two birds with one stone

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svacosmo

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I'm writing a piece of fiction in which the main character has to kill both a man and a leopard with one shot. The particular scene I'm thinking of has the leopard clamped onto the man's back at the moment the shot is fired.

Question for which I need help:

What type of pistol/round combination would get the job done with one shot?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
i took a grizzly out with one shot from my 454 casull 320gr Corbon penetrators...i imagine the 500 smith would do the trick..

Osirus101
 
A 44 mag with a hardcast bullet would probably easily do the deed (as well as remain familiar with the reader.) Is the protagonist Clint Eastwood?

Depending on the path of the bullet a lot of loads could manage this task with an appropiately constructed bullet. To make it believable the bullet must be right and then the load.

I'd go with a 10mm if you choose an autoloader. Desert Eagles are more suited to the trick, but you don't see those everyday and honestly I find them a little cheesy as a hunting gun.

BTW Hardcast bullets are a common hunting and dangerous game load in handguns.

PS. Are you going to give TFL a thank you byline? Just Kidding.
 
OK I'll weigh in

First, as a writer, It has to be believeable, probable, not out of the realm of random reason. with total disregard for your setup scene, it has to be something commonly carriable with those familiar with the tundra. Power vs weight is the trade off. Power being calibre, load, number of rounds available. practically speaking, the Smith 29 and the Ruger Redhawk are the leading contenders for .44 mag. These balance power with 5 followup shots and a calibre for which you can find loads in any alaskan general store. Granted your character might be a handloading skilled marksman, but for the average reader, forgo that. Then there is the Thompson Encore or G2. Check the availble loads for this and . . .

If I remember correctly, John LeCarre wrote to Ian Fleming about his poor choice of handgun and calibre in early James Bond novels. We should talk. lets set up a few minutes of conversation

Reid

PS PM me and you should just leave a time, and time zone that will work for you.

reid
 
Stephen Hunter has had reloading as part of his books. I don't reload or even pretend I know much about it, but he made it very understandable and added to POI among others greatly.
 
to make it believable, I think we'd need the environment their situated in, the type of person using it, and the time period as well.

I think a .357 magnum as old and popular as it is, would fit just about any situation and any time period and would definitely make a believable scene. A .45 auto would do the trick, too.

just my .02
 
Any magnum revolver, with hardcast loads.

I will say that in terms of plot... if you have the person do this sort of incidentally, that's one thing, but if that's what he absolutely *needs* to do and just happens to get that kind of shot... it might seem a little implausible. I'd imagine a man and a leapord fighting would be (A) moving around a lot (B) not necessarily presenting the right angle even if posing motionless to allow one shot to pass through the vitals of both... sure it could happen out of chance, but seems as if it'd be on the slim end of chance, to this reader.
 
It would be a little more believable if the man doing the shooting was holding a 12 gauge shotgun, loaded with either double (ought) buckshot, or slugs.

In a handgun, there are many, many calibers which would punch through, one of the oldest is the 7.62X25, Soviet round, which was taken from the 7.63 Mauser...A 357 with Semi-wadcutters will punch through both.

Lay out a little more of the details and "someone" can give you the proper caliber. In the Jungle Book by Kippling, a Webly .455 would have been just the ticket in India of the early part of the century...going back a little further in time perhaps a .44 Russian, or the 45 long Colt....
 
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