Recommended Load & Bullet - 500 yards

[terrydull]

I'm looking into long range silhouette shooting and was wondering if anyone has ever worked up a load and bullet for that situation. I'll be using one of my Enfields ... either my 1853 3 band or 1858 2 band depending on the results I get over the winter testing at my range. I'm just looking for starting point and will then work my way into a good load/bullet for each target locations.

The particulars are targets at 200 yards, 300 yards, 400 yards, and a 17-1/2" x 22" target at 500 yds.

I'm still have trouble hitting a 4" target at 50 yards ... but, who cares

[ian45662]

Are you going to be shooting the standard NRA targets like chickens pigs turkeys and Rams? If so the sights on a stock enfield will be your biggest obstical.

[terrydull]

Are you going to be shooting the standard NRA targets like chickens pigs turkeys and Rams? If so the sights on a stock enfield will be your biggest obstical.

Ok ... Why is that? Aren't they set up for long ranges?

[hobbler]

I'm watching with interest because of having obtained a P53. I've hunted up the various older Ideal / Lyman minie molds with the same diameter base plugs so that they can be swapped out to create various lengths, weights and balances of bullets, the intent being of course to find out which shoots the most accurately in my particular rifle. Like you, I'm looking forward to drifting them in at longer ranges.

[ian45662]

Sure they are however if you need to adjust the sights 1/2 moa left and 2 moa down the combat sights make that near impossible. However nothing says that you cant have the tang drilled and tapped to install a soule or vener tang sight. The body of a silhouette target is about 2MOA give or take I.E. @ 200 yards your rifle should shoot around 4" from a rest of some kind. 6"@ 300 8"@400 so on and so forth so to be competitive you will need to work up a load @ 200 that is inside 4" or so. If you can get your groups around 6" or maybe even a little bigger you could probably hit some animals. The pigs are the easiest followed by rams believe it or not and then the turkeys. Chickens are the hardest but that is because they are shot off hand

[terrydull]

Sure they are however if you need to adjust the sights 1/2 moa left and 2 moa down the combat sights make that near impossible. However nothing says that you cant have the tang drilled and tapped to install a soule or vener tang sight. The body of a silhouette target is about 2MOA give or take I.E. @ 200 yards your rifle should shoot around 4" from a rest of some kind. 6"@ 300 8"@400 so on and so forth so to be competitive you will need to work up a load @ 200 that is inside 4" or so. If you can get your groups around 6" or maybe even a little bigger you could probably hit some animals. The pigs are the easiest followed by rams believe it or not and then the turkeys. Chickens are the hardest but that is because they are shot off hand

Yeah ... Adjusting for windage is a problem with those sights ... That's the one thing I hate about this hobby ... The standard sights on these of these firearms don't work for any of the targets I want to go after ... Always loved the sights on my M-1 :-) ... The rules say the firearm can be any ML with any traditional metallic sights ... and -I'm guessing- I'll need different bp loads and different grain bullets for each target range

[bobanderson]

I hit a 400 yard gong with a 3 band enfield using Lyman 575213 over 60 grains of Goex 3f. I had to hold about 3' off the target to account for the wind. The issue sights gave me enough elevation but without windage it was tough.

Now, how about going with a Parker Hale Volunteer rifle? I was able to shoot great groups on 500 meter rams with that rig. We put a vernier style tang sight and windgauge front sight and it performed really well.

A friend has a Whitworth that also shot real well on the Ram silhouettes.

[Timmeu]

The enfields and even springfield muskets we shoot were rifled but set up to shoot at large masses of infantry. They were never intended to be used to shoot long range at single targets. As the trapdoor system was adopted you begin to see the buffington system introduced to begin to allow the average troop to begin to produce accurate long range sighting. Asking the old girls to shoot like new systems is unfair at best. The many sight modifications we see in modern skirmishing mimic more modern sights. Also for the many of us that are grey headed they allow us to hold our own with the youngsters we do attract.

This is an excellent topic and I am interested in watching for more posts to add to my understanding!

[dbm]

Here in the UK the MLAGB has held National Rifle Championship Matches for Enfield rifles at 200, 300, 500 and 600 yards for many years. With the Long Range Rifles Branch of the MLAGB we also hold an aggregate match for Enfields at 600 and 800 yards. All shooting is prone with a 2-point military sling for support (although we do also have a 200yd offhand match for Enfields).

I shoot an original 2 band Enfield with a 560 grain RCBS Minie bullet and 80 grains of Swiss 1.5 powder. Some use larger chargers of faster burning powders and some have modified base plugs such that the bullets cast with thicker skirts to withstand larger charges.

One of the joys of this sort of shooting for me is the simplicity. Powder, bullet, cap, shoot. No fine vernier sight settings to play with; establish an elevation and aim off for wind variations. Head and tail wind can play havoc with the rainbow like trajectory and shots drop short or just over the top of the target if attention to conditions wavers. I have some brief notes on long range shooting with the military muzzle loader on my web site.

David