Long Range Shot On A Varmint With A Handgun?
Please list the critter, gun, optic, and distance.
And of course any other tidbits that add to the story, like your shooting stance, etc.
What you consider your "best shot" may or may not be your longest shot. How far will we go?
xphunter

[ 01-10-2003, 03:44: Message edited by: xphunter ]

Greetings! I have shot varmints at longer distances with greater cartridges, but last fall I shot a Woodchuck at 225 yards with my Bell 14" 22mag rechamber Contender barrel.

The pistol [pictured below with a different 'chuck] is set up with an 8-32x44mm target riflescope held in Leupold QRW rings on a Weaver 92a base, a free-floated Bullberry heavy forend, a Harris 6br bipod mounted to a sling swivel stud on the forend, and a thumbhole Western Gunstock grip. Very accurate pistol, and for the cartridge, my best long range pistol shot on a varmint.

Ammo was CCI Maxi-Mag +V 30grn HP, I was shooting downhill, held roughly 6-8" over top of the Woodchuck's head, and managed to hit him through the eye.



[ 01-10-2003, 04:04: Message edited by: Sean VHA #60013 ]

2 of my longest offhand shots are as follows.....

10" Contender 357mag & Sierra's 110JHC
Woodchuck standing broad side at approx. 135 yards. I aimed just over his lil mellon and tried to get the cross hair of my Leupold 2x steady. I placed this area in my "wobble" and started to squeeze and ....BANG! I see mist in the air and figured that i had overshot him and hit some water just beyond him. As i am walking to the last place i saw him i realized that it had been rather dry lately and couldnt understand how water would be laying near the grounds surface. WELL, upon arrival, the chuck was layin right where i had seen him, i then realize I HAD SEEN THE RED MIST!! Poor lil guy, was missin his head.

10" Contender 7TCU & Sierra 130SSP
Woodchuck runs from the center of a field that i just entered. I attempt a stalk and he immediately runs a few feet further towards his hole. Realizing that this is the only shot he will allow (no cover available) i level the Burris 3x on him. Once again, i place him in the center of the "wobble" and adjust for distance. The hammer drops and so does he! This shot was 139 long paces. Classic shoulder shot.

We were out on the Cheyenne Reservation in wester central South Dakota. It was out second day of shooting, and the action was slowing down a little. Dave (my hunting buddy) and I had our shooting benches set up side by side, and had been concentrating our efforts out around the 300 yard mark. Every once in a while I could hear a Prairie Dog barking, and he seemed really close.

All of a sudden I spotted him on a mound about 90 yards right in front of my bench. The mound was covered with catus, and every time I would start to squeeze off the shot, he'd disappear. I shot a couple times but missed.

Finally he was out again, and this time fully out of the hole, down on all fours facing away from me. I told myself that I had to aim lower, and aim lower I did. At the shot the poor little feller was lifted about 4 feet in the air from the impact of the 52gr. Speer Hollow Point leaving the muzzle of the Super 14 Contender at 2850 FPS.

He did about 3 or 4 summersaults while in mid air, and when he landed back on earth, both of his back legs were outstretched like the wings on an airplane. As soon as he touched down his front feet were going 90 miles per hour, and he made 3 or 4 laps round the mound before I finally finished him off.

Upon examination we discovered it was a good thing I finished the poor guy off. Otherwise he would have been no good to his wife, as my first bullet had removed his breeding material. Yep, nothing else hit, just the VITALS.

Nope it isn't the longest shot I have ever made. Nope it wasn't the most difficult shot I have ever made, but it is the one that caused the most laughter from both my hunting buddies and myself. Actually I feel kind of bad for the little guy, considering where the first bullet hit.

Larry

Sean, Mike, and Larry,
These are some great stories (and Great Shots).
I remember several pink mist shots, but I don't think I have hit such a vital place on a male dog and flipped like that! One thing I have never done to date with a rimfire rifle or pistol is prairie dog shoot. Do I need to adjust my priorities?
xphunter
P.S. Please continue to link your cartridge up with the distance and the circumstances of the shot(s).

Okay...here goes...can't decide which has been "the best" but in all cases these shots were a lot of fun.

The longest...

My .223 Contender with a 4x Leupold took a prarie dog at 250 yards while resting the pistol across the hood of a pickup. Nothing too spectacular, but the little bugger wasn't standing up...he was just out grazing on all fours. It took me one shot to figure out the elevation and then I got him. That little p'dog was soo small through a 4x scope that I couldn't even tell that I hit him I just waited to see that he wasn't moving around anymore and I walked out to verify.

The most "wow" effect...

While dove hunting, I pulled out my trusty .44 Ruger Redhawk and told my two buddies to "watch this." A couple of doves came flying by and I brought one of them down with my pistol at a range of about 10-15 yards. I had to 'fess up later that I was actually using some CCI .44 mag shot loads, but it was a pretty nice shot anyway!

With that same .44 Redhawk and some 180gr factory loads, I took a "hedge apple" (aka Osage Orange fruit) out of the air at about 5 yards that I had a friend toss up in the air. That was pretty dramatic as those things really explode when they are juicy. Lemme tell ya, a 180gr bullet from a .44 will certainly do some damage...we had ourselves a hedge apple shower!

Neither of the above two shots were with the aid of sights. Also, you may not consider a hedge apple a varmint, but I'm guessing that you never had one in your backyard either! Otherwise you would agree with me...they are a pest!

The one that stands out the most would be the 300 yd. head shot on a prairie dog in South Dakota back in the days before optic technology caught up with handguns. (Not on the first shot) I was shooting a 14" 30 Herrett with a 4X leupold EER, the most powerful handgun scope available at that time. This was shooting off sandbags from the hood of a pickup. BTW, the last two shots I made out there before leaving were at 225 yds and both were hits. Even at that distance, it was hard to tell the difference between dirt clods and prairie dogs.

My XP-100 22-250 and I were groundhog hunting in the summer of 2001. It was the first cut of hay, and I'd been shooting crows from a dead tree at a lazer ranged 325yds. I got one on one day, and two the next from that same tree.
Then, I saw a groundhog by a lone crabapple tree at a ranged 510yds. My gun wore (I just this week sold it to a guy in Alaska) a 10X Burris LER AO and was sighted in at 300yds. I held the start of the thickened portion of the verticle crosshair just at the top of its head and let fly. Dead groundhog! The only witness I had to the shot was the man who owns that farm. He'd never seen a shot made that far with a handgun before. But then, neither had I! Though it was a beautiful day and I had the time, I packed up and went home. No need to risk ruining the day by missing a closer one after that.
T.D.

I remember a few years ago during Christmas week I took my vacation to go deer hunting at my hunt club. I got there about noon the day after Christmas. I was riding through our property looking for the other 3 guys that said they would be there. I was going slow on the dirt roads when out popped 2 turkeys. All I had loaded was my S&W 629 classic 44mag with open sights on the front seat. I stopped and opened my door with the window down. I figured what the heck, i'll take a shot. They were walking away from me so I got out and rested the gun on the door through the window and pulled the trigger. One of the turkeys were flapping around and I couldn't believe it I was using a Hornady 200gr JHP-XTP. Shot was only about 40 yds. but that was my first turkey with a handgun. Bird was about 12lbs. and that alone made my week.

Another one.....

Buddy and i spotted some turkeys on a hill side a ways off. I told him that i was gonna shoot one and he gave me the "uh, sure...go ahead" sarcastic response. These turkeys were from 125 to 150 yards away. I picked one of the closest ones that had a beard, leveled my 6" S&W 57 with 2x Leupold across an improvised rest, adjusted for the distance and dropped the hammer. At the shot the turkey hit the ground (comment from my buddy was HOLY $HIT ), the turkey picked himself up, took two steps forward and then expired. Upon cleaning the bird, i found the Remington 210JSP had pushed feathers from the entrance side of the bird completely through and out the offside! Distance was an honest 125 yards. Having a witness made it all the better!

That was some of the best tastin turkey i have EVER had!!

My longest shot on a dog is 700 yards with my 284 Win. XP-100. Probably the shot I am more proud of is a dog at just over 500 yards with a stock 221 fireball that was outfitted with a 2-6 Redfield scope using 40 grain BT's.
xphunter

My longest pistol shot was with my Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter. We were out an an old WWII landing strip plinking around with our 44mags with wadcutters. We had been shooting chunks of asphalt and busting them and popping old soda cans and were getting bored.

One of the guys noticed a crow sitting on top of an old barrel on a sand dune at the far end of the runway and dared someone to try to hit the barrel and scare the crow away.

There were 5 guys there and when I opened my mouth that I'd not only take the shot but that I would aim at the crow I got quite a bit of ribbing.

Imagine their astonishment when my bullet hit right at the crows feet and clanged the barrel and glanced up and centered him in the chest.

He fell over backward and there was a long stunned silence.

I jumped in my Bronco and drove down there nonchalantly and got the crow and when I got back I dropped him at their feet and proceeded to smile a smug smile.

To this day I never told those guys that the barrel was actually my 350yd target and I knew exactly where to aim in the top of the tree behind it to drop my 240gr Semi-Wadcutter in and clang that barrel.

I had shot hundreds of rounds at that barrel in the last few years with that pistol and that load and that time I got lucky and actually hit it right where I wanted.

I wish I'd had a video camera when they saw me make that shot!!!!! <g>

I bet I couldn't do it again in 100 tries but they'll never know that... LOL

$bob$

Ok XP, I'm going to one-up you. I remember that "lucky" 700 yd. pr. dog in Panhandle, TX, a little more than a few years ago, but how's this lie, I mean story. Couple years ago, I took a buddy Griffin out to check out zeros on my .17 Mach IV Bob "Lizard" Waltzer built XP. I know you're not supposed to shoot bullets heavier than 25 gr. out of that teency-weency case, but I was shooting Clint Starke's 30 HP at about 3450 from the 17" Shilen. We were shooting milk jugs full of water out to, I know this sounds ridiculous-- 600 yds. off of a tripod and sandbg rest atop the pickup hood. Believe it or not we were hitting a few of them too. There was a goose floating around on a pond at a laser-ranged 575 yds. I looked at Griff., and he looked at me. I spotted his shot, as he prepared to give it a go. He cranked in the required clicks on the Stoney Point target turret that was screwed onto the 4.5-14X Simmons ATV, figured about a foot of windage, and let it rip. I saw a ripple form just behind the goose, but I also thought I saw some feathers fly. The bird flew off the pond and landed several hundred yards away on the prairie. We kept shooting at the water jugs and then I trained the spotting scope on the goose, which was now laying dead on the prairie. 575 yds.-- can you believe that one? I had to buy him a steak dinner for it-- the longest shot of the year award--lucky sucker. Not really though, the laser rangefinder and target turret made it a little less lucky--maybe a little more than a little.

Well, I can't say that I have beaten any of you in long range shooting with handguns but I have had a few shots that made me feel pretty good.

I have not hunted P. Dogs with handguns, just rifles but here in central Montana we have a few areas with good rock chuck hunting.

I remember one summer day that was coming to an end after a long day of chucking, we were driving out of our hunting area when I spotted a rock out cropping a few hundred yards away.

I stopped the truck and glassed the rocks for one last chuck to bust before calling it a day. Sure enough there was a large chuck soaking up the last rays of sunlight before the dark of night came.

I really didn't want to unpack one of my rifles as we were only a few hundred yards away from the chuck so I grabbed my Encore chambered in 7mm-08 and the shooting bag and set up on the shooting bench over the bed of my truck.

With the 2.5-7 T/C scope cranked all the way up I could just get a clear view of the stretched out chuck. I had my hunting buddy range the chuck and he came back 309 to the chuck.

I raised the hairs about 6" over the chuck and sent a moly coated 110gr TNT out at a bit over 2900 fps up to the rocks.

The sound of the hit was very load but I was unable to see if I had hit the chuck or not. There was a cloud of white smoke hovering right where the chuck had been though.

My buddy reported that it looked like a hit but wasn't positive. Just then he reported that the chuck was up again just a little higher and to the right of his previous position. He ranged again at 311 yards and this time I looked on my drop chart, +6" was the correct hold so again I settled the Encore in the bag and tickled the lightened trigger.

Again the same report, "looked like you throw the chuck off the rock" but within a couple seconds I heard,"he's back, little farther to the right then before."

This time I took extra time to set up and asked for the range again, "308 this time."

The third shot felt as good as the first three and again my friend only said looks like you hit damn close to him. Problem was that our big spotting scopes were packed away and he was spotting through a set of 8x binoculars.

After about 10 minutes after the last shot, and no sign of the chuck I decided to walk up to the rocks to check things out.

Because this area is thick with rattlesnakes, I grabbed my S&W 45 ACP just in case. We started up to the rocks and when we were about 75 yards away from the pile I saw movement in the rocks.

That damn chuck was still there and teasing us. I made a comment to my partner that I would teach him or something of that nature and sat down and steadied the Smith with my elbow on my knees.

I took half a front sight hold over the chuck and sent the 230 gr Golden Saber on its way. To my utter disbelief, I saw the big chuck simply slump over and roll down the rocks.

We both looked at each other a little past suprised and ran up the the chuck. While we inspected the lucky head shot on the big chuck I noticed some green splatter on one of the rocks above us.

I climbed up to find another chuck that had taken one of the TNT bullet mid section and almost was cut in half. I looked to the right and there was another blood spot. I crawled over the rocks and sure enough there was another chuck between two rocks less most of his front half.

The my buddy, coming up the other side of the rocks to inspect the damage ran into a fourth chuck that had been hit.

Instead of one chuck that I kept missing, I hit three for three chucks at 308-311 yards with the 7mm-08 and one with the 45 ACP at around 75 yards.

This does not happen all the time for me with a handgun but remains my most memorable four shots with a handgun.

Not in the class of you guys but I will remember them for a long time.

Good Shooting!!!

50

I can relate a very satisfying shot, one that was on an antelope and was on the hunt that was to provide field proof of the 7 mm Bellm Contender. I had just finished the evaluation and load development that generated the load data as are listed on Bellm's page.

I was hunting with my Wyoming rancher friend a few miles south of Shoshonie, WY. We had held out for several days for a good set of horns and finally spotted a good sized lone buck at about 400 yds. He was walking a quartering path toward us as I watched from behind a big sage brush through a spotting scope. When he got to about 200 yds, I could tell he was a big one, and was the one I was looking for, so I slid sideways from behind the sagebrush sort of laying on my back with my feet toward him. I placed my left foot on my right knee and raised the right knee to form a "Creedmore-like" position. I placed the Contender on my left shin and with both hands on the handgrip, raised my head to see through the scope (Leuplod 2.5 - 8X set on about 6X).

I first sighted for a heart shot but thought it to be iffy, next sighted for a lung shot, but with him quartering toward me, it would have gotten just one lung. Wyoming antelope can run a long way on one lung, so I opted for a spine shot. I held high just behind his front shoulder and touched off. Man, what a hit! That bullet went right where I had pointed it and he didn't even take one step. He just buckled right there and dropped like a rock. He was stone dead when we got to him.

I paced off the distance with my calibrated stride to be 182 yds. Not the longest shot in the world, but it surely was convincing. From that experience I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot on an antelope at 300 yds with the 7 mm Bellm Boomer, assuming I could get a solid hold.

The antelpoe wasn't a Boon and Crocket, but it did measure out cured at 14 5/8", which is one of the better ones from central Wyoming.

For a picture, see www.1cox.com/shearer. And see an article about that hunt in "ONE GOOD SHOT" (the T/C Journal), Spring 2000.

But, one of the reasons for relating this shot is to let you know how steady that "Creedmore-like" shooting position is and to urge you to try it for field shooting. Of course it does require that there isn't much low brush in the way as you wind up pretty close to the ground. But most of Wyoming is that way.

Don Shearer

Sorry guys, I guess you have to do the whole ball of wax and put in the http://www.1cox.com/shearer

Don

BEAUTIFUL T C S DON. THOSE ARE SOME OF PRETTIEST RIFLES I'VE EVER SEEN.

THE 2ND AMENDMENT PROTECTS US ALL...............

Only 2 times have I ever made medium length shots with a pistol. The first one a groudhog at 246 yards with a factory 223 14". Head shot, no problem.
The other was more intersesting, a running yote going across our range. Got him with a BondXP in 308 Whisper and a cast bullet, open sights from the Creedmore position. Bullet kinda slow, destroyed his pelvis when I thought I was going for a head shot. 175 yards.
Have never really had any other opportunities.

Mr. DW

PS: I am upset that I can't take a revolver to the Bower class! javascript:void(0)
Big Grin

Like some of the others,this was not a shot at record distance - maybe 40 yards. What makes it interesting is how it was made. When living in Orange county NY, I lived on a farm with a big back yard and a waste water pond at the end of it. We had a bad muskrat problem - they were putting holes all over the back yard that made mowing quite a challenge due to ground collapses, etc. There was snow on the ground, which really makes them easy to see. I spotted one through the back windows while watching TV. I grabbed my Ruger .22 and sat in a chair near the sliding door. During a commercial, I glanced out and spotted the varmint again. Without getting up, I opened the door, took aim, and delivered a shot that caused the rat to somersault, and based on the large patch of crimson snow - die instantly. I closed the door, unloaded and reached for more popcorn, without ever getting up.