How far does a shotgun carry ?

peasant

sorry, total noob question ...

But at what distance can a shotgun actually cause injury ?

Reason why I'm asking is, our "backgarden" (i.e. dog run) borders directly onto some wetlands which some hunters frequent for bird shooting.

Most of these seem to be responsible people and I have no problem with them.

But every now and then, I see some fellas discharging their guns in an inappropriate fashion ...i.e not skywards, but more or less parallel to the ground, and more worryingly pointing roughly in the direction of our dogs / or house.

The dog run is on a slight hill, thus overlooking the shooting area. The hunters would normally keep their distance, but the area isn't big and some have been as close as 50 meters when discharging their guns.

I don't want to be all hysterical about this and go running and screaming at every hunter I see, but latley the influx of hunters of the irresponsible variety seems to have increased and I'm gettng a bit worried about accidental shootings of my dogs (or the house, or myself, for that matter)

So ...at what distance do I have reason to get nervous and maybe have words?

bitemybanger

Now you've opened a can of worms, nobody here will agree on a distance, angle of gun, shot size...... and will take every possible situation and argue it:rolleyes:
I think if hit with standard clay cartridges (28s) at 120 or so yards, allowign for drop of the shot and all that i think it would hurt on contact with bare skin but probably not injure, "but what if it hits your eye";)
In my opinion, shotgun cartridges wont travell more than 150odd yards

irish setter

in this case the most likely quarry is snipe[ wetland and low shooting] which require a light fast spreading cartrige. i dont see these doing much damage over 80 yards. i might be corrected on this

pullandbang

peasant wrote: »

But at what distance can a shotgun actually cause injury ?

Speaking from personal experience, I was shot in the face and shoulder some years back by a silly twat firing at a snipe from about 70/80 yards away. The majority of pellets hit my waxed jacket and the bush behind me causing no damage. Some pellets stuck to the jacket. However one stray bugger got me in the cheek and penetrated right into the flesh drawing blood. In fact when I saw the blood spurting out I realised I'd been shot and promptly fainted!:o

I had to go to the hospital the next day to get the pellet cut out. It raised a few eyebrows in casualty when filling in the forms and the nurse asked what was the nature of my complaint?

It wasn't me!

Jesus, pullandbang, that's a pretty nasty story. What happened to the fool behind the gun?

To the OP, if you're concerned, I recommend talking to the men concerned. I don't think any shooter wants to have to answer to accusations of reckless discharge or anything of the like, so if you explain your concern, I imagine they'll be exceedingly obliging. Not worth arguing about various loads and shell weights and the like when ultimately, it's your safety and your feeling of safety that's important, and they'll respect that I'm sure. I know I'd stop if I thought a shot I was maybe going to land towards houses, no matter how good the target.

G17

I was shot by a friend using number 6 shot, 36gm cartridges (a fairly powerful game load) with a fully choked 28 inch barrel 12 bore shotgun at approx 110 yards (we walked it), he was messing and completely misjudged the distance to my position as I walked into the field, he aimed pretty much directly at me and thought the shot would be 'like rain' when it got to me.

I had very slight bruising on my legs and one shot drew blood as it grazed my forehead. I would not want to be standing any closer.

If possible put a polite sign in the area (where they park their cars perhaps?) reminding shooters to watch their muzzle direction as falling shot was disturbing your dogs? I was approached one time while shooting at a rookery and I was only too happy to change my aiming direction to accommodate a farmer. The shots were going pretty much straight up in the air but the noisy falling shot on his iron roofed sheds was unnerving him. The perceived danger is just as worrying as an actual danger, especially to a non shooter. Any responsible shooter will be happy to oblige.
If the land is used by a Game Protection Club (they usually put up notices on gates or trees at field entrances), maybe the NARGC (www.nargc.ie) could provide you with the local secretary's address, you could contact them and I'm sure they would be very happy to send out a notice to all their members who shoot on that land.


Don't suffer in silence (relative!) though.

I wish everyone who lived near shooting areas was as reasonable as you sound!

I hope this helps.

Sparks

Could have been worse pull, G17 - had this been the states, you might have had to apologise for all the torment your being shot brought upon the shooter and his family

cavan shooter

I' d say 300 yrds as an all rounder, remember reading about it in one of the english magazines. The topic was in relation to clay grounds and safety zones down range.

Manners would tell you to keep 100 yrds from houses and not to fire in the direction of the house.

pullandbang

It wasn't me! wrote: »

Jesus, pullandbang, that's a pretty nasty story. What happened to the fool behind the gun?

Needless to say, he never came duck shooting with us again! In fact he turned out to be a complete fool. He went on to shoot another lad in the side - shot at a fox through a hedge and his shooting partner was on the opposite side! :eek:

Another day he was trapping for us at a clay shoot. He ran out of clays during a round and duly stood up from behind the sheet of steel to tell us - just as his own father was about to call pull!:eek::eek:

Haven't seen him around lately...thanks be to jaysus:D

pullandbang

cavan shooter wrote: »

I' d say 300 yrds as an all rounder, remember reading about it in one of the english magazines. The topic was in relation to clay grounds and safety zones down range.

I completed a Safety Officer course recently in relation to clay shooting and the "safety zone" as they call it is 275 metres all round.

G17

Sparks wrote: »

Could have been worse pull, G17 - had this been the states, you might have had to apologise for all the torment your being shot brought upon the shooter and his family

You're right Sparks, I'll send him some flowers to say sorry for being a right bloody backstop! :D

meathstevie

Peasant, just tell the next one doing dodgy stuff that you don't mind them shooting from anywhere in that field but that you insist on them starting to hunt it with your back towards your house and work away down field from there. In that way your problem is solved and they substantially increase the "huntable" part of the field as well.

foxshooter243

meathstevie wrote: »

Peasant, just tell the next one doing dodgy stuff that you don't mind them shooting from anywhere in that field but that you insist on them starting to hunt it with your back towards your house and work away down field from there. In that way your problem is solved and they substantially increase the "huntable" part of the field as well.

good point !;)

peasant

meathstevie wrote: »

Peasant, just tell the next one doing dodgy stuff that you don't mind them shooting from anywhere in that field but that you insist on them starting to hunt it with your back towards your house and work away down field from there. In that way your problem is solved and they substantially increase the "huntable" part of the field as well.

Good idea in theory

Unfortunately the practice is different. That "field" is a small river valley with a tidal creek meandering through it. There are houses (ours among them) on the one side and a hill with grazing sheep on the other. The valley is about 1 km long. At the top it's very narrow (only about 50 m), bordered by a road and at the bottom where it meets the bay it would be about 200 m wide, but most of that area is inaccessible.

The only way to enter is from the top, go down as far as you can and then turn round again.

Going by the 275 m "rule", with houses and livestock all around, there shouldn't really be any shooting down there at all, as at no point will you be anywhere that's 275 m away from anything in every direction.

I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for those that are obviously (accidentally) shooting in my direction and have words with those (hopefully that will have some effect before one of the dogs gets injured)

It wasn't me!

If they could even keep the shots as vertical as possible, it would be grand, as light shot especially won't do any damage on its way down.

peasant

Yes ...either vertical or straight down the valley.

If only the birds flew that way

foxshooter243

peasant wrote: »

Good idea in theory

Unfortunately the practice is different. That "field" is a small river valley with a tidal creek meandering through it. There are houses (ours among them) on the one side and a hill with grazing sheep on the other. The valley is about 1 km long. At the top it's very narrow (only about 50 m), bordered by a road and at the bottom where it meets the bay it would be about 200 m wide, but most of that area is inaccessible.

The only way to enter is from the top, go down as far as you can and then turn round again.

Going by the 275 m "rule", with houses and livestock all around, there shouldn't really be any shooting down there at all, as at no point will you be anywhere that's 275 m away from anything in every direction.

I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for those that are obviously (accidentally) shooting in my direction and have words with those (hopefully that will have some effect before one of the dogs gets injured)

a quite word in the ear my be the best way to go, i wouldnt want to be shooting in an area that people had concerns about..it takes the good out of your shooting as well..i would have no problem in moving on, and would be glad of the pointer;)

jwshooter

peasant wrote: »

sorry, total noob question ...

But at what distance can a shotgun actually cause injury ?

Reason why I'm asking is, our "backgarden" (i.e. dog run) borders directly onto some wetlands which some hunters frequent for bird shooting.

Most of these seem to be responsible people and I have no problem with them.

But every now and then, I see some fellas discharging their guns in an inappropriate fashion ...i.e not skywards, but more or less parallel to the ground, and more worryingly pointing roughly in the direction of our dogs / or house.

The dog run is on a slight hill, thus overlooking the shooting area. The hunters would normally keep their distance, but the area isn't big and some have been as close as 50 meters when discharging their guns.

I don't want to be all hysterical about this and go running and screaming at every hunter I see, but latley the influx of hunters of the irresponsible variety seems to have increased and I'm gettng a bit worried about accidental shootings of my dogs (or the house, or myself, for that matter)

So ...at what distance do I have reason to get nervous and maybe have words?

a no 4 game load will burst a balloon at 250 yards if hit .prob would do the same to eye. george digweed can shoot a teal type clay target at 120 paces with a trap load .as seen on you tube .50 meters the next dog you might have could be a guide dog .stick on a pair of shooting glasses .be safe .jw