Handgun Hunters Check In Please

[TXGunNut]

Having so much fun and good results with the 45/70, I really am questioning the handgun thing.-Crusty Deary Ol' Coot

I've taken deer and hogs using a 14" 35 Rem T/C Contender (w/ j-bullets ) and carry a Ruger BH in 45 Colt (nowadays stoked with CB loads!) for a backup. After reading a few threads here today I couldn't help but wonder how many folks hunt with CB's and handguns. Didn't want to hijack any of the great threads going on but thought it would be nice to know.
Pics and loads welcome!

[dave22250]

I have'nt yet myself but I am starting to load for some of my pistols with cast and can't wait to start shooting and working up loads,Im just buying store bought for now I hope they shoot good.

[EdS]

Hi TX: I've hunted with cast boolits in my M-29, .44 Mag since the 1960s. When I graduated high school, I received some small cash gifts from family. I bought my first mould, a Lyman 429422 hollow base. I cast with iron pot and ladel over my Mom's kitchen stove. I loaded these over Unique or 2400 and still use similar loads today. I took two of my very best whitetail bucks with my M-29, using factory sights. I tried a Contender with a scope, but never liked the bulky size and limited field of view of scoped handguns. I also have a like-new M-19 with a 6" barrel and have developed a few CB loads for it using Unique and 296. I've hunted with this, but have not yet taken a deer with the .357. My son took his first whitetail buck with a M-336, 30-30 using Lyman 31141 CBs. Merry Christmas, Ed

[9.3X62AL]

Lots of years of hunting with handguns and cast boolits here. This assumes varmint and small game hunting counts in this thread. I've taken a couple whitetails with j-words and handguns, back prior to getting so deeply involved in boolit crafting.

Since small game and varmints make up such a large part of my cast boolit hunting activity, mid-caliber handguns (30s and 32s) make up a lot of my loading effort and aquisitions. Most recently, I bought a Ruger Blackhawk in 30 U.S. Carbine to explore the upper end of the 30/32 caliber revolver velocity spectrum, and an accuracy comparison to the 32 H&R Magnum--which ROCKS.

[Dale53]

All of my deer have been taken with cast bullet handguns (.44 magnum). I have two hunting revolvers set up with scope sights (an 8 3/8" Model 29 with a Burris Big Dot Scope and a Ruger Red Hawk 7½" with a Leupold with duplex cross hairs). Getting use to the scopes just took a bit of trigger time. I have spent a LOT of time behind these platforms.

When you talk edible small game, then I have done that with my S&W Model 631 (4" .32 H&R Mag Kit Gun), my S&W Model 60 (3" dbl underlug barrel with target sights in .38 Special), and my .357 with 4" barrel S&W CS-1, and my various .44 Specials also work well with small game.

There can be few things more sporting than handgun hunting in all it's various guises.

To be effective with a handgun takes a LOT of trigger time. That represents some of the most fun I've ever had in this life.

Dale53

[GLynn41]

deer, groundhogs, wild dogs, and a boar all with some kind of .41 or .41 wildcat- and my cast I have taken excatly one deer with a 170JHC -I have used a .41 --.41/44, and 41.454- and a TC 14" braked 41.445 out to about 175 yards
This year I have hunted with a 9" TC --burris 2x6 scope- and 41/44 using a lwngc from Mihec group buy -- I forgot to take the safety off twice oh well good for the deer but I like the little gun
the thing about hundgun hunting I let animals walk that I could easily take with my fav rifle a Vanguard .358 Win-- efficent but not as fun and challengeing -- killing power no problem getting the shot --priceless
The trigger time Dale53 spoke of is just fun

[Lefty SRH]

I've got cast load/hunting loads worked up for all my wheel guns. I've just started casting so as soon as I get all the casting kinks worked out I'll be hunting with MY cast boolit and loads!

[Lefty SRH]

They will be .44spl, 44 mag, mid range .45 colt, high end pressure .45 colt, and .480 Ruger

[harley45]

I love hog hunting with my 10mm!

[Johnch]

44 mag RedHawlk
454 Super RedHawlk
44 Mag , 357 Max and 45/70 Contender barrels

This year only the 44 mag RedHawlk got a deer
But most years I get several deer with a cast Boolit in a handgun
But the weather sucked and I didn't need the meat
As I took 2 doe's with the bow and 1 with the muzzel loader

John

[NSP64]

I had a chance this year.
I had bought an antlerless only tag for gun season(shotgun,ML,Handgun in Illinois) opening day I only saw bucks

We are limited to straight walled, .30 or bigger, available factory loaded @ 500 ftlb at the muzzle. So I got a 45-70 14" contender this year

[x101airborne]

I carry some type of revolver nearly every day. My most memorable shots were with a model 67 on a yote at 65 yards with 158 remington swaged SWC's over unique, several pigs with everything from a 22 buckmark to the 454 casull, all with cast. My first pig with the TC super 14 in 308 winchester- cast. My wife likes shooting skunks and dillos with her ruger blackhawk 41 mag. My bulldog is a CLOSE personal friend of mine stoked with either Jim's custom wadcutters or my seaco 260 grainers. Yeah, I hunt with cast from a handgun. More like it is my bread-and-butter.

[white eagle]

would not even consider hunting without a cast Boolit
I carry handguns and a rifle my first choice in the shot is with the handgun
44 mag,480 ruger or 357 mag

[thebigmac]

Yes, I have hunted with hanguns. Took a small 4 pointer a few years ago, using a T/C 10 " contender. He dropped about 15' from where he was shot. I used a Hornady 139 soft point in the 7mmTCU, out to 80 yards. For the past few years I have carried my SUPER RED HAWK .44 Mag. with a 2X scope. No deer yet. Health kept me home this year. Will try again next year.
Before I retired I hunted with a 4" S&W, got one who shot a Police Officer; another was a burglar, & the last were two bank holdup men. (None went to trial...):Fire:

[Crawdaddy]

I have hunted rabbits, armadillo and hawg with handguns. It is a lot of fun. I took my traditions Vortek pistol with me this year when I deer hunted but didn't use it.

[1kshooter]

you are all very lucky to be able to hunt with your hand guns!....In Canada if I jump through anough hoops I am allowed to take my hand guns from my home to a club shoot papper and then right back home!
Jonathan

[BOOM BOOM]

HI,
4 Mule deer, w/ 44 mag.
rabbits, squirrels, birds, spiders, snakes and such.
Never enough left of the spiders too eat though, so maybe they don't count.

[DragoonDrake]

I have taken a handgun for a walk many times. So far my only pistol kills have been a ground hog and a chipmonk with the same RBH.

[Doughty]

Hunting with a handgun, or having a handgun while hunting? When my eyes were young, I hunted with a handgun. Now i just carry a handgun along while I'm hunting with a rifle. Sometimes, when the light and the gods align between shakes, it still works out.

[singleshot]

Hunt with a RSBH 44 mag, 7.5" barrel. This year I had a fork-antler deer tag, only saw does, elk (bull and cow), bears, etc.

But then on the last day of the hunt, exhausted and able to hike up&down the mountains no more, I crested a ridge and there it was, a 6 pt beauty. I laser ranged a 290 yard shot, got down on my haunches to rest my elbows on my knees and squeezed off a shot....perfect hit! I walked the 1/8 mile + bristling with anticipation. Yep! I'd done it. Right through the boiler room.

The knot on the stump I'd aimed for was partially disintigrated with a perfect pass-through. I'd gathered my firewood for the day. As it turned out, there were about 10-12 knots and outcropings on that stump, but didn't know for sure with my open sights.

And that was the only shot I got off this hunting season