How Far Will a Sharps Black Powder Shoot
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Tucked away in this article is a bit of history about a shot that was made by a man in Texas against some Comanche raiders. The Indians had attacked and backed off to decide their next strategy. One of the men armed with a 50/90 sharps made a shot that dropped one of them. It was latter said that it was ranged at 1500 yds. At that point the Comanches decided to call it a day. At this demonstration was a man that had wrote about the incident saying that it was impossible for a slow Moving bullet like the sharps shot to be deadly at that range let alone travel that far.
I'd say 'bout as far as way over yonder.
For someone who knows how to shoot, 1500 yards is not out of reach for that rifle.
"Billy Dixon used a Sharps .50-90 at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls on June 27, 1874, to make his legendary 1,538-yard shot."
Dad knew an old man in the '30's that used to shoot groundhogs in the White River bottoms at 1000 yards with a 45/90. He said it had a drop of about 4 feet but the man knew his rifle and would roll the groundhogs almost every shot. He was shooting from the bluff as well.
A slow moving 500 grain bullet would send shock waves from head to toe. I watched a slow mo video of an elk being hit in the chest at around 50 yds. The skin had shock waves that went almost to his hindquarters.
In the late 60s my brother lived on an Indian reservation in northern Nevada. He had witnessed some of the men there shooting 30-30s. They had grown up Using the rifles. He said I would not want to be shot at by these fellas no matter how far away they were. Within reason.
The 30-30 is a popular round among some old-timers in Newfoundland. My buddy up there uses one and an old British 303. He was guiding an 80 year-old gentleman last fall who shot his moose at 100 yards with an open-sighted Winchester lever, 30-30. One shot in the heart. My brother has a Sharps rifle handed down in our family. Scary accurate. He has never hunted with it.
At 1000 yards a 45-90 drops a lot more than 4 feet unless it's zeroed at 800-900 yards. With a 200 yard zero my 7 mag and 243 shooting high BC bullets drop close to 20' at 1000. We shoot them out to a mile.
With modern ammo(leverevolution) the 30-30 is now good to 200+ yds. My wife uses a thompson contender carbine in 30-30 for elk.
Terry
I haven't done a whole lot of gun hunting but I use to have a 45/70, i shot a deer at 130 yrds once and it knocked her for a flip. I had to aim a little high but not much. I can imagine those old timers knew how their guns shot at longer distances. Lot of em had Linier flip up sights.
I always favored the slower moving, heavier caliber.
Had a single shot 30/30 that I could hit a pie plate at 200 yrds with it.
I hunted a bit with a 45-70 and killed a few critters. I recently acquired a lever in 38-55 that needs to go on a hunt.
I shoot Black Powder Silhouette at Ridgway Rifle Club in PA. They have a buffalo silhouette at 1000 yards . Once in a while just for fun I'll shoot at it. With the help of a spotter, I can get on target in 5-10 rounds. After I'm on target, I can hit him fairly often. If you look down my barrel, it's pointing well above trees near the buffalo. I'd say those trees are 45-50 tall.
Well heck, last Saturday I shot a deer at an amazing 36 yards with a 300 grain bullet fired from an Optima V2 single shot muzzle loading pistol with 100 grains of black powder. The deer dropped in it's tracks. Talk about recoil. I had to lean at an awkward position to get around a tree and when I fired my right hand hit me in the mouth. Instant fat lip but it is all better now. Just got the meat from the butcher and it is resting, all vacuum sealed, in my freezer.
I have a Shiloh sharps 45/70 and a 50/70. Have taken elk and. Antelope with the 45, and one hog with the 50. On our farm in Ks we have a life size metal buffalo silhouette and shoot at it from 500 yards. I’m not sure of the bullet drop at that distance but it is huge However after getting the sights set, it’s easy to gong the buffalo.
Shooting at long range every bullet is going to drop. A lot. Shooting well just requires knowledge of that drop and consistency. Plus, the longer that bullet is in the air, the move environmental factors like wind will further influence it's flight.
But never take advice from a guy who claims to shoot groundhogs with a 45/90 at 1000 yds using 4ft of hold over. Or even 40ft!
Posted ballistic data of a 45/90 using a 520gr bullet at 1150fps (zero'ed at 100yds) will drop 149 feet at 1000 yds.
However, with enough skill and time and ammo, you can eventually hit a 1000 yard target with a little 9mm pistol (*Jerry Miculek video)
Like a scene from Lonesome Dove.....
Open sights...... not sure I could SEE a buff at a 1000 yards....... much less a human at 1500. That's maybe seeing something move and pretty much lobbing lead and lucky (or unlucky I guess) hit something if you lob enough. I'd think they had that kind of range and certainly enough energy to kill stuff. At those ranges you could likely kill stuff hiding behind a boulder or wall with that trajectory..... =D
WRT rainbow trajectories.... mortar guys get pretty accurate with known yardages.... but then they also shoot a bit larger pattern....
You guys need to up your game! I shoot a .45/120...you can virtually hunt half the county from your porch!
I bounced a 7x57 round into a coyote, broke his hip. He was right in the middle of a 6500 acre plowed field and I was on the south perimeter fence. There was a power line that ran across the field about half way between us, I held on the top of one of the poles and then moved over a little for windage. Clint eastwood stole one of my lines, "when it comes to killing I'm always lucky".......lol
Watch this video with a Sharps vs elk at 275 yards. The second shot you can see the bullet before it hits. Amazing penetration! Just fast forward 18:00.
So was the saying "sharp shooter" or "Sharps shooter"????
Not to be outdone I shot a dove on a power line that was 55 yds away. I would watch the bbs flight and adjust accordingly. I had a lot of practice at long range shooting. My boss’s son would wait for the school bus that was 100yds from my front door. He got wise after awhile and walk back and forth.
