# Your Average Shot Distance ?



## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Where I am, my average shot distance is in the 35 yd range, with many much further than that.

In the area where you live, what is your average shot distance 10,15, 20, 25 yds ? Do you ever have 40yd shots ?

For me I had one 15yd shot maybe, and a few at 20-25yd shots since about October of last year.

Just curious ?

wll


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## Gunnar (Dec 30, 2013)

bout 10-20 yards


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## Resigned User (Jul 4, 2015)

At the moment not more than 5-6 yards at home and about ten outside


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## Rayshot (Feb 1, 2010)

Mostly from 74 ft.

That is the where I can walk out the door to the most convenient and farthest spot on my deck to shoot into my catchbox.


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## Oahu1 (Apr 28, 2015)

67 feet for the same reasons as Ray.


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## slingshot shooter (Jan 22, 2013)

10-15 yards normally but i can whip out 30-35 yards shots also with the right rocks
-slingshot shooter


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

to infinity and beyond . . .


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Talking to one of my guys at work who was a sling shot guy back in the day. Most of his shots in Michigan were in the 10-12 yard range, very, very rarely anything further, a 17yard shot would be a long one !

It all depends on where you live as if you live in a brushy area with water and hills, most of your game will be closer. For me, I can be spotted 200yds away as I'm totally out in the open the vast majority of time. i would love to have shots in the 15-25 yard area for sure, as shooting at starlings 40yrds away is pretty tough ... but it makes you keep your concentration on target that's for sure !

wll


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## SonoftheRepublic (Jul 3, 2011)

Stump Shooting? . . . 3 to 25 yards.

Serious shooting in prep for hunting? . . . 8 to 15 yards. Because anything much further loses a bit too much energy/lethality and accuracy for a clean kill in my estimation.

*BUT!* If I were in your shoes, trying to sneak up on intended prey out in the open desert, (and I needed to eat anic: ), I'd be taking any and all shots and praying for contact . . . you bet ya!


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## Volp (Aug 25, 2014)

Mostly from 33ft to 66ft.

Volp


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## RUBEN_CO (Sep 1, 2013)

Purely because of where my catchbox is set up, the longest i can shoot is around 14m so i try to keep game within that distance also.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

I only shoot 15 meters (a bit less than 16 yards). 10 meters bores me for some reason. I hold gangsta style, i.e. handle is parallel to the ground... read "the slingshot is laying sideways". My prob is the target falls BELOW my fork so I have to sort of fudge the sight picture to hit. I was thinking of putting tick marks on the drop cloth in my catch box so I could see at least something of an elevation tick...but I haven't tried it yet..I assume it will work. Since I don't hunt nor plink, SS shooting to me is just plain fun, keeps my hand/eye coordination up and I don't care if I can cut a card, I won't ever get that good consistently anyway.


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## filipino_saltik (Oct 7, 2011)

4 to 20 I usually walk around when I shoot but all shots is going in my catch box


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

I'm finding this post pretty interesting in that most of you that are hunters are shooting in the 15yd area. The target shooter guys as I thought would be in 10-20yd range or what ever space they had to shoot in.

I do realize that my 35+yd shooting is really on the long side for a sling, but wanted to get a feel for what your guys shoot at.

Hope more guys put in their input.

wll


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## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

Anything between 15 and 500 ft approx for stump shooting/ casual plinking in the woods, catchbox plinking max 40 ft or so (no more room available) hunting no more than about 75ft. because further than that feels more like gambling than aiming at my current skill level.

@wll: there might be a way to get closer to the critters: put up a hide and some feed spots and have them come to you. Although it may be considered illegal or poor sportsmanship in some parts, it might be the only option out in the desert. I guess that's down to local laws and personal preference.


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Viper010 said:


> Anything between 15 and 500 ft approx for stump shooting/ casual plinking in the woods, catchbox plinking max 40 ft or so (no more room available) hunting no more than about 75ft. because further than that feels more like gambling than aiming at my current skill level.
> 
> @wll: there might be a way to get closer to the critters: put up a hide and some feed spots and have them come to you. Although it may be considered illegal or poor sportsmanship in some parts, it might be the only option out in the desert. I guess that's down to local laws and personal preference.


I'm looking at portable hunting blinds, that may be my only option.

wll


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## SharpshooterJD (Oct 9, 2012)

Same as Volp.


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## Samurai Samoht (Apr 6, 2013)

Mostly 10 meters into my catchbox and occasionally step back to 15 and 20 meters.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Generally, I would not take a shot on game further that 15 meters. If I am just out in the bush fooling around, I might take a shot further than that ... but it is hard for my aged eyes to see what to shoot beyond about 20 meters.

Cheers .... Charles


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

I like distance shooting as well. When outside I shoot no shorter than 20 yards. Up to 50 yards, and even further when I want to just have some fun. When I shoot indoors at night it is about 9 yards .. due to space limitations.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Your experiments with 35 yards sounds fun. Beyond 15 for me is going to be hard because as I said holding hammer hold gangsta style I can't see the target through the fork tip so acquisition of a long range target with that shooting style is out. I'd have to practice instinctive shooting of course to do that. When I was a kid I only shot instinctive. When I resumed slingshotery a few years back I couldn't hit at all using instinctive, and I tried and tried. I guess this old phardt lost his instinct! So I went to aiming down the band over the fork and bingo, I hit.

So longer ranges would require instinctive or holding the SS upright and judging where the target is between the forks and going from there, given the target wasn't under the fork base itself...and the bands would be strong enough to take the distance.

I wish I had a long ole lake handy to just instinctive shoot at stuff in it (not game, am a total wuss for killing these days). So I'm resigned to be a catchboxkiller.

Say, has anyone tried my suggestion posted a few weeks ago I think (flime ties) about using inner tube rubber as targets? I've been using this for some time now, you can see and hear impacts leaving no doubt of a hit/miss and they don't wear out. I used to shoot lead only and it deformed on steel cans (we have no al pop cans) but innertube targets won't deform lead. The projectile just falls down and won't bounce out much...it absorbs all the energy. These targets would be good also at distance...you can see them move and hear the "thwack" as they are hit rather than the thud of the drop cloth in the catchbox. I'll photo a couple targets and post 'em.

I think the thought of taking game just depends on how good one is at whatever distance the game sits. Bill Hays' vid of a 75 yard pop can shot says it all..if you can hit it with a kill shot, bag it. If you doubt your skill for a shot, thinking it would only would and greatly suffer the animal, better not. Remember, going outdoors and hunting is a double experience..one for just the relaxation yet adrenaline rush of bagging game, and enjoying nature whether you bag any game or not, and the other is cooking up and dining on your hunt results, satisfied with bagging your supper itself.


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Chuck Daehler said:


> Your experiments with 35 yards sounds fun. Beyond 15 for me is going to be hard because as I said holding hammer hold gangsta style I can't see the target through the fork tip so acquisition of a long range target with that shooting style is out. I'd have to practice instinctive shooting of course to do that. When I was a kid I only shot instinctive. When I resumed slingshotery a few years back I couldn't hit at all using instinctive, and I tried and tried. I guess this old phardt lost his instinct! So I went to aiming down the band over the fork and bingo, I hit.
> 
> So longer ranges would require instinctive or holding the SS upright and judging where the target is between the forks and going from there, given the target wasn't under the fork base itself...and the bands would be strong enough to take the distance.
> 
> ...


That is very, very true. The problem I have is with half your statement, and that has non of my doing ;- (

Living in California it is against the law for me to hunt any game animal, and that poses a problem. because of that I decided to go after pest birds, and occasional ground squirrel and a rat if I see one in one of the dumps I go to. Because of that, my game ammo is put on the shelf, no reason to use 7/16", 1/2" steel, 214gr lead, 5/8" steel, 315 gr lead on starlings.... I keep a small pouch of 1/2" steel for ground squirrels, 3/8" steel is way to small IMHO. Besides the 3/8" steel I do use a lot of 5/8" marbles, because they are cheap, fly true and at reasonable ranges hit hard.

wll


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## chuckduster01 (May 30, 2015)

Practice/playing I will shoot anywhere from 1 to 100 yards. Most my practice is at 15/20/25 yards but I do have reactive targets that I play with out to 100yds. For killin time I do what is needed if I deem it to be right, normally 5 to 25 yards is the norm however. My longest kill was on a half naked wild feral marauding p.o.s house*** that was up to no good around my pheasant chicks. I took him in the head with a .490 leadball at about 65 yards and it did the trick right nicely.


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

chuckduster01 said:


> Practice/playing I will shoot anywhere from 1 to 100 yards. Most my practice is at 15/20/25 yards but I do have reactive targets that I play with out to 100yds. For killin time I do what is needed if I deem it to be right, normally 5 to 25 yards is the norm however.  My longest kill was on a half naked wild feral marauding p.o.s house*** that was up to no good around my pheasant chicks. I took him in the head with a .490 leadball at about 65 yards and it did the trick right nicely.


Now that is what I'm talking about, even for me that is a long shot, but if he was around the chicks, I would have let one fly too ;- )

That is the one thing I have not seen where I go and that is feral *** and I'm surprised, I would think they would be around but I'm not there at night, so who knows ? I know they are very, very sneaky, but I have not seen any traces of them, no feathers from wild birds, nothing looking like there was a fight for food, no bones ? ... nothing.

Out of curiosity I may set a live trap or two just to see what is out there at night ?

wll


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## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

wll said:


> chuckduster01 said:
> 
> 
> > Practice/playing I will shoot anywhere from 1 to 100 yards. Most my practice is at 15/20/25 yards but I do have reactive targets that I play with out to 100yds. For killin time I do what is needed if I deem it to be right, normally 5 to 25 yards is the norm however. My longest kill was on a half naked wild feral marauding p.o.s house*** that was up to no good around my pheasant chicks. I took him in the head with a .490 leadball at about 65 yards and it did the trick right nicely.
> ...


I think I'd opt for some well hidden camera traps. The risk of getting skunked would far out weigh the couple tenners extra cost in my opinion... Good luck


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Viper010 said:


> wll said:
> 
> 
> > chuckduster01 said:
> ...


Ya, may be !

wll


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## Mr-W (Jun 17, 2015)

Anywhere from 5-15metres here. But the "norm" id say is around 10-12metres

Mr-S


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## wll (Oct 4, 2014)

Mr-W said:


> Anywhere from 5-15metres here. But the "norm" id say is around 10-12metres
> Mr-S


Most areas the guys I see on SS forums... 10-12 to 15 meters is what the vast majority of hunters shoot at !

I just wish it was true fro where I live :-(

wll


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## 14585 (Aug 9, 2015)

I usually shoot 35 yards


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## Mr-W (Jun 17, 2015)

wll said:


> Mr-W said:
> 
> 
> > Anywhere from 5-15metres here. But the "norm" id say is around 10-12metres
> ...


yeh up to 12 metres is kinda the "sweet spot" I think for successful catty hunting.

Large shots will drop off after that kind of range so you have to adjust the forks accordingly. And smaller shots will fly straight enough but start loosing energy after that kind of range. Obviously you can compensate with longer draw or heavier setup which for some guys isn't a problem. But personally I dont get on consistently with a long draw - im not as skilled as some people here  lol


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