HOW-TO
Long-Range Sixgunning
Hitting versus missing! Bob Milek introduces us to the unique sport.
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In this day and age, when the use of handguns for hunting a variety of varmints and small and big game is the hottest thing in the shooting sports, we hear a lot about maximum effective range as it applies to any variety of handguns and cartridges. Because of the tremendous difference in performance between the tried-and-true crank guns and the break-open and bolt-action specialty pistols that are so popular today, we're going to deal with each separately. In this article we'll discuss maximum effective range as it concerns revolvers, primarily those magnums used for hunting.
"Effective" is the key word in the phrase. At first glance it would seem that determining the maximum effective range of a revolver cartridge is simply a matter of basic external ballistics. But whoa up a minute! Remember, any gun/cartridge combo is only as good as the man doing the shooting, and in many instances the shooter's performance is limited by such factors as sights and shooting position. Then, even if the shooter manages to do a perfect job at his end, bullet performance has one whale of an influence on what happens to the animal on the receiving end of the shot.
The popular Metallic Silhouette game deserves credit for creating considerable interest in the sport of handgun hunting, as well as for getting a lot of people out shooting handguns who previously stayed home and read about it. For this contribution I take my hat off to siluetas metalicas. However, the steel target game is also responsible for a number of misconceptions about revolvers, cartridges and their effectiveness on live game.
Undoubtedly the most damaging of these is the idea that if a particular gun/cartridge can tip over a steel ram at 200 meters, it'll down a buck deer at 200 meters with similar efficiency. Wrong. The only similarity between a steel ram and a buck deer is profile appearance.
A deer is made of hide, flesh, bone and blood, and in him beats a strong heart and the wild instinct to live despite a wound that impairs the function of one or more organs. When he's hit, he runs, and unless such a vital part as the heart, lungs or spine has been damaged enough to render one or all totally inoperable, the buck will run far enough to elude all but the most experienced hunter/tracker. Then he'll lie down and die sooner or later.
Another misconception for which the Metallic Silhouette game must shoulder the blame concerns a shooter's ability to hit a distant target.
Too many shooters think that if they can plunk a steel target with some degree of regularity, they can expect similar success on game. Wrong again. On the range you shoot conspicuously marked targets at known distances, and you're shooting from a level surface over relatively flat terrain where there's nothing to obstruct your field of view. In the hunting field, you'll shoot from stances made unsteady by uneven terrain and at steep angles of fire; trees and brush will often make all but the most unsteady stance impossible, and you'll be guessing at the distance from you to your intended target. It's a whole different ball game, one guaranteed to confound and unnerve the most experienced shooter.
Then there are sights, the importance of which can't be minimized when it comes to hunting. As they come from the factory, most revolvers have a sight system consisting of a blade up front, usually 1/8 of an inch wide, and a square notch rear unit that's adjustable for windage and elevation. These sights have proved to be the best possible combination for most target shooting, thus manufacturers have standardized them.
But in the field they're a long way from perfect. That front blade covers the entire chest of a pronghorn or whitetail deer at 100 yards, so there's a built-in probability of windage error--enough to mean the difference between a wounding hit and a quick kill--and if you have to hold high, you blot out your target completely and guess at where your shot will hit.
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