Perplexing, inexplicable misses

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Originally Posted by Coote

I've come across the shotgun problem before. I recall reading an old book on shotgun shooting where it was implied that some people would rather not take a close shot at an animal that is sitting.

I've owned and used shotguns, but I don't have any now. They can be useful, but I don't hunt birds and they make a heck of a bang.

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I put it down to little experience and also some of the guns ive used shoot lower than others, the fella in our target club told me that a remington 1100 shoots "flat" so dont keep the rail flat while aiming, placed 2 coins on the rail so i had to lift up to see the bead, that helped me alot, but with an older SxS gun ive used, I find that unnecessary.
Also the way you keep your head positioned was important and was given a few exercises to do in the mirror which all help, i just need to get out and shoot more.

I have a mate who only uses a .22 and subsonics with silencer etc, so will be having to do alot more with the .22 in the future.

Fuked if I can hit anything with a shotgun. I cant hit close targets consistantly with a rifle either. Ive been known to sneak further away from an animal at times if its been too close. Needs to be further than 50m at least and i can hit it. 80 to about 130 is my prefered distance

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Originally Posted by blip

Fuked if I can hit anything with a shotgun. I cant hit close targets consistantly with a rifle either. Ive been known to sneak further away from an animal at times if its been too close. Needs to be further than 50m at least and i can hit it. 80 to about 130 is my prefered distance

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Speaking to others, it seems im not the only one who is useless with a shotgun, I also find I shoot better with iron sights over a scope.
Something else I learned while I was shooting the first time at the range was I was shooting almost bang on the bulls eye when doing rapid fire and taking less time to concentrate, whereas when I took my time, I was shooting far more inaccurate.

Probably just a case of the projectile not expanding, I stopped using Winchester 42gr Subs for this reason.

Had multiple instances of a good shot but the bullet went straight through (like a solid) and didn’t get a clean kill.

Switch to Eley Subs and not had an issue since.

My Mrs can be rather perplexing at times.she is known to do inexplicable things too.

I love shotguns. I use the TLAR method of aiming. People look sideways at me when i say that.
"whats that? sounds technical."
"TLAR stands for "That Looks about right."

As far as missing inexplicably, I think we sometimes underestimate the capacity of a hit animal to carry lead for a considerable distance before collapsing.

you need more range time with that .22 to draw conclusions give it a decent trial then you will know more conclusively you or the rifle

Thanks for all the comments.

Are you suggesting, Micky, that my Norinco might be female?

I prefer iron sights too, especially on some rifles. I can look down the barrel and I just know I am likely to hit what I'm aiming at. Also, I can glance at my rifle and have a fairly good idea of whether or not the sights have moved when the rifle was bumped... unlike a scope (unless it was a catastrophically big bump).

I remember doing surprisingly well at rapid fire too during military-style range sessions. Maybe the pressure of time focuses concentration and I'm less likely to overthink things.

I enjoy range time, but after maybe 55 years of shooting there are still things I haven't reached a conclusion about. Especially when testing cast bullet hand loads that grouped well at a previous range visit but aren't so good at the current one. It is easy to come to the end of my session and have more questions than I arrived with :roll:

But yep, I'll be doing some careful shooting with that Norinco. I guess if it was all simple without challenges or a sense of mystery then it wouldn't be as interesting.

Yes mate.all firearms are female. I'm guessing you struck a dud round,the quality control sucks these days and we all miss the Aussie made Winchester stuff as it was far better.

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Originally Posted by Micky Duck

Yes mate.all firearms are female. I'm guessing you struck a dud round,the quality control sucks these days and we all miss the Aussie made Winchester stuff as it was far better.

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I used a lot of the Kilwell branded Aussie Winchester subsonics. Besides the usual small game I also used it carefully on medium pigs and quite a few goats. It performed well. I've been using CCI 40 grain hollow subsonics which have given me some nice tight groups, but they don't seem to act quite as quickly on game as the old Winchester.

Although they have a lower impact point, I've been quite impressed with the CCI 'Suppressor' 45 grain hollow cartridges. They are relatively expensive, but they've been quite consistent. The only problem I've had with them is that unfired rounds can be hard to extract from the chamber. It appears that the bullet lube... or a slightly larger bullet size, causes the bullet to stick.... and in some rifles (including my 10-22) the extractor slips off the rim. One of the first times I took the ammo out looking for possums, a pig presented itself within 22 range and I dropped it instantly with one of these 45 grain bullets to the back of the skull. The crude bit of white cord is an addition to create a higher anchor point for the sling. Without it the rifle wants to rotate on my shoulder.
Attachment 280184

Yes the extra weight up front with suppressor does same thing I've found slung diagonally across front works well or over left shoulder and let rifle go horizontal and lightly hold barrel...a non slip neoprene slung works too lol

I just re read the original post, solids aren't good for hunting purposes. Yes you can kill things with them but CCI Standard Velocity isn't what I'd be using for hunting.

The Eley 38gr HP is the most accurate HP ammo I have used, some batches are better than others but generally the accuracy is great for hunting at normal distances.

As to why you pulled a shot 3cm to the right, if the action screws are tight and the sites installed correctly, then chances are it's shooter error, especially if all the other shots in the group are touching.

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Originally Posted by Beetroot

I just re read the original post, solids aren't good for hunting purposes. Yes you can kill things with them but CCI Standard Velocity isn't what I'd be using for hunting.

The Eley 38gr HP is the most accurate HP ammo I have used, some batches are better than others but generally the accuracy is great for hunting at normal distances.

As to why you pulled a shot 3cm to the right, if the action screws are tight and the sites installed correctly, then chances are it's shooter error, especially if all the other shots in the group are touching.

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I wasn't very clear with my wording in the opening post. The CCI standard velocity are some of the most consistently accurate cartridges I have. And they have a very similar point of impact to the CCI hollow 40 grain subsonics that I mostly use for hunting.... so when I practice, or test my rifles, I use the cheaper (but more accurate !?!) CCI standard velocity. I don't recommend solids for hunting, although I would not hesitate to use them if that is all I had. Accuracy with expansion is the best, but accurate solids are better than dodgy hollows. Fortunately the CCI hollows have mostly grouped pretty well for me at sensible ranges, although I have had a few that made a loud crack as if they'd left the barrel a bit fast.

I haven't ever tried Eley, but I have only heard positive comments about it. I should get some next time I'm near a stockist. I seem to recall seeing boxes of Eley shotgun shells in my Dad's gun cupboard in the 1960s.

If you go back three or four years you will find a thread by me that describes the flyer problem I had with CCI standard velocity and the lengths I went to to prove it to the manufacturer, resulting the full refund of a large batch I had bought from Broncos. The batch was manufactured during the pandemic lockdowns and scratching around on the Internet I found enough information to suggest other shooters were experiencing the same thing. There were a few threads on Rimfire Central discussing the same problem.

Most of the time the flyer was accompanied by a super sonic crack, but not always. I forget the numbers now but the flyers were sufficiently inaccurate to easily miss a possum’s head at 25m.

I was chatting to a professional pest control in Australia the other day and he said he also experienced significant problems with CCI ammunition from the same period of manufacture, But that recently manufactured batches seemed to be fine. So maybe that’s your problem, have a look at the batch date and go from there.

Solids seem to work for me Ive used them from possums to goats, head shots appear to drop them on the spot?