Best gun for Indiana

B

bigbore96

Inactive
I want to be able to take a deer at 300-500 yards. And I can't use a rifle and a slug would be very unlikely at 300, any better options.

I would also like to stay away from wildcats if possible because I do not have any of the equipment to make them myself.
 
It seems to me that Indiana laws prevent weapons with that kind of range. My 12ga Mossberg 590 will hit a 12" steel plate at 275 yds. I have to assume a rifled 12 ga can shoot 200-300 yards.

.44 Magnum or a .454 cassul carbine seem like your next best bet. I know RTuger makes bolt action .357 Magnum but I don't know about the .44 Mag. A .44 mag bolt gun ought to be good out to 150 yds at least.

There is a thread on here about using a .458 SOCOM in Indiana so that may reach out a little further.

300-500 yds seems a tall order with Indiana hunting regs.
 
3 options to get to 300 yards. Muzzle loader with a scope, rifled barrel shotgun with a scope, or an accurate rifle in 454 or 460 if it is legal ( not sure how the law reads in Indiana). The key will be the right ammo and lots of practice. You will need to learn to dope the wind and calculate trajectory. You will also need a scope that can hold zero and return to zero. And it will need accurate click adjustment that is repeatable.

None of this will be cheap. Which type are you interested in most?
 
.

IMO, anyone contemplating a shot from 300-500 yard should use a rangefinder.

I've had many a hunter tell me of missed shots taken @ those ranges (at deer), which in reality were later measured @ 200-250yds (rangefinder) & via pacing.

IIRC, Indiana law limits hunting rifles to pistol-length cartridges - for which 300yds is a push, in both retained energy & arced trajectory. (there may have been recent changes to that law, though)


.
 
I'm not at all opposed to folks taking shots at those ranges if they have the skills and equipment to make it happen. I don't see anyone having the skills to do it with the equipment required in Indiana.

A properly set up muzzleloader shooting sabot's would probably be the closest thing, but I still think 300 yards is probably on the outer edge of an ethical shot with that equipment. 500 would certainly be too far.
 
I have seen videos of people shooting clays with TC pistols 300 yards.
Do you guys think it could go to 500 and hit a deer consistently?
 
I have seen videos of people shooting clays with TC pistols 300 yards. Do you guys think it could go to 500 and hit a deer consistently?
Click to expand...
TC pistols yes.....the person shooting them....maybe...with way more practice than most people have time for.

Does Indiana law allow rifle cartridge pistols?.

You would do better with a rifle, and even that will take many hundreds of rounds of practice. To make consistent shots on game you must hit the paper target, that is smaller than the vitals of a deer, every shot at any given distance. To do that you have to know the trajectory perfectly. You also need to know how far a gentle breeze will push your shot. 300 yards is not easy with slow calibers, 500 is pushing it even for the best shooters. You would have a much easier time learning to stalk to within range of your quarry than learning to hit it at those ranges.

That said, if you have the time, money, ambition, patience and the right training...have fun doing it.
 
I think the best bet is some thing like a 454 or a 500 magnum rifle. But none of those will reliably reach 500 yards.
 
I don't think I could do it, but if pistol caliber rifles are legal, the closest you might come could be a Handi-rifle in 500S&W. While it could theoretically be done, remember the story about Elmer Keith and the 600yd shot with a 44SPL, it is absolutely beyond my skill set.

I'm not even sure if the NEF is still available in 500S&W anymore, or was I imagining that it ever was?

I'm not bashing Indiana, my brother used to live there, but it must suck to be so restricted as to what you're allowed to hunt with. I thank my blessings to live in a state with no restrictions as to caliber for hunting. People use 22LR to take cougar in MT.
 
Last edited:
Contact TC Arms. They have rifled shotgun barrels for 12ga&20ga,20 in. barrels for 460 s&w and 500 s&w and they make a pretty darn good muzzleloader, all in the Pro Hunter line. Ask for an engineer or some one in quality control vs some one in sales, Maybe they can help. Good Luck
 
Take a soccer ball sized target & set it a an unknown distance between 400 & 500 yds. Take a field position, lazer it, and see how many times you can hit that target with any rifle you have on the first shot. Most of the time that shortens the range people will be willing to shoot at a deer. Now look at the accuracy difference between what you can hunt with & that rifle. The long range shooting craze looks good to a lot of people until they try it on paper and then think about what a gut shot whitetail goes through before he dies.
 
The Savage 220 might get you out to 300, with good amo, scope, and a lot of practice, but I think around 200 is more reasonable. Good factory loads quickly get you to around $3 a shot.
 
Unfortunately Indiana law says that the case length cannot exceed 1.80", and must be at least 35 caliber.

Right now there are a couple of wildcats available.

The .358 BFG which has a case length of 1.625"
The .35 Indiana which has a case length of 1.80"
And the .358 Hoosier which has a case length of 1.80"

The .358 BFG would need to be based off of a "short magnum" action as the rim diameter is 0.535"

The others can be based off of a used .308 Win. which would be re-barreled.
 
Excluding the 358 wildcats per your original post, your best option is a smokeless .45cal muzzleloader. I built mine with a PacNor barrel and what started out as a .243Win Savage. I'm getting 2770fps with a 200gr Shockwave. Easily capable of 400 yards. I've shot it well to 500, but field conditions would need to be perfect for that.

Performance is in a whole other class from BP guns.
 
"The entire reasoning behind the regs is to limit range...

Get closer..."

The entire reasoning behind the regs is to limit the past-target travel of errant rounds, ie safety. The Indiana DNR has no concern about how far away people are shooting deer. This is why any rifle is allowed for coyotes, because they are not so concerned about centerfire rifles when the hunter density is a fraction of what it is on opening day of deer season.

So as long as you stay within the regs, there is no reason to feel the need to get closer than your capabilities allow. I've shot 4 of my 5 deer in the past two years within 140 yards, but I don't feel bad about being prepared for a 400 yard shot if that is what is required.
 
Me:

"The entire reasoning behind the regs is to limit range...

Get closer..."
Click to expand...

You:

The entire reasoning behind the regs is to limit the past-target travel of errant rounds, ie safety.
Click to expand...

And the OP is about increasing the distance he can kill, thereby increasing the distance if he misses...

Stop trying to make a 150 yard gun into a 500 yard gun and live with it...

Get closer to your target...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top