Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer Hunting with a Handgun

Even mild tinnitus can create problems. Certain sounds take me from happy go lucky to finger on the red button nuke China kinda pissed, in about a nanosecond.

20 yrs ago it was my daughters and dress up shoes, on hardwood floor (with my reloading bench in basement under what they must have deemed the "dance floor".

I work in foundry now, so have hearing protection on 8 hrs a day. That plus aging, plus tinnitus.......has other sounds irritating the crap out of me. Low freq, my fridge..........yesterday. I about blew out a shoulder body slamming that Mofo. Loaded up, it caused some hum off and on.

Well it still works, but whatever shifted no longer causes the hum. I was ready to just shoot the POS.

Even mild tinnitus can create problems. Certain sounds take me from happy go lucky to finger on the red button nuke China kinda pissed, in about a nanosecond.

20 yrs ago it was my daughters and dress up shoes, on hardwood floor (with my reloading bench in basement under what they must have deemed the "dance floor".

I work in foundry now, so have hearing protection on 8 hrs a day. That plus aging, plus tinnitus.......has other sounds irritating the crap out of me. Low freq, my fridge..........yesterday. I about blew out a shoulder body slamming that Mofo. Loaded up, it caused some hum off and on.

Well it still works, but whatever shifted no longer causes the hum. I was ready to just shoot the POS.

I have shot quite a few with a 32-20 rifle, and never found it to be lacking, 38 special is more than enough if you know what you are doing.

45acp works just fine too.

All my deer killing with handguns has been with S&W .44 and .41 mag revolvers. Hornady XTP's in 240 grains for the .44's and 210 grains for the .41's, both with hefty charges of H110. Leupold fixed 2X handgun scopes. It's a formula that works for me. I would agree with those who recommend electronic hearing protection (I use magnum ears.)

I have taken a couple with my 629 Smith in 44 mag and seen several shot with other 44 mag wheel guns and it is very effective within it's range. If I was going to buy a handgun for the primary purpose of deer hunting it would be a Contender topped with a 2x Leupold, there are several chamberings that are very suitable, have a friend who used the 7-30 Waters very successfully on deer for many years. The Contender would be my choice because I feel with some practice my effective range would be at least 2x what I could do with my wheel guns.

In Ark. all centerfire handguns are legal to hunt deer but MUST have 4" barrels or longer. On revolvers the cylinder is NOT counted part part of barrel or "chamber".


Jerry

I really like the 629 too. When I had mine I was doing a WHOLE lot of shooting. If I were to get back into handgun shooting I'd probably get another 629 --for hunting-- and not shoot it excessively as I did.




I found the Hornady 200 HP to be a great compromise between expansion and penetration. They expanded well w/o coming apart and penetrated too. I didn't shoot any deer stem-stern NOR stern--stem. I like the little more vel.

Again I support hearing PROTECTION!!


Jerry

I haven't hunted with a rifle in years.

Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 Magnum


T/C Contender in 7-30 Waters


I also hunt with a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum, but have not taken any game with it yet.


I've also added a 14" .44 Magnum barrel to my T/C collection. Looking forward to using it this year.

I haven't killed anything with it yet but I've hunted with a 5.5 inch Redhawk in 44 mag. I think if I was buying now, I'd go single action instead of double. But either works.

Dale

My go to load in .44 mag was a 180gr JHP on 31.5gr of WW296.

If they were close I could cook them too

Broadside, 25-50 yards, the bullets went in and out.
Exit wounds nothing impressive.

No big deer though. All under 150# dressed.

Only 180 that stayed in, was fragged when it hit spine, angling down from treestand. Deer's head flopped on her back like her whole neck was on a gate hinge. Nasty, bone just exploded. She crumpled and was DRT.

That load sounds very familiar.
I used H110. "They" say they're the same powder.

I played w/180s also but only used 200s to hunt.


Jerry

Glock G40 MOS
Trijicon RMR RM07
Hornday 180 gr XTP

G40 on top G43 on bottom:

I took a buck and a doe with my Dan Wesson .357 mag with an 8" barrel. But that gun was stolen and I have yet to replace it.

Only deer I have harvested with a pistol was back in 1991. A hunt in Utah's Monte Cristo range. A 2 point (4 points for you eastern guys) Mule Deer.

Shot was only 20 yards with a Colt 6" brushed stainless King Cobra in .357 mag.

Hand loaded 158 hollow point. Dropped in his tracks.

Two with a 10mm and one with a .357mag, neither cartridge was found lacking.

Have hunted with all manner of handgun cartridges.

My favorite is the 45 Colt in a Ruger SBH Hunter with Burris FFII. The other is a 1911 in 45 Super.

Just bought a 480 Ruger SBH.

Due to Iowa's rifle-free regulations most of my whitetails have been taken with handguns. I never had a dedicated slug gun with a rifled barrel so I figured my range was about the same and handguns were easier to carry.
The vast majority were taken with a 44 Magnum in either a Contender Super 14 with a variety of scopes or a Super Blackhawk 7.5 inch with open sights. With handguns at these ranges I have determined low power is the way to go, 2x is plenty. Nosler 240 gr Soft points and mostly 245gr Cast bullets over 296. I only recovered 2 bullets and both were just under the far skin on large bodied bucks that were hit through the shoulders and quartering. I've lost one deer-a doe at 25 yards that felt like a good shot and I still can't explain it. I shot one buck twice as the first shot was just low going through the front leg without breaking it and creasing the brisket. The longest shot was about 100 yards, the shortest probably about 10.

This year I tried a S&W 657 Mountain Gun in 41 Mag with 210gr XTPs. 41 yards slightly quartering to and I did recover the bullet just under the far side hide. It weighed 206 grs and the deer went straight down and kicked a couple of times so I was pleased with the performance.

I thought this thread may make a decision easier or me...
Wrong answer...

Thanks and please keep the info coming, especially the photos.

toa -

I don't have any pics from my handgun deer hunting...

SO I borrowed Steve's pic. I had the SAME model, STRONG, STOUT, accurate and WITH integral scope rings.

I personally prefer 7. 1/2" to the 9 1/2"
I hunted w/o a scope but found that a scope was very beneficial. All the deer I killed with a 44 were scoped. (battue - no the deer were not wearing scopes - grin)

I know I posted I would like to get a S W 629 but I'm not bent on deer hunting it as I did in the past.

I used a Colt Andaconda on whitetail buck with a cast bullet and two hogs. All where one shot drops.