Practical long range handgun shooting

I think 150 is a good starting point, a seasoned shooter can  get a bull or two, and new shooters with some practice can get a round or two on the paper before getting too discouraged. I practice a lot at 50, only because that's all the neighborhood range has available.

Well, for my two cents: I zeroed my 44 mag S&W in at 100 yds with open sights free standing.  There are not many handgunners in my neck of the woods and many did not believe I could hit something at that distance.  I even had one non-believer say, "Give a catcher's mitt and I'll catch a 44 at 100 yds."  Not my ammo he wouldn't.  Anyway, I have only attempted to hit targets out to 150 yds, mainly because that's the extant of the ranges here.
I will say this though, that shooting has impressed some shooters into purchasing and shooting handguns at those distances.  Good luck and keep shooting.

I can't believe that one, oh, wait a sec, I gues I can,  the range master at our local police range is of the opinion that .44's and or .454's won't even make the 200 yard backstop, maybe Mr. Catchers Mitt is his brother!
 

I have fired the 44 mag at long range, and the 357. An education at every shot. I once hit a small fire extingusher at 200 yards off hand, one handed, in front of about 50 witnesses. Made beleivers out of the people that think a handgun is just for "accross a poker table". blew up the fire extingusher in great style. White powder everwhere for awhile. Then I hit 4 out of 4 bowing pins at the same range with a 308 MAS 49/56.People could not Believe it could be done.They all had to have sand bags, and benches, and then still missed half the time. A man that knows how to use his  gun controls all that he can see. Jeff Cooper said that.

After  a lunch break while hunting coyote in northern Nevada I began sending bullets out to a distant rock with my 45 and instantly recognized what Keith said about walking your bullets to a distant target by following the dust kicked up after each hit. If you know your gun and load and where it will hit I can see hits being made on targets out to the distances mentioned above without problems....

I try to shoot each Wednesday. The range which is closest & easiest for me has  a small bank which is 185 yards. I will shoot 4 or 5 cylinders full each trip at something out there. The most fun & easiest for aiming are the yellow clay birds. Over the last year I've used a 357 Blackhawk more than any other for this. From the bench those birds aren't real hard to hit. Don't get me wrong I don't hit them every cylinder full but I do hit them & have many, many close misses. I do shoot a couple cylinders each trip off hand but this BH has a 7 1/2" barrel & is very heavy even though it now wears an alloy grip frame.
I once did most my shooting with a 7 1/2" SBH 44 Mag. With my Keith & 21 grains of 2400 & a CCI 350 no rock was safe across a WV hollow. After 20 years of the SBH I could never learn to shoot the sixgun without tapping my fingers & the trigger guard. Each trip would leave me with a raw trigger finger & a sore middle knuckle. That's when I found a 29-3 for $300.00. These Smith's are easy on my hands & fingers so I sold the SBH & shot that 4" S&W for 8 years. That sixgun taught me more about the 44 magnum than any other sixgun.
The other range where I go, in good weather, has a 500 yard range. I can't speak for no one but myself but past 300 yards things begin to change in a hurry.

New here,  but I have been experimenting with a Single Six and 22LR at 100. Much easier to do when it hasn't rained recently.  Same with the .45 Colt and  "cowboy " loads.

Welcome to the forum
Just back from the 15th annual Elmer Keith Shoot, Eat, and Games of Chance fundraiser and the winning shootest put 5 of 12 hits on a steel buffalo target approximately 2' wide and 1' tall at 200 yards with a 44 mag, second place was 4 from a 44, 3rd was 3 from a 41 mag. All open sight revolvers, less then 10.5" barrels, and quite a wind blowing. (didn't have the conditions to set up the 600 yard 30x30, but last year it was hit (occasionally) with calibers down to 357 mag) Other targets ranging from 140 to 200 yards of various sizes were engaged and hit with calibers from 45 colt to 22LR. Even the .22's out of 6" barrels hold a reasonable group out to 200 yards (and beyond?) in the right hands.

Well, now that I'm home, I can type more.
As to my .22, with HV .22LR after a while I can get so the dust kicks up in almost the same spot time after time at 100 yards.
Where I used to hunt at, we had a rock that was about 100-150 yards off or so, and after a little practice it wasn't much of a challenge with even modest .45 Colt loads. Another time about 20 years ago I shot with some fellows that had a range that was well over 400 yards. It might have even been a little over 600, but that was a while back. And with either a 7 1/2" or my own 5 1/2" Colt .45 it was pretty easy to hit a 55 gallon oil drum, once you had your holdover figured. I do it just like the man said. Sit down, brace your elbows on your knees, watch where your bullets kick up dirt, and perch your target on top of the front sight blade. Walk your hits in, hold just the same each time, and you'll hear that little "thunk" each time a bullet strikes. With my Allen Cattleman, I had to hold over so much that I clearly remember being able to tell there was lettering on top of the barrel between the back notch in the topstrap and the bottom of the front blade.

We shot all kinds of blackpowder cartridge rifles at that range, and I remember when I shot my 1868 .50-70 Trapdoor, I would have time to take the rifle down from my shoulder and open the breech before the sound of the thonk made it back. Now that I think about it, I think we WERE shooting at 625 yards.