Would a .40 cal pistol be sufficient to cleanly kill a deer with?

Sure, but the target presentation - distance, angle, etc. - where I would attempt the shot would be so limiting I wouldn't put up with the handicap. Kinda like me relying on a club or a big rock to fill my stew pot.

Loaded with something like this would no doubt work:

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_26&products_id=210

but depending on the platform I'd imagine the practical range would be limited. There's LOTS better rounds for hunting.

You can go with a .40 caliber but I would think the 10MM would be a lot better than the 40 S@W (aka short and weak).

I'm sure it would but there are questions. One is what is your state game laws on the subject. I doubt the .40 S&W would qualify in Kansas, but I'd have to look at the laws again to be sure. The smallest commonly encountered deer is normally a Whitetail. The .44 Magnum is really less powerful than a 30-30, which is kinda considered a minimum caliber for sport-hunting. The .40 is considerably less powerful than the .44 Mag. Lots of deer have been taken with the .357. OTOH though, lots of handgunners consider it to be pretty weak. If I was hunting Whitetail, I'd want a .41 Mag. level load or stronger.

Kill a deer? Sure.

Good enough for hunting them? Nope.

NO , you will not be satisfied with the results.

Yes.


Travis

I live at the end of a paved road out in the country. Folks dump off dogs and cats all the time, and I have to dispatch them.

An 80 lb dog can take quite a few shots with the 155g Winchester Silver tip doing the fastest and most deadly job on the bullets that I have tried yet.

You could pretty much count on deer running off with you never finding them on most shots.

Also, most auto's are not very accurate with the average auto shooting 4-6" groups at 25 yards on a 25 shot group shot with the aid of sand bags.

I have two Glock 40's, a Model 35 and a Model 22 and it would be a cold day in Hell before I even tried to kill a deer with one...that's just me.

If you were hunting out of a deer stand in a tree, and a doe walked right underneath you, only 12 feet underneath you, that might be a shot worth taking. For that purpose, I would use 180g Speer Gold dots that have the jacket bonded to the lead core.

If it's taking you that many shots to dispatch an 80 lb dog with a .40, you may want to get a little closer, or consider hitting them where it counts.

Crazy Coot...I will say a Big NO to the .40 cal in a semi-auto pistol on deer! I have a Glock 10mm and would not try shooting a deer with this caliber and it is at least 25% more than the .40 cal. However, a good .44mag will get the job done in spades OK.

So you have two .40's that you use to protect you and yours but it won't kill a dog? Interesting....


Travis

Travis,

There once was a very large female lab retriever (large for a lab anyway) wandering our neighborhood and pestering livestock for about a 1.5 mile radius. Apparently she had been dumped out here for some considerate farmer to adopt. But she was wild as a march hare.

I watched that lab take a 41 cal 170 gr sierra jhc broadside to the heart from fifty yards. The bullet had been launched at 1875 fps and penetrated through and through.

And then I watched in open mouthed amazement as the dog leaped to its feet and ran full tilt for over seventy yards before stumbling head over heels and falling over dead.

I took two lessons from this
1: Nothing smaller than a 41 mag is fit for big game hunting.
2:For goblins at home defense ranges, do not expect instantaneous incapacitation with anything but a CNS hit.

I have been saying this for many years. I have seen numerous deer travel amazing distances with the heart and lungs totally destroyed from a 30-06 and a 165 gr bullet.

An armed man can inflict horrendous damage even though he be "walking dead". No handgun can incapacitate a human quickly enough to prevent that without taking out the spine or brain.

Not sure what you're saying....


Travis

The moral of the story is:

It is not surprising in the least that a forty won't kill a dog at across the pasture range. But that does not make it any less effective for home defense than any other handgun.

I don't know what across the pasture range is. I do know that a .40 will kill deer and coyotes at 25-50yds.

I've used pepper spray on dogs with great results. Maybe that should be my home defense weapon.

Travis

Hmmm...pepper spray for home defense?

effective on 99.9% of people

instantly neutralizes an attacker (the examples I have seen)

no over penetration issues

no legal hassles with its use (in any of the free states)

Do not know if you could say that about a 44 mag, might be worthy of its own thread.

My thoughts prezactly.

In the last 14yrs I've shot well over 100 deer and elk with a .40S&W from a Glock 22. They've all been easier, closer shots than you'd encounter while hunting because they were crippled by motor vehicles first. Long story short, the performance is not inspiring with anything other than head shots. Given half a chance I use a long gun instead.

Yep, I think you should go ahead and the defend the interior of your home with pepper spray then report back to us. Since it's non-lethal, please to a practice run with a buddy playing the bad guy so you can report back sooner.

Headshots are the only way to properly euthanize injured game animals. That is what I teach our officers. Tired of reading reports that state "I fired 3 rounds of issued buckshot to dispatch the crippled raccoon"...

As far as the thread goes, VAnimrod said it best.

I usually carry a Glock when hunting because I am always carrying a Glock. May try to set up a super short range doe shot and trumpet the results, however.

I believe writer and former Army gun Chuck Taylor has killed several deer with a Glock 17. Just ain't a good idea for most folks.

Have personally zapped a big feral tomcat right in the chest at less than 7 yards with a Colt GM; had a quail in its mouth and no tag...Saw blood coming out of the hole.

It ran off into the woods and I could not find it on our 40 acres.

Unlike most people, animals don't know they are supposed to lay down and quit when shot.

Would we say that:

The .40 S&W is to a 10mm as the

.38 Spec is to a .357 Mag as the

.41 Colt is to a .41 mag as the

.44 Spec is to a .44 Mag as the

.45 ACP is to a .45 Colt, ect, ect.

The left hand group are defense rounds, the right are hunters.

No. For whatever reason, the .40 at least equals the 10mm as far as one-shot-stops. Probably because you reach a point that about any normal handgun is just not going to get any better than. The .38 in factory loadings, is far inferior to the best .357 Mag. loadings. The 41 Mag. is at the top of the heap as far as manstoppers. The 41 Colt is not in the running. The .44 Spec. is decent but not as good as the best loads in the final three calibers. Hunting is an entirely different proposition. I think normally, you can throw the .38 and the 41 Colt out as big game rounds. I see no need for the .45 Auto in the big game fields either, though with the right loads it is certainly capable. The .40 is up in the air.

We are lacking a smilie for "sarcasm" or I would have used it with that post.

No sarcasm intended this time. If I am going to attempt to knock over a 250 lb buck at 25 to 75 yds with a handgun, it is going to be spitting 200 gr or better at a minimum of 1400 fps muzzle velocity.

Anything less is simply not humane in my book.

OK, now I got ya. I actually thought you were serious the first time.

BTW, you can still make faces w/o the icons by using a colon or semicolon in conjunction with some other symbols and letters. It's actually faster than icon clicking too.

I think the 40 is a little on the light side for deer considering also the pistols it is usually chambered in. By the way ColdCase1984 love the photo of the SR71 Blackbird.

Cole Younger....Maybe we are related Ummmmm! Nonetheless, the .40 S&W is NOT in the same boat as the 10mm caliber sir, no way. I would not call the .40 S&W a Stopper Caliber either. The 45acp is a Stopper yes! The 10mm is a stopper yes! The .41mag is a Stopper and so goes the .44mag but again not the .40 S&W.

If you wish to compare the Geletin Blocks that appear on a link at "AR-15.com" please do. You will see first hand the results of a 10mm round compared to the 9mm Luger, 38spl, 357mag, 45acp etc. The 10mm causes twice as much damage and penetrates deeper as well.

FWIW, a friend got a close shot at a deer in TX last year, he never found it, since not recovered I cannot say where it was hit, etc.

What I can say, is that I would never CHOOSE to hunt with a 40, but would a 10mm.

As above, kill yes, hunt no. Survival scenario, another story.

May you have clean kills whatever you use.

I would say yes, I have killed a bighorn sheep with one shot at 50 yds, 155 grain Speer Gold Dot. Bullet lodged under off-side hide- Sheep was running and piled up. Don't get any better than this!

Dennisinaz.....Ok yesterday I had to shoot a goat that weighed in at around the 90-lb weight. I used a Glock model-22, using Speer 155 Gold Dot hollow point ammo.

The first shot was square in the shoulder, as animal was standing broadside to me. The second shot hit to far back (it spun around quickly) after the goat reacted to the first shot. The distance was 15 feet and neither of those shots exited the animal.

It simply hobbled around until I put a shot into it's head at 5 ft, the goat dropped and was then dead. I have also shot a coyote with the same pistol and ammo. I am telling all, I was NOT impressed with the .40 cal Smith & Wesson at all. I would never try to use this caliber on whitetail deer. I think a pistol caliber for whitetail starts with a 10mm and goes upward to the .44magnum and so on.

We used to shoot 900# butcher steers with a .22LR. Fall over dead! A .40 S&W is still not a good deer hunting cartridge.

The answer is still yes. I don't think it is ideal and maybe a stretch to call it good, but it is sufficient.

I have been told by police that they have trouble dispatching road damaged deer with their 40 S&Ws. I would suggest you look at 10mm or 41 mag or larger for deer hunting.

In a former life as a state trooper I had very similar experiences. I was issued a G21 .45 and put down similar amounts of vehicle struck game. The .45 was instantly effective when head shots were used. When the critter was semi mobile and would drag itself away at a rate faster than I could keep up on foot, I would shoot for the shoulder and bust the front shoulder, putting them down so I get get close enough to put a mercy shot into the brain. At one point, one winter I was so frustrated with watching some coworkers shoot at animals, causing more suffering, I held an informal class with a couple on the anatomy of game animals. They were trying to do the right thing, they just did not know.

In regards to the .40 for deer. I know of a very small number of exceptional handgun hunters that I would be totally comfortable with them using a .40 to hunt deer with. These men are crack field shots and respect their game enough not to cause any undue suffering. For the vast majority of handgun hunters, I would say stick with a 44 mag or 45 Colt.

You had best check your states regs,cause here a 38 special is just too short,but a .357Mag is long enough,and a Colt 45 is okay
and a colt .45acp is too short. And the 40S&W is too short,but
the 10mil because of vel and flbs it is the only short cartridge
allowed for deer and larger game!

The 10 mil is probably allowed everywhere!

Bob

bobbyjack

the hunting regs are based on the physical length of the cartridge as opposed to caliber or energy.......

Wow.... Whack rules. What state are you ine

I think my state (KS) goes by case length for legal handgun cartridges for deer, that would convert to powder capacity, that should convert to energy. The .38Spec, .45ACP, and .40S&W are too short. Rifle cartridges must be .24 caliber or larger. The state does many stupid things, but these appear to be right on to me.

You can kill a deer with a 22. A 40 cal in my opinion is a bad choice.

My partner had to put down a deer the other day with a 40 cal. Muley was already hopping around on a broken leg. Bullet to the head from 15 yards slowed it down enough to get a clean headshot.

Its a decent round for a defensive weapon. Not for a clean kill on moderate sized game though. It was never designed with hunting in mind.