Simple question.
Off hand with your hunting revolver, how far can you reliably hit a 10" steel plate? I'm talking at least 10 of 12 shots. How about 100%?
For me 75yds is about my max for the 10 out of 12 with the red dot on my SRH 480. Next week I'm getting new glasses that I hope will help. Most of the time I see either two dots (side by side) or a starburst dot with my dominate eye. Left eye is a clear sharp dot.
Just curious what folks effective hunting range with the revolver offhand is (how accurate are you, not how accurate is the gun).

with revolver and open sights 50 yards contender off hand 80 yards contender with a rest 130 yards.

With a 4 3/4" revolver and open sights 50-60 yards. With a scoped revolver 75-80 yards and 100+ with a Contender but shooting at a game animal that can and does move around + the excitement factor will shorten the longer distances a bit when it comes to clean kills. I can still hammer a critter at 50-60 with just about anything and that's about my self-imposed limit for most offhand shooting at game.

To be honest, I don't do much off hand practice with my hunting revolvers. I practice from multiple field shooting positions. I have a self imposed rule to not shoot at game off handed (95% of the time). I will and have killed deer off hand at the gimme ranges of 20 yards and under. I feel I could probably ring a 10" steel out to 75 yards with my hunting revolver's, but I haven't really tried it. Guess I'll have to give it a whirl.

I have always been told that a good and reasonably realistic goal is 1" of group for every 10 yards of range. Now a 1" group mathematically at 10 yards equals 10" at 100 yards but it certainly is a whole lot tougher to shoot a 10" group at 100 yards.

On a good day I can ring a 10" gong 90% of the time at 75 yards with iron sights and a good gun with good iron sights...

I can bust clay birds with regularity at 25 yards, so if we do the math that would be like a 10" plate at 60-65 yards. I do this drill bringing the gun up from holster (or ready position) and firing one shot within 3 seconds, which is roughly the time you have when you bust a whitie from cover in the woods. You get one shot, if you're lucky. But, if I have any time at all I will use my pod or find a tree to lean on.

Clay pigeons 9 out of 10 at about thirty yards offhand. Havn't tried farther without a rest. Now I want to. With my old scoped Redhawk I could do 3-4 inches at 150, rested of course.

I've said many times, the thing I love about revolvers the most is that you never really master them. You can put the rifle or single shot pistol down for months at a time, pick it up & pretty much take off right where you left, with an iron sighted sixgun its a never ending journey to stay on top of them. Shooting offhand triples the difficulty. Those of you who are staying on the old trusty pie plate at any distance beyond 50 yds, 10 out of 12 shots is a very accomplished shooter....it ain't easy!
For me its all about the sight picture, I need a good visable target, if its fuzzy, perhaps in the shade, etc. I'm going to struggle, when you're well into your sixties you can only hope for a sharp, clear target & front sight.
Can I do it at 75 yds......some times, but those that can do it on demand pretty much walk on water & leap tall buildings in a single bound! I mainly only shoot offhand when shooting in competition, when it comes to hunting I'll do about anything to find a way to sit down, lean against a tree, lay over a rock, etc. offhand shooting at game is for skilled veterans & rookies, most of us are somewhere in between.
I saw a target once, fired by Ross Seyfried that was 5 for 5 on a pie plate, iron sights at 100 yds, he said he had done it many times & I'm sure he had, he's a former world champion & he's one that walks on water & can leap tall buildings in a single bound, true story!

Dick

We have a steel plate at 50 yards that's 8" X 10". I can hit that 5 for 6 most of the time freehand. At 75 yards the same plate I can hit 3 for 6 freehand.

My range has a 12" steel plate at 150yds. After a sighter or two to dope the drop, I can hit that with 5 of 6 with a scoped RBH Hunter .44 Mag. I'd never take this shot on game though.

I use a shooting stick when I'm walking to my treestands or still hunting.My furthest kills off hand have been 50-60 yards on deer, coyotees.With a rest, I use red dots on my RH-44MAG.and SRH .454 casull.With those revolvers I can shoot 3-4 inch groups at 150 yards.When in the woods though, I limit my shots to around 50 yards because of the twigs and other types of brush that you don't see, that just kind of jump in the way when ya shoot.

40-50yards for a pie plate of hand,while hunting I much prefer a rest of some sort.

Just got some steel in from Fowler - looks like I got a new game for the range! Vance - look forward to providing results!

I usually practice from field positions (sticks and impromptu rests) and shoot bench to confirm sights/load development, etc.

On a recent trip to TX, I did shoot my scoped .41 offhand at 50 on on 8" square plate - went 5 for 5. Next morning missed a coyote at the same distance with my 22-250 Encore...go figure!

The revolver is like a slingshot. Wing shooting and instinctive archery too. Need a lot of practice. When we shoot enough we can hold around 6" at 100 off hand. But when we don't shoot enough, all bets are off.
It just slips away fast and one has to start again.
Then the older we get, the more we shake!

I'd say I'm about like s4s4u in that with irons I can hold to between 3 and 5" at 25. I very seldom shoot further than that without a rest unless I'm screwing off and lobbing shells at a stump 500yds across a canyon.

I've carried revolvers as an officer well past when all my cohorts had switched to autos. I have shot game with revolvers but my first choice for hunting is a Contender followed by one of my XP's. You question was about revolver accuracy in field positions. Offhand I do not take shots at big game past the distance I can keep on a paper plate (8" - 9") which is about 35 - 40 yards. With a rest, shooting sticks, monopod I might stretch that to 75, or in perfect conditions out to 100 yards. Those are my personal standards, others morals may vary.

I'm re-learning my revolver shooting by competing in IHMSA Field Pistol. All standing, all off hand to 100 yards. Let me say this....I'm not very good yet.

Practice, practice and practice!

Bill in OR

Vance, i`am a terrible offhand shot with my handguns and if I can hit a 10" plate at 40yds a few times I`am happy. I have to have my rest and try and make that first shot count......

I usually can get 5 of 6 in an 8" pie plate at 40 yards shooting off-handed with iron sites from my 4 1/2" bbl. I thought this made me probably one of the world's worst pistol shots. Apparently, the sport itself is more limiting than I gave credit for, and I'm actually in a less-shamefull average than I believed :). I can't tell you how encourageing your answers have been to this still-struggling neophyte.

It is all about practice. Long ago I would hold my Mark I .22 in my left hand and throw a bottle as hard and far as I could with my right hand, grab the pistol and break the bottle. If I did not go to the dump for a month, I had to start all over just flipping a bottle up in front of me.
Look at the great shooter, Bob Munden, on TV. His hands are black because he never stops shooting.
Sadly many of us can't afford the time or money to shoot as much as we want to.
I only promote making the revolver shoot as best it can, not how you shoot it or how good you shoot it, from a rest or off hand, does not matter. My concern is the gun.
Never get down on yourself, the only thing you want to know is that the gun itself is accurate.
With an accurate gun and tons of practice, you will get better but if you lay off a few weeks, please join me in starting all over.

james.....yer kiddin?!!!!!

i could spit 40yrds n hit a plate

i really havn't shot much for a while, but i'm very satisfied with my offhand capability. first off, i don't shoot a revolver at full arms length. i rest against my chest. that helps immensely.

Kyode, Its the truth....I suck at off-hand.....

Im with James on this one! Im not even sure if I could do as well as some on here while using a rest! I never have had a revolver that I felt good shooting past about 60 paces. But a different story with my TC 30-30.

Now I don't believe your doing that off hand!

2 days ago, my brother and I shot up about 100 rounds of 44mag. He has a 7.5 Vaquero, and I have a 5.5 SBH. We were shooting at about 100 yrds at a 2 ft by 2 ft boulder of sandstone. It was all offhand, open sights, and the sandstone sprayed everywhere when hit. We were playing "pig", and a miss got you a letter. It was the first time shooting offhand that far, and was a blast!! We hit and average of about 5 out of 6 shots. It was great fun. Made 50 yrds feel like 20 afterwards.

Makes me think it's like bow shooting. After shooting at 60 and 70 yrds for a half an hour, when you move back to 20 yrds the bullseye looks like a vollyball.

But 1 ft by 1 ft at 150...now that would be impressive offhand.

12x12 150? how big is an imsa turkey? the midle part. yahup thinking it can be done.

always hated turkeys

I used a Contender and not a revolver in yesterdays IHMSA Field Pistol shoot but because it was all offhand with a 10" bbl in 32 H&R Mag so it is in many ways related.

My offhand shooting is improving with practice. IHMSA Field Pistol is shot at 25, 50, 75 and 100 yards, 10 targets at each distance. It is all offhand with either scope or open sights. In yesterdays shoot I shot open sights. If the target is hit and goes down you get one point. I shot my best score every with a 30 out of a possible 40.

My point is that I have seen a dramatic increase in abilities and confidence because of the amount of practice that goes into this form of competition. That transfer directly into field hunting abilities.

If you want to really improve your offhand I suggest giving IHMSA a try. We develop bad habits (often) by just lobbing bullets at rocks and such because we reward ourselves for the hits and forget the last miss. In IHMSA your misses are readily apparent because the target is still standing and you have time between shots to adjust your mistakes and correct them.

Don't get me wrong I love plinking and shooting with friends, it is a very social time. Most big game hunting is a solo thing and requires some practice to be proficient in offhand skills. Off a solid rest, not so important because it will mask a lot of problems. Practicing shooting under pressure is important and transfers to field skills.

Take your guns to an IHMSA match and give it a go, I think you'll be surprised!

Bill in OR

If you are wearing your glasses while shooting with a red dot scope, it is not unusual for the dot to appear as a starburst. Don't ask me why, but I mentioned this to my gunsmith, and he told me that he had experienced the same thing, as had a number of his other customers.

With practice, 100 yards is a 100% green light!!! I can hit 6-8in steel plates with my 54 flinter consistently at 75 yards.

Beware of the man with one gun, for he knows how to use it…

Are you refering to your Redhawk in .44 caliber? If so, where do you live? I've got to see this done.
Steve

Well, the question was about off hand but since a rest was questioned, here are 3 shots at 200 yards while I did a drop test with a new boolit from a mold I made. .44 SBH and the boolit weighs 330 gr. I used a red dot.
I do not doubt 3"-4" at 150 yards at all. I believe him!

Then moving to single shots from a rest, here are my load workup groups at 100 and 200 yards for IHMSA.
One load put 5 shots in 3/8" at 100 yards. I had vision back then so don't ask for a repeat. Don't ask me to hit off hand either.
All I want to say is that both single shots and revolvers are very capable of accuracy that can make a lot of rifle shooters sick, I have had them pack up and leave the range after they watched a friend and I shoot.
But please, let us get back to off hand with a revolver and not stray.

My SRH will shoot a sub 1.5 in group at 100 yards… I have pictures on the bragging board to back that up as well. Think of the type of shooting Elmer Keith did with his revolvers!!