38 special on whitetail any exeriences out their!

[marlinman80]

I was just wondering if any of ya'll have had any success using a 38 secial for deer hunting. I was thinking a 158 grain swc at 900 fps would do the job. In particular if it was loaded with a pure lead bullet and the range was short less than 75 yards. I have an old 5 screw model 14 masterpeice and thought it would be a blast to send that bullet into a deer. I don't see any reason it shouldn't work. This load goe thru 5-6 inches of green yellow pine why not thru the rib cage and heart and lungs of a whitetail. Any feed back would be very appreciated.

[richhodg66]

Never have, but I have shot them close enough that even I (I'm decent, but not the pistolero some of these guys are) could have placed shots very carefully. I think it would do it, just please be sure you have the patience to wait for an absolutely perfect shot.

[Outpost75]

I have killed several smaller whitetails with .38 Special, being fired in an English rook rifle, rechambered from a .360 No.5, ammunition being a 180-grain wide, flatnose, cast 1:30 tin-lead, with a charge of 4 grains of Bullseye, NEI #161A bullet, seated to 1.55" OAL, velocity 980 fps from a 25" barrel. Mostly head and neck shots within 25-40 yards.

[dk17hmr]

Lets get this out of the way because someone will say it...if a 22lr or an arrow...blah blah blah...doesn't really matter because its not the same.

I probably wouldn't use a 38 special (handgun) on purpose, but if I were to hunt with it I would hunt with it like I was hunting with a recurve bow....get in close and put it in the lung and let the projectile do its work.

[Outpost75]

Accurate shot placement and knowledge of deer anatomy is more important than energy.

You want full caliber crush with through and through complete penetration and pinpoint accuracy.

[uscra112]

Gerald Averill claimed to have killed numerous "eatin' size" deer in the 1930s, using a 6" revolver, but we all know that today's deer are much tougher than the Maine woods Depression variety. Takes at least a .357 Max for anything over 30 feet.

[marlinman80]

I wouldn't drop the hammer on an iffy shot. I think it would work thru the vitals just fine though.

[Lefty Red]

At the range the OP suggested, I would want a head/spine shot. Yeah, I have shot deer with 22short to long bow. But I just don't want an animal to suffer. If its not a perfect shot, I wouldn't even think about it. If it doesn't drop the animal immediately, its not a perfect shot.

Lefty

[Reg]

You could jump out of a tree with a sharp stick in your teeth and stab the poor thing to death I suppose but it makes more sense to take Bob Ruarks advice and "Use enough gun".
Think I would go up in the power dept. a bit.

[leftiye]

I'd be nervous, just like you aparently are. That said, If .44 cal revolvers in the 900 fps range will do it, the 35 will too. But (gotta have a but), it's probly getting iffy.

[d garfield]

IF YOU CAN AFFORD ANYTHING BIGGER GET IT. I know it has been done,but come on.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

So that beautiful trophy buck shows up 85 yards out, the shot angle is not good. Will you take the shot or let him walk away??

[Ben]

I have a Marlin 1894 , 38 Special ( Yes a 38 Spec. not a 357 Mag.).

I also have a Rossi 92 in 357 Mag.

I love both rifles and enjoy shooting both of them.

As for using them on deer, NO........I'll get out my Weatherby, 358 Win. loaded with 262 gr. HPs at 1850 fps for white tails.

Ben

[TCLouis]

NOT an expert in the least, but I am guessing if one dropped the 75 to 25 yards and . . .AND

Was an excellent shot

AND

Chose only a well placed animal

AND a well place shot,

Then it would all come together.

I am sure one could shoot a deer at 75 yards with 9 900 ft/sec 35 caliber boolit and kill it, just so many variables including the length of time from boolit impact until deers death

[Old School Big Bore]

My lifelong huntin buddy killed a small TX Hill Country whitetail with a .36 cap & ball and that's less energy & poor projectile shape/mass. BUT he did it at <20 yd and waited for the perfect presentation. If you can get a grand out of that SWC and the deer are populous enough to pass up iffy shots, and you know what distance you can stay on the vitals, go for it. I wouldn't do pure lead, though, you want the boolit hard enough for the best possible accuracy - it doesn't take much hardening but straight pure is too soft.

[Outpost75]

During the Depression my Dad fed his family with a 6" barrel Colt Army Special in .32-20 It would not be your first choice as a deer gun, but Dad says he used it because it killed better than a .22 rifle and was more accurate than a .36 Colt Navy, the only other guns they had on the farm in those days.

[runfiverun]

if you are comfortable with it, go for it.
I'd do a little more testing of the projectile on some umm media that resembles a deers bodies make-up.
you might not want the boolit all that soft.

[Outpost75]

At subsonic velocity, and for a flat-nosed, solid bullet, a 1:40 tin/lead alloy, the same as used in the old blackpowder loads, expands somewhat. A hollow point of soft 8BHN alloy will expand nicely above 900 fps and stay together, with some reduction in penetration Harder alloy such as wheelweights about 12 BHN does not expand at all below about 1300 fps and is apt to fragment if hollowpointed.

[NSB]

Two bullets out of the same deer. Both shots were within three inches of each other and each one was found under the hide on the off side. Both went through the ribs. This was from full power 357mag loads. One shot at around 30yds and the second at around 90 yes. It doesn't take a genius to figure out the 38Spl is underpowered at 75yds. The fact that you ask the question seems to indicate that you may not have the experience or expertise to attempt this. Use enough gun and be able to hit where you're aiming.
Attachment 98978

[Crash_Corrigan]

I was out hunting rabbits with a Colt Woodsman .22 lr and a short 4" bbl one lazy summer day in '58... I had no luck and I had climbed up onto a mossy rock ledge for a nap. Some noise woke me and when I opened my eyes I saw a Deer about five feet away. It had clambered up about halfway to my ledge and was facing me dead on. My hand was on the gun. I slipped off the safety and not even taking aim I let off one shot.

It drilled that poor creature between the eyes and she dropped like a stone without a sound. I gutted her with my belt knife and half dragged/carried her home and my Dad helped me butcher the carcass and we had very tender Venison for the remainder of the summer.

Years later, while hunting officially with a license and everything and with my Grandpa's Winchester 30-30 I had a shot at a deer. This time it was a buck at about 25 yds and after I had lined up the sights I could not find it within myself to pull the trigger. All I could see was the eyes of the deer I had illegally taken years earlier with the .22. I watched the deer for a time and then quietly left the woods never to hunt again for deer.

Yes a tiny .22 lr will take a deer. Years later as a Police Officer I had to shoot a man. I did not hesitate nor did I miss but the center mass shot did not kill him. It hardly slowed him down and I have the scars from his knife on my left arm to prove it. He eventually died in jail from the infection from that shot but that was weeks later. My shot went through and through and failed to hit any major organs other than his lungs. That round was a .38 Special lead SWC design of 158 gr and if I shot him again today it would be with a 9 mm Corbon Pow'r Ball and I know that this round would open up and cause major problems for him. Maybe not stop him but really hurt much worse than a plain lead SWC round.