I've been mulling over the idea of having a pistol that I can easily carry during deer season while I do farm chores. Should a good deer make itself available to me while out there, I can go bag it. In my article about the slim 10mm, I laid out this basis of this idea with a currently non-existent semi-auto, striker-fired, thin, 10mm Auto pistol with 5 inch barrel and a red dot. I still think that would be the best option. A 1911 would be an turnkey option and meets most of the criteria but building out a 10mm 1911 with a red dot is an expensive proposition. I could just learn to use the iron sights on my Kimber 10mm but I very much like the precision of a red dot. Milling the slide on a new Kimber is a lot harder due to internal safeties. It's a pain due to a conversion process.
Since the Kimber is out, I started looking at other options for the time being. I have two good choices that I already own. One is my Taurus Model 66 357 Magnum with a 4 inch barrel and the other is my SIG P226 with both 40 S&W and 357 SIG barrels. The SIG would need to to have the slide milled to mount my Burris Fastfire 3. I would also need to make sure I have ammunition available that will expand reliably for whatever one I chose. For the SIG, I have a box of Remington Golden Sabers in 357 SIG and very little good 40 S&W. Given that the P226 would need to be milled, I looked around for other mounting options for the Taurus.
The Taurus has adjustable sights from the factory but as it turns out, I found that AliExpress as a dedicated mount for common red dots. I haven't found any other dedicated mounts. I thought this website was sketchy but ordered one anyway. It turns out that it actually worked.
After the mount showed up, I attempted to install. I had to use some physical persuasion to drive the retainment pin in and sand down the tip of the pin but I got it. The Burris mounted up just fine and I was able to tighten without issue. You can see the marks I made with the punch. I am not a good gunsmith.
Ammunition selection matters. Thankfully, I had a box of Hornady's Custom 158gr XTP. It turned out to have tested well in LuckyGunner's gel testing in both 2 in and 4 in barrels. They got good expansion and 20+ inches of penetration from the 2 inch barrel. Here is their website. The 2 inch barrel chronographed around 1082 fps. I was able to zero the dot for 25 yards and I figured on around 1250 fps from the 4 inch barrel I have.
Looking over the ballistic chart, this load from the 66 should bag a deer out to 90 yards. The zero I chose was more for convenience but the chart showed an MPBR of 85 yards if we assume a 3 inch drop. A different zero would have gone farther but this is enough. If you held over you likely could drop the bullet in as at 100 yards, this zero is 5.5 inches down. That said, I have a small issue of the Fastfire I have is an 8 MOA dot. I don't remember why I chose that version but I wish I had the 3 MOA dot. At distance, that 8 MOA dot will be rather large. That said, its oddly a good choice since the vital zone on a deer is around 8 inches. At 100 yards, 8 MOA is 8 inches wide. Usually, folks shoot for a 6 inch zone but having the bigger dot will help me gauge distance. If the dot is about the same size as the deer, I should skootch in a few yards or 20. I've never taken pistol shots that far but this could be good practice. I'll need to order some more boxes of those Hornady's.
After zeroing, I shot a 5 shot group to see what I could do. I don't have a picture but it looked like around 2 to 2.5 inches. I think I need to practice but that requires more ammunition. For the interim, I will try to keep things below 50 yards.
I would still prefer to have a semi-automatic handgun given that's what I'm used to but this Taurus should do for the time being. I have a holster I've "customized" to fit with the dot installed. It's ugly but it holds. I'll carry this thing around this deer season to see how it works and if I get an opportunity to take a deer. I will want to spend more time with the Kimber but spending money on 10mm is an expensive proposition so it will sit. I think a revisit of this idea is merited for a later date.
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