what handgun can take any animal?

If you had to choose one weapon to protect yourself against the largest threat (read most dangerous biggest animal) would it be a 500S&W or a 12gauge with 3inch magnum slugs/sabot etc?
 
so is the consensus that a 500s&w will handle anything walking the earth under the right conditions?
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So will a sharp stick.

It's all relative, and subjective.

More of it boils down to shot placement and bullet construction, than mystical energy figures and projectile size.
 
That is the point. From what I can see from here, they pick rifles that produce - sorry, energy again, but, I believe, more pertinent this time - that produce vastly more power the most powerful handgun. If raw power was not important, if pin point accuracy was the only consideration, then those big .45 and .50 and.57 cal. guns would not get carried by the PHs
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Very true, but you can't assume that the absence of heavy sixguns on the hips of PH's is due to lack of performance. A great many other factors come into play, many of which are out of their control. Like the presence of restrictive laws, lack of appropriate components, 100yrs of tradition and bias, etc.

Energy figures are real easy to look at and compare cartridges but they come up mighty short in practical application. According to the figures, the big cartridges typically used for dangerous game have huge energy figures compared to the heaviest of revolver cartridges. One could assume an equally huge gap in effectiveness but it simply isn't true.


If you had to choose one weapon to protect yourself against the largest threat (read most dangerous biggest animal) would it be a 500S&W or a 12gauge with 3inch magnum slugs/sabot etc?
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Neither but I would take the .500 over a shotgun. IMHO, they are WAAAAAY overrated for such purposes. As I indicated in a thread in the shotgun subforum, a 1oz 12ga slug is only 438gr and has the sectional density of a 173gr .45. Less than a 110gr .357, slightly more than a 95gr .380ACP. I don't care what mythical qualities folks believe they possess, that's a ****-poor stopper.

When it came time for me to buy a new rifle for my ill-fated trip to Africa for plains game, I looked for something that I could get a premium soft point and a penetrator for. I came home with a late model Winchester 1895 .405. Loaded properly with Woodleigh's excellent jacketed bullets, it is every bit the equivalent of the classic stopping rifle cartridge, the .450/.400 Nitro Express 3". If I were wishing to arm myself with a revolver that could do the best job of stopping a charging threat, it would be a custom Ruger Bisley .475Linebaugh.
 
I'm pretty sure, from what I've read, that .44 Magnum has been used to bring down even Elephant. If that's the case, and that you can find it at almost every gun shop, doesn't that make it an ideal larger caliber big-game cartridge?
 
Lust

Craig:
the big cartridges typically used for dangerous game have huge energy figures compared to the heaviest of revolver cartridges. One could assume an equally huge gap in effectiveness but it simply isn't true.
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OK. Well stated. I can see that that might be (is) true.
I do, in fact, lust after a .475 Linebaugh.

I'm just surprised at the number of big game handgun hunting experts we have on this forum.
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Not claiming expertness at all. If , however, a person spends a lot of time around firearms and shooting and around other people who use them under varying conditions, then that person is apt to have a fairly educated opinion about what might work. Experience, of course, will temper that, as will listening to others.
I don't own a .475 Linebaugh (yet) but I have no doubt about it's effectiveness. I do own a .500 S&W but rarely shoot it (when I do, it's to test loads); way too much gun for anything that I do - biggest animal that I chase is whitetail. A Contender in .44Mag or .30-30 Win is all I need.
Pete
 
...the big cartridges typically used for dangerous game have huge energy figures compared to the heaviest of revolver cartridges. One could assume an equally huge gap in effectiveness but it simply isn't true.
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You know, I heard this for a long time so I finally started poking some folks on an African hunting forum about the 45/70. It uses the same caliber bullet and is capable of handling similar bullet weights as the .458Win Mag and the .458Lott.

It was funny to see the same people who claimed that energy and velocity weren't a big deal trying to explain what was better about the .458Win Mag and the .458Lott compared to the 45/70. :D
 
It was funny to see the same people who claimed that energy and velocity weren't a big deal trying to explain what was better about the .458Win Mag and the .458Lott compared to the 45/70.
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Oh yeah, you get into the right crowd and start talking about taking the Big Six with a $600 levergun and they start frothing! :D
 
I read an article in a magazine 15 or 20 years ago about an individual who took a 5 shot custom .50 caliber cartridge revolver to Africa; and went hunting Cape Buffalo. He stalked in close and took one down with one shot. I can't remember who is was or what the ballistics were. I do remember the ballistics exceeded the energy of any .454 Casull.
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More than likely Ross Seyfried, while testing out the .500 Linebaugh. When John Linebaugh gave the original to Ross for testing, he said, "I think it's too much gun.":D
 
I have killed a lot of large animals and a few feral hogs with my ruger .22.

Steers, pigs, etc. Would I go after a bear with one? No, altho the Alaskan Indians might, I was told by my Pastor who lived in Alaska for many years told me they used .22s to kill bears there. Hard to doubt him but then again....... sure would like to see a demonstration.
 
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