In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.

"The Magnum"

idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
edited August 2002 in General Discussion
For all you History Channel junkies out there....

"Modern Marvels" on the History Channel will be featuring the history and development of the .44 Magnum cartrige and the guns that are chambered for it. The commercials state that it will stop a rhino in its tracks and can hit a target "six football fields away".

The show will air at 10/9c on the History Channel on Wednesday August 21.
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,690 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It will hit from 6 football fields. I saw a guy on tv, some old black and white. It might have been Elmer Keith. He started at 100 yards with a .38 snub, and was hitting about a 12 inch square target. Then he got back to 250 yards with the .38. I know this sounds like bs and it could have been trick photography, but it looked for real. Then he went back to 300 yards with the .44 mag. Eventually he got back to 600 yards and he hit that target using iron sights. He had to give it some serious elevation. Of course they didn't show if he hit on the first shot or if it took 50 shots. Y'all will laugh at me but it looked for real to me.

    "Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Elmer was mocked by many when he stated he'd killed a deer at six hundred yards with his .44 magnum.....(Hell, He was there!), I believe he did it.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    When a bullet leaves the muzzle at 1400 fps it takes 1.15 seconds to go 6 football fields. It slows along the route, meaning we're closer to 2 seconds. But with a little elevation, this is not a surprising time or distance to me at all. After all, they don't say how BIG a target. I imagine they mean it maintains some accuracy, which I imagine it does. Don't forget, Ruger chambered a carbine in .44 magnum too.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

    Edited by - offeror on 08/21/2002 16:01:26
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,690 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    This target was, I remember, about a foot square. As I think back, it may have been a big round balloon he was popping. He had it set up on a fence, it was out in the desert somewhere. In fact, if they are advertising on the History Channel that this gun will hit at 6 football fields, I bet they'll show this footage I am describing. It is amazing.

    "Not as deep as a well, or as wide as a church door, but it is enough."
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • rameleni1rameleni1 Member Posts: 998 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    600 yards, with a .44 mag, iron sights, 1 foot square target?. I would bet a months pay against anyone hitting that target. I would even give 10 shots.

    Rameleni1
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • agloreaglore Member Posts: 6,012
    edited November -1
    I believe Elmer Kieth took a mule deer at 600 yards with the 44 Special. He has also taken Caribou at 400 yards with the 44 Mag. Read his book "Hell, I was there" or "Sixguns by Kieth". The man was a remarkable shot with a handgun.

    AlleninAlaska

    http://www.outdoor-o-rama.com

    He who dares not offend cannot be honest.
    -- Thomas Paine
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • robsgunsrobsguns Member Posts: 4,581 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    ramelini1,
    Are you sure you wanna bet that much? Practice is everything. You are not giving a guy bad odds. Put it this way, would you stand at 600 yds. and let someone shoot at you with a .44 mag., with 10 shots to hit you, if they had nothing but this one gun, and practiced with it the amount that Elmer Keith did? I know I sure wouldnt. I wouldnt take the bet, cause I'm not interested in those odds for a months pay I cant afford to lose, but if I did have the money to lose, I sure would like to take that gamble.

    SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • RembrandtRembrandt Member Posts: 4,486 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The way I remember hearing Elmer's 600 yard deer shot, he fired several rounds to get the range and elevation correct before dropping the deer. I wonder what the drop was a that distance? I have taken an Antelope at 200 yards with a .44 mag.....wouldn't want to try anything beyond that.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • rameleni1rameleni1 Member Posts: 998 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wouldn't stand at 600 yards, and let someone shoot at me with a .44 mag. With my luck, he would shoot me with the first shot. If anyone wants to take up my bet, let me know. I could use the money. 600 yards, at a 1 foot square target, with a .44 mag pistol, 10 shots. Judge Dread can hold the target for proof.

    Rameleni1
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • 4wheeler4wheeler Member Posts: 3,441
    edited November -1
    Allen I seen the same show,I do not know how many shots he took but he hit the target,looked real to me.Pratice,pratice,pratice.

    "It was like that when I got here".
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • IconoclastIconoclast Member Posts: 10,515 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    rameleni, Keith's prowess with the .44 was well-documented by many witnesses on many occasions. I don't know of anyone so dedicated to this caliber today, but if he were still around, I'd take your bet.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I saw this show tonight and it was pretty good.The guy shooting that .454 Casull about got his eye blacked from the re-coil I didnt know that round re-coiled quite that bad.Something I never knew was the Walker-Colt was the most powerful production pistol until the 1980's pretty amazing.Learn something about guns everyday.Good show.

    Eric S. Williams
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • doomsknight62doomsknight62 Member Posts: 239 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I only own modern firearms ( Glock, HK, etc.. ), but most of the manuals state that a bullet can be deadly up to one mile away...5280 feet, or 1760 yards. Because of this, I'm not surprised that it can be done. But I do acknowledge that you would have to be one hell of a good shot to strike a target that far away. Or just be really good at physics!

    " God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    E.Williams--The gentelman's name was Jan Libourel (sp?). He's a gun writer. I would know that since I am guilty of reading all of the "gun and hunting rags".

    The commercial for the show suggested that they were going to spend the whole show talking about the .44. Instead they discussed the development of all magnum cartriges and their impact upon history. The 600-yard shot that the commercial referred to was the 600-yard shots that the Army Marksmanship Unit at Ft. Benning takes with their custom built .300 Win Mag rifles. The "rhino-shot" was in reference to the original Holland & Holland magnum rifles built for African safaris. The show wasn't what they portrayed it to be but it was just as good as the typical gun stories that the History Channel produces. Now I wish I would have recorded it.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Idsman75 I have it on tape if you would like me to dub you a copy.I record all the Tales of the Gun and American Shooters I see come on so I figured I would go ahead and get this too.

    Eric S. Williams

    Edited by - E.Williams on 08/22/2002 00:13:22
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    E.Williams--I'll be heading back to Iowa in mid-September. Do you mind if I contact you then about a copy of the tape?

    idsman75@peoplepc.com
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • offerorofferor Member Posts: 8,625 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think I saw that clip of Jan Libourel shooting the big magnum before, and he has an unusual style. He deflects the recoil by letting it bend his elbow and allowing the gun to jump back to one side of his head (past his ear), rather than trying to hold it down straight-armed or allowing it to come straight up toward his head. Which means, of course, lowering the gun back on target from one side, rather than just dropping the muzzle straight down for a follow-up shot.

    - Life NRA Member
    "If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • E.WilliamsE.Williams Member Posts: 1,101 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Idsman75 no problem at all just give me a holler and I will get it to you I will include some of the Tales of the Gun or American Shooters on the tape too if you like I have mostly all of the Bob Munden and Jerry Michulek shows.. OFFEROR I noticed that myself aout him just letting it go and moving his head.The other writer who was with him was more conventional and resisted the re-coil and did a better job and he was a smaller guy but to each his own I guess.

    Eric S. Williams

    Edited by - E.Williams on 08/22/2002 00:50:02
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    offeror--With a well placed shot from a .454 who needs a follow-up? heh heh heh
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pickenuppickenup Member Posts: 22,844 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    It was a pretty good show.

    If I knew then, what I know now.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.