Handgun harvesting: hunting with a handgun requires patience, skill and ability. None of which John has … just kidding!

Guns Magazine, Nov, 2004 by John Taffin

Realistic practice should start with a .22. however the actual handgun to be used for big game hunting also becomes part of the normal practice situations. Whether using scope or iron sights, one should determine the distance at which, with 99 percent-plus reliability, shots can be placed on that paper plate. For myself I have determined that 50-75 yards is my maximum distance for an iron-sighted sixgun; perhaps 50 yards farther with a scoped sixgun: and when using a scope-sighted single-shot pistol chambered for an accurate and powerful rifle type cartridge, I can go out to 250-300 yards if, and the only if. I have a rock steady rest.

Equipment

Any handgun, no matter what the caliber or chambering, is suitable for handgun hunting if it is accurate, has good sights, and possesses a decent trigger. It is simply a matter of matching the game to the gun. Any sixguns chambered in .22 .22 Magnum .32 Magnum, .32-20. and .38 Special are normally reserved for small game and varmints; a .357 Magnum also fits in here as well as being adequate for small deer; the .38-40, .44-40, .44 Special, and .41 Magnum, all property loaded will also do for close range shooting of deer and deer-sized game. For truly big game. we start at the .44 Magnum and go up through the Heavy .45 Colt, .454 Casull, .475 Linebaugh, .480 Ruger. and .500 Linebaugh. The .44 Magnum was the first truly big bore handgun round for big game hunting and it is still the cartridge by. which all others are judged. I have used every cartridge mentioned, however my most reached for hunting handgun continues to be a 7 1/2-inch Freedom Arms Model 83.44 Magnum with a 2X Leupold scope. Them are those that will tell you that scopes do not belong on handguns. I agree, in a perfect world. However, this world is far from perfect, and a scope sight helps us to place our bullet all the more precisely resulting in a bullet all the more precisely resulting in a quick and humane kill.

When it comes to single-shot handguns there is virtually no limit to cartridge choice. Thompson/ Center offers two models, the Contender, which handles rifle cartridges in the levergun pressure category, and the Encore, which moves up to bolt action rifle pressures. Armed with either one of these superb firearms with a quality scope, the handgun hunter need give nothing to the rifle hunter.

There are literally dozens of suitable six guns for hunting offered by Freedom Areas, Ruger, Smith & Wesson, Taurus, and Wesson Firearms. Give me any adjustable- sighted, long barreled sixgun chambered in .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum, .454 Casull, .480 Ruger, and .475 Linebaugh with any of these makers names on the barrel and I will take game cleanly and quickly. They are all good calibers; they are all good sixguns. There is one revolver however, that stands out as the ultimate bargain for the handgun hunter. That sixgun is Ruger's Super Blackhawk Hunter Model, a stainless-steel, 7 1/2-inch single action with a heavy ribbed barrel that accepts Ruger scope rings, which are included with each .44 Magnum Hunter Model. One has the nearly immediate choice of a scope or iron sights by simply loosening or tightening the screws on the scope rings.