Some time around 2005 Dick Metcalf published an article using a then new Taurus Tracker in 41 mag with a four inch barrel to take a treed mountain lion. That immediately caught my interest and the little Tracker stayed with me until I recently found one in good condition at the right price. I saw that the Taurus designer`s spent some time on this one with features like a tight cylinder gap, a solid lock up at the point of ignition, eight ports at the muzzle, a recessed red enamel front sight and W/O rear blade, and a forgiving rubber grip that all came together in a neat little stainless package that is a candidate for a perfect packer. Fast forward to last Sunday and the shooting range at Tioga Ranch (high fence) where I dialed in the rear sight to match the point of aim at 25yds of some 210gr XTP handloads along with my DW 357 Max sporting a new scope and my handloads using the 180gr Partition. The accuracy with the small 41 with iron sights was more then my old eyes could ask for so I asked to guide to do what he could to close the distance on a good boar so I could use this little hammer. After a few blown stalks we managed to get behind a large pine that gave me no option except to try an offhand shot. At 30 or so yards walked four boar with my target in the lead. As I leveled and cocked the Tracker all four came to a stop giving me a 1/4 toward shot that absolutely rocked that boar. Three steps more and I hit `em again that flopped him on his side and in the time it took to walk the distance he was finished. My classic 22 to the ear shot was`ent needed... This handload is the only one I use in my 7 1/2" S&W 657 and has performed without a hitch on all the game its taken showing excellent expansion for an XTP, however, the shorter four inch barrel on the Tracker had to give lower velocity which in turn gave less expansion with the bullet. The one bullet I recovered tracked through the boar and stopped at the rear leg bone with minimal expansion of only 0.510" and just 0.6grs weight loss coming in at 209.4grs recovered weight..... My days of shooting high velocity, heavy weight bullets from my 475 and 500`s were fun but are becoming less and less but after seeing what a well placed 41 from a four inch barrel can do on a 250+lb boar I realized that all that power is not needed for most of what I and 90 percent of todays handgun hunters try to achieve in the field.
Blame it on Dick Metcalf....