New to handgun hunting

Mason Blackmon

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2019
Messages
208
Location
Alpine TX
Hey all,
I'm thinking this year I want to try my hand at hunting with a handgun. I've never done it before but I'm not new to hunting. I have two blackhawks, one a 357 and one a 44mag. I'm planning on taking west Texas smaller whitetail and ranged to be 50-75yds max I figure (no idea if this is far or short distance). I'd like to scope the pistol but don't currently own one. Would you run the 357, 44 mag, or buy a different pistol all together?
 
I've yet to take a deer with a revolver (I've rarely hunted with revolvers - in fact hardly at all as most of my hunting is with archery equipment and specialty pistols) but plan to use my S&W 629 Performance Center Stealth Hunter this year as a primary weapon. Hopefully I'll take one this gun season.

I think either of your two revolvers is a good choice. Pick the one you shoot the best/most accurate.

As far as a scope, if you don't shoot irons good, then scoping either one is easy enough. Weigand makes some nice scope bases that work with optics including reflex sights.
 
My 44 mag is 7.5" and I've hit a jack rabbit with irons at 70yds. That's what got me thinking about deer hunting with it, the 357 is 6.5" barrel (also have the 9mm cylinder) and I just picked it up a few weeks ago, haven't seen how accurate it is yet.
 
All 357 magnum
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Either will get the job done under your stated yardage. Like has been said shoot what you shoot the best because it is all about bullet placement. If you can hit jack rabbits at 70 yards with your 44 mag then you are ready to rock and roll. Any of the modern self defense type HP bullets will work fine. Hornady XTP, Speer Gold Dot and they have changed the name to Deep Curl on the 158 gr .357 bullet but it is the old Gold Dot. The Hornady 180 gr XTP with a max charge of 13.5 grs H110 out of my 10" barrel Contender has worked fine on deer up to 100 yards which is as far as I have shot one with it. Even Keith style SWC lead bullets worked pretty good out of my 44 mags and you don't really need to run them at high velocity. 1100 to 1200 fps will penetrate a deer from any angle usually. Good luck and have fun.
 
If you are a proficient handgun shot with irons, either of those will do, and a scope will only make it better. I have used open and scope sighted handguns since the 70's, and used open sights during many years of IHMSA matches and hunting. They work, but do require a little more practice.

I have used the 357 mag to take several head of game, and many of those were from an open sighted 8" Dan Wesson and 6 1/2" Ruger, but of course, the 44 mags work very well also. I've used 357 bullets from 140 hard cast SWC at 1,600fps in the 8" DW, 158 hard cast, 158 Sp/HP, 165 SP partition hand swaged, and 180's SP/HP and 180/200 hard cast for bear. In the Contenders, it is an entirely better range and choice of spire bullets.

The 44's can be loaded to take everything from rabbits to elk and at longer ranges.
 
I have had 357s and 44s. The few animals I have shot with a revolver have mostly been with 44s (I did finish off a moose with a 500 S&W after it had soaked up some 200 gr Accubonds). I would lean toward a 44 but a solid lung hit with either should work fine. I would avoid light for caliber hollow points because of possible penetration issues.

44:
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Either Ruger would be good for what you want to do. I have a Burris Plex on my 686 and really like it. The scope goes up to 12 power, but I usually stay around 5 or 6 power. Then do lots of practice. You can use reduced loads and once you get the hang of it find what hunting load works best for you at the distance you want to shoot.
 
Well I ended up firsttaking a doe with the 44 at 55yds and irons, then several other animals since. Quite fun and will continue down this route. Wound up getting a stainless Blackhawk hunter the other day, the dragoon square trigger guard on my current 44 is a booger and I'm over it, it will be going up for sale soon. The Hunter comes with rings, trying to hunt down a scope for it to play around with. I might have mentioned it before but my use of scoped pistols has been quite minimal.
 
Personally I would use the 44 mag first and then move on to the 357 but either will do. I took a feral hog at 98 yards with one shot with my Freedom Arms 83 in 454 Casull. I have a few other handguns I would like to take some animals with but have not had the time or opportunity. Handgun hunting is more challenging. My other "handguns" I hunt with are G40MOS, S&W 500 revolver (4" barrel version), Nosler 48 Independence in 6.5 CM, Magnum Research SSP-91 in 30-06, Savage Striker in 7mm-08. I have another Savage Striker but it is in 6mmbr and set up more for bench rest shooting.
 
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