gary reeder
in 1990 an old friend in the Henry mountains of Utah
Friday, February 12, 2021, 21:46

called me and asked if I still shot those big handguns. I told him I sure did. He said for me to get 5 of my friends with the big pistols and come on out to Utah and shoot some Bison. He had obtained 6 permits to take the Bison as they were destroying his farming equipment and tearing down his fences.

Two days later we were in Utah, high up in the Henry mountains. I had gathered together 5 of my friends that had hunted all over the world with me. Of the 6, two were using Dan Wesson 445 Super Mags, one was using a 45-70, one was using a 357 Herrett, I was using the prototype of what was to become our 450 GNR. At the time I was calling it the 458 Fireball as that was what I got with full power loads in a 12" barrel. The last fellow was using a 10" 357 Magnum Contender we had rechambered to 358 Winchester. Back then we didn't worry too much about losing power due to the short barrel, we were just having fun shooting big pistols. And the bigger the fireball at the end of the barrel, the better.

To get to the gist of this rambling story, Tom Thomasson, the young man with the 358 Winchester shot his buffalo from about 30 yards. The buff just trotted off. So Tom hit him again and again. After each shot Tom would rub his hand on his jeans trying to get some feeling in it. I think it took 6 or 7 shots but the Bison bull finally toppled over. I don't know what the power of that 10 inch 358 was but it was for sure not at full power.

We all got our Bison that weekend, 2 with the 445 Super Mag which took 3 or 4 shots each.
The fellow with the 357 Herrett shot his bull, which then trotted across a small creek and bogged down up to his belly in mud.

Mike Thompson, my gunsmith at the time used his Dan Wesson 445 on his buffalo.

Two of my guys were off on their own. They got their buffs but no pictures.
I managed a very lucky offhand shot on my buffalo who had been sleeping in a herd of cattle. As he trotted out past the cattle I took the shot and put him down.

This was my first Bison and one doesn't realize how really big they are until you see one up close. We got the rancher to bring his front end loader up and hoisted the big bull up to gut him.