Longish Range Handgun

[xphunter]

I hunt big game and varmint hunt with revolvers and with single-shot specialty pistols.
I never use IHMSA stances for hunting or shooting, and I shoot a lot further than they do.
Nothing against IHMSA, but I am not going to handicap myself when hunting big game or varminting.

 

[DMW1116]

a pinky finger under the grip lines my sights up every time i pull up my blackhawk. note: keep all the screws tight. a loose ejector rod screw will throw shots all over @ 25 yards.

my blackhawks are accurate out to a quarter mile with certain loads.

luck,

murf

It’s like you know. That very screw was loose but I never would have checked if not for your post.

 

[d'zaster]

9.5" Super Redhawk chambered in 44mag easily handles my hotter handloads. It has a 2x scope and I can reliably hit 100 yd gong if I do my part.

 

[DMW1116]

Hopefully I can stretch mine out some this weekend. Depends on weather and if I can get over this cold.

 

[C-grunt]

My range recently got new management. The new managers have decided that shooting handguns at the long range rifle platforms is somehow to dangerous.

I can literally set up a PRS style stage on the platform and run around with a rifle and shoot off of unstable surfaces, but standing there and slow firing a handgun at the same steel targets is dangerous.

 

[DMW1116]

Yea I got a little more close observation than normal when testing pistol hand loads off the bench at the rifle section. I’m sure I will again if I try 50 yard slow fire bullseye with my 22 or the Blackhawk. After watching some of the shooting at the pistol range I think some level of caution is warranted though. Then again I’ve seen people with rifles miss by much wider margins than I did when I was shooting my pistols.

 

[DMW1116]

So this Blackhawk pretty much rocks. The nut behind the trigger needs some work. I put a couple more cylinders through it yesterday and things settled down a little bit. That ejector housing screw started backing out. Can I loctite it or should I not?

it’s a heavy gun to hold out in front of you for a while. I find I have a tendency to drop it a bit after the trigger pull. I’ll have to do more dry firing practice to stop that. I also appreciate the power of the 357 vs my 9mms and 22. I pulled a shot high and wiped the wooden top bar of the target frame completely out.

I’ll have to stop by the shop where I got it and see if there are any more of those 158 grain copper jacketed flat points available. For range ammo it’s more accurate than I can shoot this gun right now.

 

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Yes you can use blue lock tight also I check all of the screws on mine after each outing

 

[DMW1116]

I have a witness mark on that screw only. I suppose putting one on any others wouldn’t be a bad idea. I have to clean it tonight so I’ll handle it then.

 

[DMW1116]

I used the empty brass to load up a couple dozen Hornady wadcutters over Winchester 231 powder last night. I also went with what I had and used regular small pistol primers instead of the rare magnum versions. I used the data from Hodgdens web site for a 148 grain HBWC projectile, which is exactly what I have.

The three best loads all shot single hole groups at 10 yards. The best load was also the starting load and I tried that out to 25 yards. I was rewarded with a slightly off center group about 1.25” wide center to center. The sights are zeroed for the Fiochi factory ammo.

I say all that to say the Blackhawk recommended on the very first page seems very well suited for my purposes in this thread. When I can find some more brass I’ll work on a load for regular JHP bullets at normal 357 Magnum velocity. These are probably only doing about 750 fps or maybe less. These HBWC loads should serve well out to at least 50 yards even if a bit slow. I’ll step them out further next time the rifle range is less crowded. My local pistol range only goes to 25 yards and the rifle lanes have been very busy.

 

[DMW1116]

Now that I say it out loud, this is a really cobbled together affair. I have a general use powder for standard auto cartridges loaded in a 357 magnum case in 38 special quantities with a normal pistol primer. I’m shooting this load from an action design that is at least 150 years old in a 40 year old pistol out to rifle ranges.

 

[Lnf Crzr]

It all depends on your time of practice. You can certainly do a pie plate at 50 yards with ease ,using
a quality revolver. Target shooting, hunting or Competition. It all takes practice. I was hitting around clay pigeons on the birm few weeks ago at the range with my 4” 357 686. 120yards and no problems with that. My 44 Mags do better. Anything over 125 yards I’ll grab my xp100

 

[DMW1116]

I stretched the Blackhawk out to 50 yards with the wadcutter load and some 158 grain jacketed flat point. The accuracy of the wadcutters dropped off but it may have just been me. The flat point factory ammo is MUCH hotter than my target reloads. With the same zero they hit about 6” higher. The sights were zeroed at 10 yards with the JFP factory ammo. When I go back I’ll try both again but with a center hold on the wadcutters and a 6 o’clock hold on the JHP. That should get them both near the center and keep the JHP from flying over my target stand.

 

[Lnf Crzr]

Just got my 29-2 Tuned up. Rear end of cylinder shimmed with forcing cone cut. All done by a well known Gunsmith. I have no issues out to one hundred yards from bench and about seventy five with field positions.
I keep charges on the low end of the magnum spectrum. Plenty enough oomph and easy to shoot. As it was done prior to the development of the Mag… the Special was cranked up to 1000+ fps and killed a good amount of game. 1000-1200fps 250gr is plenty and Smacks with authority.

 

[xphunter]

Grab a target style 22LR pistol - a Ruger Mark Series, S&W Victory, or Beretta Neos - and go to work. There’s no better way to accelerate pistol shooting skills than with a target style 22LR.

THIS!

 

[xphunter]

The 686 is one I was looking at anyway. Any reason the 686 is listed above the GP 100?

Did you purchase a 357 magnum for hunting?

 

[xphunter]

The 686 is one I was looking at anyway. Any reason the 686 is listed above the GP 100?

I prefer the S&W more because you can get a better trigger pull. Both should be accurate enough for what you are looking for.
I would also get the Hogue Big Butt Grip as well.

 

[DMW1116]

I had forgotten about this thread. I have a 22 Victory from S&W. The requirement for this thread was that it be a common cartridge that was reloadable. I ended up finding an older 357 Mag Ruger Blackhawk. It is not intended for hunting, certainly not deer anyway. The odd rabbit, groundhog, or possum might be a target for pest control purposes but those are small and I wouldn't be comfortable shooting at them from further than 25 or 30 yards anyway.

The handloads I have for it will generally hold under 1.5" at 25 yards, with most just over 1". That's accurate enough that I know the load and gun aren't the issue. I also recently found a similarly accurate load for one of my 9mm pistols. This new load is a heavy bullet moving less than 1000 fps, so I don't know how it would work beyond 50 yards, but if I wanted a semi-auto, this is a good candidate. It has the advantage of accepting a red dot sight in it's factory configuration. I may one day add something like that to the Blackhawk, but for now I will leave it with the original iron sights.

 

[xphunter]

Thanks for the update.

 

[Bob Meyer]

I would try a scoped Dan Wesson 44 Magnum. My heavy vent rib rig will shoot sub 2" groups at 100 yards off sandbags.
You could also try a Dan Wesson 357 Supermag. My 8" is quite accurate, but I don't remember if I ever shot it at 100 yards.
I have a Smith model 29 hunter model with a 6" barrel, solid underrib, and 4 position front sight. I had sight settings set up for 25, 50, 100, and 200 yards. Before my eyes went from glaucoma and cataracts I could do quite well with the iron sights even at 200 yards.

 

[DMW1116]

I considered a 44 Magnum but it eats powder and lead with both hands instead of just one. Honestly I’d want to shoot one to see how it is before buying and no one I know has one I can try.

 

[Smaug]

These threads get tricky. OP asked for gun recommendation 8 pages ago. Not wanting to read through all 8 pages only to find he already picked a gun, I read the first post, then pg. 8.

He got a 357 Ruger Blackhawk and seems to be happy. For shooting out to 100 yards, how about a light Hornady XTP bullet over either Alliant 2400 or Hodgdon H110? With that spire-tipped bullet, it won't lose velocity like the other bullets will. (esp. wadcutters that you seem to be shooting now!)

I missed the requirement that it be reloadable; was going to recommend something in 22 WMR, like the KelTech PMR30, or maybe even a Single Six...

 

[Varminterror]

how about a light Hornady XTP bullet over either Alliant 2400 or Hodgdon H110? With that spire-tipped bullet, it won't lose velocity like the other bullets will.

Wadcutters aren’t hard to beat - seems like I recall 38 wadcutters having a G1 somewhere around 0.05 - but light bullets give up BC to heavier, so velocity loss is worse. For example - a 125 XTP leaving at 1500 will be almost exactly the same speed at 200yrds as a 158 XTP which left at 1250, and we nearly identical drop at 200 compared to a 100yrd zero for the two. The lighter bullet is flying more like a wiffle ball - starting fast and fading fast.

But… ultimately, for 100yrds, the velocity loss and ballistic coefficient really isn’t consequential. Mechanical stability and repeatability with consistent ignition will grossly outweigh any “long range” influences like starting velocity or BC.

 

[xphunter]

 

[DMW1116]

I did get a Blackhawk and am quite pleased with it. It’s accurate beyond my expectations and has allowed a lot of experiments reloading basically anything I can find in terms of powder and projectiles.

I prefer not to use the Hornady FTX bullets as they require trimming to shorter than standard lengths and I don’t want to deal with it. I have tried their XTP bullets and they work very well. Their cost however pushed me toward cast bullets.

I have a couple light loads for up to 25 yards and a medium cast load for beyond that. The wadcutters are good out to at least 50 without undue drop but I ran out.

The 158 grain XTP shoots exceptionally well. During testing it grouped just over an inch at 25 yards when pushed by a rather stout charge of 2400. For accuracy that’s my load to beat and even my 22 Victory won’t match it about half the time.