-
This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.
Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades -
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
Looking to do my first build some ? About smoothies
- Thread starter bender20
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Some can. Some can with a good bow. It's all a good gun and a good WELL PRACTISED shooter who knows that good gun. I doubt I could, never shot a smoothie yet (waiting for the girls pic to return). I have a few rifles in .50 and .54 I could though (with a rest)
longrifle78
40 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2006
- Messages
- 282
- Reaction score
- 0
This is just my opinion, if your wanting a gun primarily for deer you'd be better off with a rifle. There may be some that can shoot 4-5" groups at 80-100 yards but I never could. I was getting about that at 40-50 yards.
smoothshooter
50 Cal.
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2005
- Messages
- 3,474
- Reaction score
- 2,162
Having fired several thousand shots from a flint smooth rifle, and a couple of smoothbores with no rear sight with just about every load combination imaginable, I would have to say if someone can get CONSISTENT 4 or 5 inch groups, even from a rest at 50 yards, with any smoothbore they are doing pretty good. Some shooters with with just the right combination of equipment, components, and good shooting skills can pull it off, but they are pretty rare. I have shot groups smaller than that on occasion, but can't do it on demand, and I'm a pretty serious shooter.
This is not to run down smoothbores at all. I think they are great. A 5-inch grouper at 50 yards will hit a lot of targets and kill a lot of game.
I have always especially liked the ease of cleaning and pulling of unfired loads with smoothbores. Fouling buildup in the bore seems less as well.
This is not to run down smoothbores at all. I think they are great. A 5-inch grouper at 50 yards will hit a lot of targets and kill a lot of game.
I have always especially liked the ease of cleaning and pulling of unfired loads with smoothbores. Fouling buildup in the bore seems less as well.
wattlebuster
69 Cal.
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2010
- Messages
- 3,679
- Reaction score
- 350
I can get softball size groups at 50 yds with my 12 ga. They spread way out after that. If your wanting longer range then I would depend upon a good rifle :thumbsup:
shotgunner87 said:
In theory, maybe. Some cannot get that kind of grouping with a rifle off of a rest. A smoothie is a close up firearm.
shotgunner87 said:
I MUCH prefer a smooth rifle over a fowler, except for the physical weight. On my "best" days with a solid rest, my smooth rifle can do 3" groups at 50 yards. It shoots 5" groups on my best days at 75 yards. I have never gotten what I would call sure-thing deer killing groups to my liking at 100 yards with it. Some are in there, some not. In fact, since hunting conditions are usually not optimal like "best days" at the range, I think 75 is stretching it for me personally if I were using this as a deer gun. I would feel pretty comfortable at 50 to 60 yards with it deer hunting.
I agree with others that if you really want a deer gun AND you want to be able to shoot out to 100 yards, go with a rifle.
Have you hunted with iron sights out to 100 yards? I ask as 50 yards is farther than most people realize, until looked at. Are you sure you're going to need a 100 yard shot? As folks just taking a scan over terrain often are poor at judging distance, unless they've done it a lot. Pacing it off sometimes works, but rough ground will screw that up....better to place a marker and use a laser range finder. So you might not need that 100 yards, and your smooth rifle project will work well.
LD
LD
I currently hunt with an iron sighted rifle so no problem Out to hundred yards from me. I get 2 to 3 inch group off of A rest not bench out to 100 yards no problem. I just didn't want to build a gun and think I had capabilities out to 80 yards or so and then get disappointed when it didn't. At some point I will own a smooth bore muzzleloader I love the thought of them. Just wasn't sure if it was going to be my first builder not. Still not sure what I'm going to do. May just need understand the capabilities of the gun. Most of the time it would not be an issue my shots are usually inside 60 yards. But every once in a while get that 80 yard shot.
Shooting smoothbores is not the same as shooting rifles for most people, and not all good rifle shooters are good smoothbore shooters. It's a different skills set. May of us shoot them with no rear sight, and that is even another different game, can be very tough to get a grip on.shotgunner87 said:
In your shoes I'd build a rifle first, but that's me.
Spence
As the others mentioned, out to 50 yards a smoothbore can shoot a 3-6 inch group if the gun has sights.
Beyond that range, small irregularities on the surface of the ball will begin to deflect it from its relatively straight path in unpredictable directions.
(Actually, this "deflecting" starts happening as soon as the ball leaves the muzzle which explains why the smoothbore group size is 3-6 inches instead of a rifle's 1-2 inch group size at 50 yards.)
IMO, if you want a consistant 4-5 inch group from 80 out to 100 yards, get a rifle.
If you want a "smooth rifle", limit your shots to 50 yards or less.
Beyond that range, small irregularities on the surface of the ball will begin to deflect it from its relatively straight path in unpredictable directions.
(Actually, this "deflecting" starts happening as soon as the ball leaves the muzzle which explains why the smoothbore group size is 3-6 inches instead of a rifle's 1-2 inch group size at 50 yards.)
IMO, if you want a consistant 4-5 inch group from 80 out to 100 yards, get a rifle.
If you want a "smooth rifle", limit your shots to 50 yards or less.
Most would agree with Zonie's description of the capabilities of smoothbores, but I don't. I've found that groups in the 3"-4" range at 80-100 yards are very doable with my smoothbores, and that's with no rear sights. There are a lot of "facts" about smoothies floating around, but it has been my experience that, if you seriously put them to the test, they don't hold up, and there's a lot more physics and a lot less magic involved than the dogma would have you believe. :grin:
Spence
Spence
B.Habermehl
45 Cal.
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2004
- Messages
- 766
- Reaction score
- 7
Here in Pa. We usually have thick enough woods that the shot will be inside of 50 yards. A sighted smoothie will due ok. If you usually hunt open woods, especially from a tree stand, perhaps you would be better off with a rifle. To me a smoothie is a 50 yd. gun, sights or not. BJH
shotgunner87 said:
Every once in awhile ya gotta let that ball stay in yer barrel :idunno:
:thumbsup: Some boys and girls can, this child cant. I dont have a smooth rifle but have rear sights on my fusils. My groups did not improve when I added the rear sight, but it was a lot easier to aim. 50 yards is my limit, but the ozark woods are thick enough I rarely get a line of sight much more then 25-35 yards anyway, and have done more then 1 under 20 yards.George said:
A note by a factor for hudsons bay co po poed rifles,as he stated that most shots were less then 60 yards, and a fusil could shoot as well as a rifle to that range, he was n the north plains. On the other hand rifles got popular for a reason
