I know y'all hate the new guy questions, but I have a few. I recently purchased a Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter 44 Mag. I will be shooting exotics, deer and hogs. What range do you sight in with iron sights and with a 2-6x type scope?

I bought some Hornady XTP bullets and had a problem with getting my factory sights to adjust to my target. It worked well at 10 yards, but could not adjust enough for 45-50 yards.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

What weight bullets and which way will it not adjust enough? I usually work between 25 and 35yds until I feel comfortable and then I'll work out until I start feeling I'm no longer comfortable which is normally 40 to 50yds for me but I have tremor issues from the nerve damage to my spine and hands from shooting big bores. With a scope on the 44 I normally get on paper at 25 then jump to 50 just long enough to make sure I'm still in the neighborhood and then I'll go to either 75 or 100 depending on if I took enough target stands with me. I prefer going to 75 first so I can see what the gun and I are doing and make minor adjustments so I'll be close at 100. Once you master 100 you can try working out to as far as you want but realistically the 44 is a 100yd gun for the most part although there are those that have drastically exceded that but I think 150 is as far as I'd push it for deer sized animal. I even hold my 454 to around 100yds but then again I know my limitations becasue of my injuries. The main thing is practice and stay in the range your comfortable with and know you can make an ethical shot. You said you've hunted with a bow and rifle and this is similiar to bow hunting just apply the same thinking, alot of us in the west are comfortable with 60-70yds shots but alot of others won't shoot past 40. I won't shoot past 30 with my recurves.

Hi Oldpaint
I prefer to zero mech. sights at 75m (82yds) because I found it best suitable for .44 Mag and even .454 Casull trajectory. At 100m/110yds I have bullet drop of 2-4” depends from load and bullet weight. I don’t know what distances you are considering for hunt but 100yds zeroing sounds good especially having in mind that Black Hawk’s mechanicals will cover a good portion of your target in case you need long shot.
Regarding problems with your factory sight I see two options:
1. Your gun should have replaceable front sight, right? You can consider getting new/lower one from Ruger or mill down existing one. It’s easy to calculate how much you need to trim down
2. You didn’t mentioned how heavy XTPs you tried but heavier bullets will hit higher than light ones. Ones I was shooting with my Red Hawk 7 ½” .44 Mag using 180 and 300 grs just to see what would be difference in point of impact. If I recall well 300grs group was 8” higher at 25m than 180grs. It will give you plenty of space for finding a proper bullet for your gun, although I believe that option 1 is better
I hope it helps,
Igor

You didn't say whether your sight issue was the bullet hitting too high at 40-50 or too low. (my guess would be hitting too high). Any of the heavier bullets 280gr and up will probably leave you without enough sight adjustment.

If that is the case then you need a higher front sight.
Bowen Classic Arms makes a taller front sight for the SBHH for $40.

http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/parts_store/front_sights.html

As for zeroing, that is really a question of your shooting ability.
I have a red dot on my SBHH and like the gun zeroed at 100yds. This gives me a point blank range of about 120yds so no hold over/under is necessary out to my max hunting range....point and shoot.

With iron sights I am not nearly as good but would think that setting your zero at 50yds is probably good to get started with.

For sighting in I actually prefer to do it at a shorter range (25yds) and adjust the POI to be about 1.7" high. This will ensure that at 100yds my POI is dead on (physics ensures that). This method also takes most of the wind effects out of your sight adjustment. Shooting some at 100yds should confirm that.

A trigger job is also highly recommended. The factory trigger on my SBHH was pretty heavy and gritty and accuracy suffered.
After the trigger job, it breaks cleanly at 2.5lb and now 100 yards is doable.

For sighting in I found the info given in he forum "elk handgun scopes" to be very helpful.

They were shooting to low. From the sound of things I was shooting to small of a bullet. I was shooting the 200 gr Hornady XTP.

I live in the Texas panhandle (open country) and therefore zero my revolvers a little further out than do some. All of mine are zeroed at 100 yds (with scopes & dot sights). I see open sights poorly enough that it is somewhat difficult for me to comfortably zero them at 100. Therefore, I shoot them in a little high at 50-60 yds. (Please note that I no longer hunt with open sights)

After getting the revolver shooting right @ 100 yds, I move to my steel "deer" at 137 yds. This is actually a metal cut-out of a bull elk but it is about 2/3 the size of a mature deer. A few shots on it will tell me if I am comfortable for that range.

When actually hunting deer sized animals or larger with a revolver, I try to limit myself to 125 yds or so. Opportunities at 50 yds or less are few and far between for me.

Irons @ 75, and optics @ 100.

Try to get lower front sight or heavier XTPs. You need to try it yourself but my guess is that XTP 240grs will hit 1" higher and 300grs will give you 6" above 200 grainer.
I also can recommend Elmer Keith's trick with horizontal gold lines at front sight. I have line on my .454 - aligning it with rear sight give me +8" at 110 yds. Result is that I can shoot deer at 110yds by aiming lower in the chest without covering big part of animal with iron sights. This turns to be very helpful for me especially in low light conditions

I think you will have better luck with a heavier bullet.

My gun is a:
Super BlackHawk Bisley Hunter w/2x6 Bushnell Elete scope.

My load is:
A 265gr hardcast Kieth GC moving at 1500fps.

I sight it in for 150yrd zero... that is 4" high at 50yards. This (from my testing) is the best range to accomplish most anything do-able with this gun/cartridge combo. This load puts me only 5.4" high at 75 yards. This is the highest point of its ballistic arc. And 12" low at 200yards. So any shot taken on big game from 1yrd-175yards is a dead center hold. Keeps it real simple.

That is a little larger window than I like to work with. I like to keep within 3" + or - line of sight which puts my 250 XTP about 3" high @ 60 and 3" low @ 125 which fits well within a whitetail's boiler room. The mail thing is that you know where you are shooting.

I've got my 44 mag SRH (scoped) zeroed at 85 yds. Using 300 gr. XTPs, that puts me about 2" high at 50 yds and 2" low at 100 yds.