I'm thinking I want to leave the scoped bolt guns in the safe and hunt with something a little challenging next year. Lever action, open sights and a hot pistol round for no more than 100 yard shots.

I love old lever guns and have a bunch of old 99's, 30-30's and .35's but none of those present much of a challenge either.

I hunt a private ranch and can be selective with shots because we have a real long season here. I'm kicking around a longer barreled Marlin levergun in .45 Colt. Anyone here hunted Blacktail (or small Whitetail) with one? If so what are your thoughts and what is your experience? Our deer rarely go over 125#'s field dressed.

Thanks,
Mike

Go forth and slay.You'll see dead critters if ya point it right.

The 45 Colt will take them out. I just fitted my Ruger Hunter with a Burris Fast Fire & can't wait to try it out.

I'm beginning to really like that sight. I just bought one for my Guide gun.

I'm gonna see if I can find a .45 for a decent price. I like the longer barreled "Cowboy" actions.

I have a 1894 .44 Mag, but I always feel a little funny packing it around when I'm packing my .45 Vaquero for snakes. Shells look so much alike I'd hate for someone to get them mixed up.

Mine is AS accurate as my previous scope on said gun. 3 shot one hole group with 250 XTP's at 50 yards off the bench. I was proud.

I was stationed at Travis USAF Base about 20 years ago. My hunts were focused within Napa, Sonoma, and Colusa counties for coastal blacktails. I carried my Marlin in 44 MAG with 4X scope and it never failed me. Becuase of 100 yard maximum range, I often stalked and crawled to within good shooting range. This added much to the hunting excitement in my opinion. I suggest select a good hollow tip such as Hornady and wait until you can shoot directly into the chest organs from broadside angle. Your 45 will perform well.

Coastal bucks rarely exceed 130 lbs live weight. It doesn't take a big rifle to topple 'em but you'll have to watch your distance closely. I killed most of my bucks at approx 80 yards or so and my 44 MAG really shines at this range.

One year, my brother came out to hunt with me and brought his 30-30. The buck never knew what hit him.

Sherwood

Hey Sherwood..
Thanks. In my book those pictures are awesome. Nice bucks! I'm 42 and have been hunting blacktail since I was 12. I've shot a deer or two every year and as I've been hunting em for a few years I'm just looking for something that will make it a little more challenging. The last couple years I passed every buck I saw.
I hunt about 40 days during the season and now days I really don't even care if I get one. I just love the hunt. I've never hunted with a pistol round. I think that the challenge of an old school gun and an old school caliber will make it even that much more fun. I've hunted a lot of different big game animals, but blacktail hunting is where my heart is.
Mike

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Hunting with a 45 colt is no challenge, use a 38 spec. handgun or something. Elmer Keith killed a mule deer at about 700 yards with a 44 mag pistol. Let's see you top that.

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.45 Colt wouldn't be my first choice for deer, but it should work. I have a 26" Marlin Cowboy in .45 Colt. It's been slicked up for CAS and I had shot it with reduced loads. The heavy walled brass won't seal against the chamber walls with a low powered load, causing blow back. I got tired of that and got something else for CAS. I loaded 300 gr. lead and jacketed bullets with max charges of 4227 and there is absolutely no blowback with those loads. I think the MV is around 1,500 fps., although I've never clocked them.

There have been a bunch of deer killed over the years with .38-40 and .44-40 rifles, neither of which churns out the power of this load. I would think the .45 Colt would be a potent deer caliber out to around 150 yds. I'd want something else for longer range shooting.

IMHO,

DF

Get a Marlin 1894 cowboy in .357mag with the octagon barrel in 20" or 24".

Load the 180gr Hornady XTP with Hodgdon's "lil gun" and go kill a black tail.

Doc

1894's in .357 have been slim pickings the last few months. I've got one in .44 and myself and buddy have both been looking for .357 for a few months now. I understand that they were out of production, but not out of the catalog and Marlin just started running them again.

I just want the .45 Colt because I pack a short barreled .45 Colt during the deer season.

I've spent quite a few deer hunting days with Winchester 92s in .25-20 and .38-40 and with a 94 Trapper in .44 magnum. .45 Colt? If it floats your boat, go for it. It'll do just fine.

My son has used one in Ga when he was stationed there. The load was a 300gr Hornady TXP @ 1700FPS from a 20" barrel. He said the last one he shot running just cartwheeled. Over a foot of penetration and a 2" exit. The reports Ive heard from those using cast bullets claim whitetails will walk ten or 20 yds and collapse. If you want to do all the "knock down" calculations, the 45 will well outclass the 30-30 and other accepted deer cartridges.

I think it would work great for what you describe. I've got a Winchester 94 Trapper in 45 Colt that I used with 300 grain cast bullets to flatten a black bear that weighed 270 lbs.

I killed my first blacktail buck out of the side window of our hay loft with a Win '92 .25-20 in 1953 on Sonoma Mtn. up above CSU Sonoma (which of course didn't exist at that time). I guess the statute of limitations has run out on that misdemeanor.....

Been hunting blacktails in Ventura, SLO, and Monterey counties for the last five years, using the same guns I used for whitetails when I lived in upstate NYS, a Ruger GP-100 .357 and a C. Sharps 1885 .44-40. Both work fine at the ranges I hunt in very brushy and broken terrain. I'm beginning to carry the GP more and more; at 69 that Hiwall gets heavy! (My .44-40 "unleaded" handloads use .44 Mag bullets and near-Magnum loads in Starline brass).

Blacktails aren't hard to kill, but you still need a decent shot and hit, or they can get into the manzanita or whatever scratchy stuff you got. And dragging one out of a steep canyon fulla brush and ticks is NO fun at all.

Big Iron,

I'm in the opposite boat. Currently toting a Puma 454 and am looking at a 45 Colt for the hip. The 454 shoots 45 also and think I will go with the 45 Colt on the cartridge belt for both. Nice to have both weapons firing the same round IMO.

Does California have any requirements on minimum foot pounds of energy on big game?

tom

No. Surprisingly, Ca's laws in regards to firearms while hunting are not harsh.

One of the rifles I am going to be blacktail deer hunting with this coming season is my 14" barreled (legal in Canada) T/C Contender carbine in 45 Colt.

I have been loading top 45 Colt loads from 200gr FTX - 345gr Beartooth my calculations show me that these loads produce more oomph out to 150 yards than a 30-30 does.

Used my Uberti Yellow Boy ( 1866) to take a couple of deer in MN. Not hot loads, cause that action won't take them, but out to 100 yds, didn't matter. Shot through both, lung shots. 250 gr bullet

Go forth and slay.You'll see dead critters if ya point it right.
_________________________

The 45 colt with modern brass, heavy cast bullets and large doses of 296 powder will make meat all day long. I have 3 .45 colts a Ruger B/H w/7 1/2" barrel, and 2 94 Winchesters one with a 20" barrel and the other with 24" barrel. With well placed shots any deer within a 150 yards gets an invitation to many dinners at my house.