Looking for a Hunting Handgun?

[RUMLUVER]

I have never before hunted with a handgun but have shot them for years. All of my pistol use is target practice and have used 22lr to 44Mag in both rebvolvers and autos. Now I'm looking to expand into handgun hunting and am looking for advice on a good starting setup any help would be good.

[skeet]

Get a Thompson Center Contender or an Encore. The Encore is chambered in regular rifle rounds but the contender is chambered in real hunting handgun rounds. I have a 14 in 44 mag and a 14 in 35 Rem 14 in 357 Rem Max and 223 bbls. They all seem to work great. The 35 is a good deer hunting round...Someone told me the 357 Rem Max is just as good if not better. I also have a Rem XP 100 in 35 Remington. One of the silhouette guns...but I've never shot it.

[Rocky Raab]

RUM, your question needs more questions.

What will you be hunting? Under what circumstances? Range?

Assuming you'll be hunting deer at handgun ranges, and hunting from a stand (or for calm deer), then here are my recommendations:

Your choice of gun and caliber are less important than your ability to shoot it. Anyhting from a 357 Magnum and up will do IF you can put the first shot on a paper plate every single time. The farthest range at which you can always do that is your maximum range to hunt deer with that gun.

Repeat the ALWAYS.

When I use a regular Blackhawk from a steady position, that range is 50-75 yards for me.

With a scoped Contender, with a good rest, I feel comfortable out to 250 yards, and might take one a bit farther than that under really ideal circumstances.

[RUMLUVER]

Rocky,

I would be hunting muledeer and whitetail out to about 150 -200 yards. If I went with a scoped pistol I think that is reasonable provided I practiced with my pistol to those ranges first. But most shots would be under 100 yards.

[jmarriott]

I don't look at my T/C contender as a hunting handgun, except that's were it fits in Indiana game law. It is a handcannon or mini-rifle to me. I use a .35 rem for deer and .223 for groundhogs. I also have the carbine rifle kit with a match grade .22 LR barrel I like for coon hunts. I got alot of odd barrels I have collected that shoud get shot more often but that is the curse and blessing of the single shot contender. You can get as many barrels sizes and setups as the pocketbook can afford.

Contenders are not easy to shoot offhand with 14 inch barrels without a bit of help. I use a bi-pod mounted on the barrel right before the front sight with the legs folded into the frame to help get off shots ofhand. I press forward with the bipod hand and pull back with the frame hand and it really steadys things up for me. The 10 inch barrels can be shot offhand rather well.

I don't think the encore is needed for a pistol only as I don't want to shoot a 270 or 30-06 in a pistol myself. But the encore can be used for everything shotgun, rifle, pistol, and blackpowder round from the same frame. The only thing the Encore won't do is shoot rimfire rounds but someone makes a kit for that by now.

I like the old style contender better than the new G2 because of the sweet crisp trigger. I bet most of the gun stores have a contender in the used dept with something to get started with that would be deer huntable. Only shooting alot of over pressure handloads would make a frame go bad on a contender so most used ones would work out well. I did buy a 45-70 barrel once that I think someone shot alot of blackpowder rounds out of and i could not get it to group well but all the others will outshoot the revolver/auto conterparts round for round.

I like the large frame Smith and wesson 44 mags for deer also but never use it to hunt anymore. I also used an AMT longslide 45 once for hogs on one of those pay hunts and really liked it but they don't let us hunt deer with any normal auto round in Indiana. Savage now makes the striker pistol and I have not shot one but I am sure it would be OK. My first pistol for hunting was a smith 686 in 357 8 inch barrel and it work well within limits. I am not a fan of single action pistols myself so that eliminates most of the ruger line for me.

[gregarat]

I also vote for the Contender. If you dont feel confortable with a single shot, try a Ruger Redhawk.

[300 RUM]

Here is my 44 mag., it is a S&W Performance Center. It has a great trigger and smooth action. I have been shooting 240gr cast bullets with great accuracy. The muzzle break really helps the gun stay enjoyable to shoot.

[300 RUM]

Here it is set up to go hunting. It came with both grips and I added Leupold quick release rings and a scope. I put on the molded rubber so I dont scratch up the nice wood grips while hiking.

[Lone Star]

200 yards is too far for a revolver IMO. I shot IHMSA silhouette for years out to 220 yards, and big bore revolver bullet drop is pretty great at that range - trying to guess the distance to your animal over rough terrain will make it tough to hit with consistency. Too, the field accuracy of the average revolver isn't up to the task of consistent hits in the boiler room at that range.

Sure there are hunters who do it, and watching some of the best revolver shots in the world shoot creedmore at 200 meters with revolvers makes it seem easy. The reality is that the average guy has trouble just hitting half the rams even when laying down at a known distance, let alone hitting in a vital spot. A scoped T/C in an adequate chambering is a far better choice for hunting mulies at 200 yards. Contenders in 7-30, 6.5JDJ, .30-30 and .309JDJ are good choices, as are Encores in 7-08 and .308.

[jmarriott]

RUM that a fine looking smith. What type holster do you carry that rig with?

The contender needs a sling to carry to the tree stand, Bi-pod, Scope in the 4 power range, Hammer spur so you can cock the hammer with a scope.

I got the contender before the advances in rifled shotgun barrels and sabot rounds to get better distance in this shotgun/Pistol state. In 35 rem I can hit milk jugs at 150 yards real easy out of my summit treestand with the swivel rest. With the bi-pod I can shoot prone in most corn fields. But try to hit a fast walking deer at 30 feet is a challange.

My smoothbore shotgun was good to about 60 yards on a pie plate. The Contender was great addition increasing effective range 2 fold.

Now i can get 150 yards out of my old shotgun with the sabots and a rifled barrrel. So the contender gets use when i want to go light.

[HPBTMTCH]

Ohio law for hunting deer with a handgun says a pistol of any action, a straight walled case .357 caliber or larger and a 5 inch or longer barrel. I hunt with an AR15 patriot pistol, with a .50 beowulf upper. Deadly out to 200 yards, it`s the same FPS as the .500 S&W. Baddest handgun in the woods, IMO, lol.