Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns anyone hunt with a revolver

I've been using a GP-100 with small red-dot since Missouri changed muzzleloader season to "alternative methods". I plan to use a S&W model 69 this year. Someday I'll get to heave some lead in anger.

Perhaps because not everyone can shoot handguns well? Maybe that was God's reasoning....

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I am not going to say I am the end all be all shooter, but I do love it when I bring the the revolver to the rifle range and I am shooting just as good of groups as the rifle guys are.they really take notice when my wife breaks out the gp-100 and she's shooting her hot hunting loads at 75 yards and laying them right there.

Shot about 15 head of big game w/ my 44's and .45..

Used to, unfortunately most of my stuff now days is used to! But back then, I tricked out a Ruger Super Redhawk in 44 mag. with a 9 1/2" barrel. Action job, Magna-Ported barrel, Hogue Mono Grip and an Ultra-Dot red dot sight. A steady diet of hogs and deer using 320 gr. hard cast gas checked bullets. Could pretty much hit an 8" paper plate at 100 yards every time off hand. Not anymore, my guns shake a lot more than they used to! Also carried a 454 and a 41 mag for a while, but never got the chance on game with either one. Would like to get back into it, we'll see, and am thinking about another 41 mag or a 10mm. I used bowhunting tactics back then with the revolvers.

Not specifically, if a critter wanders in close while I'm packing an old lever gun, I'll shoot em with a Colt SAA, F/A 454 or Ruger Bisley 44 mag.

In my previous post I neglected to mention my own personal revolver hunting challenge: Rimfire Revolver Squirrel Hunting...... Take one Ruger Single Six Convertible; choose 22LR or 22 Mag, and head for the squirrel woods. It's fun and challenging and good target practice at random distances. Plus; I'm all alone so when I miss one there's nobody there to ridicule me (grin). But I've also scored a few lucky shots that could make me look like Elmer Keith; that's when I wish I had witnesses.

I hunted with an S&W or a Redhawk exclusively for about 15 years until they changed to that damned fuzzy front sight, and killed several whitetails while doing so. Still like revolvers though, but my hunting is now done with rifles.

Freedom Arms .454 Casull has been getting the job done for me for the past 30 or so years. Scope is a Burris 2X, load is the Hornady XTP Mag. 240 gr. JHP. Works great on deer and hogs.

The javelina did NOT just decide to take a nap with my revolver.

Converted Ruger BH to .256 Win Mag. Can't recall for sure but think it was a 75 gr Speer FP, 14 gr 4227, about 1600fps from that 7.5" barrel. (Might have been a 60 gr Hornady, but I think I like the Speers best)

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Geno

Several years back I killed a few small Virginia bucks with a 6.5" barrel Smith 629 and some 240 grain Winchester Partition Gold loads ( I dont think they make that load anymore) I now have a new Smith 629 5" barrel and have plans on killing a few more over the next few Hunting seasons........Good luck .....Hb

Yeah, off and on. If I'm counting right, I've killed 4 with various .44 magnums and 4 with the same Single Six .32 H&R magnum.

Back in the 80s maybe into the early 90s, if we were going to hunt with a handgun in Oregon we had to have our tag "handgun validated". At that point, though we hunted in rifle season, we could not use rifles, only handguns, so there was a pretty serious commitment required. Today we can switch back and forth as the mood strikes us. I still use both rifle and handgun, I just pick whatever seems appropriate for the location considering shot distance, cover, etc.

Tom

I've shot a few deer with a S&W 57 in .41 Mag with 250 cast bullets and H110. Have also shot some with my old govt model years ago.

Colvin: I frequently Hunt Varmints, small game and some upland game with my various revolvers (both rimfire and centerfire).
I enjoy many aspects of this sport.
But as of to date I have NOT Hunted any species of big game with any handgun (unless you consider humans to be "big game").
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I hunted many years with a scoped Super Redhawk in .44 Magnum. My tastes have turned to the T/C Contender as of late, but I also hunt with a non-scoped Super Blackhawk when I'm hunting thick stuff. In fact, I took a small black bear here in PA last year. My first bear and first bear with a handgun.

Started hunting with revolvers back in the 60's, mostly with 41's & 44's but have used about everything out there depending on the game at hand. Always tried to match the caliber to the game at hand & never felt you could use too much gun. Cast bullets have always been my preference but I have used some jacketed bullets over the years & they've made some dandies in the last couple decades.
Not trying to preach but a little bit of advice, don't over gun to start with, heavy loads are a slippery slope & hard to recover from.

Dick