If you take a 44 magnum 240 grain Keith shaped bullet and drive it to 1500 fps from a handgun, and sight in zero at 100 yards, it will be down 2 feet at 200 yards, 7.5 feet at 300 yards, 13 feet at 400, and 31 feet at 500 yards.....close to 60plus feet at 600 yards....how in the world could anyone hit anything at those ranges? They do...because they discount drop completely as a problem....your front sight totally controls it......

In part one of this series, we explored Elmer Keith’s history of long range handgunning. We will begin this section by explaining how the old master did it......

Keith’s development of the three bar system on his guns came about in the late twenties into the 30s. He had three gold bars equidistantly put on the front sight. By using the different bars, the height of the front sight, was brought up in the back sight and the target placed on top of the front sight. Once the shooter gets used to his load and the sights, he can drop bullets into long range targets, like an artilleryman drops shells right into his target miles away.

Keith was probably not the first to use this system...but he was the one that developed it to a fine state, so that it would be very useful and easy to duplicate. I carry a small thin file to the range with me when I want to set my sights for long range. When I find the spot on my front sight that drops the bullet where I want it to go, at the distance I want, I cut a line across the face of the sight at that point. Then I go out to the next long range distance, cut a line and so on.

When I get the gun home, there are several choices to make. My eyes do not see red well against the black of the front sight, S&W’s old red insert system would be wonderful except it doesn’t stand out for me. I find flat white and very pale yellow work best for me. So I use acrylic based paint...deepen the cut lines and fill them with the acrylic. That stands out very well in most light conditions. And surprisingly the acrylic lasts a long time. And when necessary it is easy to refresh the color.

Having enough light on each side of the back sight, when the front sight is centered is critical! Many shooters think they are not very good at handgunning...when it is really the back sight isn’t open enough. I know as I got older I had to open my back sights more. To allow two good sized strips of light to show up on either side of the front sight. Make sure that all planes of the sights are straight and flat. The top of the front sight should be perfectly flat (even if it is a round sight, there should be no canting or sloping to one side or the other on the top of it) also the sides of the front sight should be straight and parallel. The notch in the back sight should have straight sides and a absolutely flat top. The lines cut into the front sight have to be ‘again’ straight and parallel...all this is very important because any discrepancy magnifies itself as the range lengthens.

Keith states very clearly that the test of any gun’s accuracy potential is it’s long range abilities hitting distant targets. The last long range coyote I shot was at near 200 yards. I normally do not shot at anything living at long range, over 100 to 125 yards...a little longer if it is a set shot. But coyotes are an exception to my rule. This particular animal was moving slowly across a land rise, about half way down, he stood out in his dark coat against very light ground and tan/yellowed out grass. Holding the front sight up in the back sight one white line high and placing the ‘yote on top but under his nose, with the first shot the bullet struck at his feet....he jumped side ways and started down the swell toward me. This time I used the black between that line and the top of the next white line, aiming under his nose and the 180 grain 357 nailed him in the hind quarters. He rolled butt over tea kettle down the rest of the swell. When he got to the bottom and tried to pick himself up, but his back legs and hind quarters stayed down.

Holding just above the second white line, the third shot hit beside him and the fourth hit him thru the shoulder and he was dead when I got to him. Two hits out of four at long range.....why so good? Luck....? Keith states the man who practices often gets lucky...so then the person who practices very often gets lucky very often...this particular load I used on the ‘yote was a 180 Remington scalloped softnosed hollow point running around 1400 fps plus from the 8 and 3/8ths inch S&W mod.27. I buy this bullet in bulk from MidwayUSA. And so far have put about three thousand thru this gun at that velocity...and an untold number of cast bullets....at all ranges out to...too far....all this is practice.

The other thing that I gather from Keith’s writings is that he used one caliber over long periods of time. From the year 1928 till 1955 when the 44 magnum came out Keith used heavy loaded 44 specials...using basically the same bullet also over those years.....you get to know bullet drop when you work with the same caliber handgun over long periods of time... He used the 45 Colt from around 18 years of age to 29 years of age....the 32-20 from very young well into his 20s......practice gives experience, experience gives confidence, confidence strengthens ability. Want to learn long range accuracy...practice starts it.

Since in this day and age...we shooters tend to have a number of handguns and a number of loads for each...getting used to long range could be a long process, playing with too many loads and calibers at the same time doesn’t allow the shooter to get a simpatico with his gun and load. But if you pick one gun and load and work with that for long range over a extended period those 'lucky hits' start to get closer together. Eventually you begin to get good quickly with other bullet weights and calibers.

This particular 357 S&W is excellent for that work....when I'm rusty it's the one I dig out of the safe and go to work with. It is also a premier hunting gun for mid-sized to smaller game. Unlike some others I have no problem hunting deer sized game on down with heavy loaded 357s. But again my range on such animals is at the very most 100 to 125 yards or so. Coyotes, wild or feral dogs and such, are an exception to the self-imposed range rule for me. If I can see them, I make it hot for them...especially with this gun.

My other self-imposed rule is as I have stated before....'Paco's Rule..." for every yard I might shoot at game out to the furthest, I shoot one round for each yard with the load I'm going to use. And not at the gun range but out in the field if at all possible...at known and unknown ranges. 125 yards...125 shots minimum out to that yardage....200 yards, 200 rounds...etc....

Heavy bullets may shoot higher but they are better at keeping their down range velocity and power, they drive deeper into the target, and keep their accuracy better out to long range. The initial velocity for lite bullets for the caliber, in handguns may be fantastic...but they shed velocity faster then you need over long range. We put up a four by four plywood target and had a small shelf nailed into it. On that shelf we taped two thick very wet telephone books inside a plastic cover. None of the .357 magnum 125 grain bullets at 1600 to 1700 fps muzzle velocity, completely penetrated those books at a simple 100 yards. The 180 grain Remington bullet and the 173 grain hard cast Keith bullet, both went threw the two books and the plywood backing.

Some of the deadliest 357 mag commercial loads I've used were the 125 jacketed hollow points at personal defense ranges....any time I carried a 357 in law enforcement I always carried the Remington 125 grain scalloped hollow point load. And at very close range on deer...a shot into the ribs was like killing with lightning.

That goes for a number of lightly constructed bullets designed for any caliber...close range fine, long range give me the heavy weights. How do you know which are lightly constructed...by the weight of the bullet?...Not always...we need to test them. What will they do to wet phone books at 100 yards (back the books up so there is compression in the target at the bullet strike), what will they do at 150 yards. Don't think you could hit a phone book at 150 yards with a handgun? You will if you practice with gallon plastic bottles at long range, you can see when you have hit them because the top blows upwards and the water creates a spout.....Also the damage to the jug tells you different information about the bullet.

Does the bullet punch thru with a good sized exit...or does it disintegrate inside the bottle...in other words an entrance but no exit. Does it rip the back side wide open...? Try freezing a water filled gallon plastic bottle...I use milk jugs... then shoot thru at different ranges. The damage to the ice unlike just water, is very readable.

Lots of interesting things can be told by bullet performance at the target out to ranges not normally thought of as handgun territory, with targets that tell a story of bullet performance. And of course testing is also practice and fun. Wet phone books for example always give the bullets their full expansion potential at the range they hit at...at close range for example the Hydra-Shok JHP (scorpion like center post in the hollow point) 135 grain 9mm by Federal, always expands and mushrooms perfectly. The same with other hot shot hollow points. But I found that if I wrap denim and leather around the books so the bullet has to penetrate that first....some hollow points will not expand but pencil thru. Luckily the Federal Hydra-Shok expands going into anything. More on this in an article I’m doing on small handguns and ammo for personal protection. It also took over 2200 pages to stop the Hydra-Shok. Nice!

I loaded the Remington 180 grain scalloped hollow pointed bullet to 1700 plus feet per second out of my Winchester levergun, and fired it at 15 feet into 5 thick wet phone books...this is a handgun bullet and I have tested it all the way down to 1000 fps and it still expands. I figured it would come apart at this high rifle velocity...but surprisingly it held together into 5500 pages....mushroomed nicely and penetrated over 14 inches of books before it stopped. Leaving a base shank and a mushroom of only a quarter inch+ in depth and at 48 caliber for that velocity. At 150 yards it penetrated 10 inches of books and was 57 caliber with a shank of 3/8 s of an inch, I figure at that range the velocity was still around 1400 fps. This is a premier bullet at bulk prices, get yours before MidwayUSA realizes there excellence and raises the price!

This bullet also has the configuration of a pointed round nose...it’s down range drop is excellent. With a B.C. of around .240.....Speer’s drop tables tells a fine story...at 1400 fps from my S&W N-Frame, with a 100 yard zero, it is 8 inches down at 150 yards, and under two feet at 200 yards. Out of my rifle it is down 5 inches at 150 yards and only 15 inches at 200 with a 100 yard zero. Actually I give it a 2 ½ inch high at 100 yards, from the Winchester, and then in actual field tests it is down only 8 ½ inches at 200 yards with a zero at 150 yards...that’s with a muzzle velocity of 1725 fps. And with my Ashley Outdoors Ghost sights...hitting is easy even with my eyes out to long range.

Handgun bullets usually run B.C.s of .120 in lite bullets and to around .240 for the heavy weights. At 1300 to 1500 fps the drop figures for all calibers with high B.C.s are surprisingly close to each other, out to 200 yards and still within reason out to 400 yards. At that velocity a .240 B.C. bullet no matter the caliber from 38 to 45....with a 100 yard zero will be down 8 inches at 150 yards, 20 inches at 200 yards, 70 inches at 300 yards and 155 inches at 400 yards. Sounds like a lot, but remember I said in the beginning not to worry over drop because your front sight controls it.....the second line on my S&W 357 puts the 180 grain Remington bullet on at 225+ yards and the bottom of the sight blade puts the bullet on at 400 yards. Now the apogee (height at mid line 150 yards) for the 300+ yard zero is around 25 inches, but who cares. When you walk them into the target, windage is the important concern. When you have the lines or bars set into your front sight, bullet drop becomes a non problem, just pick the right spot on the front sight, held even with the top of the back sight, and put the target on top.