It would be a disgrace to cover the subject matter of long range sixgunning without mentioning The Grand Old Man, Elmer Keith. Keith was the pioneer of the sport. Without his contributions to bullet and cartridge design, the world of sixguns would have surely progressed, but the pace and quality of said progression would have been undoubtedly crippled.

This past weekend I spent time with a great group of friends. We did some deer hunting, a lot of visiting, and some really serious gun trading. What more could you ask? So, what I’m about to tell you may sound like bragging. Okay...it is bragging. But what I will tell you later ought to make up for it just a little bit.

There are times when packing a full-size handgun just isn’t feasible. This is where the convenience of the pocket gun comes into play. A gun small enough to be carried discreetly in a pocket holster, yet large enough to shoot accurately. We’ll talk a bit about real-world accuracy with these guns in a minute.

Over sixty years ago a cowboy from Idaho began writing about his use of heavy bullets in single action revolvers. It has taken nearly that long for the idea to become generally accepted among the shooting public and the ammunition manufacturers. And truth be told, there are many who still have not gotten the message. At least now there are some ammunition companies who regularly produce heavy bullet loads for the big-bore sixguns. 

I have some scoped handguns chambered in rifle cartridges that are occasionally hauled to the field, and I suspect any notoriety I might have in the writing world, albeit minor, is associated with revolvers. I don’t mind this, as it is largely true that I do like and use them. However, in my beating heart rests a soft spot for fine rifles of blued steel and figured walnut, as well as a deep interest for the iconic lever action rifle. One of my all-time favorite rifles is the

When it comes to shooting, nothing fits the hand, or points more perfectly than single action sixguns. Single actions are safe too, so long as you heed the age-old adage of load one, skip one, load four, cock the hammer, then slowly let it down so the hammer rests on an empty chamber. If your single action has a transfer bar safety, like Ruger New Model Blackhawks, you’re good to go with six rounds. 

The pronghorn is America’s colloquial antelope. He’s known far and wide as the fastest land animal in the Western Hemisphere. They say he can run at speeds up to 60 MPH, reaching velocities that only a cheetah could surpass. This trait has earned them the name “speed goat.”

The .44 Magnum is one of my all-time favorite cartridges. But it hasn’t always been that way. We didn’t really get together until I got some firearms education and got enough nerve to do some experimentation...

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