Sport 240
I, too, have read many, many times over the past 40 years that a 1000 ft/lbs of bullet energy is the minimum energy that should be used as a rule of thumb for clean kills on deer.
Its a good thing Elmer Keith didnt believe that
or he wouldnt have been able to kill a deer at a measured 600 yards with a .44 magnum 6-shooter that the client he was guiding in Idaho wounded with a rifle. Back then, I remember reading comments made by a good many individuals and possibly-envious gun-writers questioning whether or not the event ever happened. However, this kill was witnessed by several other men along with the hunting party..
Over the years from then til now, Ive read various nimrod and gun-writer comments to the contrary, but I remember READING Elmer Keiths column in either The American Rifleman or Guns & Ammo Magazine wherein he wrote, but never bragged, about the feat. Few people, today, remember what a fantastic handgun shot Elmer Keith was.
Elmer Keith was many things, but one thing he WAS NOT was a liar. If he said he killed a deer at 600 yards with a .44 magnum 6-shooter
then he killed a deer at 600 yards with a .44 magnum 6-shooter. And, obviously, there wasnt anything NEAR 1,000 ft/lbs of bullet energy left in that 245 grain hard-cast .44 caliber Keith-type bullet backed by 22 grains of 2400 rifle powder (Keiths favorite .44 magnum load) after flying 600 measured yards.
I corresponded with Mr. Keith back in the early to mid-1960s before his death
and recently found a letter from him in the bottom of the big drawer of my loading bench. The typed letter, signed simply Keith in blue ink, was dated May 28, 1965. In the letter he was advising me on the best, most accurate deer load for my Model 70 in .338 Winchester Magnum. His deer load was a charge of 74 grains IMR4831 and a 275 grain Speer soft-point using either CCI magnum or Federal 215 primers. He practically guaranteed me this load would shoot into an inch or less at 100 yards. While he seemed immune to recoil, that load was really hard on my shoulder off the bench rest
even at my age then
in my late 20s.
As was pointed out previously, your .50 caliber rifle makes large holes in the game you shoot
and its been my experience with both the .338 Win. Mag. and my old Ruger .44 magnum Carbine that big bullets make big holes
and big bullets & holes seem to have a proportionally GREATER EFFECT on game compared to smaller holes.
My little Ruger .44 magnum carbine I bought back in the fall of 1968 for a deer hunt on the far-most, eastern tip of Sugar Island, located in the river on the Saute (pronounced Sue) between Saute St. Marie, Michigan, USA and Saute St. Marie, Ontario, Canada, dropped a 200+ pound Kentucky whitetail buck on-the-spot
the huge buck dropped like a bag of rocks and never moved out of his tracks when the 240 grain .44 caliber Nosler Hollow-Point hit him on the point of his shoulder
AND that bullet BARELY had 1,000 ft/lbs by the time it got to him, yet its effect of devastating!
Im convinced that the DIAMETER of the bullet, regardless of velocity, has a great deal to do with the bullets pure killing power. As others have already said
this 1,000 ft/lbs. isnt a hard & fast rule
its simply a guideline which changes, depending on the caliber size of the bullet that hits the animal.
At least, thats my opinion based on many years of hunting.
Strength & Honor
Ron T.
