Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 500 Yard Revolver Quest

I have had this goal for some time now, but finally made the time to see it through.
This revolver is a Ruger GP-100 in 357 Magnum that has been customized by Chris Rhodes.
The Franken-Ruger is a free floated barrel that is running through an aluminum shroud. The shroud gives you a place to rest the front part of the handgun that does not change point of impact down range. A free-floated barrel in a revolver.
Is this gun for the traditional revolver shooter? No.
Is it a great set-up for hunting? Yes!
It is very easy and accurate to shoot in field conditions.
That is whole purpose behind the Franken-Ruger, accurate field shooting and hunting.
I had never considered a Ruger revolver for precision revolver shooting until shooting a couple of Bayside’s Franken Ruger prototypes last September. When you shoot 1” groups and under with a revolver at 100 yards, you know you are shooting something special.
My 500 yard goal was for 2 MOA (Approximately 10") or under at 500 yards.
I believed I should be able to shoot 1 MOA (5 inches) at 500 yards because of the way I shot the two Franken-Ruger's in South Carolina.
My beliefs were confirmed in shooting it at 500 yards.
If you check load data compared to the muzzle velocity I am shooting (A moderate load at 1234 fps with the 170 grain Sierra) I am not at max.
It is the combination of the quality of the build, the load, the functional capability of the FR to have two point rest with a revolver, the shooter, and the spotter's ability to call correction - A system's approach to accuracy in the field.
I still plan to take Bog-Gear and run out to 500 yards in 100 yard increments on steel, but I have some other fish to fry before I get to that.
I used a Leupold 2.5-8 Long Eye Relief handgun scope for this project and Burris Signature Zee Rings and added 40 MOA through the ring inserts.
I would have preferred more magnification but the Burris 3-12 LER has hardly no internal MOA to speak of compared to the Leupold 2.5-8, but you can get the Burris with the Ballistic Plex Reticle and it has parallax adjustment.
I was very close to putting a Leupold 4.5-14 (Either a VX-3 LR or a Mark 4 rifle scope) on it.
It is kind of amazing what you can do with lower magnification (8x) if you have a way to consistently bracket something well. 63 MOA for hitting at 500 yards.
Frank Bliss of Extremunition built the ammo for the 500 yard project.
He also set up the steel target, wind flags as we were shooting at his ranch. Both Erik and Frank were spotting for me.
The load was 1.615 coal, (over SAAMI spec) H110/14.6gn at 1234 feet per second, Winchester brass full length resized new brass, Winchester Magnum primers, Sierra 170 grain Tournament Master bullets.
Lee factory crimp (enough to hold the bullet from moving).
Dillon press 1050b.
We loaded till pressure, backed off .1grain chronographed, got spread of 54 fps, then lengthened by .005, chrono'd, and got a spread of 4fps. Oehler 35P chronograph was used to determine speed.
The mirage was hideous and the wind was variable.
Hot, bright and generally a tough condition to shoot in.
We were using a Zeiss and Leupold HD spotting scope and no one could see impacts on the red steel, except for here and there when the conditions let up.
When I was shooting the 6-shot group in the video, we knew I had hit steel the first three times (We could hear the impacts), but we could not tell where.
Conditions let up and Frank saw the three shot group and told me to hold 8 O’clock on the edge of the white target. I did so quickly as possible to shoot in that condition.
The measurement of my hand from shooting finger to little finger is just under 3”. The first three shots on the red steel has a vertical under 4.5 inches.
Sub-MOA shooting at 500 yards with a Ruger revolver…Who would have thought it was possible...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyP...742NZg&index=1