Longish Range Handgun

357 is probably your best bet. The longer barrels are easier to hit with. I would not even consider a 4” and would merely settle for a 6” double action. The single actions can be had with longer barrels but a lot of folks don’t like single actions for some reason. With practice though a .357 is not terribly hard to get hits with at a hundred yards. I once sunk a white domestic duck on a pond at over 300 on the 3rd shot with a lowly Taurus.

As much as I dislike his videos, you might want to check out Hickok45 on YouTube. His backyard range is unbelievable and he always puts shots on the plates at longer range just to prove it can be done. It doesn’t take anything special, I just takes a well practiced trigger finger and a steady hand. Hickok can give you ideas on the guns to get. My vote would be (in this order of preference)
Blackhawk 357
686
Super Blackhawk 44
Super Redhawk 44
Gp100 357
Witness match 10mm
Witness match 9mm
Rock ultra 10mm
Taurus PT99
Taurus PT100

Throw a couple Colt revolvers in for good measure. I don’t like the new ones much but it’s for a reason even I find silly and I’m the one who harbors hatred for Colt because of the silliness.

I have mostly big game hunting guns (10mm/44/454/460) any of which can handle 100 yards easily but id throw the 5.7 fn in there for 100 yard shooting. With the factory fn ammo (vmax bullets) is amazingly accurate. Ive never paid more than 20 bucks for 50 rounds either but I bought a lot years ago. No recoil either. Useless imo for what many want to use it for, but it's a varmint rifle that fits the hip.

I also love the 10 mm and have since way before it was "common". As a matter of fact for years I had about two options for factory ammo. (And about a many options for the gun itself) It's good for whitetail but also great for SD. Available in the smaller more common semi autos. Glock has probably made more than anyone. Non stop producing since it was introduced. Tanfoglio too but in far smaller numbers. Many 1911s made in it too. Nowadays the xd/ rock island/ Ruger/ Sig 220 etc are available too. Even fk brno has one

The others are fine too. 357/44/454/480/460/500 etc. But unless I was big game hunting (and I do) I would probably not go that route. Both because of recoil and weight. Even my empty snub 686 plus weighs more than a fully loaded (16 rounds) Glock 6 inch.

I always ring the 12x24 100 yard steel with whatever gun I'm shooting. Cutting holes or ringing steel at that range isn't difficult for most service guns. Just for us as operators. The bigger rounds just offer the power to actually do something at those ranges after it gets there

Any handgun can be shot out to 100 yards relatively easy. I would pick something with a nice trigger and go from there.

Many moons ago when I got into IHMSA handgun silhouette competition, I started competing with a 6" S&W Model 19, 357 Magnum. There was enough adjustment in the sights to reliably hit the 200 meter rams with the sights on the target.

Lots of magnum revolvers larger than 357 Magnum are capable of hitting out to 200 meters but in IHMSA, reliably knocking down the rams at 200 meters took a heavier bullet than normally used in a 357 Magnum. The high speed and flatter trajectory of the magnum round was part of the key.

I had to press my S&W Model 25-5 into service for one match. For the 200 meter ram, I had to aim about 20 feet above the berm to hit the 200 meter rams. If I hit the ram, it usually fell, but with the rainbow trajectory of the 45 Colt round, it was difficult to hit the target reliably.

You can do it with any handgun. I occasionally shoot my 45acp s&w shield out to 70 yds (farthest shot on my home range) with good results. Just requires more focus on getting the shot off just right. I like to use my blackhawks .44spl and 41 mag for long distance handgun shooting as it double as practice for handgun hunting. I figure if I can ring steel at 100 then When A deer pops out at 50 I should be able to make a precise shot with confidence.
Good for you for wanting to shoot farther. Most people seem to only shoot handguns at very close range.
Edit: I’d go as far as to say I get bored shooting any closer that 20yds. I am are more interested in shooting longer ranges. Currently trying to find a range that does silhouettes

My favorite is a 357 gp100 with 4" barrel in single action mode, for distance shooting. We sometimes have a little fun at the range and shoot 300 yard steel with handguns, the 357 and 45s (colt and acp) make the steel ring when you hit it.

d

My brother and I used to regularly shoot 100 yards with revolvers. Super Blackhak, 6" Security Six and 6 1 /2" 29 were the regulars with a 4 3/4" Stainless Blackhawk used occasionally.
Sandbagged, groups in the 4 to 6" range were common. At the time of our last trip we were in our late thirties, neither needing glasses. I took his Super out a year ago and got five of five hits on the B27. Won't tell the group size but for 75 year old eyes it was a good "pattern". Have fun with it.

If paper or steel is the target, than you need nuttin' more than a good .357. Hunting out to 100 yards generally requires something bigger.

Trashyshoots said:

Any handgun can be shot out to 100 yards relatively easy. I would pick something with a nice trigger and go from there.

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This is absolutely the case. If just target shooting at 100 yards just about any handgun will suffice; even 9mm and .45 ACP. We instructors often would shoot such distances with our service pistols after the regular LE personnel had all qualified and left the range.

A longer sight radius, such as a 6” barrel or greater, can make it easier.

Trashyshoots said:

Any handgun can be shot out to 100 yards relatively easy. I would pick something with a nice trigger and go from there.

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Yep, no need for anything special. Scoring hits at 100yds will depend more on the shooter than anything else. Though a full sized revolver with a 4" or longer barrel is going to be better than any service auto.

DMW1116 said:

The 686 is one I was looking at anyway. Any reason the 686 is listed above the GP 100?

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Because I had a bad experience with Ruger DA revolvers that I can’t shake. The 686 is a bit lighter and they seem a bit more refined. They are realistically about the same in form and function, the 686 has a better trigger, the GP100 seems a little bit more durable with nuclear loads but not either case by an extreme margin.

Had a six inch steel at 100 yards. Was fun to shoot at unsupported with the Single Six. I'd hit it one or two out of six more often than I'd get skunked. What was humbling was knowing the gun was capable of hitting it six out of six every time, every miss was operator error.

My long ranger is an 8-3/8" S&W model 57. The 41 magnum cartridge carries a lot of pop at longer ranges with top end loads, and mine is superbly accurate with a great trigger.

WestKentucky said:

Because I had a bad experience with Ruger DA revolvers that I can’t shake. The 686 is a bit lighter and they seem a bit more refined. They are realistically about the same in form and function, the 686 has a better trigger, the GP100 seems a little bit more durable with nuclear loads but not either case by an extreme margin.

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Strength is the same. For the same barrel length, weight is also the same.

One of my most accurate handguns is a Ruger DA.

Trashyshoots said:

Any handgun can be shot out to 100 yards relatively easy. I would pick something with a nice trigger and go from there.

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Yep.

I've hit frying pans at 240yards with a p226, a smith model 10, and a sig 239.

These days at 60+ yards, I find the easiest for me is an L frame (586). Most of that is probably trigger.

I have a 7" 686 with a Burris Fastfire iii. Banging steel out to 200 yards is pretty easy with it.

7.5" SBH .44magnum. Longer barrels are your friend for longer range pistol shooting.

You may want to look at the thread on the Korth 45

all it takes is practice

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cfullgraf said:

Many moons ago when I got into IHMSA handgun silhouette competition, I started competing with a 6" S&W Model 19, 357 Magnum. There was enough adjustment in the sights to reliably hit the 200 meter rams with the sights on the target.

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Cfullgraf, what you said about sight adjustment for tipping over the 200 meter rams brought a smile to my face as it brought back some fond memories. When my wife and I were into IHMSA back in the '80s, she shot "Production Revolver Class" with a 10.5" Ruger Super Silhouette (Super Blackhawk), and naturally she had to keep raising the revolver's rear sight as she progressed from the 50-meter chickens, to the 100-meter pigs, to the 150-meter turkeys, and finally to the 200-meter rams. I don't remember the sight adjustment for the pigs and turkeys (we have it written down somewhere), but I remember when my wife was tipping over 200-meter steel rams with her 44 Magnum, its rear sight was "22 clicks up" from where it was for the 50-meter chickens.
She was shooting 220gr Sierra "Silhouette" bullets over large charges of 2400, and I don't think she ever lost a ram to a hit with that load. For that matter, during one shoot, I even watched through my binocular when my wife messed up and skipped a bullet off the ground 20 or so feet in front of a ram, but the bullet hit the ram and tipped it over anyway!

My Ruger 38 snubbie, double action, steel at 90 yards.