Indiana Hunting Rifle Cartridge Change

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  • swany11

    Marksman
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    1   0   0
    Dec 10, 2011
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    For what it is worth, as of Sept 2013, the state of Wisconsin does not restrict the use of rifles statewide. They leave it up to local jurisdictions to restrict hunting to only shotguns.

    Wisconsin Rifles
     

    Paul30

    Expert
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    0   0   0
    Dec 16, 2012
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    I have an encore with a .308 barrel and I was so bad with that rig that I won't hunt with it. I think allowing a handgun like that and not a rifle in the same caliber is a bit silly.
    I had a friend hunt with a .308 cal pistol. I believe it was a Lone Eagle single shot. He used a rest in his tree stand, and was able to keep an inch group at 100 yards easily. I don't recall the type of rest he put together, but he really liked only packing a pistol to his deer stand. The range and confidence in the accuracy was a bonus.
     

    Double T

    Grandmaster
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    15   0   1
    Aug 5, 2011
    5,955
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    Huntington
    It's pretty silly that it's already not legal in rifles. Most of the powder burns off in the first 10" of barrel or so.

    I wonder what they would say to a 16" blk barrel with no stock. It's technically just a firearm and not a rifle :)
     

    HOLY LAND

    Shooter
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    0   0   0
    Aug 13, 2013
    95
    6
    Greenwood
    Indiana Hunting Regulations can be frustrating at times when you want to go hunting with a more common rifle caliber. I want to have the law updated so we can use a broader range of calibers.


    Hunting white tail deer all 30 caliber rifles should be legalized in Indiana. These modern 30 caliber cartridges are used nationwide year round for hunting, target practice and other activities. People are limited on how they are able to hunt with the way the law is now; we are not able to used our Grandpa’s old 3030 rifle or any other modern rifle because of the current law. 30 caliber riffles are used in a lot of states for hunting deer and I believe Indiana should allow us to have the same option. I feel it’s a shame that many people who move to Indiana and have more common caliber rifles are forbidden to use them for hunting and can only find themselves with the choice of shots guns or the limited selection listed in the DNR book.

    It can cost more than most people have to build a gun around the offered legal calibers. One gentleman said, “My dad has hunted with a shotgun his whole life, and the recoil is getting painful in his older age. I would love to let him borrow my rifle that has much less recoil, because I am not able to afford to buy him a new one that happens to fit inside Indiana’s narrow caliber rules”. Indiana ground isn’t flat like a lot of people say, we have hills which would be backstops for the bullets and people in tree stands don’t fire up in the air and their backstop is the ground. Hunters on the ground position themselves near a deer trail so that they can find a deer in a controlled space so when they shoot they have a backstop so the bullet will be limited on travel and won’t hit anyone. As far as the arguments against using modern cartridges, any bullet is lethal. If a hunter is shooting without being certain they have an effective backstop then they are willing to risk of someone's life for a deer. Hunter education should cover these safety issues.


    My argument for legalizing modern rifle calibers would be:

    *Greater accuracy so you will have a cleaner kill. The animal will suffer less, and you will have less wounded deers running away only to have the hunter not retrieve the injured deer and shoot another. The hunter would have more control of his shot placement limiting damage to the deer’s vital organs.

    *More people own the more common calibers, so you may have more people take up an interest in hunting, selling more licenses and rifles in Indiana increasing Indiana's revenue.

    *Hunters from out of state can hunt here since the rifle's they already own can be used also increasing Indiana's revenue by selling the higher priced out of state licenses.

    *Most modern rifle calibers have lower recoil than a shotgun, allowing older hunters to hunt longer. It may also reduce injuries of people falling out of stands due to the heavier recoil knocking them off balance in a tree stand.

    Please sign my petition. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment in the forum’s thread. Thank you.

    Petition Indiana Hunting Rifle Cartridge Change
     

    Hookeye

    Grandmaster
    Rating - 100%
    4   0   0
    Dec 19, 2011
    15,253
    77
    armpit of the midwest
    Uh, no need for a custom rifle.
    Just buy a .44 mag, or if wanting a bit more range a .35 Rem.

    Trim the .35 to legal length and you're good to go.
    Don't reload? There are folks who make ammo to legal spec.
    B&K in Peru does a good job (took my deer with one of his shortened .35 Rem reloads).

    Rem 760 and 7600's could be had in .35 Rem. CVA and H&R's too.
    Some Model 7 Remingtons as well.
    Lots of folks dig the Marlin 336.

    Those would be the cheapest of the group too.

    FWIW your last argument IMHO is just simple Darwinism. Let that be. And................leave the law alone. There's enough room in there already for those who want to play the game.
     

    ViperJock

    Master
    Rating - 100%
    10   0   0
    Feb 28, 2011
    3,811
    48
    Fort Wayne-ish
    Indiana Hunting Regulations can be frustrating at times when you want to go hunting with a more common rifle caliber. I want to have the law updated so we can use a broader range of calibers.


    Hunting white tail deer all 30 caliber rifles should be legalized in Indiana. These modern 30 caliber cartridges are used nationwide year round for hunting, target practice and other activities. People are limited on how they are able to hunt with the way the law is now; we are not able to used our Grandpa’s old 3030 rifle or any other modern rifle because of the current law. 30 caliber riffles are used in a lot of states for hunting deer and I believe Indiana should allow us to have the same option. I feel it’s a shame that many people who move to Indiana and have more common caliber rifles are forbidden to use them for hunting and can only find themselves with the choice of shots guns or the limited selection listed in the DNR book.

    It can cost more than most people have to build a gun around the offered legal calibers. One gentleman said, “My dad has hunted with a shotgun his whole life, and the recoil is getting painful in his older age. I would love to let him borrow my rifle that has much less recoil, because I am not able to afford to buy him a new one that happens to fit inside Indiana’s narrow caliber rules”. Indiana ground isn’t flat like a lot of people say, we have hills which would be backstops for the bullets and people in tree stands don’t fire up in the air and their backstop is the ground. Hunters on the ground position themselves near a deer trail so that they can find a deer in a controlled space so when they shoot they have a backstop so the bullet will be limited on travel and won’t hit anyone. As far as the arguments against using modern cartridges, any bullet is lethal. If a hunter is shooting without being certain they have an effective backstop then they are willing to risk of someone's life for a deer. Hunter education should cover these safety issues.


    My argument for legalizing modern rifle calibers would be:

    *Greater accuracy so you will have a cleaner kill. The animal will suffer less, and you will have less wounded deers running away only to have the hunter not retrieve the injured deer and shoot another. The hunter would have more control of his shot placement limiting damage to the deer’s vital organs.

    *More people own the more common calibers, so you may have more people take up an interest in hunting, selling more licenses and rifles in Indiana increasing Indiana's revenue.

    *Hunters from out of state can hunt here since the rifle's they already own can be used also increasing Indiana's revenue by selling the higher priced out of state licenses.

    *Most modern rifle calibers have lower recoil than a shotgun, allowing older hunters to hunt longer. It may also reduce injuries of people falling out of stands due to the heavier recoil knocking them off balance in a tree stand.

    Please sign my petition. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment in the forum’s thread. Thank you.

    Petition Indiana Hunting Rifle Cartridge Change

    I call BS on your "hills as a backstop" theory.

    Also, I don't want out of state hunters coming here. We have more than enough "hunters" in the woods already. You can barely turn around without tripping on someone else's blind or stand these days.

    I also call BS on 30 cals increasing accuracy. There are plenty of accurate legal calibers already. People just can't shoot and they blame the gun.

    Every person in recent memory that has fallen out of a tree stand has been either drunk or failed to use a harness. Usually both. I call BS on your "a shotgun knocks you out of your tree stand" too, unless you can provide accurate data combined with proof of sobriety.

    I always try try to be done hunting in bow season as there is a large contingency of yahoos with guns they can't safely and ethically use. Allowing more "common" calibers would increase the amount of stupid in the woods, IMO.
     

    AtTheMurph

    SHOOTER
    Rating - 0%
    0   0   0
    Jan 18, 2013
    3,147
    113
    Ballistic Study Raises Questions About Shotgun Only Hunting
    There's an old saying about the word "assume" that may be proven true when it comes to the accepted assumption that, when it comes to ricochet dangers, hunting with a shotgun is inherently safer than rifles.

    A new study that came from a November 2004 hunting accident in Pennsylvania would seem to turn the assumption that shotgun slugs are safer than rifle bullets into a myth. This study, in fact, seems to prove - scientifically - that shotgun slugs are far more prone to ricochet than rifle bullets.

    Since 1964, deer hunting with rifles has been prohibited in the areas bordering Philadelphia, since 1979 in Allegheny County and since 1991 in all of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Like other heavily populated states including Virginia, it was widely accepted that hunting with shotgun slugs would be safer for those bordering hunting areas.

    In the course of a lawsuit, it was decided by legislators to authorize a safety study into the rifle versus the shotgun debate. The project was coordinated by a legislative committee that hired Mountaintop Technologies of Johnstown, Pennsylvania to conduct the study. $41,576 later, Mountaintop, with assistance from the ballistic experts at the US Army Armanent Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC- better known as the Picatinny Arsenal), produced a study that examined ballistic data on three popular deer-hunting guns: a 30-06 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and a .50-caliber muzzleloader.

    As expected, the rifle had the longest maximum range, 2.64 miles, followed by the shotgun slug at 1.97 miles and the heavier, slower muzzleloader at 1.74. That maximum range, it was pointed out, however, isn't something likely to be seen in a hunting situation. In order to achieve those ranges, the weapons would have to be fired at a 35-degree angle, much like an artillery piece, lobbing their projectiles. As Todd Bacastow, the Mountaintop consultant explains, a 35 degree angle fired at a deer 100-yards away would pass 210-feet above the animal's head.

    When the shots are fired holding the guns level at three feet off the ground, however, the stories are different. The shotgun slug will travel 0.99 of a mile, sixteen percent further than the rifle bullet under the same circumstances.

    According to the study, the reason is that slugs tend to hold together better and lose less energy during ricochets than rifle bullets. So, slugs often travel further than rifle bullets in common hunting scenarios.

    Early in the 67-page report, it becomes obvious that muzzleloader bullets traveled the least in all test scenarios and therefore, are less risk than rifle bullets. The study recommends that the possibility of developing specialized bullets and slugs that break apart on impact would reduce the number of ricochets.

    The Pennsylvania Game Commission and legislators agree that the study has certainly changed their perceptions, especially the perception that shotguns are safer than rifles when hunting deer. Actually, the report did what it was designed to do - separate perception from reality.

    And as the study says in its Summary Statement: "Conventional wisdom holds that shotguns are inherently less risky than rifles in hunting deer. This is evidenced by the fact that the PGC as well as other states have established shotgun only hunting areas. This study, however, has concluded this is not always the case."

    "Stated in a few words, when considering extreme, high, and moderate firing errors (35,10 and five degrees firing elevations), shotguns and muzzleloaders are less risky than the centerfire rifle. When firing with a smaller or no aiming error (approximately 0-degrees firing elevation), a shotgun proved to be riskier than a centerfire rifle. The muzzleloader was always less risky than both the rifle and shotgun. Eliminating or controlling the ricochet seems essential if the shotgun is to be used as an effective risk management option. If ricochets could be controlled, then the shotgun and muzzleloader would be less risky in all cases."

    Net of everything, this study puts an almost heretical assumption into the hunting world: the typical hunter firing a 12 gauge shotgun fitted with a rifled barrel firing a .50 caliber saboted slug at a deer on level terrain is riskier than a hunter firing a .30-06 with a 150-grain expanding bullet at the same deer.

    That's largely due to the fact that a .30 caliber projectile will interact with impact media at a shallow angle differently than a slug. The smaller cross-section of the .30 caliber projectile and its shape contributes to a higher loss of energy on impact. After ricohet, the .30 caliber bullet will tend to tumble in flight, giving it extremely high drag and rapid energy loss. The .50-caliber projectil's larger cross-sectional area and its shape contribute to less energy loss on shallow angles. Simply put, after ricochet, the .50-caliber slug will experience less deformation, giving it less drag and resulting energy loss. Simply put, the slug will travel further.

    So is there a solution? The Mountaintop Research study recommends Game Commissions quickly address the public perception a shotgun with modern high velocity ammunition is less risky than centerfire rifles in all circumstances.

    [FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]There is, in fact, some urgency that those areas surrounding residential areas where hunting is "shotgun only". This study would seem to prove that, barring a frangible or reduced ricochet projectile, the mandatory use of shotguns might actually increase public risk factors.[/FONT]

    [FONT=verdana, geneva, lucida, lucida grande, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]The state of Wisconsin went almost totally to allowing rifles for deer hunting this season. Only a few municipalities restricted their use. As far as I know there were no shooting related deaths this past 9 day season where 650,000 hunter took to the woods. You think Indiana has a lot of hunters, I will take you to WI where it is easy to hear 100 shots on opening morning by 8 AM. [/FONT]
     

    Cerberus

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    2   0   0
    Sep 27, 2011
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    Floyd County
    I call BS on your "hills as a backstop" theory.

    Also, I don't want out of state hunters coming here. We have more than enough "hunters" in the woods already. You can barely turn around without tripping on someone else's blind or stand these days.

    I also call BS on 30 cals increasing accuracy. There are plenty of accurate legal calibers already. People just can't shoot and they blame the gun.

    Every person in recent memory that has fallen out of a tree stand has been either drunk or failed to use a harness. Usually both. I call BS on your "a shotgun knocks you out of your tree stand" too, unless you can provide accurate data combined with proof of sobriety.

    I always try try to be done hunting in bow season as there is a large contingency of yahoos with guns they can't safely and ethically use. Allowing more "common" calibers would increase the amount of stupid in the woods, IMO.

    And yet another example of the "Hoosiers are too stupid" Fudd stance.
     

    avboiler11

    Master
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    13   0   0
    Jun 12, 2011
    2,951
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    New Albany
    IMHO the "Fudd" aspect is in the lack of current regulation understanding and wanting changes for supposed compliance.

    How do you believe people "lack understanding" of the current regulation?

    The "safety" claim regarding a ban on modern centerfire rifles for whitetails has been debunked time after time again.

    So what then are we left with?

    "Change is bad" and "I don't want more hunters in the woods."

    God forbid an outdoors activity that, lets face it, has an average participant age moving closer to death than birth, be "easier" for people to accomplish.
     

    Hookeye

    Grandmaster
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    4   0   0
    Dec 19, 2011
    15,253
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    armpit of the midwest
    AV,

    Lack of understanding the regs- seems a bit of it, and often used in the argument for wider range of cartridge use.........check the hunting forum for details ;)

    WTF is wrong with the current rifle regs? Cannot old folks use a .44 or if really spindly and weak, a .357? I'm sure they could eat dogfood and squirrel enough $ away to buy a Handi-rifle.

    Change.......................yeah it's all about that. X bows for everybody and a Kenyan in the Whitehouse.

    Yay, progress.

    Safety? Looks like folks need to ban treestands Seems as though that stuff jacks more folks up than errant projectiles around these parts ;)
     
    Last edited:

    Hookeye

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    Dec 19, 2011
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    armpit of the midwest
    My concern with "other rifle" use is with shot selection.
    If allowed, I full expect slobs and idiots to peel shots at distant deer (a bunch of them will be cheap arsed rednecks toting mil surp and FMJ).
    Not knowing what is beyond their target could be problematic.

    I've had enough close calls with shotgun slugs flying my direction.....private ground hunting.
    Poachers and idiots, I've ran into more than a few in my 3 decades of deer hunting. I'll stand by my assessment that HP rifle usage will extend the effects of their stupidity, and maybe even increase their ranks.

    Having worked gun retail for a couple of years, it's downright scary how damn stupid and dangerous the average gun owner is.

    By all means, lets equip them with whatever the hell they want, and let their idiot kids (because dumb guy A meets stupid woman B and has exponentially F'd up child C) crank off the Mosin at the deer in the field by the house (they don't own). They can see it, it's a HP rifle, they read on a forum it's 600 yard capable..............time to find out!

    I get the social gist of folks, affective vs logical, and while it isn't a definitive science, have kept my eye (the good one) on just how folks supposedly think...........done it for years, in and around the shooting sports too...................

    Bottom line: Leave the regs as is. there's room for those who want to play the game. "Any rifle" is an invitation to "any moron".

    Geez, where I used to hunt (damn good area) the local jerks/poachers use Hp rifles and have for years. Too bad the law can't catch them all. With an opening up of regs I bet their getting away with the BS they do will be even easier.
     

    Cerberus

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    2   0   0
    Sep 27, 2011
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    Floyd County
    My concern with "other rifle" use is with shot selection.
    If allowed, I full expect slobs and idiots to peel shots at distant deer (a bunch of them will be cheap arsed rednecks toting mil surp and FMJ).
    Not knowing what is beyond their target could be problematic.

    I've had enough close calls with shotgun slugs flying my direction.....private ground hunting.
    Poachers and idiots, I've ran into more than a few in my 3 decades of deer hunting. I'll stand by my assessment that HP rifle usage will extend the effects of their stupidity, and maybe even increase their ranks.

    Having worked gun retail for a couple of years, it's downright scary how damn stupid and dangerous the average gun owner is.

    By all means, lets equip them with whatever the hell they want, and let their idiot kids (because dumb guy A meets stupid woman B and has exponentially F'd up child C) crank off the Mosin at the deer in the field by the house (they don't own). They can see it, it's a HP rifle, they read on a forum it's 600 yard capable..............time to find out!

    I get the social gist of folks, affective vs logical, and while it isn't a definitive science, have kept my eye (the good one) on just how folks supposedly think...........done it for years, in and around the shooting sports too...................

    Bottom line: Leave the regs as is. there's room for those who want to play the game. "Any rifle" is an invitation to "any moron".

    Geez, where I used to hunt (damn good area) the local jerks/poachers use Hp rifles and have for years. Too bad the law can't catch them all. With an opening up of regs I bet their getting away with the BS they do will be even easier.

    And just how is this not a problem in all the other redneck states? Like I've said a few times now, this is nothing more than arrogance. Hoosiers are too dumb by your own admission. Your arguments are very much like anti-gunner arguments, after all someone MAY abuse something so let's ban it.
     

    Mgderf

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    44   0   0
    May 30, 2009
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    I would love to see changes in the caliber regulations for deer in Indiana.
    I would like to see the caliber selection widely expanded, and I don't think the safety argument holds water.

    Too many other states with similar topography and population have no more of such problems with stray shots as does Indiana with the restrictions in place.

    I would like to be able to use a .308 Winchester, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R,.30-06, .30-30, and a .45/70govt.

    I have a Thompson Contender with a 16" barrel in .45/70govt. I have a 14" barrel in .30-30, and I have a Savage Striker pistol in .308 Winchester with a 16" barrel.
    All of these are legal in Indiana to hunt deer, but ONLY in a handgun platform.

    That just makes no sense.
    Same caliber, same length barrel, but add a butt stock to it and now it's ILLEGAL?

    Adding a butt stock actually gives a person MORE control, over a simple pistol grip, and thus would be inherently safer.

    So how is it that a pistol is safer than a rifle in the same caliber?
     
    Last edited:

    Sniper 79

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    19   0   0
    Oct 7, 2012
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    Got enough blokes around my house hunting. Cant imagine what would happen if they were granted the use of high powered rifles. Like others have said if you want to use high power jump in the truck and take a trip like the rest of us do. Let the hunters in Indiana use dum dum rounds that dont travel far.
     

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