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Follow rifle season. Same rules apply.

I've taken white tail with .44 mag and a .45 ACP. Hogs as well, including my .40.

It's a whole 'nuther world....lots of good shooting skills needed. Have fun, post pictures!

chuckybrown wrote:Follow rifle season. Same rules apply.

I've taken white tail with .44 mag and a .45 ACP. Hogs as well, including my .40.

It's a whole 'nuther world....lots of good shooting skills needed. Have fun, post pictures!

At the risk of sounding like my mom, Please, PLease, Please practice and make sure you can absolutely hit a 3" spot at at least 25 yards (assuming that's the max distance you would be using a pistol). A wounded deer will run for days and die an agonizing death. If your pistol doesn't do a through & through, there won't be much of a blood trail to follow so PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!!!

There.... off the soap box but yes, pistol huntin is a good challenge. It's pretty much the same range as bow hunting so the extra challenge is what I really enjoy.

Good Luck!

50 yards ? Just my opinion, but that seems a little long. It's no fun to trail a deer and not find it. Actually it's a real sick feeling. Just sayin...

fishman wrote:50 yards ? Just my opinion, but that seems a little long. It's no fun to trail a deer and not find it. Actually it's a real sick feeling. Just sayin...

I love my 30.06!

I hear that. with my ear plugs in.!

Munk wrote:

fishman wrote:50 yards ? Just my opinion, but that seems a little long. It's no fun to trail a deer and not find it. Actually it's a real sick feeling. Just sayin...

I love my 30.06!

Or find one that next day that someone else could not track and find.

Really? Some of you are questioning a 500 S&W at 50 yards? REALLY?

http://www.ballistics101.com/500_sw.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am certainly not questioning the ballistics of the 500 S&W. More so the likelihood of poor shot placement thus a greater chance of losing/wasting your kill. Personally, I would not have any problem carrying the hand cannon on my hip or slung over my shoulder while hunting but I would want to limit the distance as much as possible if I were to actually use it as a tool.

Mount a scope on with maybe a 4x magnification carry a mono-pod or bi-pod for stability and knock em dead. I really don't see the problem or issue if the shooter is confident is their ability to hit the target. Like stated above practice at the intended range is key. I would even maybe try knocking out a few push-ups or jumping jacks before making a shot to simulate pounding pulse (buck fever) stress.

chuckybrown wrote:Really? Some of you are questioning a 500 S&W at 50 yards? REALLY?

http://www.ballistics101.com/500_sw.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not questioning ballistics at 50 yards, it's shot placement on a live animal. I bow hunt and can hit a target at 70 yards, but I never shoot at a live animal past 35 yards. Just my opinion but 50 yards seems a little too far scope or not.

Well, I'll echo some of the comments above: practice, practice, practice and know your limits and those of your equipment.

Personally, I'd take a shot at 50 yards with my .454 and not be concerned about a miss or bad placement anymore that I would with my normal deer rifle at that distance.

A man's got to know his limitations. - Harry Callahan, 1973

It would seem that a lot of folks spend all their practice shooting at close defense distances. I agree that you should limit your shot distances to what you can reliably hit but limit the distance to 25 yards!!! Shooting a self defense type handgun probably but with a bit of practice anyone should be able to hit the kill zone on a deer, I've repeatedly read that it is 6", not 3", at 50 yards from a braced position, specially if using a scope.

If you take a decent revolver or single shot handgun, sit down with something to lean against bringing feet up so your knees are about eye level, brace your hands and wrists between your legs; I think you might be surprised how accurate you can shoot. As shaky as I've gotten I'd be lucky to hit a 2 L coke bottle at 50 yards offhand but sitting like this I can use my .22/45, which is the only scoped handgun I have, and with good ammo hit coke cans almost every time and 12 gauge hulls at 50 yards better than half the time. The super Blackhawk I use to have was almost as accurate.

A good handgun, scope, and ammo combination can easily be as accurate as a lever action .30-30 and I don't think anyone would recommend only using those at 25 yards. All it takes is a bit of practice and the use of a good stable shooting position.

After making claims in my last post I decided to see if I could still do it as it has been almost 10 years since I've done any real precision type shooting. In fact about 3 years ago old age tremors set in so bad I had trouble using a screw driver one handed. Medication has help. At any rate here is my attempt.

First the gun, a Ruger .22/45, one of the originals, with a Volquartsen trigger. I use to use this for bullseye but was never very good at it. The ammo used was Winchester T22 target ammo and is about 10 years old, which is when I stopped shooting bullseye. I hadn't used it because I hate to use quality ammo for plinking. Does make a great squirrel gun.



May range set up.
Shooting station


Targets


The results. The orange dot is 1 inch in diameter and at 25 yds I called one flyer when I flinched.



I think I can still hit shotgun shells at 50 yds but not over half the time, however I would have no qualms of using a scoped TC Contender or a good revolver for deer at 50 yds.