# Handgun hunters -- what do you hunt and hunt with?



## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

What do you handgun hunt, and what handgun(s) do you use?

- I chase squirrels and rabbits with .22 rimfire autos (Buckmark or Ruger MK-II 22/45) or revolvers (Super Single-Six or S&W 317 AirLite). Red-dot sight on the Ruger, iron sights on everything else (so far).

- I normally hunt deer with a Ruger .44 Redhawk (but haven't in the last few years). Also have used T/C Contender in various calibers and a Remington XP-100 bolt-action in .35 Rem. Scopes or irons sights on all of these, depending on the hunting area/conditions.


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## Baldy (Jun 21, 2006)

Going to try and sack a hog this coming fall with a S&W model 29-10 Classic. Going to work up a load I like for it and see what happens. I figure a 200 to 240gr slug should knock the fire out of one. Good hunting.

Best Baldy


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## 2400 (Feb 4, 2006)

I love handgun hunting, I've hunted Rabbits and Squirrels with 22's and 357's. I have harvested Elk, Deer, Antelope, Bear, Mountain Lion and Javalina with my 44 Mag, I've also used my 50 AE to hunt Deer.


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## milquetoast (Nov 25, 2006)

Javelina. 1911 .45.


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## jwkimber45 (May 6, 2006)

The majority of my handgun hunting has been limited to small game with .22s. 

Usually a Single Six.


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## john doe. (Aug 26, 2006)

I shot a couple Grouse with my .357 when I lived in Alaska. The first one gutted it perfectly. The second blew off half it's breast. Still tastly though.


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## DFAULK (Mar 27, 2007)

I use a Ruger M77 rifle (stainless w/black laminated stock) 7mm Mag primarily, but I ALWAYS have my Super Blackhawk Hunter (which matches my rifle BTW) in my shoulder holster, for deer that come within 50 yards. I have a cheap Pro point 3 red dot on top, and it is one accurate MOFO! I have taken several deer with the SBHH, there's something special about dropping the hammer on one when you can see "the whites of their eyes".


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## Sixgunner (May 28, 2007)

I use one of several of my handguns. The TC Contender in one of the following calibers, 375 JDJ, 309 JDJ, 300 Whisper, 7-30 Waters, 223 Reminton, 7TCU, or 22 LR. In revolver one of my 44's or my 454 Casull.


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## Dave James (May 15, 2007)

Started off as a kid with the H&R 999 hunting rabbits and such, and moved on up as they say, chased deer and black bear with 44mag for a few years, and still carry one for back up on knife hunts for hogs.

But mostly now have settled on the 45 winchester mag and 35 remington in 10" and 14" barreled TC's


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## Benzbuilder (Sep 7, 2006)

I hunt deer with my S&W 686 .357. Works well for my short range stuff.


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## Bob Wright (May 10, 2006)

I'm a Ruger Single Action fan, and have usually picked the Super Blackhawk in .44 Magnum.

I've used them for deer and groundhog.

I've carried the 5" Super at times, but prefer the 7 1/2" barrel.

Bob Wright


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

Yessiree; a long-barrel revolver is a bit of a pain to carry but it sure is nice to have that increased sight radius when it's time to shoot.


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## neophyte (Aug 13, 2007)

*Favorite Hunting Guns*

Bob Wright: Sir am glad you replied with Handgun hunting
After seeing your Tribe; :mrgreen:wouldn't I be disappointed.:mrgreen:

Craig


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## elarsen (Aug 15, 2007)

I've hunted squirrels and rabbits with a Ruger single-six, but will be hunting whitetail in IL for the first time with my Python. 

The wood lot I've been hunting with a muzzleloader offers short range shots, so I figure .357 mag with 158 gr sp will be more than adequate.


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## JDJHNTR (Feb 4, 2007)

I mostly hunt deer and hogs with handguns. Here is a link to a post I did a few months back....... http://www.handgunforum.net/showthread.php?t=6713

And by the way.............Hello everyone, I'm back!!


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## elarsen (Aug 15, 2007)

Those are fine looking deer. If all goes well this fall/winter I'll be able to post my own pic of deer harvest with scoped handgun too.


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## PanaDP (Jul 20, 2007)

My Dad has been practicing to hunt whitetails in PA with a ruger vaquero in .45 colt. We shot some (forget make) +P through it and it's a pretty mighty gun.


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## cbrgator (Aug 21, 2007)

Where do you guys hunt all this small game? Do you all have some kind of woods near you or do you just go outside?


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

cbrgator said:


> Where do you guys hunt all this small game? Do you all have some kind of woods near you or do you just go outside?


There are at least a half-dozen state-run wildlife areas which allow hunting within 75-100 miles of my house, in addition to unposted private land allowing hunting.

Not all of the private landowners (even with unposted property) allow hunting for all species, though. I recall knocking at a rural farmhouse and asking permission to hunt squirrels, having seen quite a few squirrel "nests" in the tree row that started behind the barn and stretched for nearly half a mile. The lady that answered the door listened to my request, fixed me with an icy stare and said "We FEED the squirrels", then slammed the door in my face. On the walk back to the truck, I'm thinking, "Slow, fat, corn-fed squirrels; that's okay with me..." :mrgreen:


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## Don357 (Dec 4, 2007)

*Huntin' gun*

I have a Ruger New Model Blackhawk .357 mag w/6 1/2 barrel and a NcStar 4x32 scope that I use for deer. It's good for 50 to 75 yds.


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## tex45acp (May 26, 2006)

Nice Guns,

I have been filling my tags with this one for over 2 decades. It is Rugers Stainless Redhawk. This one is in my favorite revolver caliber, the .41mag. I have cleanly taken whitetails, mule deer and even a fallow deer here in Texas with this one. The 2X Leupold scope really helps on those longer shots.

tex


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## fivehourfrenzy (Aug 12, 2007)

2400 said:


> I've also used my 50 AE to hunt Deer.


I'm debating whether to get a 12-gauge for home defense and deer hunting, or a .50AE Desert Eagle for the same purposes. Not really sure which way to go.


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## Mike Barham (Mar 30, 2006)

fivehourfrenzy said:


> I'm debating whether to get a 12-gauge for home defense and deer hunting, or a .50AE Desert Eagle for the same purposes. Not really sure which way to go.


For the love of all that is holy, please do everyone in Kentucky a favor and get the shotgun.

A .50AE for home defense...some people watch WAY too many movies.


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## fivehourfrenzy (Aug 12, 2007)

Mike Barham said:


> A .50AE for home defense...some people watch WAY too many movies.


It'd still do better than my .40S&W. :mrgreen:


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## Zogex (Jan 29, 2008)

Rabbits and Whitetails with S&W M60 .38 Special loaded with Winchester 158gr Lead Semi-Wadcutter.


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## Bowhunter57 (Nov 25, 2006)

I've hunted squirrels and groundhogs with a H&R Sportsman 999, Ruger Single Six, Ruger 22/45, Browning Buckmark, Ruger GP-100 .357 Mag. 6" barrel, Dan Wesson .357 Mag. 8" barrel (scoped), S&W model 29 .44 Mag. 8 3/8" barrel, Colt 45acp series 70 Govt. model and Desert Eagle .357 Mag.

All of them were great, but I'm looking forward to purchasing a Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt and continuing to hunt. :smt023

Good hunting, Bowhunter57


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## Tex Denson (Mar 15, 2008)

*Hunting Handguns*

Taurus Raging Bull Blue 6.5 " 454 Casull--------Deer and hogs
Ruger SRH SS 9.5" 44 Rem Mag---------------Deer and hogs
Ruger SBH SS 10.5" 44 Rem Mag--------------Deer and hogs
Ruger Vaquero SS 4.75" 45 Colt---------------Knock around revolver

Would use either on coyote or bobcat if the situation ever presented itself.


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## Stonebraker (Apr 18, 2007)

*Handgun Hunting*

I went to New Mexico buffalo hunting and brought one down with a 500 magnum Smith & Wesson revolver.


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## Don357 (Dec 4, 2007)

Mike Barham said:


> For the love of all that is holy, please do everyone in Kentucky a favor and get the shotgun.
> 
> A .50AE for home defense...some people watch WAY too many movies.


+10 Mike, I knows we don' agree on much, but we do on dis!


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## Masterblaster1 (Mar 14, 2009)

Whitetails I use a Ruger Vaquero .45 Colt loaded with ruger pressure level 300 grain XTP's. Out to about 35 yards its quite accurate for a gun with a four and five-eights inch barrel and fixed sights.


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## Lscha (Jul 19, 2009)

My Ruger SuperBlackhawk Stalker is the only gun I've used for the last 25 years. It gets much venison.


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## Semi-jacketed (May 1, 2008)

Used to hunt squirrels with a Ruger Single Six when much younger.

I hunt wild boar with a Ruger Redhawk, 7.5" barrel using 270 gr. bonded soft point bullets.


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## grey-wolf (Jun 3, 2007)

BM .22 for tree rats and a GP100 for deer out to about 60 yds. (180 gr load)


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## buddy (Jan 7, 2011)

Ruger MkII for small game. Dan Wesson 744VH8 for everything else. Topped with a 2-6X32 Buushnell Trophy it's taken deer out to 150yds. I admire you guys that shoot the truely giant single actions. But a 310gr .430 out the muzzle @ 1270fps is plenty stout for me. The DW is a dream to shoot and super accurate. I still love all my Rugers though.


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## buckler (May 24, 2011)

i've used everything from a .22 2" kit gun to a 6" .44 mag, mostly, tho, ccw type autoloaders, .38 snubs. My hunting is rarely hunting per se, it is field testing of various loads and bullet weights, on flesh and blood. it is irrelevant to me what monster revolvers can do, since nobody uses such for self defense, and almost nobody knows what their ccw load will do on bodies. instead they believe the bs war stories and marketing hype.


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## mag (Jul 8, 2011)

I've taken much small game with 22 autoloaders and revolvers in 357 and 44 mag, but this is my current deer slayer. Encore with custom Bullberry 10" 44 mag barrel.









I took this nice 130" buck two years ago with it.


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## swampcrawler (Sep 15, 2011)

wanna try hogs and maby deer up REAL close with hot buffalo bore +p loads out of my:
HK45. go ahead, down play it, but at 25 yards and under i sure as heck wouldnt wanna be standin in front of it.


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## JBarL (Sep 15, 2011)

I guess I'm considered old when I say this But I use a Uberti 1847 Walker Black Powder 44 Cap and Ball revolver to hunt pigs where I live in Central Texas, The very first time I went hunting Was a bit over kill for I had loaded .454 Hornady round balls with ( 60 grains ) blackpowder
Darn near took the head off of a 400+ lb hog so I had to back down the grainage of powder to 40 to 45 grains. but I will shoot very accuartely at 50 yrds But I have hit stationary full size targets at 100 yrds with it not In the X but I was in the 9 ring. I was very impressed with this revolver, so much that I bought a conversion cylinder for it to use 45LC in it. ofcourse the gun has a 9inch barrel and its hefty weight of 4 1/2 lbs empty. but it was designed to shoot the horse out from underneath the indian who was riding it. gotta love my holy black.

JBarL


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## Capt Rick Hiott (Aug 22, 2010)

454 Taurus Raging Bull for hogs and soon to be deer......


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

swampcrawler said:


> wanna try hogs and maby deer up REAL close with hot buffalo bore +p loads out of my:
> HK45. go ahead, down play it, but at 25 yards and under i sure as heck wouldnt wanna be standin in front of it.


Many years ago, my brother took a whitetail with a Colt Commander and self-defense loads at about 30 yards, with no problems at all.


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## Cookie125 (Sep 24, 2012)

Started with rabbits on the trapline with him and his I&J .22 and then armadillos with a S&W 22A while carring it on walks to rabbits and squirrels with it as well, now have a Dan Wesson 15-2 .357mag that I've taken a few amardillos with but plan on trying jack rabbits, coyotes and maybe a doe in late season if I have a tag left after archery season.


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## rexherring (Nov 13, 2012)

I mostly have used my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt with 255 gr or 300 gr cast SWC at about 1250 fps. It'll penetrate a mule deer almost lengthwise. I've also used my 7tcu Contender for Montana Mule deer.


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## linebaugh (Jan 1, 2013)

Mostly hunt deer.
Ruger SRH 454 Casull
Savage Sriker 308
Freedom Arms 475 Linebaugh.


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## acepilot (Dec 16, 2012)

Been many years, but have hunted whitetails with my Ruger .44 Magnum Super Blackhawk.


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## acepilot (Dec 16, 2012)

rexherring said:


> I mostly have used my Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt with 255 gr or 300 gr cast SWC at about 1250 fps. It'll penetrate a mule deer almost lengthwise. I've also used my 7tcu Contender for Montana Mule deer.


Hopefully, you don't hunt airplanes. :anim_lol: My first airplane came from Hebron, ND, not too far distant from you. LOL!


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## Desertrat (Apr 26, 2007)

Ruger Single Six for squirrels and rabbits.
Ruger Blackhawk .44 Special for deer and javelin.
Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Mag for deer and up...all open sights.


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