primetimearcher

Me and my dad got our guns boresighted is that enough to shoot a deer at 100 yards or less. We don't want to miss anymore hunting. If can't shoot 100 yards is it good for less? We are new to bp thanks for helping.

MLKeith

Boresighted should be able to hit a deer at about 25 yards. I'm not saying where you will hit it. You really need to shoot your hunting load and adjust the sight to that impact point. You should never believe that the bore sighting gets you close enough to chance a poor shot at a live animal. The animals deserve better than that. Sight in your rifle with hunting loads and make a clean kill.

cayugad

All the bore sighting is intended to do is put you on paper. You still need to figure out what projectile and powder charge will shoot best from your rifle. In fact it would be hard to guess what kind of group your rifles would hold, and at what distance. Many of them have out of the box accuracy. What kind of rifles are we talking about? That might help get some information about the kind of projectile and powder charge that could be the best starting point. The rest is up to you and your father to get out there and do the range time to really tune these rifles. We owe the animals we hunt that much at least. If season is soon, you really need to get moving or perhaps plan for next years hunt instead.

cayugad

As a side note, I know of a fellow that had muzzleloader season come on him. He had never shot one before in his life. He bought a CVA Hawkins and some maxi hunters. He took it out, loaded 100 grains of powder and his maxi hunter and had a nice four pointer come in at 25 yards. He took his aim at the front shoulder, pulled the trigger and hit the deer right in the neck, killing it dead. He only missed where he aimed by a foot and a half. Pure luck....

He later tested the rifle and it would not even come close to his point of aim at 25 yards. When he came to me for help, we loaded 70 grains and a roundball and he was in business in a matter of 45 minutes.

driftrider

Are you serious?! The answer is a flat out NO! Absolutely NOT!

Have you or your dad ever even shot your ML's, or did you just buy one and have someone slap a scope on it, boresight the scope, and reasonably expect to hunt with it without having one clue were it'd actually shoot with any perticular load?

I will put this bluntly, if you haven't taken the time to shoot the rifle and zeroed the scope with whatever load you intend to use, you have no business whatsoever taking them deer hunting, PERIOD. If you miss one more day of the season to be ETHICAL AND RESPONSIBLE hunters, then that it the price you must pay. If you just go tromping out into the woods with unzeroed rifles, and proceed to wound one or more deer because of your haste, then you are a SLOB hunter that fuels the fires of anti-hunting sentiment in this country, because it is people who do what you're contemplating who give the rest of us a very bad name.

So I emplore you to STOP AND THINK, and then do the right thing! If you miss the season because you can't find a load that will shoot well, so-be-it. You can try again next year.

Happy, safe and ETHICAL hunting,

Mike

gelarson

I agree with all that has been said. I have a partner that always waits till the last day or the first day of the hunt to paper test his rifle/bow and this year I put a stop to it. Fine tuning your rifle should happen long before season so that you can get use to it.

On a side note congradulations on the purchase of the ML and as I have found out it is a blast (literally) to shoot and hunt with. This forum got me started in ML and you did right in asking the questions, the only dumb question is the one you did not ask.

As is evidenced here a lot of hunters are not cold blooded killers (as is often depicted) and care deeply for the animals that we hunt. As stewards of the flora and fauna we owe it to Mother Nature and to ourselves to be the best hunters that we can be.

Take pride in being a hunter BUT take more pride in being an ethical hunter.

Good Luck
Eric

Striper Phil

I see your just nearing 15 years old so I'll go easy. Yes, you absoulty need to sight in your BP and any wepon you may use in the future. Heres a very simple tip PRACTICE PRACTICE and more PRACTICE is the first rule in sucessful hunting.

primetimearcher

We just got our guns we have never shot thats why we asked we don't want to hurt something.Will one type of bullet shoot better? We are shooting 295grain halo point powerbelts with 100grain powder.

MLKeith

It is really difficult to say what will shoot best in your rifle. If you and your dad have the same rifle they may shoot differently. That is just one of the things you have to deal with. I would expect the powerbelts to shoot well and I would stay at 100gr of powder or less. I would recommed that you start with 75 or 80 grains to start and work up in 5 grain increments for best results. If you do not want to spend the time just settle on 80gr which seems to work in every rifle I have shot. Let us know what your rifles are and the results for them may be easier to predict. What Powder are you using. Pyrodex is a good starting powder although there are newer synthetics and real black powder is good too. Pyrodex is just easier to get and an old time standby. I will try to help more if you want.

Paul L Mohr

It sounds like you and your father are new to hunting and the shooting sports. I highly suggest taking a Hunter Safety course. I would think it would be mandatory, especially for you. Pay attention and ask plenty of questions. Sites like this one are great as well.

And like the others said, No you can not just bore sight a rifle and expect to hunt or do any kind of real shooting with it. Basically all bore sighting does is let the gunsmith now that the scope lines up properly in the mounts so he can make any adjustments if he needs to. You want it as close as possible before you start adjusting the scope. You should still make your first few shots at 15 to 25 yards just to be sure they are close and move back from there, like say check it at 50 and then move back to 100 or so.

Shooting any rifle takes some practice and time. You need to learn your particular weapon and get to know what it and you are capable of. This is a must before actually trying to harvest game with it. And muzzle loaders even more so because the difficulty level is higher do to the decreased trajectory and the way you load them. You need to do some homework and experimentation. I suggest if you know some one that uses a ML you ask them if they can help you out a little the first couple of shooting sessions. Being ignorant (notice I didn't say stupid, there is a difference) could cause you to miss or wound game, or more importantly you could injure yourself or others.

These are not toys, they require, no demand the proper respect given to any other firearm. These things are basically pipe bombs with a trigger on them.

I would also suggest from the sounds of things that you take some time to get familiar with your new weapons. As in don't hunt this season at all. Wait until next season when you have had time to practice and now how your weapon operates properly. Confidence is a HUGE thing in hunting. There is big difference between wondering if you can hit your target, and Knowing you can hit it. Most hunters would agree that if you have to ask, you shouldn't take the shot.

These things are very fun to shoot though, you and your father should have a good time learning together. Just take your time and do it right.

Paul