Double score with 41 Magnum

[Steve77]

Last year I killed a doe with the wife's 44 mag Super Blackhawk Hunter. I decided I needed my own hunting rig so I didn't need to wait for her to skip hunting for me to have a turn. I found an older New Model Blackhawk in 41 mag. It had plenty of holster wear and some rust, but the bore and lockup were good. I picked it up for $250 and cleaned it up. I picked up a Lyman Hollow point mold 41061041 from a member here and started casting bullets from COWW. They came out at 200 grains and shot nice tidy little groups with Accurate #5. At the time I had an abundance of Magnum primers and had worked up a load using those. They only shot around 940 FPS, but primers were a bit flat so I left it alone and used it as a plinking load. Eventually I worked up a load using #5 and standard primers that shot 1140 FPS for hunting.

Fast forward to today. I looked out behind my house and spotted a doe about a hundred yards out. I scrambled to find an orange hat my pistol and some cartridges. and headed out to stalk her. I put some cover between her and I and got within 40 yards, knelt down and took a good shot. she gave a nice mule kick and took off. I was watching her make tracks and noticed another deer was on her tail. She had a buck with her and I hadn't seen it. He got out about 65 yards and stopped for a second. I turned toward him and settled down and took a shot. He dropped like a rock. I walked up toward him and seen the doe laying there dead before I seen him. They were both dead about ten yards apart. She was shot right through the heart, bullet had passed completely through. The buck was quartering away fairly steeply and the bullet hit him toward the back of the rib cage and went the full length of the near side lung. It clipped the bottom of the spine and never exited the hide that I could see. I hope to recover the bullet during the butchering and weigh it.

Turns out the buck was a 6 point, not a buck I would ordinarily shoot with a rifle or a bow, but not a bad icebreaker with a pistol. I also realized that in my haste I had grabbed my slower plinking ammo and shot them with that instead of the hotter hunting load. Fortunately it still did a fine job.

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s656/andrin77/Mobile%20Uploads/20151117_193657_zpsknt9sujk.jpg (http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/andrin77/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20151117_193657_zpsknt9sujk.jpg.html)

http://i1310.photobucket.com/albums/s656/andrin77/Mobile%20Uploads/PART_1447794789523_IMG_20151117_1612511_zpshi80rmz 3.jpg (http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/andrin77/media/Mobile%20Uploads/PART_1447794789523_IMG_20151117_1612511_zpshi80rmz 3.jpg.html)

[Ole Joe Clarke]

Great job, and a great caliber.

[Idaho Mule]

Great job!! JW

[Fishman]

Wow! Excellent shooting.

[Gofaaast]

Good shootin. Hard to beat the ol 41 on Whitails!!!

[petroid]

Very nice! A fine example of how shot placement trumps muzzle energy any day.

[David2011]

Very cool. Congrats! I hope to follow in your footsteps this season.

David

[paul s]

Nice! That's on my bucket list to kill a deer with a handgun.

[tigweldit]

Just can't beat a Ruger in .41 mag to get the job done. Congratulations on some fine shooting.

[Gunnut 45/454]

Yummy Backstraps 2X!! Dam fine job sir.:bigsmyl2:

[tdoyka]

good shootin!!!!

[white eagle]

very nice
way to go

[EMC45]

Neat gun, HPs and great deer!

[c1skout]

Awesome! Shame they didn't run TOWARD your house though, coulda saved some dragging :bigsmyl2:. Nice looking Blackhawk too, I've got the same grip on my 45.

[roverboy]

Looks like you had a great hunt. Handgun hunting is fun. I've killed a couple myself with my .357 Mag. Congratulations.

[Steve77]

Awesome! Shame they didn't run TOWARD your house though, coulda saved some dragging :bigsmyl2:. Nice looking Blackhawk too, I've got the same grip on my 45.
My bad back doesn't do much manual labor. I tied them to the tractor:cool:. Then a nice block and tackle to hang them.

[Steve77]

Thanks, all. It was an exciting experience. Hopefully I can bag a wallhanger with my pistol eventually. Next on my bucket list is to tag a deer with my recurve.

[missionary5155]

Greetings and Congratulations !
Another caliber .41 shooter here. Well done ! Have popped them solo but never had a double come along. Never considered a 200 grainer. But it is for sure a 40 something will get the job done. Thank you for the interesting write up and photo.

Recurves That is how I do my primary corn cruncher work down in east ILLinois river bottoms. Illinois has 3 months 2 weeks of bow season for unlimited does and two bucks. Makes for a lot of good outdorr mornings and evenings.
Mike in Peru

[Thumbcocker]

Thank you for the good write up and for rescuing a good old gun. Enjoy the backstraps.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

That is some fine shooting!

[bisleyfan41]

Great job! That's a cool story, too. Congratulations!

[birddog]

Way to go Steve, I'm waiting on the Iowa 1st gun season early Dec. and I will be there. May I do half as good!!!
Charlie

[LUCKYDAWG13]

Congrats i go deer hunting this weekend my R B/H in 41 mag will be on my side too

[Ramjet-SS]

Outstanding shooting. That load is almost duplicate of my 10mm 200 grain load I happy to see it works so well.......

[sixshot]

Great job with the 41 maggie! I've taken a lot of game with that caliber & its always been up to the task, even on elk. It takes a very narrow back seat to the great 44 magnum using 250 gr. bullets, trust me.

Dick

[Steve77]

Thanks guys! We are forecast several inches of snow this weekend. If it sticks around til monday, I will take the 41 out for a hunt again. I love hitting public land and cutting a fresh track and catching up to a nice doe. I used to do it all the time with my bow and rifle, but haven't done it with a pistol yet. It would be a nice way to wrap up my season. Haven't decided for sure if I will muzzle load this year or not. Depends if we have enough ice to get my spearing shanty out or not.

I hope to find an affordable RBH Stainless Hunter someday. The longer sight radius is a big benefit for putting shots on target out around 100 yards. Plus the extra length to burn powder and flatten trajectory. I hope to add a Marlin lever gun in 41 mag also in due time.

[Markbo]

Well I was all impressed until you told us about the tractor! ;) jk

Really great story and pics. Interesting the missus had a .44 to hunt with before you...newlyweds? Some day - hopefully not too soon - your eyes will tell you that you now NEED a scope on your hand guns. Keep an eye out for that Hunter model. I have a bunch in Bisley version which I prefer. You might need several once you get your first one. :)

[Motor]

Nice shooting. I have a old model Ruger Blackhawk .41 I never have taken a deer with a pistol yet either. I did miss one with it a while back with a j-word. I loaned it to a good friend who killed a small buck with it.

He bugged me for a couple years wanting to buy it from me.

I'm hoping this season will be my first pistol deer kill. I'll be using a 500 S&W with a Lee 440gr. Just a nice mild sledgehammer load using Unique. :)

Motor

[Steve77]

Well I was all impressed until you told us about the tractor! ;) jk

Really great story and pics. Interesting the missus had a .44 to hunt with before you...newlyweds? Some day - hopefully not too soon - your eyes will tell you that you now NEED a scope on your hand guns. Keep an eye out for that Hunter model. I have a bunch in Bisley version which I prefer. You might need several once you get your first one. :)
Yep, just married...back in 2004! I was always a rifle and bow guy. She got into pistols before me and dragged me along. I told her that someday I'd like to have as many pistols as she does. But I want her to buy a few more pistols first[smilie=w:

[Steve77]

Nice shooting. I have a old model Ruger Blackhawk .41 I never have taken a deer with a pistol yet either. I did miss one with it a while back with a j-word. I loaned it to a good friend who killed a small buck with it.

He bugged me for a couple years wanting to buy it from me.

I'm hoping this season will be my first pistol deer kill. I'll be using a 500 S&W with a Lee 440gr. Just a nice mild sledgehammer load using Unique. :)

Motor
I hope you score.It is definitely a rush!

[Steve77]

Anyone interested in bullet performance on these 2 deer should look at post 8 and 22 in this thread:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?292803-Cast-performance-on-whitetails

I recovered 1 bullet from the buck and 2 from the doe.