Elmer Keith, the .44 Magnum, and the .357

[Trooper224]

I look at all of this with regards to the odds of hitting anything at 600 yards with a revolver even thought the shooter might be well practiced at shooting > 300 yds.

Most will probably disagree with this analogy but I think it is similar. Kicking field goals has some of the same challenges, namely windage, elevation and human ability. I know that somebody actually kicked a 65 yard field goal in a regular season game. One kicker in one game that set a record. If we take 10 of the best kickers in the NFL, give them 5 opportunities each to kick a 65 yard field goal, one might actually do it. That would be 1 in 50 odds that a pro kicker could accomplish that feat. The reason we never see 65 yard field goal attempts is the odds are so overwhelming that it's almost never seen in a regular season game.

I also understand the fun in trying to do that. I'm a terrible shot with a revolver but I've used rifles since I was old enough to hunt. I didn't own any optics until I was in my 20's and shot a few deer with irons and a model 95 Winchester hand me down. I switched to optics as soon as I could afford a quality scope. So now I'm going down the rabbit hole and buying another lever rifle only in a pistol cartridge to see if I can use the same methods that people in the frontier west mastered to shoot at distances beyond what would be considered doable today. I'm not hunting with this rifle, just going to ring some steel. 44-40 was a very popular cartridge in the 1870's so 44 mag might be a good choice to reload. My rifle range only goes to 225 and we have a bunch of steel set up at that range.

Elmer did whatever Elmer did, or didn't do. I for one have little interest in figuring it out.

No one's out there advocating hunting game with a handgun at these extreme distances. It's all for fun, so some of the participants in this thread could really take a couple of turns off their screw and lighten up.

[Lester Polfus]

Elmer did whatever Elmer did, or didn't do. I for one have little interest in figuring it out.

No one's out there advocating hunting game with a handgun at these extreme distances. It's all for fun, so some of the participants in this thread could really take a couple of turns off their screw and lighten up.

Boy howdy.

I'm super interested in how far away I can ding a 8" steel plate with my GP100. If I go shooting with the right people, I can get free beer. I've already had one day that started with "You can't hit a 4" steel plate at 50 yards with a j-frame" and ended with a free bottle of Wild Turkey.

I'm not interested in trying to ding a real live deer any farther than 50 yards, and preferably closer than that.

[TiroFijo]

Back in the day, there were custom sights offered with horizontal gold lines set into the front sight blade, used for holding the front sight high in the rear notch. This were made for long range shooting just as Elmer described.

As Elmer himself wrote, in this case he used all the front sight + a bit of the base...

[Outpost75]

Yup, elevating and lowering the post in a notch sight to adjust for elevation goes wayyy back. I’ve seen British Musketry manuals from the mid 1800’s with illustrations that are basically the same as what Outpost 75 just posted even though their rifles had quality adjustable sights...

The British Musketry Regulations also explained how to use the front sight on the rifle as a range estimator, this for the p.14 and SMLE during WW1:

[revolvergeek]

That pretty much nails it.


The "experts" "professional gun writers" etc say that you need 1800-2000 FPE to kill elk. Funny thing is here is an example of using a 20" .308 at 615 yards. Producing roughly 1100 FPE. One shot, one dead elk.





This right here:



Is pure nonsense.

<snip for brevity>

I regret that I have but one like to give for this post. Lots of good stuff in it. Many 'hunters' around here think that you need a 7mm Mag to kill whitetail at 100 yards.

I am no great marksman but I have shot a lot with several of my pistols out at 100 and 225 yards ( the furthest berms at the outdoor range that I usually go to) and people laugh and make fun until they hear the steel ring.

[MolonLabe416]

Shooting steel is (or should be) far different than shooting flesh. For steel, the question is how far away can I reliably hit it? For flesh, the question is how close can I get before taking the shot?

[revolvergeek]

Shooting steel is (or should be) far different than shooting flesh. For steel, the question is how far away can I reliably hit it? For flesh, the question is how close can I get before taking the shot?

Absolutely. I am not trying to hunt with these pistols. These are defensive guns shooting at a 10” plate. My point was that if I can do that with just occasional practice then I firmly believe a more skilled and more practiced shooter could make very long hits with a good pistol. When I took my Mountain Gun out with the thought of shooting hogs one time I set a limit for myself of 25 yards. Never saw anything to take a shot at that trip though.

[DueSpada]

Ye gods, any kid with a Red Ryder has walked in an impossible shot more than a few times. It only becomes questionable when you forget you've already done it.