Longest revolver shot?

[Rick65Cat]

I bought a new Taurus 6" .44 magnum last christmas.
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t269 ... magnum.jpg
http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t269 ... magnum.jpg
I've taken it out a bunch of times this year just to pot away at paper at 25 or 50 yrds at the range I belong to. (Can't handgun hunt in Canada ).
Anyway, one saturday I was at the range with a few rifles and my .45 auto and my Taurus .44 and I met up with a couple of gopher hunting buddies who were sighting in new loads for their rifles. We were on the 200 yrd range and just BSing when they were done shooting...one guy says, "hey Rick, see if you can hit the steel gong with your .44
"I'm thinking "holy crap...its a 15" steel disc hung by chain 200 yrds away" But, I figured "what the hey". So I load up 6 Winchester 240gr. JHP factory loads and take aim....
I can tell right away I'm gonna be close quickly with the amount of dust kicked up with the first shot with those big bullets. Long story short, I did about a 3 foot holdover and on the 8th shot...Ping! 4 shots later...Ping again! So the first shot wasn't BS.

[Rick in Oregon]

Rick: Your gong incident does not surprise me at all. I have to be careful on this one, but after reading about everything Elmer Keith ever wrote about long range shooting with .44's, I started implementing his advice back in the earlyl '70's with my S&W M29 with 8-3/8" barrel.

It did not take long to be able to hit water-filled milk jugs out at 200 yards, sitting with my back against a tree trunk or truck wheel, knees drawn up, and holding the revolver with both hands braced inside my knees.

Once you walk the shots onto the target, remember how much front sight is above the rear notch, repeatable hits are probable on command. Elmer even had inlaid bars of gold installed on the backside of his Patridge front sights just for this activity.

On more than one occasion I've taken money from non-believers that refused to believe that an iron-sighted sixgun could be used to smack a milk jug at 200 yards using cast bullets from a .44 Magnum, even with my 6" and 4" barreled rigs. Keep at it, you'll be amazed at how proficient you can become at that range.

[Rick65Cat]

Jeeze, I was thrilled to hit a 15" dia. steel disc... But to hit a friggen milk jug

[acloco]

hehe...and just hackin' on Rick....

It was a 5 gallon JUG. Don't let him BS ya.



Now...all of the above was just good fun. Rick teases back!!

[glenn asher]

It's all in the practice, the more you practice, the better shot you'll be, trigger control and sight alignment is the whole key, front sight, squeeze trigger. After you get the basics mastered, the rest is a matter of how much front sight to see, for distance shooting, just like Rick said in his post.
Long distance stuff is a lot of fun, but it requires that discipline to practice a lot, which is fun, too! More shooting = more fun! For your magnum, it makes sense to moderate the loads a bit, for the practice sessions, so load some midrange stuff and shoot a lot. Don't practice the bad stuff, like flinching Front sight, squeeze trigger, it's all in those four words.
Now, go have fun!

[Rick in Oregon]

acloco: Nope, regular one gallon milk jugs, honest.

For this shooting, I use my own cast bullets, Lyman No. 429421, the original Kieth 250gr hard cast bullet, over 8.5grs of Unique for right at 1,000 fps out of a 6" barrel. Moderate recoil, plenty of poop for deer and bear, as that bullet will usually exit from about every angle, and leave a full caliber hole.

Lilke Glenn mentioned, it's all in the practice with the weapon, nothing more. Keep in mind though, that I can't hit the jug six out of six every time, more like two to three hits per cylinder, the the rest are real close. Also remember, I've been practicing this stuff since the early 70's....just a while.

[acloco]

Rick - I know....I was just hackin' on ya!!!

We had a running FUN argument with a friend of ours. He did not believe another person could hit a "milk jug" at 300 yards with a 22 long rifle.

The size of the "milk jug" was never mentioned......and us....being the practical jokers that we are....arrived with a galvanized 20 gallon milk jug.

Of course, he cried foul.....and that the target was NOT a 1 gallon milk jug.

We corrected him again....as we let him look inside the 20 gallon jug....and there was a single one gallon milk jug!!!

He does not bet on fun things very often anymore.....go figure.


Your 44 mag is right on the money. Practice, practice, practice!!!

[Rick in Oregon]

acloco: I remember something ole Elmer used to say to disbelievers: "consider a 155mm howitzer shooting out to about five miles. Then consider a 4" .44 Magnum revolver shooting out to 500 yards. When you put them both in relative comparison, they are both about the same in relation to bore to barrel length and distance to the target."

When you think of it like that, it starts to make sense, and seems much more plausable. His book "Sixguns" is what started me on the long range pistol thing, and really got me fired up to get to work with my first Model 29. Even milk jugs at 100 yards are in trouble with a good 1911 .45acp and a good man behind the pistol.

And no worries on your hackin'! Hey, I can take it!

[Sagebrush Burns]

Got lucky last summer while after picket pin ground squirrels - got one at 40 yards using my Colt Buntline Scout 22LR with the regular fixed sights. Made me feel like Elmer Keith for sure. Later I was using a friends Hi-Standard auto with an Aim Point and was able to hit at about 80 yards, but that seemed like cheating...

[Rick in Oregon]

Sagebrush: When it comes to popping Skippy with handguns, we cheat every chance we get!

My Ruger MK-I with Leupold/Gilmore Red Dot is good for about 50 yards (with me behind it....)



My S&W 648 (6" 22WMR) with a Leupold 4X Handgun Scope is good for 150 yards off a rest....cheating of the First Order.



But open irons can be fun too, but these older eyeballs just don't see them as well as 20 years ago.....I know you know what I mean....



Popping sage rats with handguns just adds an entire new element to the fun!

[Sagebrush Burns]

Rick - If they're close enough, dumb enough, and (most important) unlucky enough, I can occasionally get 'em with my six gun. Usually use the scoped rifle for a much higher success rate...

[Rick in Oregon]

Sagebrush: Me too on the rifle thing, but for those unlucky rodents that sneak up on the bench inside the 'perimiter' at 25 yards, there's nothing as much fun as a rimfire on the bench to dispatch the sneaky little buggers!

My entire crew always has a personal rimfire pistol on the bench (IPDW, or Internal Perimiter Defensive Weapon), and the hoots and laughter from some spectacular hit is usually equally shared from a close pistol shot, or launching a rat 10' into the air from 400 yards. What fun either way!

[Sagebrush Burns]

Oh yeah! darn, though - central Oregon is just too far away for day trip squirrel shooting...

[Rick in Oregon]

Yo Sagebrush! True, I don't advocate driving all the way here to shoot Skippy, but you're not far from premium prairie dog shooting. Next time you go, be sure to take a good sidearm for both the fun it offers, and the protection it offers your truck!

Here's a good friend on one of our shoots protecting his truck from a coordinated charge of Skippy and his pals, using his Glock .45 for defense of himself and the truck tires. (Note to Hawk Eye: See, he's shooting a SAVAGE!)



(Can you tell we love pictures here?)

Here's the result of catching one of Skippy's pals doing a recon thing on us from 62 yards out on his elevated mound with my Ruger MK-I w/red dot aboard. Much too close for the 204, but just about perfect for the trusty rimfire!



This thread is way off topic now, but still handgun related, right?

[Sagebrush Burns]

Yes! It can get scary when prairie dogs get crazed with blood-lust and charge. I've gotten one or two with with my 45 Colt SAs. Longest shot so far has been about 30 yards (just to keep us on topic).