Killed a deer with a 9mm

[megasupermagnum]

I like bowhunters pictures. We are talking whitetail deer. I don't know how hunters who have gutted deer can honestly think they need huge rifles to blow through them. Sure, the spine in the neck is small, but just about every part of the neck is vital. I never take neck shots if I can help it. I remember shooting 4 deer in the neck, 3 with shotgun slugs, 1 with my 327 federal handgun this year. All 4 fell where they stood. Some people just can't shoot. Maybe it's jitters, maybe it's practice, or both. I always carried a handgun for hunting, but practiced heavily the last two years before I felt comfortable taking it out as my only firearm.

[43PU]

I have never gotten buck fever, possibly from the fact that I tell myself that the hard work begins when I pull the trigger, I figure I have 3-4 hours of work when I shoot an deer, and that calms me down pretty fast. I have a young family and we eat ALOT of meat if you ask my 3 year old boys if they want beef or deer they are gonna say deer every time. I also can not justify spending $85-90 on a deer that I may get 50lbs of meat out of I can buy chicken for 79cents a lb so I butcher all of my deer. Luckly I live in KY where Zone one is unlimited deer l!! So I shoot a lot to feed the family, this year it was 8

[megasupermagnum]

That must be fun. We only get 1 deer limit for most of the state, but I often shoot 2 through party hunting (I only keep one for myself). Thankfully a full grown MN deer provides about 75 pounds of straight meat. I don't pick through the ribs either, too much work for a couple pounds. It's nuts how many people dust off a rifle without checking the sight in, shoot a deer, half way gut it, and haul it to the local meat shop. Those kinds of people are why magnum rifles are popular.

[dverna]

Texas by God nailed it.....if you can shoot....

The truth is the vast majority of hunters, and I bet most on this site, are unable to shoot that well.

It is why I dislike these kinds of threads. They encourage people who have mediocre skills to venture into the field with underpowered weapons.

PU43, do you realize most people cannot hit a 3” target at 100 yards with every shot from a rest using a 9mm? That is reality. Yet you can do every shot off hand? I am not buying it.

The 10 ring on the NRA SR-1 High Power 100 yard target is 3.35”. So you can shoot a perfect score in NRA High Power? Using a 9mm carbine? Off hand? Again, I am not buying it.

And using cast bullets instead of match rifle bullets too....truly amazing.

Just felt that a reality check was warranted.

[Piedmont]

PU43, do you realize most people cannot hit a 3” target at 100 yards with every shot from a rest using a 9mm? That is reality. Yet you can do every shot off hand? I am not buying it.

The 10 ring on the NRA SR-1 High Power 100 yard target is 3.35”. So you can shoot a perfect score in NRA High Power? Using a 9mm carbine? Off hand? Again, I am not buying it.

That was my reaction, too. I used to be a very good offhand rifle and pistol shot. With a bolt action with a superb trigger if I was getting 10 shot groups approaching 6" (approaching from above) it was a pretty good day at the range. This fellow is cutting that in half with groups larger than ten shots, a trigger that isn't as good, and a rifle/ammo combination without as much intrinsic accuracy as what I use. Highly suspect claims.

[megasupermagnum]

Texas by God nailed it.....if you can shoot....

The truth is the vast majority of hunters, and I bet most on this site, are unable to shoot that well.

It is why I dislike these kinds of threads. They encourage people who have mediocre skills to venture into the field with underpowered weapons.

PU43, do you realize most people cannot hit a 3” target at 100 yards with every shot from a rest using a 9mm? That is reality. Yet you can do every shot off hand? I am not buying it.

The 10 ring on the NRA SR-1 High Power 100 yard target is 3.35”. So you can shoot a perfect score in NRA High Power? Using a 9mm carbine? Off hand? Again, I am not buying it.

And using cast bullets instead of match rifle bullets too....truly amazing.

Just felt that a reality check was warranted.

I know a lot of people who couldn't hit a deer at 150 yards from a rest if you gave them a rifle that shoots 1/2 MOA. Those kinds of people wound lots of deer. There's no help for them. I know one very personally, can't get him to the range for anything. He would be wounding deer if he was shooting a 338 lapua. That's reality.

A 9mm carbine might actually be a good thing, these poor shooters might not flinch as bad.

[Rick R]

Good shooting!

The Finnish army used to have 9mm SMG competitions out to 300 yards. I’ve hit pop cans at 80 yards with an MP-5, albeit from prone not offhand. I don’t take neck shots but if I had a 9mm carbine I’d try taking some venison with it.

I’m getting 1,100fps from my HiPower with NOE’s 135gr FN bullet over BE-86. Not legal here in a handgun but I figure it would work.

[cabezaverde]

I have never done the neck shot. Does anywhere in the neck work or is it a specific area of the neck?

[dk17hmr]

Gotta hit bone or have enough velocity for hydrostatic shock.

Meat in the freezer. Nice shooting I have considered using 9mm carbine for varmints and predators but not big game mostly because it isn't legal here.

[Tom W.]

In Alabama it's any centerfire mushrooming ammunition. So, a .25 ACP is legal...

[Petander]

Good shooting!

The Finnish army used to have 9mm SMG competitions out to 300 yards. I’ve hit pop cans at 80 yards with an MP-5, albeit from prone not offhand. I don’t take neck shots but if I had a 9mm carbine I’d try taking some venison with it.

I’m getting 1,100fps from my HiPower with NOE’s 135gr FN bullet over BE-86. Not legal here in a handgun but I figure it would work.

Yep the "Suomi KP" 9 mm smg was an important factor against the enemy back then. Ammo was ++P in today's standards.

But for hunting, 9mm is only legal for rabbit size critters here, whitetail minimum is 30/30 and 243 rifles to fill the 100 meter energy requirements. And rifles only.

I can live with that,I tend to use "too much gun" anyway. That comes from moose hunt experience,308 is legal and most common for moose here,I never used 308 for other than range practise.

[jmort]

A 255 grain .45 Colt SWC at 900 FPS will shoot though, and kill most anything on earth. I know of someone who has killed at least two man-sized feral hogs out of necessity, with a 100 grain RNFP in a .380 ACP. Body shots, not head shots. Lead Bullets Technology. Read up on it, it works.

[megasupermagnum]

A 255 grain .45 Colt SWC at 900 FPS will shoot though, and kill most anything on earth. I know of someone who has killed at least two man-sized feral hogs out of necessity, with a 100 grain RNFP in a .380 ACP. Body shots, not head shots. Lead Bullets Technology. Read up on it, it works.

You can match that load in 45 ACP without even going above standard pressure. That's another good one where people will condone the 45 colt, but a 45 ACP "isn't ideal", even though they are the same thing.

[43PU]

You can match that load in 45 ACP without even going above standard pressure. That's another good one where people will condone the 45 colt, but a 45 ACP "isn't ideal", even though they are the same thing.

Yes I find it funny that you can have the same ballistics and then say two different rounds of ammo and one is perfectly accepted and the other is Taboo.. I guess all of the old westerners and people from the 1700s simply starved to death because a 36 cal patched round ball would not kill a bear or deer... heaven forbid Native American with 60lb pull bows killing buffalo

[quilbilly]

Weird things can happen with neck shots. I generally don't like them. A couple seasons back I had a small buck at 30 yards during muzzleloader season so tried for a neck shot with my 45 and PRB. He ducked slightly as I pulled the trigger and the bullet passed through the hair at the top of the neck and blew off one antler. He still died, DRT! Go figure. Must have been a concussion kill. Tasted real good, though, and very tender.

[megasupermagnum]

Weird things can happen with neck shots. I generally don't like them. A couple seasons back I had a small buck at 30 yards during muzzleloader season so tried for a neck shot with my 45 and PRB. He ducked slightly as I pulled the trigger and the bullet passed through the hair at the top of the neck and blew off one antler. He still died, DRT! Go figure. Must have been a concussion kill. Tasted real good, though, and very tender.

I always followed up a neck shot with a finisher to the head, but they are incredibly lethal. Sure, the spine is a small target, but what isn't a vital in the neck? There's the arteries, veins, throat, nerves, pretty much every part of the neck will knock a deer legs up. I always want a heart shot, but I've never seen a deer shot in the neck run.

[modified5]

I have hit one buck in the neck. He was at 125 yards and I shot him kneeling with my 30-06 loaded with 150 gr Hornady SST. He dropped like a rock.
The shot was unintentional. I had my cross hairs centered on his vitals. My scope was that far off.
I had been shooting it all summer working up the load and it was dead on before the hunt.
The rifle was never dropped or the scope banged. I re-zeroed it in and started shooting. With every shot it started moving. The scope went bad.
As fast as that buck went down I can see the value of a neck shot, but since that shot I have never intentionally taken another.

[Jedman]

The first year I deer hunted I seen a neck shot go wrong. Back then everyone hunted with 12 ga. Slugs as only shotguns and muzzleloaders were legal here in OH. Someone on private land near where I was hunting hit a deer in the throat and the deer was still on its feet nearly a half mile from where it was shot and the guy that took me hunting seen the deer close but didn't shoot as it was a small doe and back then 1974 you had to have a doe permit to shoot doe.
We talked to the hunter who shot it several hours later and he never followed up in trying to find the deer and it probably died a slow death.
I have used the neck shot myself on several occasions where I was close and confident I could hit where I was aiming as none of the deer were moving and the deer dropped on the spot.
As to the 9 mm I have no problem with that as shot placement is what matters most.

Jedman

[rodwha]

I always aimed for the center of the first 1/3 from the body of the neck. This part moves the least so there’s not so much concern for a quick head jerk to miss the aiming point. And in the center is the spine.

[fcvan]

Years ago, I picked up a Marlin Camp 9. It was a great shooter but it flung brass 20 yards. A few years ago I purchased a stronger recoil spring which ended the brass flinging. I also replaced the recoil buffer as the original nylon buffer was prone to disintegration. The silicon replacement was inexpensive and easy to replace. I stopped shooting it as stupid rule changes in CA made it an 'assault weapon.' Well, I stopped shooting it in CA.

Several years ago, I built a 9mm AR15 and love it. My standard load of Powder Coated 125gr RN runs about 1100fps from my Glocks, and 1350fps from the 16" AR15. I built a 10" AR15 pistol which chrono'd at 1325fps for only 25fps loss. This combo of 9mm pistol and carbine became my favorite plinker for killing tin cans. They are quiet, cheap to load fun to shoot. Heck, I even started loading a 102gr RN just because it saves lead and still kills tin cans. Well, not cans in CA. I loaded up all my evil guns and took them to CO. Retired LEO, took my pension out of CA like most of my friends.

I get 1350fps from a Glock chambered in 357 Sig and would love to build an AR15 in 357 Sig. I never really planned on getting into the Sig cartridge but I had collected so much range brass I couldn't not load for the gun. I actually just bought a Lone Wolf drop in barrel for a G22 so barrel and dies was $125 total. I do think the 357 Sig AR would have to be piston or gas but not blowback. We will see