Last Thursday morning, ~7:40 am. Cleveland Township, Columbia County, PA. 47 yards by laser to the tree she was standing near, double action (none of that cocking the hammer crap!) with my M657 S&W 41 mag. 210 grain Hornady XTP over 21.8 grains of H110.
Severely downhill shot. Admittedly, I pulled a bit left and high, hitting her square in the shoulder instead of the heart/lung region. It broke the onside shoulder and must have sent something into the spine there, as she dropped like a sack of potatoes and just slide downhill about 10 yards. Recovered the bullet just under the hide on the off side at the base of the neck.

This marks my best shot to date on a whitetail with a revolver. I was going to post pics, but the limit on picture size here is just too low.

Congratulations, the 41 magnum is a fine hunting cartridge and it sounds like you are making the best of it.

Excellent.....

Postimage.org is your friend.

One could wonder why if you had the ability to cock the hammer and possibly make a better shot, one would not.

Of course when I hunt glock I really have no choice.

Thats a nice shot though!

I'm starting to get to old to rely on irons at 50 yards any more with a handgun. Wish it wasn't so, but it is. It was some years back that 75-100 with irons went out the door too... a shame it tis.

Nice work. I did the same thing 2 years ago with my 657 MG-even very close to the same load and distance. I did cheat and shoot it single action though.
41 Mags work well and I was impressed with the XTP holding together well even after hitting some bone.

Well done, S&W's rule!

Very nicely done... What version of the 657 do you have?

I had 5 doe feed 15 yards from me opening day of the Pa. season over in Wayne County...course one can't shoot them any more till the following Saturday. Then on Saturday I had another 5 that burned me before I saw them and then an easy shot at a 4-point that of course I had to pass as he didn't have the 3 required points on one side...so went the season....

Great for you...Bob

Sorry, been out of the loop for months!!!

My move to DA shooting has been gradual over the last 20 years. It started with a custom, bobbed hammer, DAO, S&W M696 3 inch 44spl I had created by Teddy Jacobson (Actions by T) back in 1998. That gun shoots like a house a-fire and has killed a couple deer. Then I started taking concealed carry seriously and thinking real hard on the liability of carrying my, then favorite Kimber Compact 1911 single action auto. Over time, I realized I could shoot good DA revolver actions as good or better than any single action I had. IDK why, maybe my brain has too much to focus on to worry about the let-off of a SA?!

All this then lead to:
- selling all my SAs, included the above Kimber
- moving towards standardization in triggers and actions in almost all my handguns
- shooting all my revolvers the same way: every time, every draw, every target, no matter what the target is AND this includes hunting
- the only auto I have for carry is a Glock 19, and it too works basically the same way - draw and shoot (although I had a devil of a time mastering that trigger


Besides, I'll tell everyone that will listen: I think hunting with an iron sighted revolver and shooting DAO rivals or exceeds the skill level required for Archery. Ever hear of an archer battling a flinch?

I think there is no better challenge. My next goal: I'd like to score a DA fox with one of my 38s after calling it in with a mouth call not an electronic call.

All that said...........my eyes are starting to go too When the time comes, I might opt for a special lens on the dominant eye side that will put the focal length right at the front sight.

...I shoot better DA than SA when shooting DA guns...

Two weeks ago I had a target out at 35 yards and with three different S&W .41s, 657 4", 657 MG and a custom 5" 657 with six rounds per gun put 17 of 18 on a paper plate...the one that missed was by a 1/2"... and now my eyes suck also...

When shooting with MacKay Sagebrush in Idaho in 2013 and 14 we shot out to 780 yards DA...

Bob

I've also found I shoot better DA than SA. Your hand is in tension so holds the gun more steady. I haven't had a chance to do much shooting past 200 yds with a revolver, need to correct that one of these days.

It's a 657 no dash with a 6 inch regular lug barrel. It appears to have the TT & TH, but the previous owner must have had the trigger surface ground smooth- which I much appreciate. The previous owner also had it magna-ported with the regular twin ports, an action job, and the extra ball detent lock-up added. It shoots great.




Is your Mountain Gun pre-lock? if so....sweet! At the moment, I do not own any 5 inch S&Ws. I had a 627-0 that had a 5 inch barrel and I really came to like that length as an all around field gun. But I traded it away to another S&W forum member for a 4 inch Model 16 in 32 H&R.

Oh, and shooting out to 780 yards must have been a blast, pun intended

I believe all 657s had smooth triggers...

Yes, the 657MG was a pre-IL. The later 57MG had the IL....sad.

Shooting out in Idaho was beyond fun... Mackay posted pictures of the 780 yard target a short time ago.....it was a long way off... The year before I only had a 57 4" out there and we shot out to 500. Mackay never had shot DA at long range and once he did he became a believer. As Lott said, it keeps a strong even pressure on the gun each shot until the shot breaks.

Bob