long range shooting with patched round ball

Lot of posts here recently about long range shooting using bullets. But, I don't recall much mention of using prb. My club has just expanded it's range to 300 yards. Most of the use at that range will be by bpcr. But, since it is there, trying to knock those silhouettes with an offhand style prb rifle could be fun. Looking for feedback on those who have tried.

We do a lot of it, but over water in deserted bays for better views of POI. Coupla three lessons from that.

Spotting ball impact is tough waaaay out there, and you need to be able to see impact to adjust your sight picture.... That is unless you're using adjustable sights and can do lots of fiddling before taking on a 300 yard mark.

Gongs will be your friend at 300, as well as lots of dry ground nearby so you can see where you're hitting.

Any little wind, the tiniest breeze even, is going to give you detailed instruction in "Kentucky windage". Man can those balls move left and right. But a wind at your back or in your face is going to affect POI as well.

Simply lining up low traditional sights as usual and raising the gun to compensate for drop is problematic unless you have a bunch of fixed aiming points above the target.

We've found it's lots better to shoot "Elmer Keith handgun style" by raising the front sight above the rear sight. He went so far as marking off the rear face of his revolvers' front sights, just so he could have a reference point where to put the rear sight while putting the front sight right on the target.

Tried it, and it's pretty darned smart. In fact it's the only way I can effectively shoot long range with fixed sights. Of course, at 300 yards, my reference point isn't even on the front sight! I use typist's "white out" to put marks on the barrel. Best I recall, with 50 caliber ball the mark is best about 6" back up the barrel from the front sight. Line up the top of the rear sight with the white mark, then set the target on top of the front sight.

Hitting low? Scratch off the white out with your thumbnail and put another a little further back down the barrel. Hitting high? Scratch off the white mark and put another on the barrel a little closer to the front sight.

I bet you and your little bottle of white-out can pin back the ears of anyone else using low traditional sights "correctly." That is.... Long as the wind isn't blowing too hard! :rotf:

I once shot a rabbit at 140yards with a .440" ball by raising the front sight in the rear sight, does that count :thumbsup:

B.

I think back a couple of years ago Jethro ran a long range Roundball contest.

There were a few Members who participated Many Klatch was one of them if I remember correctly.

I don’t remember all the details but certain size targets were used a different distances.....

Maybe someone more computer savvy than me can retrieve the info.
:idunno:

BrownBear offers excellent advise, especially about wind. Early in the day before the wind picks up is usually best. Being able to see the ball's impact helps with your sight picture. Tall front and rear sights give more latitude with sight picture but you may need to raise the comb of your butt stock to have this work for you. Larger caliber is better. My .58 and .62 caliber rifles were better at long range than my .45 and 50s. Gongs or steel targets give immediate feedback. Nothing is more discouraging than hiking down to the 300 yard backstop to find no bullet holes in the target.

At the “1984 1st Anual Eat Dead Beef and Die of Botulism Frank Fusco Memorial Rendezvous” we-did shoot in to the white river at about 300 yards. Seeing where ball was falling in the river we were able to hit a man sized rock after a few shots. That was the day before you were able to come out. :rotf:

My long range shooting was limited to 200 yards on steel bear shaped silhouettes. This required a full front sight with the base of the sight at the bottom of the notch. The top of the front sight was held on the bear's ear into the wind. Even then I was doing good to have a hit in the midsection of the bear. Often the ball dropped onto the leg after being blown about 8" with the wind. Never could do very good with the turkey targets at 150 yards.

tenngun said:

At the “1984 1st Anual Eat Dead Beef and Die of Botulism Frank Fusco Memorial Rendezvous” we-did shoot in to the white river at about 300 yards. Seeing where ball was falling in the river we were able to hit a man sized rock after a few shots. That was the day before you were able to come out. :rotf:

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Thanks for the memory. Yes, I remember that day. We had a lot of fun. I miss the old Pte Qua bunch.

Of course, at 300 yards, my reference point isn't even on the front sight! I use typist's "white out" to put marks on the barrel. Best I recall, with 50 caliber ball the mark is best about 6" back up the barrel from the front sight. Line up the top of the rear sight with the white mark, then set the target on top of the front sight.

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:hmm: I'm having trouble visualizing that. Wouldn't the elevated barrel blot out the target?

As an aside, any idea on the maximum distance (on level ground) that a prb would carry? Say a .62.

It's a function of many things (which affect drag) , but chief among them is initial velocity. The faster it starts out, the further it will go, but as a practical matter, between 600 and 900 yards is about as far as a 62 RB will go when started at 2000 fps or slower.

Rifleman1776 said:

:hmm: I'm having trouble visualizing that. Wouldn't the elevated barrel blot out the target?

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Not at all, cuzz you're putting the elevated front sight right on the target. Elevation is changed by raising or lowering the front sight above the rear sight. Slickernsnot.

Jethro did run a long range match. Two of us gave it a try. 400 yards, target was a piece of plywood 2 foot by 6 foot. 20 shots. I was shooting a 54 and got three hits and JJ was shooting a 50 and got 2 hits.

Brown Bear hits all the important parts of how to shoot at long distance. Our target was posted on the silhouette range at Friendship that has #52 Limestone powder spread at the base of the line. That was a big help on finally finding where to hold. If we shot too high or too low we were in the grass and never saw the ball hit.

We shot normal loads, so I was shooting 75 grains of 3F in my .54. There were enough new things going on that I didn't want to mess with changing powder charges as well.

Eventually we found an aiming spot up in a tree behind the target. We were probably holding 12 foot high. The larger .54 ball seemed to have a smaller area of impacts than the .50 ball did.

We had a bunch of BPCR shooters watching us. They had never seen Flintlocks shoot that far.

Thanks MK , I could remember the contest but didn’t remember the details.

Still a good result for the first time out I think.

Now I dont feel so bad trying (quite futily usually) to hit a 18" x 24" steel target set at 200 yards at my local range and not having much luck. I aim quite high, but Im using my standard light load for my .50 that is sighted in for 50 yards.

I think if I really worked at it I could get to where I hit 1 or 2 out of 10 times. The problem I have is I cant see where the ball goes half the time. You'd think in a dry desert there would be an obvious plume of dust from the ball hitting around the target but I rarely see anything unless I aim too low; then I see it clip the top of the berm behind the 100 yard mark...

200 should be doable , not easy but doable.

400 is twice that far.....

And with the target being only two feet wide any wind at all and there’s no wiggle room

That’s a poke

If I spent more than 3 or four shots out of 30-40 while at the range trying Im sure I could figure it out. Might need a spotter to see where Im hitting though. Like I said, most times I dont even see the dust splash from wherever my ball is going. I mostly do it for kicks

With out a doubt it’s all in fun.

It does surprise a few people that “ one of those old things” will even shoot that far... much less that well. :hatsoff:

400 is twice that far.....

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Captain Obvious :hmm: Sorry I'm not making fun of you that just struck me as really funny.

I reckon you need .50 at least, .50 plus would be even better. Knowing your rifle helps to of course. Let us know how you go please !

Cheers