Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Has Indiana passed legislation allowing high powered rifles?

.308 Lazzeroni Warbird might be fun......hey it's a ".308"

Too rich for my blood.
If the law opens up after 4 yrs I'd like another 7 mag (sold mine yrs ago). 2 kids out of college then, might actually be able to afford a lease..........and have a spot where I could use such.

You sure that's not supposed to go on your ankle???

Use SAS's. It made it up here a year or two ago for a UK ball game, so it will get you to US 40 at the minimum...

I see you are replying to yourself, which makes sense, cuzz that guy is one stupid SOB.

No offense Marty, but Indiana ranks in the top 3 worse states I've ever been to and the worse people of any state.

When I-75 finally opened in Florida it was like the Indiana floodgates opened up and they were some flat out POS folks. My opinion after traveling there ain't changed much.

Obviously it's a generalization and don't apply to EVERYONE, but I know a few IN members that will not be capable of making that connection.

Remember, a lot of those folks who worked in Indiana factories and retired to Florida.........learned the 4 "R's" when they were growing up in a different and southern state.

The law that first allowed rifles for IN was not "pistol cartridges".

By mandating .35 cal min and a max case length of 1.8" it did favor the pistol cartridge rifles. Medium/short range the idea.

But there is no straight wall case mandate like other places.

.35 rem trimmed is popular.
So are the .358 wildcats.
Some folks even trim their .45-70's.
Of course .357 and .44 mags are super popular, since many do not reload.

AR guys do well with .458 Socom, .450 Bushmaster and .50 Beowolf like another poster mentioned. Seen a few AR's in .45 winmag.

For most it's a 200 yd max game. Guys with the .358 wildcats can almost double that.

Another typical law written by pencil pushers that on a good day, may know which end of the gun a bullet even comes out of. If you began to tell them the ballistics of a modern muzzleloader, their heads would probably spin. Just like the idiots here in Michigan that took so long to finally see that a 44 mag. rifle is no more powerful than a 44 mag. revolver or muzzleloader that was already allowed.

Michigan somewhat copied Indiana in the "limited rifle zone" law. Highly doubt they will follow on this one though.

No more antediluvian than Maryland game laws. In the eastern 2/3 of the state (where it is relatively flat), 80% of the land may be hunted only with shotguns or muzzle loaders- don't even think about a handgun or handgun cartridge in a rifle. You see some pretty tricked-out shotguns and ML's being carried- guns that'll put a high velocity slug or sabot into 4" at 200 yards. Since they are perfectly legal, it makes my head hurt to ponder why stuff like .30-30's, .44 Mags, .357 Maximums, et al aren't allowed when a lot of those shotgun and inline ML loads are a lot more formidable. Add to that the bus loads of macho maniacs who arm themselves with the most powerful legal arms possible (which kick like an Army mule) and who then shy away from practicing with their fearsome guns and/or develop nasty flinches. The end result is lots of projectiles skittering willy-nilly across the landscape. Just about everybody I know who lives on the Eastern Shore has a horror story to tell about projectiles slapping into their house/barns/cars/etc.

The irony is that one is allowed to use any kind of centerfire rifle cartridge when varmint hunting the other 50 weeks out of the year on the same land. I never figured out the rationale for all of those regulations.

Thank god they allow any centerfire .22 and up that generates over 1200ft.lbs. muzzle energy in the western 1/3 of the state, plus .44 and larger handguns with 6" or longer barrels generating minimum 600+ ft.lbs. at the muzzle. Guess where I head to in deer season.

In some respects Hoosiers are better off than they think.

None taken.
Heck, before I quite driving to Florida, I used the right lane to pass those cars parked in the left lane bearing Illinois and Wisconsin tags....

DNR has posted clarification

looks like 6mm and .308 dia, 1.16 min case length

Christmas in April (hence the snow last weekend)

What's the resonning behind this?? You can use a .300 Ultramag but not a .260 Rem or .270 Win?!

This is the legislator's way of proving that a rifle season in Indiana won't result in any more dead people than in the past. Thus proving the nay-sayers wrong and allowing hunters to use any caliber from 6mm on up starting in 2021.

I'm betting the 6mm was instituted for youth hunters. Either way, it's definitely one of the most obscure hunting regulations I've read in a while.

The non-res public land hunter still uses the shotgun. That sucks.

Public land hunters can use rifles like they did last year (1.16-1.8" case and .35 or larger cal).

The new law adds stuff to what was already legal.

But hey, if a non res wants to use a shotgun and whine about it...........they most certainly can.

Anyone wants to come to Indiana and borrow a 358 Hoosier, I might be able to help out. I'm building a 6mm Creedmoor for this fall...

Lets see, I can legally hunt with a rifle chambered in 6X45 or a 30 Carbine or a 300 RUM, but I can't hunt with a with a 6.5X47 Lapua, or a 6.5 Creedmore, 260 Rem or a 7mm08 or 8X57 or any of numerous other chamberings. This new ruling makes absolutely no sense to me. I have plenty of rifles chambered in the cartridges that are legal. However the stupidity of this ruling is embarrassing. I suppose on the bright side I can finally use a real rifle.

Not stupid, if viewing it as a test period. By calling it that and having some limitations, it doesn't freak out the non hunters.

Expect it to open up at end of test period, maybe sooner.

Remember, even technical legislation requires people management.

If everybody was logical and honest we'd have had something like 1.16" in case, .24 cal or larger.

but most people are stupid and or suck.

Do wonder if rifle does well, we see the gun season shortened, and or moved back a week.

Haven' seen good deer numbers where I hunt since '90. Hell back then in mid/north central you could throw a rock and kill a 100" 8 pt.

Less deer, higher take, less land available (leases going up too)..........who knows what the future will bring.