well balanced handgun for deer?
- Thread starter Moyer
- Start date
Sounds like a 4 to 5 inch tube is a pistol that fits you.
Keith routinely shot a 1911 at extended ranges.
Bullseye shooters must shoot with precision using the classic one hand stance 50 yards.
The method I use to determin my range limitation is as follows:
Place 8 inch paper plates at various ranges. I shoot each plate. My max effective range is the one that I can place each shot on the plate every time and each shot on the closer ranges.
I then obtain full size live animal archery targets and place them at the same known ranges. I practice until I can get a vital hit every time. before i go on the hunt I have a buddy place the targets at unknown ranges in a wooded area which simulates the terrain I will be hunting. I then walk the course and shoot each target.
Frankly, we can learn a lot from the techniques Archers use when shooting unknown distance targets.
Keith routinely shot a 1911 at extended ranges.
Bullseye shooters must shoot with precision using the classic one hand stance 50 yards.
The method I use to determin my range limitation is as follows:
Place 8 inch paper plates at various ranges. I shoot each plate. My max effective range is the one that I can place each shot on the plate every time and each shot on the closer ranges.
I then obtain full size live animal archery targets and place them at the same known ranges. I practice until I can get a vital hit every time. before i go on the hunt I have a buddy place the targets at unknown ranges in a wooded area which simulates the terrain I will be hunting. I then walk the course and shoot each target.
Frankly, we can learn a lot from the techniques Archers use when shooting unknown distance targets.
I personally like the Ruger SA revolvers. The weight is OK to carry. Watch heavier guns as they are much less fun to carry.
The 4 5/8 - 7 1/2 barrels are best for me. I feel I need to match the barrel to most likely shot range. For me, this is roughly:
4.625 25 yds
5.5 50 yds
7.5 75 yds
10.5 100 yds
I like 7.5 or smaller in a hip holster. I carry cross draw for hunting.
44 mag is a good round, especially in factory loads. I prefer 454 Colt in my own loads.
The SR3 frame feels good to me, but max loads might make the Bisley better.
I hunt with the Bisley Blackhawk in 45 Colt. 265 gr at ~1300fps.
The 4 5/8 - 7 1/2 barrels are best for me. I feel I need to match the barrel to most likely shot range. For me, this is roughly:
4.625 25 yds
5.5 50 yds
7.5 75 yds
10.5 100 yds
I like 7.5 or smaller in a hip holster. I carry cross draw for hunting.
44 mag is a good round, especially in factory loads. I prefer 454 Colt in my own loads.
The SR3 frame feels good to me, but max loads might make the Bisley better.
I hunt with the Bisley Blackhawk in 45 Colt. 265 gr at ~1300fps.
I think a Desert Eagle in .357 magnum, or .44 magnum might be an option. Get a 10", or 14" barrel for it and you can shoot off hand, or from a rest simply by changing the barrel. I bought the ,44 magnum XIX and a .357 barrel/bolt kit, plus a 10" barrel. The Desert Eagle I find to be a fine hunting handgun.
My personal preference is a Ruger Super RedHawk equipped with a 30mm UltraDot sight. To date I have had 2 each in 44 Magnum, and currently have 2 each in 480 Ruger.
Super RedHawks come with Integral Scope Mounting Points, and Rings.
If you buy a Super RedHawk and the 1" Rings that come with it are still New and Unmounted, you can contact Ruger and swap the 1" rings for 30mm. You can also buy 30mm Rings new for it.
The best source on the 30mm UltraDot is UltraDot West. A search should find them.
Note: I have both a 1" UltraDot and the 30mm UltraDot sights. No Comparison in the field of view. Go with 30mm even if you have to BUY New 30mm Rings.
For a Rest I use a Monopod from Wal-Mart. Get a Rubber Cane Tip and a tube of epoxy putty and install the cane tip on the bottom of the monopod. This keeps it from making noise on rocks. It also keeps it from making noise and going through the expanded metal on your Ladder Stand floor.
For ammo reloading is much preferred. You can shoot much cheaper, and also Custom Tailor your ammo to your needs. My preference in 44 Magnum is a 310 grain Wide Flat Point Cast Bullet with Gas Check.
In the 480 Ruger I load between 355 grain and 400 grain Wide Flat Point Cast Bullets.
What most Handgun Hunters want from a Revolver is a Large Hole in, and a Large Hole Out from any reasonable angle. My idea of Reasonable is Broadside, or Quartering shots.
For sight in with an UltraDot I like to shoot on Bright White Paper Plates, or Circles. You can center the Red Dot on the Round White Target fairly easily. I also cut targets to different sizes from White Poster Paper, and use Contact Cement to glue them to a contrasting back board such as card board, or dark poster board. You need a White Halo around your Red Dot at whatever distance you are shooting.
I normally add Hogue Tamer Grips to my Super RedHawks. They have the Smurf Blue Sorbothane strip down the inside back of the grips to soak up recoil. They are standard on Alaskans. I also add a Green Marble Fiber Optic front sight for back up use. They are Great in the woods.
I tagged an 11 Point Buck on my Missouri Anydeer Tag last year, as well as a Full Size Doe on my Antlerless Only Tag. Both deer were at 50 - 55 yards from a Doublewide Ladder Stand covered in Camo Burlap. All shots were text book behind the shoulder shots, and both deer went down inside of 50 yards.
Bob
Super RedHawks come with Integral Scope Mounting Points, and Rings.
If you buy a Super RedHawk and the 1" Rings that come with it are still New and Unmounted, you can contact Ruger and swap the 1" rings for 30mm. You can also buy 30mm Rings new for it.
The best source on the 30mm UltraDot is UltraDot West. A search should find them.
Note: I have both a 1" UltraDot and the 30mm UltraDot sights. No Comparison in the field of view. Go with 30mm even if you have to BUY New 30mm Rings.
For a Rest I use a Monopod from Wal-Mart. Get a Rubber Cane Tip and a tube of epoxy putty and install the cane tip on the bottom of the monopod. This keeps it from making noise on rocks. It also keeps it from making noise and going through the expanded metal on your Ladder Stand floor.
For ammo reloading is much preferred. You can shoot much cheaper, and also Custom Tailor your ammo to your needs. My preference in 44 Magnum is a 310 grain Wide Flat Point Cast Bullet with Gas Check.
In the 480 Ruger I load between 355 grain and 400 grain Wide Flat Point Cast Bullets.
What most Handgun Hunters want from a Revolver is a Large Hole in, and a Large Hole Out from any reasonable angle. My idea of Reasonable is Broadside, or Quartering shots.
For sight in with an UltraDot I like to shoot on Bright White Paper Plates, or Circles. You can center the Red Dot on the Round White Target fairly easily. I also cut targets to different sizes from White Poster Paper, and use Contact Cement to glue them to a contrasting back board such as card board, or dark poster board. You need a White Halo around your Red Dot at whatever distance you are shooting.
I normally add Hogue Tamer Grips to my Super RedHawks. They have the Smurf Blue Sorbothane strip down the inside back of the grips to soak up recoil. They are standard on Alaskans. I also add a Green Marble Fiber Optic front sight for back up use. They are Great in the woods.
I tagged an 11 Point Buck on my Missouri Anydeer Tag last year, as well as a Full Size Doe on my Antlerless Only Tag. Both deer were at 50 - 55 yards from a Doublewide Ladder Stand covered in Camo Burlap. All shots were text book behind the shoulder shots, and both deer went down inside of 50 yards.
Bob
Is a 44 or 45 cal bullet in the vitals ever a maybe? 44's and 45's, even at pistol velocities will exit.
In my book, that is much better than a 243 Win which might explode. Still, I think a 243 Win is a good deer caliber with good bullets.
Most rifles are generally overkill x 5, especially those people in deer camp with a 300 Win mag because they might shoot 250 or 300 yards. I mean, a good shot will kill. A bad shot with a 50, is still a bad shot.
During his last hunting years, my Father took two whitetail bucks, each with a single shot from a stock 6.5" S&W model 29-2 .44 Magnum. Ammo was the regular Remington 240gr JHP. Knowing him, the shots would have been under 60yds and were heart/lung shots. He asked me later if there was a .44Mag load (factory, he didn't do handloads) that wouldn't penetrate all the way through and exit. I suggested he try the 180 grs, but as fate would have it, he never got the chance again.
His standard was the paper plate. If he could hit close to the center of a paper plate, he was sure of a clean kill at that range. He hunted the woods of the Adirondaks, and that was plenty good enough accuracy on several occassions.
There is no doubt in my mind that regular .44 mag is powerful enough to cleanly take deer at any range the shooter can make a clean hit. Even big muleys.
As to the T/C Contender class, I find the 14" barrels to be both very muzzle heavy, and the upper limit of what I can shoot offhand. The 10" barrels, however balance much better and can be shot well offhand (and you CAN use both hands) or off a rest.
I would say that would depend on the size of the target, and the shooter. I don't know any Olympic shooters, so I can't say if they could hit a small target at that range, after all, its not what they practice. But I think any of them could learn how.
I have hit the 200yd gong on the rifle range with a friend's .357 Sig. Took me 3 shots to get the range down, but once I got it, it wasn't all that tough. With a gun I had never shot before.
I can regularly ring that gong with my 7.5" .45 Colt Blackhawk, offhand, one handed. Its all just a matter of learning your gun and load well enough.
Note that is slow aimed fire. I won't claim to be able to do it on the run, from the hip like they can in the movies, but then there are a lot of things they do in the movies I can't do (or do anymore
)
And I can assure you that I, and others with even more skill don't only exist on the Internet.
His standard was the paper plate. If he could hit close to the center of a paper plate, he was sure of a clean kill at that range. He hunted the woods of the Adirondaks, and that was plenty good enough accuracy on several occassions.
There is no doubt in my mind that regular .44 mag is powerful enough to cleanly take deer at any range the shooter can make a clean hit. Even big muleys.
As to the T/C Contender class, I find the 14" barrels to be both very muzzle heavy, and the upper limit of what I can shoot offhand. The 10" barrels, however balance much better and can be shot well offhand (and you CAN use both hands) or off a rest.
I would say that would depend on the size of the target, and the shooter. I don't know any Olympic shooters, so I can't say if they could hit a small target at that range, after all, its not what they practice. But I think any of them could learn how.
I have hit the 200yd gong on the rifle range with a friend's .357 Sig. Took me 3 shots to get the range down, but once I got it, it wasn't all that tough. With a gun I had never shot before.
I can regularly ring that gong with my 7.5" .45 Colt Blackhawk, offhand, one handed. Its all just a matter of learning your gun and load well enough.
Note that is slow aimed fire. I won't claim to be able to do it on the run, from the hip like they can in the movies, but then there are a lot of things they do in the movies I can't do (or do anymore
)And I can assure you that I, and others with even more skill don't only exist on the Internet.
Better back up a couple of steps there before you say something silly. A lot of us can do it, there is no magic involved, just a good gun, basic application of good marksmanship and lots of practice.
This is a 5 shot group on a 6" bullseye target at 100 yards with a S&W M58 41 magnum. That is a 5"x7" group.
I have similar targets shot with my Colt 1911A1 45 ACP and my Dan Wesson .357 mag with 4" barrel. Just because you haven't done it does not mean that there aren't a lot of people out there not doing it. It helps that I do not have a scope because then I am not tempted to take a shot at a target I cannot see clearly and I have to pay attention to the fundamentals.
Ruby Fox won the silver in 1984 at 25 meters in sporting pistol, you did not want her shooting any pistol at you at 200 yards, she would have ruined your whole day. I'm not even close to her in skill level, the only thing I have in common with her is our age.
Deaf Smith
New member
You would be surprised how a Super Redhawk .454 7 1/2 is not muzzle heavy.
Now my two 629 4 inch .44s here are handy and my SRH .454 at the back is not bad at all. In fact you get used to the .454 and you start thinking the .44 S&Ws are light guns!
I use handloaded 250gr hard cast SWC 250s at 1200 or so with 21 grns of 2400 powder in my SRH and a 240gr SWC at 1000 fps in my .44s. Easy on the gun and easy on me.
Deaf
Now my two 629 4 inch .44s here are handy and my SRH .454 at the back is not bad at all. In fact you get used to the .454 and you start thinking the .44 S&Ws are light guns!
I use handloaded 250gr hard cast SWC 250s at 1200 or so with 21 grns of 2400 powder in my SRH and a 240gr SWC at 1000 fps in my .44s. Easy on the gun and easy on me.
Deaf
buck460XVR
New member
........and as a Sportsman, you owe it to your quarry to use some kind of rest when using a handgun, regardless of barrel length. Also, to those that don't shoot, or shoot very little handgun, most any handgun feels awkward when held out at arms length for more than a few seconds. By the time one has practiced enough with handguns to justify using one for hunting, their wrist and arm strength has increased and they are much more comfortable with the weight of their gun. There's a reason handguns designed specifically for hunting have longer pipes. Think about it.
........and as a Sportsman, you owe it to your quarry to use some kind of rest when using a handgun, regardless of barrel length.
This is a very true statement. Whether your rest is a tree,knee or whatever, a rest should be used. Don't think I've ever shot a deer with a handgun without some kind of rest.
Is true, I may practice off hand but in the field I use whatever support I can get from my walking stick to fence post to the side of a tree. Only one deer was ever taken without a rest and it was a snap shot at about 35 yards with the Dan Wesson .357, yep, 4" barrel, so much easier to cart around in a holster.