WB
Back when Gary used to tote us to the Y-O
Wednesday, August 04, 2021, 09:07

we all befriended Bob Baker, one of Gary's old friends. One year Bob had the prototype M97 in .357. He had proofed it to close to 90k psi! I was not with him in person, but saw the video on his camera after the fact. His hunting buddy had it all on video. Bob rolled off the slow rolling truck in that back pasture west of Charlie Mill. This was a clever tactic to confuse the wary little Prince of the harem and about 20 pairs of very keen eyeballs. He rose to rest on one knee and at a measured 97 yds. and shot a single .357 round, taking a nice Indian Blackbuck offhand. First the distance with only iron sights, then "off-hand", and finally a .357?! I guess the little 100# Blackbucks don't take much killing but if you wound it and it slips away that's $2500 just gone. I'd never take the chance (I used a .338 GNR w/200 gr. at 2600 fps in the Encore pistol and a 2.5-8x Weaver - about the same distance). If you hanker for a .357 that is "IT" in my book. It far outclasses a vintage Python in performance and longevity at half the price. The M97 is in-between the Single-six and OM Ruger .357 frame sizes, where the M83 is bigger than the late .44 frame.