then).
I found that the red insert on Smith and Wesson sights worked just as well, you could use the upper or lower edge of the insert, or divide the sections further.

The other part of the equation is a good, steady position; Keith preferred sitting with his back against something and the elbows braced against the knees.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. This has certainly given me a few ideas on what to try.

I will certainly try both methods, raising the blade over the rear sight, as well as aiming at a point above the target (provided I can find a reference point up there).

We'll keep you posted on the results after my range tests this coming weekend.
 
Many moons ago when i was shooting IHMSA Silhouette, my 357 magnum revolver pulled up lave the day before a match.

I pressed my 45 Colt revolver, a Smith 25-5, into service so that I could at least shoot. Hold over at 200 meters was great, I was aiming above the berm.

But i did knock down a few rams including one on the bounce. The round skipped off the dirt in front of the ram before hitting and knocking down the target.

Of course, you could eat lunch in the time it took the bullet to get to the target.

(loads were standard 45 Colt loads, not the hot rodded Ruger/TC loads)

100 yards ought to be reasonable.
 
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