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Anyone here kill an elk with a shot from a handgun? If so, share the details. Gun, distance, caliber, bullet, effect on elk, etc. It's on the short list to do for me...every year I have a 10mm or 44 mag on me, just never have been close enough or positioned correctly.

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Not an elk, but I’ve killed deer and hogs with a 454 Casull and 44 Magnum
The 454 Casull sucked the soul from the whitetail buck.
Usually shots are 50 yards or less


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no Elk but deer, bear with 41 magnum and moose with 454.
deer 45 yards with 210g cast. lungs and it ran 50 yards and gave up
bear , one at 50 yards heart, went 20 ft and bawled. 210 cast
bear, 2 feet , 210 cast, through the bottom jaw and out the top of its head. it fell on top of me.
moose 14 ft in the back of its head with 300g cast 454. all four legs went out from under him . took 4 hours to get that big sob in the back of my toyota. wall to wall Moose!


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I haven't killed an elk, but I shot my moose with my 8 7/8" 44mag Dan Wesson.
30yds 240gr Hornady. I've taken it elk hunting but haven't connected yet.

Last edited by wyowinchester; 06/02/20.

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Among the big game I have taken with a revolver, I took a big lead cow elk in the timber at 30ish yards with my 475 Linebaugh 6 inch custom Ruger.
The load was a 400 grain Speer Gold Dot in BBA brass. A max charge of WC820/AA9 ignited by a WLP primer.
I placed the 1st shot on the point of her right shoulder. She immediately fell to her knees but managed to rise on three legs and ran towards me
going right to left. Though I was certain of my 1st shot, I went ahead and gave her another at about 10 yards. This shot struck her through the shoulder
again hitting bone (Dammit). She collapsed in front of me pretty much done, but I gave her one in the back of the head.

Both shots through the shoulders left something like 1 1/2 inch holes through the bone but did not penetrate out the other side. Did not do a necropsy
because of there being grizzly in the area, but from the outside the damage was impressive.

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I swage my own bullets and would like to try my hand at some bonded bullets in 429 for my Ruger SRH. It has a 9.5" heavy barrel. They would weight over 300 gr. But I would also like to try to use the 50 AE. Good luck with whatever you choose. Shoot a lot so it is second nature. Good luck, Rustyzipper.


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Just deer.
44 mag SWC 150yard run, dead.

45 colt 255 rnfp, not much flatpoint
Terrible, have probably killed a 10 in a row with less ammo.
Enough said, I would quit hunting if that was the normal experience.


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I have taken an Antelope and a Black Bear with a 265 grain SWC cast bullet from my 629 S&W. I took a 28 year hiatus from handgun hunting, but about 2 years ago have once again (though unsuccessfully) started hunting again ....hoping for an elk! If it happens, it will be a 400 grain, wide metplat, cast bullet......from my S&W 460 XVR. memtb

Last edited by memtb; 06/22/20.

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I used to carry a Ruger Blackhawk in 41 Mag when I was growing up in CO. I always had it on my hip when I was helping pack meat since it was easier to tote than a rifle while lugging meat. I shot a couple cow elk and several mulies with it while packing game. I used factory Rem loads which I believe had a 210 gr bullet if my memory is correct. It worked well and I don't recall having to shoot one more than once but I kept ranges to 50 yards or less to be sure I could put the bullet where I wanted.


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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.
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One mule deer, 44 mag, 240 jhp, 30 yard shot with full penetration through lungs, ran 40 yards and dead.

One pronghorn, 357 max in a contender, 180 gr sp, 110 yard shot, full lungs penetration, ran 20 yards and dead.


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Does this count?

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A few years ago, shot a red deer (close cousin to the elk) with my FA .454 Casull, loaded with Hornady 240 gr. XTP Mag bullets. Range was around 25 yards. A shot behind the shoulder was a pass-through, and the red deer took a few steps and died.


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Always love that picture GSSP...


Too close for irons, switching to scope...
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Ruger Blackhawk 41, 7 1/2” snout, 210 rem factory loads, 75-80 yards, 4 shots, did the ol elk hump and stand. 25-28 years ago. 5 point Roosevelt bull


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Why on earth would you want to arm an elk? 😁


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Originally Posted by MikeS
Always love that picture GSSP...


Me too. Some day when I grow up.......


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Originally Posted by bwinters
Originally Posted by MikeS
Always love that picture GSSP...


Me too. Some day when I grow up.......


He recently got hung at work in the office there at the Barnes Bullets Ballistic Lab.

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Almost singed hair distance, but there is a youtube video of one of the TV Faces shooting one with a 45.
If it is all in real time, it was over pretty quickly.
A search should find it pretty easily.


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Deer stalker, would love to hear the story of the bear dying on top of you. If there's a link to the story I'd appreciate it. Wow is all I can say. GSSP would like to hear the story on the swamp donkey also. Bill out. 🐾👣

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