Adjust or not adjust sights?

[bgjohn]

Pertaining to NRA Hunter Pistol, whether to adjust the sights or not adjust between different animals? Some people load (22 Hornet) with heavy bullets going slow but I like a smaller bullet going faster. It shoots flatter and I don't need to adjust the sights/scope between animals. I'm shooting 40 gr loads. I know of some shooters loading up to 55gr bullets in the Hornet. I have made sure that my 40 gr soft point bullets do NOT damage targets. If I had to count clicks on my red dot I would lose count for sure and cause myself problems. Your thoughts?
JM :-)

[Graybeard]

You are using a red dot sight rather than a high power rifle scope for NRA Hunter Pistol these days? Kinda bucking the trend aren't you? Are you shooting it like a real handgun or the more common hold I think now known as the taco hold? Back when I was shooting we did it both ways but didn't have a name for it like the taco hold.

Back then the Hornet wasn't allowed either.

I started out in the game using .357 Magnum and .44 mangum mostly. I had a S&W revolver with a four position adjustable front sight. Just turn the little dial to move it to the next place. I generally did adjust for the turkeys and rams but shot chickens and pigs with same setting. Later I moved to the use of first the .22 Magnum and then the .32 H&R Magnum for Hunter Pistol. I never got used to the higher magnification scopes so I stuck to 6X and used the Leupold 6x42 for the long eye relief to keep it out of my eye on recoil. Here again I shot chickens and pigs with same setting and moved it for turkeys and rams.

My shooting partner and best friend (now deceased) preferred to adjust his hold and not adjust the scope. It seemed we had about equal success in winning over all doing it our own way. So I know both can work. The Hornet should be plenty flat to not adjust and the 40s should have adequate thump to take down the rams unless really hard set. Even the .22 magnum was near 100% effective on them. Can't recall ever ringing one with the .32 mag.

[K2]

HI GB

Your observations are still true today.  Some folks do ok without sight adjustments and others don't.  

The Hornet pretty much chased the .357 and larger out of the game with a few notable exceptions.  

You are using a red dot sight rather than a high power rifle scope for NRA Hunter Pistol these days? Kinda bucking the trend aren't you? Are you shooting it like a real handgun or the more common hold I think now known as the taco hold? Back when I was shooting we did it both ways but didn't have a name for it like the taco hold.

Back then the Hornet wasn't allowed either.

I started out in the game using .357 Magnum and .44 mangum mostly. I had a S&W revolver with a four position adjustable front sight. Just turn the little dial to move it to the next place. I generally did adjust for the turkeys and rams but shot chickens and pigs with same setting. Later I moved to the use of first the .22 Magnum and then the .32 H&R Magnum for Hunter Pistol. I never got used to the higher magnification scopes so I stuck to 6X and used the Leupold 6x42 for the long eye relief to keep it out of my eye on recoil. Here again I shot chickens and pigs with same setting and moved it for turkeys and rams.

My shooting partner and best friend (now deceased) preferred to adjust his hold and not adjust the scope. It seemed we had about equal success in winning over all doing it our own way. So I know both can work. The Hornet should be plenty flat to not adjust and the 40s should have adequate thump to take down the rams unless really hard set. Even the .22 magnum was near 100% effective on them. Can't recall ever ringing one with the .32 mag.

[Smokin7mm]

I have shot just about any way you can imagine.  Started out with a 4x rifle scope then moved to a 4x pistol scope and shot with arms extended.  I then moved to a red dot scope.  This was all with a 32-20.  I shot the red dot pretty well.  My high score with that was 37.  I got out of hunter pistol/field pistol for a while and shot exclusively BB.  I now shoot HP/FP periodicly but am shooting a 270REN with a 6X24 power scope set on about 18X.  It has target Knobs so I adjust but even when I had the red dot I adjusted.  I just marked the starting point with a permanent marker so I would know where to go back to when I was done.  I do shoot a hornet in HP/FP open sight catagory but I also adjust my sight for that as I want to have the same hold and not try to hole up or down for a particular animal.
Bret

[bgjohn]

I shoot semi-taco hold with my Hornet + Aimpoint red dot. I'm not very steady using a LER pistol scope. I'm more steady with a rifle scope. What I like best about the red dot is I can hold it as close/far as I want (steadiest position). I'm not at the mercy of eye relief. On my Big Bore  guns I have IER Leupold 2.5X scopes. I find that scope >3-4X to be detrimental.

Bucking a trend? That's me alright!
JM