Short Range Rifle Ballistics: Personal Choice? Numbers? Experience? 50 yards and in

No studies, but my hunting and other experience has shown me that most center fire rifle ammo can be intensely damaging and sometimes surprising. They sometimes behave in unpredictable ways. I know that I don't want to be on the receiving end of a 303brit at close range.
 
I use my Bubba-ized No4Mk1, 17-1/4" barrel 303 British. The max realistic hunting/shooting range on our parcel is 50-60 yards, thick cedar wetlands, dense hardwoods etc. The stubby little 303 carbine certainly gets the job done with adequate authority ;)
 
short range rifle ballistics

This would take about thirty pages to cover, all the variety of guns and ammo.
Preference and game and range to be hunted.
If there is bear on the list or a possibility and you don't won't to destroy a deer, a 45.70 was used for many decades.
Marlin, Mossberg, and others and the .444 too.
There are now carbines handling stiff loads off .45 Colt and longer higher pressure .45 rounds.
A .44 Ruger carbine, in you can find one for shorter ddistances
Also the .30-30 and .32 special and a variety of other rounds.
The 94 is easy in the hands and light and 7 rounds quickly available take anything including black bear and more range with the new polymer tipped rounds.
A Remington 600 in .308 or .358 mag, if you can find one. It weight scant ore than my .44 Ruger handgun in seems in hand.
Any gun that is your favorite carry, with a good center fire rifle caliber of .30 or above will do the deed. However if there is Griz around you might want to stock to the .45-70 and larger rounds.
 
There's nothing you can't fix with 300 bucks and a 30-06. However, a .308 and a 2-7x Leupold helps. Shooting in the woods/brush is often more successful if you have a low-powered scope that can be turned up to see gaps to put a bullet in the critter and not a tree.

Besides, a .30 caliber deer bullet will shoot through a 3" tree and kill the deer standing behind it. Don't try it with a .223.

JP
 
bamaranger

even in those big driven hunts there are guys mushing thru the bush, with short carbine type rifles. preferably in something heavy, with heavy for the calibre bullets because as the dog men they won't have longshots

the blaser r93 is very very common, have one short barrel with an aimpoint and a longer heavier barrel for the few times you get to stand in the blind and be "served" with the animals

me I am on a budget I have a brownig BLR in 358win

I very seldom shot when doing one of those big hunts because I am invited to be the dogman not the hunter, but as money doesn't buy class some of those blindhunters are trigger happy not all hit game stays down and I get to finish it, , and wounded game seldom lays down in the open
 
If I have a particulary close shot when hunting myself (mainly moose) I don't put it in the boilerroom but rather a neckshot

so less meat is destroyed
 
A side shot through the lungs/heart is quick and provides plenty of blood to track, but a deer shot through the lungs with an expanding bullet won't often go more than 25 yards. Through the heart, they go about 80 yards.

Either way, they bleed out pretty well.

I once tried to shoot a deer that was limping, but didn't want to ruin more meat. It was only about 50 yards through timber, but I kept trying for a neck shot, but it's front leg had been wounded the neck was going up and down so much, I missed 5 shots. After reloading, one shot through the lungs did the job.
 
I shot a deer one time at 330 measured yds. Didn't need to but now I can say I have. I have never, that I remember, shot a big game animal at 50 yds or less. But I'm thinking about it and hopefully next year I will. Using a mod 788 in 308 win with a 1-4x Redfield, very old scope and use 180 gr cast bullet's! Actually gonna sight it in at 75 yds. But, going over to the wet side and hunt the cascades, and try to keep shots within 100- yds.
 
Last season I shot a 7 point live weight about 180 lbs at 50 yds with a 50 cal muzzleloader shooting 44 cal saboted bullets, shot thru both lungs, deer went about 25 yds and dropped but very little blood trail..bullet was a total pass thru also. I do think it would have been a totally different story had I been shooting my 7-08 with 140's
 
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Any cartridge that is effective at long range will also be effective at short range. There is really no downside to using high velocity cartridges at short range assuming proper bullet construction. Of course, the reverse isn't often true. What changes is the firearm itself to suite the intended use. I wouldn't use a bolt gun with a heavy 26" barrel and high powered scope to hunt hogs in thick brush nor would I use a short barreled lever action with low magnification to shoot varmints across an open field.
 
SRH78 Any cartridge that is effective at long range will also be effective at short range. There is really no downside to using high velocity cartridges at short range assuming proper bullet construction. * * *
Click to expand...

This.

For either intended or unanticipated encounters with bears, hogs, deer, or 2-legged predators, here's an uber-handy field/woods/boonies carbine chambered for a very effective short-range cartridge:

16.1" Mini-G in 30.06.

Shown with 100-yd zero target ...

If you feel you need to, just hold a tad lower for any Grizzly charges inside 50-yds. ;)

 
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