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SRO - Larry Weishuhn

Writer's picture: Jeff RiceJeff Rice


I know it is not the case, but SRO to me stands for Special Revolver Optic!

 

I am a hunter as opposed to a shooter, I have never shot in a formal shooting competition, nor do I ever intend to.  I greatly appreciate those who are competitive and like competing in various and many shooting matches.  I shoot because I like shooting and to become proficient with the firearms I use to pursue game animals.  When hunting with handguns I use revolvers and occasionally those which break-open.  I spent several years doing the PR/Media for Thompson/Center Arms, until they were sold. I then moved over to Ruger where I served as one of the original Ruger Ambassadors, this when that was Ms. Kelly Kimbrough and me.  These days I primarily shoot Taurus Raging Hunter double-action revolvers.  While I appreciate semi-auto pistols, I only own a couple of .45 ACPs Model 1911s.  I consider them my personal defense guns.  That said I have great confidence in my revolvers for such situations as well.  I may not be able to run 10 to 15 shots rapid fire, but with my .44 Mags, .454 Casulls and .460 S&W I can shoot accurately at much longer ranges, than most shooting semi-auto pistols.  I make no apologies about doing what I do, how I do it, and why.

 

I started hunting with handguns, revolvers and single-shots back in the past century now well over 50 years ago.  The largest game I have taken with my handguns include American bison, Alaskan brown bear, moose, elk and caribou. I have also taken many deer, numerous pronghorn, a few black bear, as well as many hogs, javelinas, and exotic species found in Texas.  I too, hunted plains game with handguns in Africa.

 

Handguns to me are “hunting tools” and I dearly love hunting with them!  For handguns to make the hunting grade they have to be accurate at ranges out to 100 or more yards.  I enjoy shooting them at longer ranges as well, but only at steel plates.

 

The current handguns I hunt with include .44 Mag, .454 Casull and .460 S&W Mag.   All three are chambered in Taurus Raging Hunters. I appreciate their accuracy, their integral in muzzlebrake and the integral Picatinney rail for mounting my Trijicon SRO red-dot sights.

The only change I have made to the “off the sales shelf” revolvers is having the trigger worked on in both my .44 Mag and .454 Casull.

 

Typical of every .44 Mag revolver I can ever remember shooting, my Taurus Raging Hunter loves Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Custom commercial loads.  My .454 Casull shoots equally well with both 240-grain and 300-grain Hornady XTP Custom.  My .460 S&W Mag prefers Hornady’s Handgun Hunter, 200-grain Monoflex loads. With each of these three guns topped with Trijicon SRO 2.5 MOA Red-Dot sights from a solid bench rest I can shoot less than 1.5-inch groups at 100-yards.  And that’s really saying a lot, because the 2.5 MOA red dot covers 2.5-inches at 100-yards.  So I am shooting tighter groups at a hundred yards than what I’m looking at on the target.  I am continually amazed when this happens.  But it happens often enough so it certainly is not an “accident”!

Recently during the waning days of the 2023-2024 Texas Managed Land Deer Permit season I was hunting on the Cotton Ranch in northeast Texas.  During mid-day my hosts David and Edgar Cotton were shooting a Mossberg Patriot Predator 6.5 PRC topped with a Trijicon AccuPoint scope using Hornady 143-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter at the 500-yard steel plate target out front of the lodge.  Both were hitting it with every shot. 

 

After watching them for a while I asked if they minded if I shot.  David started to had the rifle to me, and I shook my head. “Want to try it with my .44 Mag.”  I knew sighted in as it was my 240-grain XTP load would drop about 26-feet.  I had shot that distance in the past with my .44 Mags, including the one I was currently shooting, but then it was topped with a 2.5-7x long-eye relief scope. I had at the FTW Ranch hit the 500-yards two out of six shots. With the long-eye relief scope I was able to use both the horizontal and vertical crosshairs to help me estimate the hold over and the wind drift.  But now I had a Trijcon SRO red dot sight, albeit one that at 500-yards covered essentially 13-inches. Using that dot I estimated raising the red dot 24 dots above the center of the 16-inch steel plate, cocked the hammer and sent the Hornady down range, while David watched through the spotting scope to see where my bullet would hit. 

 

I pulled the trigger. “Just over the top by about 6-inches or less.”  My second shot hit almost exactly where the first shot did.  I fired 4 more shots.  By then the wind had picked up and changed directions. The next four shots were just off to the left two were high and two were low. Said David “Had the steel plate been 36-inches in size, at least two of your shots would have hit it.” 

 

I loaded 6 more 240-grain XTP rounds.  This time I backed off to the 100-yard target.  I clover-leafed three in the “X” ring and three within a half-inch of the first three shots, again shooting a group tighter than the 2.5-inch sized red-dot covered the target at that distance. 

 

The wind velocity had increased to a point where it was going to be really difficult to estimate wind drift at 500-yards.  I loaded another 6 rounds and decided to try the 300-yard target.  I help approximately 7-feet above the 16-inch steel target, estimated as best I could with using the 2.5 MOA red dot and the steel target as references.  I held into the wind for approximately 12-inches of wind drift.  When all looked good, I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger.  The bullet hitting steel was a most welcome sound.  I shot a second shot and barely missed it to the right.  The wind was quartering a bit from left to right.  The third shot hit the edge of the steel plate, the fourth, fifth and sixth, barely missed.

 

I have no intention of shooting at any animal past more than 125-yards with my .44 Mag. I know out to that distance I can put a bullet into the vitals of a deer, essentially a 10-inch circle. I admit shooting at those longer distance is fun whether one hits the target or not…well actually it is more fun if you actually hit those longer range steel targets.

 

I use Trijicon’s SRO red dot sights because with them I can get on target quickly. And I can shoot with both eyes open, should I wish to do so.  To quickly get on target I point my revolver’s tip of the front sight on the animal near the top of the “window” I’m looking through, then slowly bring the pistol down until the red dot appears on the target or animal.  Doing so, it will.  Initially it might take some time learning to do this, but with practice doing this becomes automatic.

 

When hunting in bright sunlight I tend to increase the intensity of the red dot, then as the light starts to fade I decrease the intensity.  Conversely early in the morning, I start with a less intense red dot and increase the intensity as the light increases.

 

Hopefully that will give you some idea why I strongly believe SRO stands for Special Revolver Optic!  Once you put a SRO sight on your revolver you will indeed feel the same way!

 

 

 

 

 



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