Open sights on a revolver and 50 yards...

[Delerius]

I'm going to be taking a S&W 357 for a walk during deer season so I decided today would be a good day try my hand at 50 yards. The S&W that I'll be using has a 4 inch barrel. I did get all six shots within a 10 inch target but there was no consistence to the grouping. My grouping at 25 yards was still sporadic but better. At 12 yards I was nailing the X. With a revolver that has a 4 inch barrel, what kind of grouping should I be expecting?

[brian]

the gun will shoot better than you can make it. with the shorter sight radius, it will force you to put more effort into the longer shots.
so as far as what kind of group, that depends how good a shot you are.

with that caliber, barrel length and range, you are on the short side of having enough energy for a clean kill.

[ironhorse]

I have a 6 inch taurus. very accurate at 75 yards. But I dont freehand it. I lean it up against a bench or rest. I take mine hunting I'll put it against a tree. Unless it is about 25 yards. My wife and i just back from sighting our rifles in. I had my 4 and 1/2 inch ruger blackhawk in 44 mag out hitting good at 35 yards. My biggest problem is seeing clearing on open sights with these darn bifocals.

[reichebrown]

I have a 625 that I can break clays on the berm with at 50yds free hand if I work really hard. I'm thInking about hunting with it this year.

[harold63]

My biggest problem is seeing clearing on open sights with these darn bifocals.

You have to do what I do, my friend, and that is get single vision so you can see your sights, perfectly. I catch hell at work, though, because I hold things I have to read against my cheek to read it. Kicking aside, I have begun using my contacts with reading glasses, when I shoot, as long as there is little to no wind. It is almost like cheating. It works great and there are varying degrees of magnification to get the perfect sight picture.

[harold63]

I'm going to be taking a S&W 357 for a walk during deer season so I decided today would be a good day try my hand at 50 yards. The S&W that I'll be using has a 4 inch barrel. I did get all six shots within a 10 inch target but there was no consistence to the grouping. My grouping at 25 yards was still sporadic but better. At 12 yards I was nailing the X. With a revolver that has a 4 inch barrel, what kind of grouping should I be expecting?

Shooting around 10" groups at that distance shows you what you are really doing at 12 yards. It just hasn't had time to spread out, yet. 1" at 20' = 2" at 40' = 3" at 60' and so forth. If you shoot a 2" group at 50 yds, then your 12 yd group will look like one bullet hole. There is no difference in shooting 10 yds or 50 yds. You just have to be able to see good.

A 4" barreled S&W revolver is definitely capable of shooting sub 2" groups if it is the right model with the right ammo.

Why the expansion at that distance? If the muzzle is off the X 3/100", and the total length of the revolver is 8", then the actual shot will hit 2.03" from the X at 15 yds. Where it hits (high, low, left, right,) is merely determined by the where the muzzle is off (high, low, left, right). At 50 yds., this same shot will be 6.75" from the X. The problem? 3/100" is very hard to see in a pistol sight. If you are getting all your shots in a ten inch ring at 50 yds., you are doing pretty darn good.

[bnkrtstk]

The time to "try your hand" at 50yds is at the range. Personally, I would wait until I was shooting better. Don't be that guy who "tries" for a deer. Be the guy who takes a shot he knows he will make.

[Delerius]

The time to "try your hand" at 50yds is at the range. Personally, I would wait until I was shooting better. Don't be that guy who "tries" for a deer. Be the guy who takes a shot he knows he will make.

No... I definitely won't be trying for a deer at 50 yards at least not with this gun. The distance from where I will be sitting the first day and the assumed path the deer will take will be no more than 25 yards. Over the years I have passed on a number of animals because of not being able to take a clean kill shot and it won't change now.
The main reason I ask about the 50 yards was to see what the average spread was for folks that didn't shoot professionally. More like three averages... say for a group of folks that shoot a lot, folks that shoot sometimes and folks that shoot rarely. For instants, I shoot in the "sometimes group" getting all 6 shots in 10 inches whereas my brother in law, who shoots rarely, was not able to get any in the 10 inches although he did get 4 shots in 10 inches at 25 yards.

[saleen322]

I'm going to be taking a S&W 357 for a walk during deer season so I decided today would be a good day try my hand at 50 yards. The S&W that I'll be using has a 4 inch barrel. I did get all six shots within a 10 inch target but there was no consistence to the grouping. My grouping at 25 yards was still sporadic but better. At 12 yards I was nailing the X. With a revolver that has a 4 inch barrel, what kind of grouping should I be expecting?

Conventional pistol slowfire is shot at 50 yards on a B-6 target. The black on the B-6 is about 8 inches in diameter and includes the 8, 9, 10 and X rings. Average scores for the 10-shot strings are usually around 80 give or take and the better shooters are usually 90 or better. Remember these are shot slowly but only 1-hand is allowed on the gun so generally if you hold the gun with both hands you could expect a little better performance. 5 or 6 inch barrels are the norm in this sport. FYI: the 9 ring (average for a 90) is about 5.5 inches wide.

[harold63]

whereas my brother in law, who shoots rarely, was not able to get any in the 10 inches although he did get 4 shots in 10 inches at 25 yards.

This kind of goes along with what I was saying before. Roughly 10" at twenty five yards would give you a twenty inch group at fifty (in theory, of course). Take into account he may not be able to see the next 25 yds very well and it could easily translate into a no hit, 10" circle. If he gets control of the trigger (jerking/flinching) and can see well, then he will be able to hit it. As you already know, trigger control takes some practice, and the further out you shoot, the more it will rear its ugly head.