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Ernie Bishop
Posts: 8,609 Senior Member
Handgun Hunting, Shooting Steel, Mentoring a Teen, & Shooting Other Hunter's Handguns
Ernie Bishop
Posts: 8,609 Senior Member
I was able to go to a group handgun hunt at Collins Low Country hunt Club in South Carolina: Deer, Hog, and Steel. This was the beginning of a yearly group handgun hunt. The weather was hot and the deer were not moving much, but dates have already been chosen for next year and it will certainly be cooler and have a good chance of being during the rut. In spite of the heat, I enjoyed getting to see some guys who I have hunted with a number of years ago, and make some new friends who I had only visited with over the phone and forums. Besides hunting for deer and hogs, there was going to be a steel shoot, but there would be no shooting from the bench or from the prone position. Instead, everyone was urged to bring their shooting sticks, Bog-gear tripods with the PSR top and the like to shoot off of. There would be two basic divisions in the steel shoot. There would be a course for those shooting a straightwall case and another course for those shooting the single-shot specialty pistols using a bottleneck case. Both courses had five targets and they were not large ones.
I was also privileged to bring a 16 year old with me for his first handgun hunt.
I am very proud of Logan!!!
Once again I am reminded that when someone gets the basics down, they can shoot well with a type of weapon that is completely new to them. This past June, Logan and his father Larry participated in WY-SHOT. The steel shoot aspect of this gathering of handgun shooters involves engaging five and 10 inch targets, with some larger ones out further out to about a thousand yards.
This is under time, engaging each target one time from field shooting positions. If the shooter has time left they can engage any targets they missed until they hit each one or until time runs out.
Kind of at the last minute, this father and son decided to shot with us. Logan was 15 years old at the time, and had never shot a single-shot specialty pistol. I put both of them in my group since they were new at it.
In Logan's own words it was "frustrating" since he was learning in the midst of a match. With the last several stages of the day, things began to click and Logan's shooting steadily improved. At the end of the day, Logan scored higher than a handful of adults. Not bad for his first time with specialty pistol. His father had already entrenched gun safety to him, and now he was beginning to get the basics of shooting down as well.
Another new shooter this summer was Jim. Jim was also in my group, as shooting distance was new to him. Jim also decided he wanted to go on this group handgun hunt, and had already sent his deposit in. A work conflict popped up and made it impossible for him to attend. Jim then decided to gift a hunt to a young person and Logan was the first one he thought of.
Before I go on, let me encourage you if you have the time and or the means to mentor new shooters and hunters, both young and adult. It is up to us to make sure our sport thrives. Jim was a first time shooter at distance at my match and he enjoyed watching Logan shoot. They had never met before that day.
There is a big difference between shooting from the bench versus shooting prone. There is also a difference between shooting prone versus shooting from a seated position using a field rest like Bog Gear on the ground or from a stand. Logan had never used these kinds of field rests before, so he was again going to be stretched as he would be using this type of field rest for both a small field shoot and for hunting.
Simply said, Logan ran the steel course clean and beat everyone handily-I was so happy.
On the last evening of the hunt, Logan also killed his first big game animal with a handgun. Perfect shot and dropped her where she stood. Distance was about 150 yards off of Bog Gear, using the same H-S HSP 6XC specialty pistol he used at WY-SHOT. It was a joy watching a young man transform before our eyes.
Besides being there for Logan, one of my highlights was getting to shoot other handguns. I think this is the first time I had shot a 41 Magnum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXJfehcHWto
It was fun shooting Steve's 41 FR.
To this point, I have that 41 Mag FR more than Steve has...Whichgivesmeawarmfuzzyfeeling
Before I did the 5 shots at the steel, I was able to shoot Steve's 41 more than I expected. I had put one of my 2-7 Burris LER's on it since mine had the BP reticle, to make distance shooting easier. I typically would zero at 100, but since we had this steel set-up. I decided to zero the 2nd plex at 150 yards, guessing that would give me about a 100 yard zero.
I was going to take Steve's 41 FR out for hunting a couple of times and wanted to take advantage of it's distance capability.
So, after I got it zeroed on the 2nd plex at 150 yards, then I ran the course the the straight-wall guys had done the day before. This was the first time I shot the course. Chris expected it to shoot lower at 125, so he told me to hold high. I did and hit high on the target-talkaboutflatshooting
Since there was five steel targets, I had a round left which was begging to be fired, so I shot again at the 150 yard target and doubled my previous shot
Ended up taking it out to some other steel after the video on 161 yard 6" steel and 262 yards on 6" steel/seated position with Bog-Gear.
I also went for the 382 yard 10" steel, but I was at the end of the scope's reticle and was clipping limbs and leaves which was hindering accuracy.
Time to quit and try another day.
It is just wrong the kind of accuracy these FR's deliver.
Note Steve's handy-dandy ammo carrier...
Took out a couple of times, but nothing would come out for me to kill with it.
I have never shot revolvers at distance that had this kind of accuracy from field rests.
I shoot it like I do my specialty pistols.
I was also privileged to bring a 16 year old with me for his first handgun hunt.
I am very proud of Logan!!!
Once again I am reminded that when someone gets the basics down, they can shoot well with a type of weapon that is completely new to them. This past June, Logan and his father Larry participated in WY-SHOT. The steel shoot aspect of this gathering of handgun shooters involves engaging five and 10 inch targets, with some larger ones out further out to about a thousand yards.
This is under time, engaging each target one time from field shooting positions. If the shooter has time left they can engage any targets they missed until they hit each one or until time runs out.
Kind of at the last minute, this father and son decided to shot with us. Logan was 15 years old at the time, and had never shot a single-shot specialty pistol. I put both of them in my group since they were new at it.
In Logan's own words it was "frustrating" since he was learning in the midst of a match. With the last several stages of the day, things began to click and Logan's shooting steadily improved. At the end of the day, Logan scored higher than a handful of adults. Not bad for his first time with specialty pistol. His father had already entrenched gun safety to him, and now he was beginning to get the basics of shooting down as well.
Another new shooter this summer was Jim. Jim was also in my group, as shooting distance was new to him. Jim also decided he wanted to go on this group handgun hunt, and had already sent his deposit in. A work conflict popped up and made it impossible for him to attend. Jim then decided to gift a hunt to a young person and Logan was the first one he thought of.
Before I go on, let me encourage you if you have the time and or the means to mentor new shooters and hunters, both young and adult. It is up to us to make sure our sport thrives. Jim was a first time shooter at distance at my match and he enjoyed watching Logan shoot. They had never met before that day.
There is a big difference between shooting from the bench versus shooting prone. There is also a difference between shooting prone versus shooting from a seated position using a field rest like Bog Gear on the ground or from a stand. Logan had never used these kinds of field rests before, so he was again going to be stretched as he would be using this type of field rest for both a small field shoot and for hunting.
Simply said, Logan ran the steel course clean and beat everyone handily-I was so happy.
On the last evening of the hunt, Logan also killed his first big game animal with a handgun. Perfect shot and dropped her where she stood. Distance was about 150 yards off of Bog Gear, using the same H-S HSP 6XC specialty pistol he used at WY-SHOT. It was a joy watching a young man transform before our eyes.
Besides being there for Logan, one of my highlights was getting to shoot other handguns. I think this is the first time I had shot a 41 Magnum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXJfehcHWto
It was fun shooting Steve's 41 FR.
To this point, I have that 41 Mag FR more than Steve has...Whichgivesmeawarmfuzzyfeeling
Before I did the 5 shots at the steel, I was able to shoot Steve's 41 more than I expected. I had put one of my 2-7 Burris LER's on it since mine had the BP reticle, to make distance shooting easier. I typically would zero at 100, but since we had this steel set-up. I decided to zero the 2nd plex at 150 yards, guessing that would give me about a 100 yard zero.
I was going to take Steve's 41 FR out for hunting a couple of times and wanted to take advantage of it's distance capability.
So, after I got it zeroed on the 2nd plex at 150 yards, then I ran the course the the straight-wall guys had done the day before. This was the first time I shot the course. Chris expected it to shoot lower at 125, so he told me to hold high. I did and hit high on the target-talkaboutflatshooting
Since there was five steel targets, I had a round left which was begging to be fired, so I shot again at the 150 yard target and doubled my previous shot
Ended up taking it out to some other steel after the video on 161 yard 6" steel and 262 yards on 6" steel/seated position with Bog-Gear.
I also went for the 382 yard 10" steel, but I was at the end of the scope's reticle and was clipping limbs and leaves which was hindering accuracy.
Time to quit and try another day.
It is just wrong the kind of accuracy these FR's deliver.
Note Steve's handy-dandy ammo carrier...
Took out a couple of times, but nothing would come out for me to kill with it.
I have never shot revolvers at distance that had this kind of accuracy from field rests.
I shoot it like I do my specialty pistols.
Ernie
"The Un-Tactical"
"The Un-Tactical"
Replies
Those FrankenRugers are... Idon'twantoneIdon'twantIdon'tI... ****.
Dad 5-31-13
We had a conversation at our shoot this year about trying to bring new shooters in. Especially younger shooters, but anybody really. It really is a great idea to mentor folks in stuff like this. It's up to us to keep the sport alive and make sure there's a future generation who appreciates their right to use and enjoy firearms.
I'm going to try to fly my son in for our annual shoot next year. Haven't done it because it would require him to miss a few days of school, but if he'll agree to keep his grades up, I think I can make it happen. He'll be a senior next year anyway.
http://firearmsradio.tv/handgun-radio/handgun-radio-144-live-handgun-hunting-roundtable-with-bayside-custom-friends
"The Un-Tactical"
That is good.
Let us know if it works out.
"The Un-Tactical"
It is just "WRONG" for a Ruger revolver to shoot that good at distance off of Bog-Gear:jester:
"The Un-Tactical"
To all of you who teach and mentor others...Thank You!!!
"The Un-Tactical"
I'd much rather mentor a kid than an adult anyday. That's not all the time, there are some exceptions, but most of the time you go into it with an adult with a pride factor. They don't want you to think of them as newbies, where as a kid is all anxious to learn. I'm getting to do that with my oldest grandson now. I've never had so much fun hunting. And when they kill that first deer, the look on their face is worth it all.
Son that's somebody with nothing to do with his time but keep me in trouble with mom.
I enjoy working with both.
"The Un-Tactical"