You can tell who knows ballistics and who doesn't. That little .243 is totin over 3 times the energy at 600 yards that the 44 mag is. 😂😂
Don't let facts get in the way of a good arguement, carry on.
You have to use some form of measurement when having a conversation, the two common ones are speed and energy. You and I both know there is not a lot left at 600 yards out of a 6" pistol.
It sounds to me like you don't understand the full picture when we're talking about ballistics and penetration. Energy doesn't mean much in this situation; a non-expanding bullet actually requires very little energy to penetrate deeply. The key detail here is that at extended ranges and/or low velocity, bullets generally expand less or not at all, and can penetrate farther although they don't do as much peripheral damage. DD's 22 Short kills are a good example of a low velocity bullet that penetrates well specifically because it's not going fast enough to deform very much. Push that same bullet at 1500 fps instead, and you'll get much less penetration.
FPE is a very poor predictor of penetration. It's a measure of the bullet's potential to do work, but tells nothing about how the bullet will do that work, and is often misused by shooters as you are doing. This forum and many others have endless debates about FPE, with some saying it's arbitrary and meaningless, and others claiming you need xx amount to kill an animal; both sides are full of people who don't understand what FPE is or how it relates to bullets and terminal ballistics. Understanding what a particular bullet will do on target gives a much better idea of what we can expect for penetration, and a very low velocity (at 600 yards) .44 slug is extremely likely to not expand at all, and penetrate deeply. I have no doubt that the shot described could penetrate broadside through a deer.
However, some of your points are valid in that some things just get embellished, and I choose to take them with a grain of salt. I don't doubt that a shot like that can be made or was, but some of the specific details may not be exactly right. I wouldn't be surprised if the claimed 600 yards was something less, and that .60 caliber hole may have been a lot closer to meplat diameter or less through most of the deer. However I do believe the general points in the story could and did happen.
