I have killed deer, elk, antelope and bear with handguns. Livestock too with some. The type of hunting is identical to what you do with a bow and arrow. But the kills are not much different then many rifle kills.
I have used 45 colt, 357 mag, 45 auto and auto rim, 44 mag and 454 Casull and one deer when I was 16 with a Ruger Old Army cap and ball revolver.
My closest handgun kill on game was a white tail doe at about 10 feet with a 45 Auto-Rim. My longest shot was a big pronghorn antelope at about 140 yards with a 44 mag. Most others were between 20 and 65 or 70 yards.
45 Colt: I have used 260 grain SWCs with 9 grains of Unique or 37 grains of Black Powder to kill several mule deer and 2 horses. I got my 1st Colt SAA when I was 14 and also used a S&W 25-5 for s a few years in my 20s.
With 357 Mags: I always used 187 grain LBT hand cast gas-checked bullets and between 15.5 to 16.5 gr of H110. I have shot more different 357 bullets at varmints and coyotes then I can easily count, but my kills of big game were ALL with that 187 grain LBT bullet. So far my total is 5 antelope and 2 deer.
With the 45 auto I killed one white-tail l with 230 gr Hardball, 2 with 220 grain FNB-2 LBT bullets and 2 with Hornady 230 grain XTPs. With my S&W Mountain gun I use 45 Auto Rim cases with a 260 grain LBT bullet and a heavy load of 2400 (I'm not listing it here because it's over what the books tell you) Killed 5 deer and 1 antelope as well as polishing off 3 elk ----- but they don't really count because they were already down from hits with rifles, but not dead when I got to them.
44 mag: I have killed enough game that I am unsure of the number exactly, but the bullets I have used were 245 grain 429421 Lyman/Keith flat base, Lyman 429244 Gas Check SWC Keith bullet, one deer with a Sierra 240 grain Hollow cavity, 1 elk with the 429244 Lyman bullets and 3 with 320 grain LBT WFN -GC bullets. One bear with the 429421, one with a 265 grain Hornady and one with a 320 grain LBT I just mentioned. One bison with the same LBT bullet. I used the same LBT 320 gr bullet to kill 4 different antelope and also I killed one with a Speer 225 grain HP bullet. I may have missed a few in this list too. Throw into the list a fair number of horses and cattle on the ranches I lived and worked on. I have been using the 44 mags since I was 16 . That's 48 years of use---- and still going.
454 Casull: All kills with LBT 370 grain WFN -GC bullets and 25 grains of 296 with small rifle primers. 4 deer. 2 elk. 1 buffalo. 10-12 cattle and 1 horse. Remarkably effective, to a point you need to see it done a few times to believe how well it kills. But that load is not for beginners. It kicks to be sure.
To this list I might add cattle I killed with 44 specials. I don't recall ever killing any game animal with a 44 special, but I did kill several cattle and one horse with my SAA Colt 44 Spl and my S&W M24 44 special. All with 8 grains of Unique and Lyman/Keith 429421 bullets. In both my guns that load would shoot all 6 shots touching at 25 yards.
Last edited by szihn; 06/22/20.
