Scoped Handguns!

[Marauder]

Recently I've been shooting Metallic Silhouette matches with iron sights and could not become consistent with the iron sights. Hitting Rams at 200 yards is a hard thing to do offhand. So I put a scope on my S&W model 29, 44mag. Can't wait to try it out. The scope is a Nikon Force XR 2.5-8x28 with BDC. And thanks to my lovely wife who gave me the scope for my birthday, I'm a lucky man.

 

[shaddydan]

200 yards with a handgun...that's awesome sir! I'm happy at 200 with a supported rifle.

 

[hvymax]

That should do nicely. The hardest thing about long range handgunning is trigger pull. On my Dan Wesson the SA is about 1lb. That is a nice scope tell us how it works out. Here are a few of mine.

 

[Deep Creek Rock]

I do a bit of scoped handgun shooting myself. Ive always wanted to try silhoutte shooting with a scope handgun as well.

I shoot an Encore in 308 Win. I ended up putting a Weaver 2-8x pistol scope on mine, and been very happy with the scope. Its put up with the hard recoil, and never changed POI, or any other malfunction. Lifetime warranty to boot too! The Talley one piece mounts, have been excellent as well. They have not moved or loosened one bit!

 

[Nanook]

200 yards with a handgun...that's awesome sir! I'm happy at 200 with a supported rifle.

There's a guy on youtube with a series of Glocks at several hundred yards. Precision pistol shooting is not hard, just difficult and a little like rocket science.

But it is easy, all you have to do is: get your stance then forget about it; mount the pistol in your hand then forget about it; get a repeatable breathing pattern (I go with ALL the way out - exhale after three or more cycles then forget about it); put the sights where I want them on my last breath and then move the trigger straight back to the rear. The only two things you have to remember are 'front sight focus' (which putting a scope on nullifies) and to gently move the trigger back till it goes 'bang'. After 10 seconds or so, if it doesn't go 'bang', I take a breath and put the gun down for a bit, then repeat. I personally say "frontsightfrontsightfrontsightfrontsight" until the recoil is done and the sights are back on my aiming point.

I'm not yet world class (and honestly probably won't ever be) but that doesn't mean I try to put it in the X on every single shot. Hell, I'm even happy when I get a 10

 

[pop-gunner]

Marauder that looks great. Remind me the next weekday you're in the store that I have those bullets in my truck for you to try and I'll grab them.

 

[photoracer]

Gunrunners has a nice Ruger Super Redhawk 8-3/8" in .44 Mag with a Bushnell 2-7x scope on consignment.
I myself have a Redhawk in .41 Mag that I sometimes use with open sights, sometimes with a red dot, and sometimes with a 2x20 scope. It is now the only revolver I own and reload for since I sold off all my late wife's wheel guns.

 

[alpine44]

There's a guy on youtube with a series of Glocks at several hundred yards. Precision pistol shooting is not hard, just difficult and a little like rocket science.

But it is easy, all you have to do is: get your stance then forget about it; mount the pistol in your hand then forget about it; get a repeatable breathing pattern (I go with ALL the way out - exhale after three or more cycles then forget about it); put the sights where I want them on my last breath and then move the trigger straight back to the rear. The only two things you have to remember are 'front sight focus' (which putting a scope on nullifies) and to gently move the trigger back till it goes 'bang'. After 10 seconds or so, if it doesn't go 'bang', I take a breath and put the gun down for a bit, then repeat. I personally say "frontsightfrontsightfrontsightfrontsight" until the recoil is done and the sights are back on my aiming point.

I'm not yet world class (and honestly probably won't ever be) but that doesn't mean I try to put it in the X on every single shot. Hell, I'm even happy when I get a 10

Here is another trick: When looking at the front sight focus on the two right-angled corners and how they relate to the right-angled corners of the rear sight. Ignore the dots and all the other jazz that is on today's guns.

 

[alpine44]

Another tip to work the horrendeous trigger of the Glocks on long shots: Use the index finger of your support hand to aid pushing the trigger backwards. Try this while dry firing and see how you can minimize the movement of the gun when the striker releases. With this technique I can nail clay targets at 100 yards in less than 3 shots with a G23 (Lone Wolf barrel in .357Sig).

OTOH, with my S&W 629 and a Leupold 4x scope it is one shot one clay, every time, at 100 yards.

 

[alpine44]

And one more wise-assed tip for scoped revolvers:

When you glue one of the windage screws of the Redfield pivot mounts into the base with epoxy, you can change scopes back and forth without POI shift. I use a 0x red dot tube or a 4x Leupold scope on my S&W 629 depending on whether speed or long range precision is more important. I glued the left screw shut and filed the right screw so that it only needs half a turn to remove the scope.

 

[Reloader]

TC with a 4 power Leupold and Leupold mounts in 300 Whisper...she's more accurate than I am

 

[Magnumite]

Marauder, if you ever decide to try irons again, a post front sight will do wonders for precision. I've shot sihlouette, mostly Hunter's Pistol, in both irons and scope classes, irons being my favorite.

I also keep a small booklet with my sight settings for each gun, each load and even the grip used. It eliminates the need for hold over/under, etc so you can find the sight picture which works best for your eyes. 'Specially them turkeys.

 

[Marauder]

That should do nicely. The hardest thing about long range handgunning is trigger pull. On my Dan Wesson the SA is about 1lb. That is a nice scope tell us how it works out. Here are a few of mine.

Those are some nice rigs you have there.

 

[Marauder]

I do a bit of scoped handgun shooting myself. Ive always wanted to try silhoutte shooting with a scope handgun as well.

I shoot an Encore in 308 Win. I ended up putting a Weaver 2-8x pistol scope on mine, and been very happy with the scope. Its put up with the hard recoil, and never changed POI, or any other malfunction. Lifetime warranty to boot too! The Talley one piece mounts, have been excellent as well. They have not moved or loosened one bit!

DCR, nice Encore! I intend to get a Encore or Contender for silhouette. You should come out and try a match, fun and challenging.

 

[Marauder]

Marauder that looks great. Remind me the next weekday you're in the store that I have those bullets in my truck for you to try and I'll grab them.

Thanks, pop gunner.

 

[Deep Creek Rock]

DCR, nice Encore! I intend to get a Encore or Contender for silhouette. You should come out and try a match, fun and challenging.

I really wish we had a range in my neck of the woods for handgun silhoutte shooting. Sadly it seems IMSHA is kinda fading, which is a shame, it looks like a lot of fun!

You'll like the T/C's! You can pretty much get any caliber under the sun for them.

FWIW, the Contenders have better triggers then the Encores, but the Encores will handle heavier calibers.

 

[Melnic]

I"ve been looking at 22LR target pistols to put a red dot onto for target shooting indoors at up to 25yds. How does one figure out what to get? I"ve seen the Beretta Neos, S&W 22A and Browning buckmark locally.

 

[Magnumite]

Buckmarks are good so are the Ruger Mk I, II and III series pistols. Those two are the best bang for the dollar. The S&W 22 series are decent but not up to par with the first, the model 41 withstanding.

 

[Marauder]

The scope is awesome! I zeroed at 50 yards, then zeroed the elevation knob. Then I moved out to 100 yards, wrote down the elevation number. That will be my 100 yard zero. Moved on to 150 yards, recorded my number on the elevation knob. Moved to 200 yards did the same as above. I was surprised that the windage was set at 50 yards and never really changed much out to 200 yards. Now that I have my scope dope for my handloads. I shot a silhouette match Saturday and did good for a newb. All of my scope dope was spot on it was up to me and my trigger finger. The feeling of satisfaction knocking down 60 pound rams at 200 yards, Is motivating.

 

[EL1227]

S&W M&P R8

A real hand cannon with a Bushnell® 2 - 6x32 mm Elite Multi - X Handgun Scope ... 20" eye relief to compensate for recoil.

Here's my daughter playing Dirty Harriet with it.