Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns what are you guys useing for bear deer and elk handguns

just curious what your guy's pics are when it comes to big game handgun where ranges would be inside 100yds

T/C Contender 45LC with 10 inch bull bbl. Shoots a 300 grain Laser-Cast on Starline brass at 1300 FPS. I have not and probably will not try it on bear without a backup.
Kirt

1. Ruger Blackhawk 45 LC 250 Grn Hornady XTP at 1300fps

2. T/C Contender 7-30 waters 120 grn at 2400 fps

Good shooting <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mark

Any of a number of .41 caliber handguns I have. For deer and pig a .41RemMag Ruger, Contender, or S/W657. For bigger with teeth a .41 caliber wildcat .41GNR, .41GNR#2, or .411JDJ. A .41 will do anythig I need done in the way of killing game animals.

Haven't hunted any bear. For elk and deer - when I'm not using the muzzleloader, I'm using a Magnum Research Lone Eagle in .308win. 165gr X-bullets at about 2400fps, and a 4x Leupold scope.

-FreeMe

S&W 57 .41 Magnum, or Ruger B.H. .41 Magnum, and Ruger B.H. .45 Colt, for deer and Black bear. I haven't hunted elk with a handgun.

I will add that last Fall, one of my hunting partners was carrying his S&W 57 .41 Mag., when he left camp to go to the nearby creek to get a couple buckets of water for camp. (We were in Black bear country where a Griz will sometimes wander.)

As he was letting the buckets fill, a nice fat four point elk appeared in some willows about 50/60 yards from him, and didn't see him as he was sitting quietly behind a downed log. He drew his .41 Mag., rested his arm on the log and killed the elk with one round. Although he was "rifle hunting", that day his .41 Mag. came in very, very handy.

L.W.

Stainless Ruger Super Blackhawk 7.5". The load I use is a 240 grain Hornady XTP on top of some 2400 for a muzzle velocity of 1360 f.p.s.

kecatt,



Im going to guess thats 44mag? I know the super red is chamberd in the 44mag but i dont know what else its chamberd in but those 240gr bullets kinda give it away if its a 44mag. plan to pack it on few deer and elk hunts this fall.



I also shoot the 7.5" super red hawk in a 44mag, it as of yet hasnt been scoped, been shootin open sitghts and im not sure i realy want to scope it, so far ive just been punch paper and rocks with it. putn a hole heck of alot of rounds through it, enough to draw blood on my middle finger knuckle. when i settle down in my grrove i barely hang on to her. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />



lean wolf,



that would be quite the hunt, shooting an elk with a pistol when you werent intednging to see or even drop a set of sites on one.



you hunting unit 39 up in grizz country again, I bet if theres a grizz in idaho is up more towards canada but its very very possible, after all we had a moose or two in town. what site that was to see and man the talk of the town for so long, there was one strolling around a few years ago, and from teh stories they tell theyve been down this way before.



did you put in for any hunts this season.



free me



is that magnum research bolt action set up, I dont know of them, a 308 in semi small pistol would be pretty cool moderate range to close range weapon.



crawfish mark to and bend oregon.



I love those ruger black hawks they just dont fit my hand to well, I also like the 41 and 45lc but the 44 mag in facotry fodder is doing me pretty good, its got me wide eyed a few times as i dang near knocked myself in for head as the pistol rolled back and almost hit me in the head.



i also like the encores, just love the ruger big bores i guess for big game handgun. I havent ever taken any game other than rat with the 44. hopefully i can change that this season or atlest do the sneak on few unsuspecting rock chucks.





have a good one you guys and good luck this season



Evan

Mine is a .454 Casull topped with a Burris Speed dot.I love it.


Jayco.

For me this year I will be using my 445 supermag Dan Wesson with 8" barrel topped with a burris 2x7 scope. I have some loads I am working on now but not sure what I will use.

First load shoots a 210 gr sierra JHC at 1800 fps

second load shoots a 225 gr barnes x at about 1775 fps. Both are very accurate but will still be shooting these to see what I will end up using in PA this year.


I might be using the barnes load do to hunting in PA in the poconos area and the deer season and black bear season coinsides to try to reduce the bear population a bit. So I think the barnes load is in the lead.

Brian

Seems to be the 45lc and 44 rem mag are the most popular- any reason you guys went with those over the 480 Ruger?

I like .45LC, nostalgic, been around forever, gets the job done!!! Not too much recoil, and I've had it for a few years.

.480 Ruger new kid on the block, interesting, wish someone would give me one <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Mark

I am just really starting to get bit by the pistol bug and thing my next one may be a hunting or cowboy gun - the only thing I think I would ever hunt with it would be deer so I was thinking 44 or 45lc - maybe 41 mag but that round seems to be dyin- don't see too much of it mentioned anymore.

Was thinking a Ruger SA in one of hese calibers would be the ticket.

"any reason you guys went with those over the 480 Ruger?"

The 480 is not over 18 yet, its still a kid!
Kirt

44 & 45LC still work just fine, I don't need to have the newest thing on the block when the tried and true still get the job done. Probably why I still use 30-06, .32 WSpl and 45-70.

I just remember the big hoopla when it came out. IIRC was something like 454 Casull with 44mag recoil or some such thing.

This year it's going to be a 500 S&W with 440 grain cast bullet handloads.

I will shot anything - I love to shoot hat much but I would SERIOUSLY think about it b4 I ever shot that 500. Prob the first time I would turn down a chance.

Evan, that was over in Unit 62, next to the Wyoming border, just south of the s.w. corner of Yellowstone. In fact, a USFS Ranger had stopped at our site as we were putting down our tents, etc., and told us to "be careful" as a Griz had torn up a hunter's camp a few days before we got there, about a quarter mile from our camp. So we were careful. Didn't see any Griz. I imagine those in that area wander in from the Park.



I've seen Griz tracks up north of the Clearwater, way out in the thick stuff. I don't know if there are any in Unit 39, although I've hunted there several times.



My friend was pleased with his handgun elk. He got to stay in camp, relax, and watch things, while we were out humping the boonies.



We put in for Controlled Bull Elk over in Unit 43. If we're lucky enough to get pulled for that tag, we'll hunt somewhere east of Featherville.



Teal, I don't think the .41 Mag. is at all, "dying." S&W, Ruger, and Taurus, make handguns for it, and Marlin makes their 1894 lever rifles in .41. (I have two of those.) It's a mighty fine caliber, and if you reload, there are lots of good bullets out there. Factory stuff comes from Fed., Rem., Win., and (I think) PMC.



Works for me... and a lot of .41 owners I know.



L.W.

I'll be using my 44 mag Super Blackhawk Hunter with most likely 240 gr XTPs. If I was to use it for elk I'd use one of the Swift bullets.

The 41 mag kind of rises and falls in popularity,and its definitly on a rise right now. Ruger just made a number of these and it'd be what I'd buy if I wanted to hunt with that caliber.

SBH 41 mag

They were made for Davidsons- http://www.galleryofguns.com/