Well, second shot gun season for Iowa opens this weekend, and I have been spending a lot of time on the range with my SRH .454.

My best groups are 2" to 2.5" at 50 yards for a six shot group. Now I know that I can do better as I get more familar with shooting the revolver and tweaking the loads, but I was wonder what type of accuracy to expect. I mean, I demand less than 1 MOA for my rifles, and for the most part have achieved that. But this is the first hand gun that I have ever had that was more than a "10 yard" gun, and I don't know quite how it should perform at 50 yards if I do my part.

Some people don't realize it, but a lot of times one cylinder will shoot better than the rest. There are guys that actually number there cylinders.

But at 50 yards, you should be able to get 1 inch to 1.5 inch groups off the bench with the right bullet, powder combination.

I agree with Redhawk. I think 1 - 1.5-inches is achievable (at 50 yards). I've never shot a Super Redhawk that wasn't accurate.

@ 25 yds, you oughta be one-holing it provided you're using the right ammo.

2 inches at 50 yards is "minute of deer," and just fine. Open sighted especially....

Not the same gun, but my GP100 groups 1.5" at 50 yards with a HoloSight. 4 rounds went sub 1", with two rounds opening up the group a little.

IMO, 1.5" at 50 yards from a stable, sandbagged rest is more than acceptable accuracy. Trajectory wise, I bet if you run the numbers (as I did) you will be +/- 1" from 25-75 yards. With my GP100 I would have been comfortable with any dead on hold on any game out to 75 yards with my 180gr. loads.

As an aside, Handloader magazine had a few machine rest groups in the 3/4" range on a super redhawk.

IMO, your SR should be well capable of 1.5" at 50yds.

I shoot metallic silouettes in IHMSA with my SRH in .44 magnum. With a 180 gn Hornady XTP (my revolvers favorite after ungodly amounts of load testing) I can shoot 3" all day long at 100 yds in creedmore position off the side of my leg. But that is with a leupy 4x on top of it. As to cylinders being off that very same revolver has one hole that throws bullets 2 inches high and 2 inches right at 100 yards. It is the hole immediatly to the left of the proof mark so when I load a 5 shot string for sillouettes I just index so that hole is empty. Good luck with your SRH I love mine. I also love beating guys shooting field pistol with specific set up t/c contenders with custom scope mounts and in .22 hornet. You should see them squirm when I roll up shooting the .44 mag at about 1700 fps. LOL

Handloader always shoots 25 yd's from what I read there. The SRH is way more accurate then any magazine writer can get them to shoot. For one, when they test a gun they never work loads for accuracy, they use factory loads or just throw listed loads together.

Almost any revolver should get 3" at 25 yds. but that's not good enough for hunting.1.5"or better is needed. Revolvers will give different accuracy with different chambers however don't just use one chamber That was tried in metallic silhouette matches and it damaged guns !! Best is to pick out the worst chamber and not use it.

I have never found any off very far in my revolvers and never had to leave one empty. I shot IHMSA for a long time and won many including Ohio State with 79 out of 80 and a SBH. I shot beer cans at 200 yd's with my SRH. Many times it is just shooter error that shows one is different. One must test many, many times to make sure.
However I have some guns here that will blow your mind with the different places each chamber shoots to. ALL are different, some are close but others are 2-1/2" left and scatter shots.

Thanks guys!

I know that part of my problems is that I haven't shot my new SRH near as much as say my varmit gun, and that I have only had about 45 days for load development. I feel confident that it will be minute of deer, since I can hit a milk jug at 100 yards and a half gallon milk jug at 50 just about every time. (Except when the "range dog" wanders up and sniffs my but right before a shot!).

Currently I am using 2400 powder and a 240 gr XTP MAG Hornady bullet. I have tried the 300 gr XTP MAG, and H110 powder, but had just a little more accuracy from the current combination. A guy at the gun store suggested W296 powder, and that will be my next trial.

In the mean time, I think that 2 " groups will get me a deer, if I can find them! And I will practice a lot more in the off season with .45 Colt and full power loads so that next year I can get the groups down to that 1.5" range!

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Almost any revolver should get 3" at 25 yds. but that's not good enough for hunting.1.5"or better is needed. .

So if any Deer is 25 yds from you and your Revolver is shooting 3" groups ,he is home free??????

Maybe they have really small deer, OLBIKER.....LOL!

I went hunting with my SRH when I was shooting MOP (Minute of pig)

2 inches at 50 yards should be good to go if you are consistent.

Here are the 2 best loads; Hndy 240 XTP, 24 gr's of 296, Fed 150 primer. Hndy 300 gr XTP, 20.5 gr's of 296, Fed 150 primer. 1" or less at 50 yd's.
Yes, 2" to 3" at 50 yd's is fine for deer but who is happy with that kind of accuracy when it can be exceeded so easy? Kind of like driving a new car with bald tires. The SRH is a wonderful machine, put new tires on it!
My take on accuracy is the ability to hold offhand. A gun that shoots large groups from a rest can't be expected to hit where aimed offhand. Add the wobble to the fliers and it means crippled or lost deer.
All good hunters should find the most accurate loads for each gun, rifle or pistol, and never be happy with mediocre groups "Because it is only a deer." This seems to be a common thing here with guys saying "It is good enough."
Another wrong thing is to find the fastest, most powerful load the gun can handle without blowing up. They are never accurate. Granted, some bullets want to be faster then others but loads should be worked instead of just picking the highest load from the book. Same with primers, they can make or break a load.
On the opposite end are those that buy the biggest, most powerful gun in the world and then search for the lightest loads they can get away with because the gun scares the hell out of them. They say that the gun can go 2000 FPS but all you need is 800 FPS for deer. Why in the world did you buy the gun????? If you want a 30-30, why buy a .300 RSM?

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
Here are the 2 best loads; Hndy 240 XTP, 24 gr's of 296, Fed 150 primer. Hndy 300 gr XTP, 20.5 gr's of 296, Fed 150 primer. 1" or less at 50 yd's.
Yes, 2" to 3" at 50 yd's is fine for deer but who is happy with that kind of accuracy when it can be exceeded so easy? Kind of like driving a new car with bald tires. The SRH is a wonderful machine, put new tires on it!
My take on accuracy is the ability to hold offhand. A gun that shoots large groups from a rest can't be expected to hit where aimed offhand. Add the wobble to the fliers and it means crippled or lost deer.
All good hunters should find the most accurate loads for each gun, rifle or pistol, and never be happy with mediocre groups "Because it is only a deer." This seems to be a common thing here with guys saying "It is good enough."
Another wrong thing is to find the fastest, most powerful load the gun can handle without blowing up. They are never accurate. Granted, some bullets want to be faster then others but loads should be worked instead of just picking the highest load from the book. Same with primers, they can make or break a load.
On the opposite end are those that buy the biggest, most powerful gun in the world and then search for the lightest loads they can get away with because the gun scares the hell out of them. They say that the gun can go 2000 FPS but all you need is 800 FPS for deer. Why in the world did you buy the gun????? If you want a 30-30, why buy a .300 RSM?

Thanks for the load info. That is close to what I was going to try next. My problem is that my wife one afternoon in late October said "Why don't you just get that d#$%m gun and I will get new living room furniture!" and to say the least I was excited! But that left little time for load work up, especially since Nebraska's rifle season was a few weeks away, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by my brides birthday! That and I was not sure I would even be able to hunt here in Iowa until the second week of Novemeber when I finally got permission from the land owner (she was out visiting her kids for a few weeks).

So I haven't had enough time to do load development like I would have liked. I grabbed two powders that my friend back in Nebraksa used for his .454, and started from there. If I had more time, I would have shot a lot more loads than I had time for (right now I have burned up 250 or so since October), and get a better "feel" for the gun. I mean with my 1911, I can tell which load I am using just by the recoil and sound. Can't do that with the SRH yet (but I am getting better!)

My goal this year is to try to get close enough, at least 50 yards) where a 2" variation will not matter as much. Next year, my goal is to at least have that group size. Some of it is the load, but I suspect a lot of it is that I have not shot handguns as much as I have rifles.

I will let you guys know next week how I do! Since this is my first year in the area, and I don't know how the deer will move this late in the year, it is possible that I might not get a shot (the guy that is going to guide me a bit says that he can "gurantee" I will see at least five deer opening day, but we will see). Even if I don't see a single deer, I have really grown to love this revolver!

OOOOPS, forgive me! Those are .44 magnum loads I posted. I will call my friend and see what he uses in his .454.

For you info, best jacketed loads in my .454 using CBC cases and Fed primers. 300gr XTP with 28.7gr of 296 for 3" groups off a rest @ 100 yards/scope.
Best .45Colt load, R-P case and Fed primer, 250 gr XTP with 15.4gr AA#7 for 2.25" off a rest @ 100 yrds. Am working on a hard cast 365gr load which shows great promise.

Went out Saturday, and froze! Temps were in the low 10's all morning with a good stiff north wind.

Saw four deer, but they were a bit to far for me to confidently take a shot. Did see one closer, but I was not sure if it was on the other side of the property line so I let it pass.

Right now, I hope to go out again Monday morning. That will be the last chance between storms to go out this season (I have to help my wife next weekend at her school). Still, it was a good day in the woods! Just hope it is a bit warmer tommorow.

Wish you luck NEJack...

Well, I have been skunked out so far. Didn't even see a squirel move today (which, as my old grandpa used to say, means the weather is going to be bad). Had fun anyway though. It was a new place to hunt, and a very good one. I just didn't know the movements of the deer yet.

I talked with the owner's brother, and he gave me some tips. But being the second week of shot gun season with a major storm on the way, it seemed like they were holding pretty tight today.

So that is no deer this year for me. For the first time since I took up deer hunting seriously, I will not have any meat in the freezer. I had a screwed up neck during the Nebraska rifle season, and couldn't turn my head. My last hope is the late season muzzle loader season in Nebraska, with a borrowed gun.

The good thing is my father in law is insisting on giving us half a cow (!!!!) for Christmas, so we will have plenty of meat. My wife joked with me tonight, and said "Well, at least we don't have to buy a another freezer now!"

Thanks for all your help guys! I will be refining my loads (and spending some time getting my neck fixed) so I can get some more deer next year!

That's the breaks, Jack! It happens to everyone who hunts enough! But, you must admit that any day in the forest with a firearm is better than a day in the office (or working anywhere for that matter! )

Keep us posted as to how your load development is going!

LOL! That is exactly what I was thinking while I was wishing for some warmer boots.

"At least I am not at work doing the corporate audit!"

I shoot a lot of small targets at long range, offhand and from bags. It never ceases to amaze me how small a deer looks from a tree stand. (12 to 16' high.) I know I can make most shots but they just look small. I can shoot farther at them from the ground then I can from the stands.
I shoot a lot of small targets from stands but those deer still look smaller. You must build confidence in your ability to hit them. Cut some cardboard deer and place them all around the stand and practice on them. Forget the bullseye stuff.
I am going to get Whitworth out this summer to do just that. It is a lot more fun then target shooting.

Great idea BFR! I will do that!

As an aside, looks like I wasn't the only one that had bad luck this year. The Iowa DNR is opening an "Emergency" deer season the weekend before Christmas for those of us who didn't fill a tag during regular season. Kill numbers are way down because of the storms, and they are really worried that there will be a lot more car accidents and depredation of crops unless something is done.

The fact they are doing this with one weekend left of the second shotgun season means things were really bad this year. To bad I will be on the road back home to Nebraska that weekend.