What's your longest kill shot?

[BizCT]

440 yards. Oh just realized you said ML, never shot one before.

[shawnhu]

Only deer I took was a 6 point at 40 yards . 300 g shock wave high double lung never expanded ,I watched him go another 50 yards maybe. He came up quick and I shouldered fast and ended up taking a scope to the face . Good times.

Heard about the shockwaves not expanding. What's the charge you throwing?

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

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[wildcat junkie]

.535 round balls don't need to expand for quick humane kills, but when they do they are devastating.

Edited February 12, 2016 by wildcat junkie

[sbuff]

Seems he was questioning the shock wave not a round ball.

[wildcat junkie]

.535 round balls don't need to expand for quick humane kills, but when they do they are devastating.

 

 

Seems he was questioning the shock wave not a round ball.

Just pointing out that most of the so called "improvements" are really improving much.

[G-Man]

The furthest I've killed a animal with a muzzleloader is 257 yards , it was a woodchuck, and it was an educated guess on drop and windage. Not even sure where it was hot as a .58 cal mini doesn't leave much, it was a body shot as head was intact. I have shot this gun at 300 yards at metal clang er many times and can hit a 20 in circle 2 of 3 x with the open leaf sights. But the barrel is 40 inches long as well.

[chas0218]

Bought my ML probably 8 years ago and have yet to kill an animal with it. I shoot most if not all the deer I need by the 3rd week of gun season (including bow).

 

If I couldn't use my rifle I would be using my smoke pole instead of my shotgun.

Edited February 12, 2016 by chas0218

[wildcat junkie]

Bought my ML probably 8 years ago and have yet to kill an animal with it. I shoot most if not all the deer I need by the 3rd week of gun season (including bow).

 

If I couldn't use my rifle I would be using my smoke pole instead of my shotgun.

 

When I decided to hunt deer in S Indiana in 1977 it was a choice of either a ML or shotgun. Since shotguns weren't capable of the accuracy that they are now, I chose to hunt W/a muzzle loader for both the general firearms & muzzle loader seasons. I killed a deer, sometimes more than 1, W/a muzzle loader every year but 1 from 1983 to 1994 when I won an 870 Express. After a brief period of using the shotgun in the general firearms season, I returned to my .54 flintlock as my primary weapon for all of my deer hunting.

 

After moving to NY I switched to CF rifles.

Edited February 12, 2016 by wildcat junkie

[grampy]

Out of six deer killed with a M L, the longest shot was 50-55 yards. Thompson Shadowhawk Thunder 90gr. loose powder 240gr. hornady sabot. Open fiber sights. 

[turkeyfeathers]

Heard about the shockwaves not expanding. What's the charge you throwing?

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

I've been shooting Shockwaves for a few years now. Honestly not sure on expansion as they always whistle thru. Usually don't go very far with a good shot placement. Shooting 100 grains of 777 pellets Edited February 12, 2016 by turkeyfeathers

[WNYBuckHunter]

190 with my Encore

[beachpeaz]

Interesting thread from this perspective:  With the advances in ML technology (they are not "primitive" weapons any more), I thought for sure there would be a lot of bragging about 300 and 400 yard shots (which I have heard from people). 

 

Reading through though, it appears quite the opposite.  A lot of closer range shots.

 

My longest kill was 185 yards on a Mule Deer.  The beauty of the shot though, is in Utah, a ML is still considered a primitive weapon hunt so you are not allowed to use any optics.  I made that shot with open sights!  Hit him in the heart.  I'm pretty proud of that shot.  As noted, I thought at 185 yards I would be the "short" guy in the room.....

[grampy]

Interesting thread from this perspective:  With the advances in ML technology (they are not "primitive" weapons any more), I thought for sure there would be a lot of bragging about 300 and 400 yard shots (which I have heard from people). 

 

Reading through though, it appears quite the opposite.  A lot of closer range shots.

 

My longest kill was 185 yards on a Mule Deer.  The beauty of the shot though, is in Utah, a ML is still considered a primitive weapon hunt so you are not allowed to use any optics.  I made that shot with open sights!  Hit him in the heart.  I'm pretty proud of that shot.  As noted, I thought at 185 yards I would be the "short" guy in the room.....

 

There are more than a few members here who will sniff out the BS, and call it what it is. Over all I'd say this is a pretty straight forward and honest group of guys and gals.

 

A 185 yard heart shot with open sights is something to brag about!

[Doewhacker]

190 with my Encore

 

 

I got one at 191 yards so I'm better than you.

 

 

Actually I have never ranged a shot with the ML but most likely the farthest would be 80ish yards with my Lyman and open sights.

[wildcat junkie]

 in Utah, a ML is still considered a primitive weapon hunt so you are not allowed to use any optics.

 

As it should be IMO.

 

If ML optics were limited to what was available before say 1870, few, if any would want to use them for hunting.

 

[beachpeaz]

There are more than a few members here who will sniff out the BS, and call it what it is. Over all I'd say this is a pretty straight forward and honest group of guys and gals.

 

A 185 yard heart shot with open sights is something to brag about!

 

I would brag, but you know luck has to play a factor.  Without optics, at 185 yards, there is NO way someone could say with a straight face "that's where they were aiming."  I practiced the shot out to 200 quite a bit.  I was comfortable in taking the shot.  I aimed in the kill zone, and got the bonus of hitting him in the heart.  He crow hopped and then tumbled 200 yards down the side of the mountain.  THANKFULLY getting himself stuck on a small tree or he may have made it a mile down.  As it was it took 13 hours to get him back to camp.

[beachpeaz]

As it should be IMO.

 

If ML optics were limited to what was available before say 1870, few, if any would want to use them for hunting.

 

 

Agreed 100%.  The odds get more and more stacked against the deer every year.  I would encourage a primitive weapon season here in NYS.

 

[Larry]

Longest kill shot with a ml 60yds
Longest kill shot on a deer 150yds with a rem xp-100 in 6br

[landtracdeerhunter]

I won't take any shot with a firearm past 75 yards, and that better be on a nice rest or bipod. All the deer I have shot, with the exception of my first buck deer were within bow range. I always like to watch the deer go down or get a feel of the area entered if they don't fall right away. I can't do that at longer distances. A personal preference.

[dbHunterNY]

104 yards

 

...pre-trigger pull, according to a Nikon Riflehunter 1000 range finder with angle mode on.  T/C Prohunter 50 cal shooting down into a canyon in northwest Oklahoma.

 

I practice and could hit a deer where I need to at 300 if it's feeding, calm, broadsided, and still probably.  I can hit a vitals sized steel gong that far routinely.  Not sure how much energy is left out that far though.  I'd imagine it's lost a lot of knockdown power by then.  I'd shoot a deer at 250ish yards if the conditions were right and I really had to..... maybe.  only because I've seen it done with the load really close to what I'm using also out of a Prohunter.  it's a poke though.

[turkeyfeathers]

  As it was it took 13 hours to get him back to camp.

Oh snap !!  You could have eaten it all in 12 hours

[The_Real_TCIII]

Agreed 100%. The odds get more and more stacked against the deer every year. I would encourage a primitive weapon season here in NYS.

since early ml is a foregone conclusion (IMO), I wish they'd make it flintlock like Pa

[Nomad]

I remember when I first bought my MK 85 , boy I,practiced out to 150 yards, baseball sized groups off a rest,wow my slug gun will sit out for sure .

That year I shot a buck from the ground at less than 30 yards .

I don't think I killed one over 60 yards with it .

Today I have no use for it .

[airedale]

About 65 yards.

 

Al

[wolc123]

I have killed all the deer I shot at with my ML (50 cal T/C Omega loaded with 100 gr of pyrodex or 777 and a 240 gr bullet), totaling about a dozen. For several years, that is all I carried, even during the regular gun season. I stopped carrying it during regular season after I failed to recover one of those kills. That single un-recovered deer, which I found more than a week later, almost completely eaten by coyotes, put me in search of a more potent weapon for the regular season.

The ill-fated shot was at a range of 175 yards, from a good rest, at a standing-still, quartering-away buck. I had practiced at up to 200 yards and was confident in the shot. There was about 4" of fresh tracking snow which gave me even more confidence in taking it. At the shot, the buck showed no reaction of a hit, but jumped into creek he had paused at, while in pursuit of a doe. I watched him climb up the opposite bank and run across a field and a road, showing no signs of distress.

I walked to where he stood at the shot, finding no blood on the snow, or hair. I still assumed a hit and followed his tracks on the opposite side for several hundred yards before loosing them in some heavy cover, then I spent a few hours circling and grid-searching to no avail. Only then, after finding not a drop of blood, did I assume a miss and give up the search.

A week later, I ran into a neighbor who was hunting across the road who told me: "I saw that doe you missed come running by my stand". When he said nothing about the buck on her trail, I knew he was dead, and I found him with the help of the crows a short time later, about 50 yards past my widest circle and about 400 yards from where he was struck. Most likely the bullet had struck near my point of aim (the odds of it hitting there are greater than anywhere else right?), traveling diagonally thru his chest, and damaging one lung. That distance is also consistent with a single-lung hit. The accuracy was there, but the energy was sadly lacking at that range.

I learned two lessons from that loss, First, 175 yards is beyond the effective range of that weapon from an energy standpoint. Had there been a bit more available on impact, that buck would have at least shown some signs of a hit, or left a little blood on the fresh snow. Now I use a rifled, bolt-action, 12-gauge shotgun that is just as accurate at 200 yards, but packs more than double the energy, along with 2 extra shots (our zone is still shotgun or ML only during gun season). I also assume every deer is hit, even if I cant find blood or hair. Even if I run out of daylight, I will get back on the trail in the dark with "bloodglow".

My longest recovered kill with that ML was about 75 yards, and except for that single mishap, it has never given me trouble. The only way I would consider a shot over 125 yards now, with a ML, would be if it were powered with smokeless powder. There is no significant advantage with more than 100 grains of powder using black-powder or a black powder substitute. With smokeless powder, there is no such limits, and longer range shooting should not be an issue. Personally, I would not consider the purchase of a smokeless ML however. No sooner than I did, the state would likely close that "loophole". I am content with keeping my shots at under 100 yards and only using it during ML season.

If you do decide to shoot at a deer much over 100 yards with a black-powder or black-powder substitute ML, you would be well advised to make sure it is standing broadside, and your aim is behind the shoulder.

Edited February 22, 2016 by wolc123