As delivered, it had a 6.5" barrel.Keith did a lot with that 4" .44 Magnum.
The narrative makes it clear why he didn't take the .300.So he could compensate for the drop of the 44 but not a 300 that was sighted 1" high instead of 3" high, really? Wow.
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Still, why not take the 300?
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JD, I believe he was offered the 300 before the shooting started.
Trying to do a conversion from one zero to another in your head and in the field is very complicated. I don't even know how something like that could be done, and math is one of my hobbies.
If you don't believe me, take your favorite rifle and alter the 100 yard zero by 2 inches and then predict what the holdover change for it will be at 500 yards (assuming you knew the holdover at 500 yards with the original zero). Obtain the results without a calculator, ballistics program and without pencil and paper and do it in less than 5 minutes.
On the other hand, having actually SHOT a weapon sighted the way it is currently sighted and at the range you're currently faced with is a simple proposition.
Except that neither of them apparently knew the holdover for the rifle and range involved and as a result the rifle shooter apparently only scored two hits (one solid shot and one wounding hit) out of at least 7 shots--some of those shots taken at ranges shorter than 500 yards. Keith know the holdover for his weapon and scored hits (one good hit and one wounding shot) on 2 of his 4 shots, at least one of the hits being out around 600 yards.Considering that the other hunter had a powerful scoped rifle with him, it seems to me the ethical behavior would have been to use that to dispatch the deer, not to experiment with a ridiculously long handgun shot that would have only marginal killing power at that range.
All the equipment in the world won't help you if you don't know how to use it under the circumstances. Conversely, even a relatively poor tool for the job can save the day if you know how to use it in the situation at hand.
You wouldn't know 100%, but if you shot and the deer reacted, you might have a clue that you had connected and the deer's behavior might give you a clue as to where you hit it. If you read the narrative, Keith, an experienced hunter, thought from the deer's behavior that he had hit an antler, causing the deer to jump and change directions. Not being as experienced, I'm guessing that the deer's behavior on taking the bullet strike suggested to him that the deer had taken a non-lethal but immediately registered hit somewhere on the head.Very lucky shot if anything, the one thru the bucks nose, how would you know 100% what caused it...
According to Keith, the holdover, with the ammunition at hand and using a 6.5" .44 Mag revolver, required him to hold "all of the front sight up and a bit of the ramp" and just perch "the deer on top" of the sight in order to make the shot.Can anyone give us the amount of elevation required for this and please don't say it doesn't matter.
Wind drift is a total non-issue if someone spots one of your hits for you so you can make a correction. Same with range.Wind drift would seem to me also to be a bigger problem than drop.
Given that Kriley spotted one of Keith's two misses, it's not difficult to understand how Keith made the correction(s) that resulted in two hits.
The narrative does not say that the distance was paced. The ranch was Kriley's, so I presume that Kriley was able to verify the distance given it was his property.How do you pace a distance down and up thru a canyon?
There's also the fact that Keith, who knew where to hold that revolver for 500 yards, shot low on at least one of his misses suggesting that the range was more than 500 yards.