Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots Hunting success with single shots

sharpsguy,
Why so little powder in that beast of your's? I get 105 gr of the Express in my .45-90 for a target load

Josh, have you ever tried hollowpoints in your Sharps. The fabled Gould bullet?

That's Hagn is about as pretty as a hammerless gun can get.

Brent

Brent--I shoot 106 grains of 2f Express for three reasons. One is it is ACCURATE with the 511 grain round nosed paper patched bullet I use for hunting. Second, that powder charge burns really clean--I mean REALLY clean--at that particular level of compression with that bullet. I can shoot without wiping or using a blow tube while hunting. I don't even carry a blow tube, in fact. Just load and shoot. The third reason is that the velocity I get from that bullet across my Oehler with that charge is 1382 fps, and for some reason it puts them on the ground like they have been hit with Thor's hammer.

I have used the Gould hollowpoint in year's past. They are unbelievably destructive in flesh and ruin a lot of meat. I honestly don't see that they put animals on the ground as well as the 511 paper patch bullet. They also don't give complete pass through, whereas the 511 paper patch does.

Josh does have a really handsome rifle in that Hagin. I wish he had tried a 45-110 before he went the smokeless route, though. Josh is one tough cookie. There is no doubt that he went to Africa and had a great safari with what actually amounted to a broken back.

Guy, I know, you gotta use what works. I was just pullin' your leg. I would think it would be faster though. My 550s go 1418 with 105 of the same. I gave a buddy a few boxes of my extras and he shot them at the same velocity.

I was thinking that Josh might like the hollowpoints. I've been happy with my flat points.

Tried to call you tonight but your phone was running hard.

I'm off to bed now, but I was loading some .45-70 stuff. I ain't really experiences with the little bitty and stubby cartridges like that.

Brent

At first hunting big game with a single shot seemed to be an obvious disadvantage. When I was a kid I poured over the Soegers and Gun Guide and the one that held the most shots impressed me the most.

I had started with a Stevens Favorite in .25 then .22. All of our target rifles were loaded single shot and then I got Schuetzens. I craved a High Wall for varminting in the late 50's and early 60's. They were not easy to find.

Not until Ruger came out with the #1 did I even consider using one for big game but I got one in 1969. I did get a drilling in 1968 but thats not really a single shot.

Hunting was pretty easy for me then and with that fact I used the SS. As of late I have moved away from them for big game. I still have the old 1A and now its a 30-06. Other rifles interest me more these days.

Reading your "gun Techs" talk about your 50-100 cartridges and paper patched bullets one would think that you were on the set of a part 2 of "Quigley Down Under".

Doc

My son has used a single shot shotgun or rifle since he was 11 years old[he's 25 now]. He has taken about 20 whitetails with a H&R tracker II 20 ga. He bought an H&R Ultra Hunter in .30-06, and used it to take a black bear in Idaho, last year[1 shot 200 yds.]. Matter of fact, he's taking it to RSA, next summer on our plains game hunt. Other than shooting my lever actions, a few times, he's never shot anything BUT a single shot.

Mad Dog

the "quigley" rifle was/is a .45/110. Sort of a highbrow sophisticated big sister to the .50-110.

Brent

Thanx Sharpsguy. IMHO, the 45-110 IS a first class big game cartridge. As for hunting with the original, I HAD to do it!! It got wet in the rain, it got banged on the stock in the woods, but it was and is a hunting rifle. I am very pleased to relate that all the other hunters were using 300 ultramags, 300 Winnies, a 300 weatherby and a big 7 mag. NONE of them dropped their moose with just one shot. They were using Accubonds, Failsafes and Noslers. It was very satisfying that a cast paperpatched low tech slug hammered the moose (like you said) like the Hammer of Thor. Believe me there are now some men and a woman who will never disparage our artillery pieces ever again

Brent, I have never tried the Gould bullet. I do have an old Ideal mold that is a hollow point in the .45 government bullet. It works pretty good on hogs if you drive it fast, 1300fps+. I used it in my 45-100. Its an 11 pound rifle and too heavy for me to lug around day in and day out.

I don't know if I told you this or not, but before I started lining out for Africa I had Brooks cut me a stepped paper patch bullet for my 40-70ss. It is a flat base and with a .060" LDPE it shoots OK. Doesn't kill all that well. I took the same bullet and wad and drove it to 1750fps with H4895 and shot a couple of hogs with it. It was like those hogs got electrocuted. Those 40-1 paper patch bullets turn themselves inside out, almost like a little cup. It was a fun experiment, but when you start driving 375-400gr bullets in the 1800fps to 2100fps range in a 9lb rifle the recoil begins to play a part. In truth I am a little recoil sensitive. I need to keep recoil mild to shoot my best in the field.

SS
Josh

I love hunting with my 1885 in 45-70. Nice and trim, easy to carry. I hunt with the chamber loaded and the hammer down. An unloaded rifle is the most useless creation you can have in your hands, next to an unloaded handgun...only because your reach is better with an unloaded rifle.

I've hunted with a #1 in 7x57 since 1983 or so. My Dad had given me a very nice custom .308 win. (Mod 700) for a HS grad present, but it got stolen. So I started using the 7x57 he had bought for my younger brother (who never really liked hunting and maybe fired the rifle 5 times).

I killed dozens of Texas whitetails with it, only one took more than one shot, and that was due to my poor shooting.

I just killed the biggest buck of my life with it tonight at dusk, just finished getting it cut up and cooling in the shop. I was still hunting and he popped up at maybe 30 yards, one shot spined him and the next was a finisher in the neck.

I always have carried a round in the chamber while hunting, but unload if the ground is rough, climbing a fence, in the truck, etc.

I don't recall ever being handicapped on a second shot with the #1. I suppose I could be, but I rarely if ever shoot at running game.

Besides, the #1 is such a beautiful rifle, even with all the dings and scratches in the stock.

REgards.

I have hunted big game with singleshots since 1986 when I started using specialty handguns. I do not hunt dangerous game, but most shots are one-shot kills. With elk, if the animal is still up I will send another shot until it is down though.
I sure do not feel handicapped.

The 1885 in 45/70 has been on my wish list for a long time. I would love to work my way up to 500 yards with a gun like that and do a big game hunt out west.

I love Quigley Down Under. But am I the only one that thinks a 4 inch group at 700 yards, open handed is a reach?

Anyhoot, One day I'll have one.

Hoot, all the shooting in the Quigley movie is a bit of a stretch. All you have to do is go to your local NRA BPCR silhouette match and watch the folks shoot the 200 meter chickens offhand. 5 chickens out of ten is very good shooting.

Still a pretty neat movie.

SS

Sharpshooter,

What did the "Quigley" movie do for Sharps Rifle Co. in Big Timber,Montana business??

Just curious as to the impact as "Jerimiah Johnson" did for the T/C Hawkin and "Dirty Harry" for S&W and so on.

Doc

Doc.

Speaking of Dirty Harry...A friend of mines grandfather worked on the set of The Enforcer. He said it wasnt a Model 29 S&W he used in the movie. It was a Model 25. Same N frame gun but in 45 LC. They went with the 25 because the barrel looked larger in the close ups. The 25 shot 45 LC's and 45 ACP's with the half moon clips.

Doctor, I don't really know how the Quigley movie impacted the two Sharps outfits in Big Timber. My guess is that there are a lot of Sharps 45-110's in the hands of a lot of guys that wouldn't have had any idea what a Sharps was before watching the movie.

NRA BPCR silhouette probably gained them alot of sales, too.

Regardless, its nice to see a couple of American rifle companies still making a living building American rifles.

SS

Well if the Shiloh Sharps web site is any indication a heck of a lot. I have a thread on the Long Range Express on "VarmintandPredator" Forum and as I mention there Shiloh plays the "Quigley Down Under" music in the background. If that doesn't make you want to buy a Sharps nothing will and you aren't a Sharps Shooter.

Here's the web site for those interested: www.shilohrifle.com

If this is any indication, after Quigley came out the wait for a Shiloh Sharps went to about five years. These days it is about 22 months. My son is on the waiting list.

Shiloh hasn't let demand lower their commitment to quality and service. If anything, the current Shilohs are the best ever.

Paul

I'll jump into this late. I hunt quite a bit with my No.1s, but I've been enamoured with M77s since I was 18 years old, so they get the nod some, too. I usually pick a rifle each year and do most of my hunting with it. Next year, a different rifle. I ran a string of ten or twelve one shot kills on deer, antelope, and coyote with a 1B in .25-06 back in the 80s. Missed a running doe with it (shot in front of her) to end the streak. That rifle was magic with a Speer 120gr flatbase at 3100fps.

Much of my hunting in Idaho the last few years has been with a Lyman Great Plains. Had to shoot an elk twice with it. My fault, angle was steep and I only hit one lung with the first shot.

Last year I hunted mostly with my No.1S in .300H&H, but alas, no elk volunteers.

No hunting this year. My move took up all of the season and all of my money. My wife says if I sell a couple of rifles, I could finance a hunt. Huh!

Next year the .300H&H will go moose hunting, or maybe the M77RS in .350RemMag. Or maybe the Lyman on a late muzzleloader.

But, no I've never felt undergunned with a single, nor can I blame any lack of success to only having one up the snout. But, I have saved some blood-shot meat with only one shot.

YMMV,
Jim