Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Handgun for hunting whitetail

I’m looking to get another handgun to hunt whitetail I been hunting with a tc but would like something that has follow up shots if needed.
I am looking for suggestions due to being a novice handgun hunter.
I was looking at a sw frame in 460 due to being able to shoot 454 and 45long colt in a 5 inch barrel.
Should I look at a longer barrel?
Open to suggestions on different guns and calibers

Get the barrel length that you prefer

I would think any Ruger Blackhawk in a cartridge that starts with .4 would work for you. Barrel length to preference.

I happen to have one in 480R but would like to get a companion in 45 Colt

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What Teal said, there's no need for anything more, unless you just can't get closer. If that's the case, you're doing it wrong (I hunt Missouri, too).

357 mag revolver will take deer

Good advice above. I've taken somewhere around 40 deer with the 41 magnum in 5 different states, all with cast bullets. Barrel length is up to you but I like 5" barrels for the most part. The 44 & 45 are just as good or better, it all depends on good bullets & shot placement. The 357 works just fine out to 50 yds or so, again with correct bullets but you have to be very careful with shot placement but it will work. Good luck.

Dick

I do my handgun deer hunting with .41 and .44 magnums. Other than one 7 1/2" Redhawk .44 magnum they are all Smith .41 and .44 Magnum N frames with barrels from 6" to
8 3/8". If I'm just carrying a large frame revolver as a "just in case" or auxiliary gun I tend to go with 4", 5" or 6" depending on circumstances, but if I'm specifically deer hunting with a handgun I like the longer barrels, 6" to 8 3/8" especially if I'm using open sights.

This year, I've chosen (2) .41 magnums to start the season with, a 657 "Classic Hunter" with 6 1/2" barrel and open sights and a Performance Center 657 "Hunter" with a 2X Leupold handgun scope. I will probably transition to rifles in October sometime. (Our season here opened this past Monday and goes until the end of December.)

That's how I do it, take it for what it's worth.

I wouldn't be too concerned about "follow up shots." Deer aren't going to attack you. My philosophy is that I don't take a shot unless I'm very, very certain it will end up in a dead deer. I've not very often seen any good come of blazing away a bunch of Hail Mary shots at a deer running through the woods. I shoot a revolver quite a bit, but I don't pretend to be good enough to make that a likely proposition. Along with muscle mass, some hair and my good looks, I've lost, over the years, any enthusiasm I might have ever had for Charlie Foxtrot, gut-shot goat rodeos. Then again, I've been hunting deer for almost 60 years and have killed a bunch of them and, as I've mentioned, our season here is over 4 months long and we get three buck tags and 2 doe tags to start with, more if we need them. I've got racks on the wall I'l probably never surpass. I do have faint memories of younger times and the near desperation we get to kill a deer, especially if it's a short season with limited opportunities and/or it's been a pretty dry, frustrating season.

Anyway, you do what pleases you, those are my opinions. Sometimes old guys just have to give a lot more advice than they're asked for. Good luck and let us know what you decide to go with.

I haven’t hunted deer with a handgun in years but I used a .41 Magnum 657. Shot it a lot better than the .44. Deer couldn’t tell the difference.

Love the 41 mag, especially in a M-57 S&W

45 LC

Holy big gun batman. A 460 for deer? The uber truthful internet has stories of people taking deer with everything from a .22 on up, 9mm, 40sw, and 45acp. I'm sure a 40/45 would be adequate within 30 yards or so, but I think they are a little light. For me a 357, 10mm, 41mag, 44mag, 45 colt would be where I'd focus my attention. Something with a 3-6 barrel. (A 3" barrel on a revolver is about the same as a 4.5-5" barrel on a semiautomatic). It's handgun hunting not small rifle hunting. If you put a red dot or scope on it, barrel length doesn't matter in terms of accuracy from a longer sight radius.

Freedom Arms in 454 shooting lighter bullets. If distance comes into play, scope it up. Mt FA shot 1 1/2" groups at 100 yards with a Leupold on it. I don't use scopes on handguns any longer. I like the sport of getting "up close and personal".

I recommend a DA 357 magnum with 6" barrel. Or a plain old 1911 45 acp. I've harvested deer with both and they both dropped in their tracks without a step. Open sights too. I really like 45 LC as well as 44 magnum.

X frame revolvers are huge. You could probably carry a scoped Contender on a sling and a back up revolver and have less total weight. My current favorite revolver is a S&W Model 69 with a micro red dot. I can use it as an "always" gun when woods bumming. Crazy accurate and recoil is surprisingly manageable.

The 4 1/4" barrel is not long enough to be legal for hunting in some areas though....

I love my 8 3/8” 460…..but that said, if your Whitetail hunts are in pretty thick stuff and shots are fairly short ( likely 100 and under), the 5” model would be a great choice.

I would really love to have one for general purpose use when I’m not hunting with my present 460! memtb

You can use a lot of stuff .. most is more than you need if you're stopping at deer, not hunting bear or elk or anything else over 300 pounds. I am pretty heavily invested in .44 and .45 components but if I had to start over from scratch with a blank slate I'd grab a 6-1/2" barreled Ruger Blackhawk in .41 magnum and never look back. I could make .357 work. 10mm, too, in a revolver.

You’re overthinking it.

If you’re not killing deer with a TC, then you probably won’t kill them with anything else. But this is the fire, and we never tell anyone to not buy a gun, so here’s your answer:

1. Get a 357, 41, 44 Special, 45 Colt, or 44 Magnum revolver with a barrel that’s four to eight inches long. I like Rugers and Smiths but others will work.

2. Load a relatively heavy bullet (160 in the 357, 210 in the 41, and 250 in the 44s and 45) at about 1,100 fps.

3. Study how deer live and learn how to get close to them.

4. Work on your shooting. The ability to hit a pie plate with every shot at 50 yards will put a lot more meat on the table than buying a revolver that takes several different cartridges.

But that brings us back to the issue of skill. Why not figure out how to cut down your reloading time with the TC?


Okie John

John, there is absolutely nothing arguable with your statement except……maybe he merely wants a 450 S&W! 😉 memtb

What shooting distance are you anticipating?
Are you hunting from a stand?

.357 mag, 10mm, 41 mag, 44 mag, or 45 Colt.