“What do you suggest for a first time hunting handgun; style, caliber/round, sights, ammo?” Questioned someone in the back of the room of the Oklahoma DSC Chapter gathering.
I liked and appreciated someone asking about the possibility of a new or additional hunting challenge. “Hunting with a handgun is not unlike shooting a rifle, the bullet goes where the barrel is pointed when the trigger is pulled!”, I responded. Perception of hunting with a short-barrel being extremely challenging is not quite a reality. After choosing the right equipment and ammo, following a few simple “take a rest” techniques and some practice most anyone can shoot accurately to take most medium-sized animals; wild hogs, whitetail, and possibly mule deer and black bear, wherever handguns are considered “legal firearms”.
Step One: Choosing the right handgun and caliber for you! Up front, I am not keen on semi-autos as hunting handguns. Such pistols are great for personal defense or shooting a lot of rounds fast, simply my opinion. To me there are three, possibly four types of hunting handguns; bolt action, break-open single-shot, single-action revolver and double-action revolver.
Bolt action handguns like the Remington XP and Savage Striker are no longer produced, although they can sometimes be found in secondary markets and some gun stores. Both the Remington and Savage, as well as some of the custom bolt-action handgun tend to be nicely accurate and fun to shoot and hunt with. But these days they are hard to find.
Break-open single-shots such as those built by Thompson/Center in the Contender or Encore are available in wide variety of barrels including some of the “sharp-shouldered” rifle cartridges. I spent many years hunting with these single-shots in North America and in Africa.
The single-action revolvers such as those produced years ago by Colt, those used in western movies and TV shows, require the hammer to be pulled back to a cocked position before the trigger can be pulled to fire a round. The double action revolver can either be cocked by pulling back the hammer, or by pulling the trigger, firing then re-setting the trigger to an unfired position then again pulling the trigger to fire another shot. As the trigger is pulled a double actions cock the hammer, then as the trigger pull is completed the hammer hits the firing pin.
For many years, as mentioned, I hunted primarily with single-shots and single-action revolvers. Theses days I hunt a lot with double actions, specifically Taurus’ Raging Hunter. I have found them to be attractive with their matte finish, ideal for hunting, ease of handling, and, they are extreme accurate. To top it off they are fun to shoot, partly because of their intergral muzzle brake.
My suggestion for a good hunting handgun is one of the various caliber/rounds offered in the Taurus Raging Hunter. Models are available in .357 Mag, .44 Mag, .454 Casull and .460 S&W Magnum.
Recently Luke Clayton with whom I have been “doing radio with” on his Luke Clayton Outdoors (www.catfishradio.org) for the past nearly 15 years, a weekly podcast “Campfires with Luke and Larry” on Sporting Classics Daily, as well as a weekly tv show, “A Sportsman’s Life” on CarbonTV.com asked if he could borrow my .357 Mag Raging Hunter. He wanted to use it for hunting wild hogs. I was thrilled to hear he wanted to hunt with a handgun. For what he was planning, my .357 Mag loaded with 130-grain MonoFlex Hornady Handgun Hunter ammo and/or Hornady’s 158-grain XTP Custom ammo are a perfect combination. Luke planned on hunting hogs and possibly whitetail does, where the distance was going to be 50-yards and closer. To me, outside of close range hunting, the .375 Mag is an “expert’s gun” to be used by someone who shoots a handgun extremely accurately and then knows the limitations of the round and his or her limitations with that particular gun. I think the .357 Mag does OK, but I do not consider it a great hunting round. I know there are those who will disagree with me.
The revolver round I have used more than any other is the .44 Mag. With it I have taken monstrous bodied and big racked bull elk, black bear, numerous mule deer, many whitetails, as well as wild hogs and various and sundry other critters. These were taken with Hornady’s 240-grain XTP Custom loads. Frankly, I have shot a lot of different .44 Mag revolvers and I have never found one that does not shoot this particular bullet and load with great accuracy. The Raging Hunter is no different. From a solid rest I can put 6-shots into a 3-inch or less group at 100-yards. From a good solid rest at the bench I can consistently shoot 2-inch groups, and occasionally less.
I am also a huge fan of the .454 Casull which was designed by Dick Casull and Jack Fullmer back in the 1950’s, but, it was not accepted by SAAMI until 1998. I used this round to shoot my first Alaskan brown bear and have used it on numerous whitetails and mule deer. Recoil is a bit heavier than the .44 Mag, but still not unpleasant to shoot. The beauty of the .454 Casull chambering is it can also be shot in the same gun with .45 Colt (Long Colt), which produces considerably less recoil. My favorite load in .454 Casull is Hornady’s 300-grain XTP in their Custom ammo line, what I used on big bears and deer.
In .45 Colt, I use handloads built around Hornady’s 240-grain XTP bullets. Most all commercial .45 Colt ammo is loaded “way down” because of the possibility of someone shooting it in a vintage firearm not sufficiently built for today’s modern ammo pressure. If simply using this particular Raging Hunter for plinking I shoot Hornady’s .45 Colt Cowboy ammo. I have several domestic “safaris” planned this fall where I’ll be hunting with my .454 Casull.
The Raging Hunter is also chambered for the powerful .460 S&W Mag. I have used this round numerous times in the past and with it took an enormously antlered whitetail in Iowa, where straight-shoulder round handguns have been legal for a while. I too have used the round on other whitetails, one mule deer, and numerous hogs. The beauty of the .460 S&W Mag Raging Hunter is you can also shoot .454 Casull and .45 Colt in the same gun, making this particular caliber revolver extremely versatile. Were I again hunting potentially dangerous big bears or going to Africa for Cape buffalo, the .460 S&W Mag would be my choice.
For a first time revolver which “may” be one you will use the rest of your life, my suggestion would be one either chambered in .44 Mag or .454 Casull. The .357 Mag, to me as previously mentioned, is a bit “light” when it comes to hunting big game. The .460 S&W Mag is “shall we say a hand full to shoot” when it comes to recoil. But it is a Raging Hunter to aspire to, particularly because of its accuracy and muzzlebrake.
Sights: Sights are another thing that bears consideration. Raging Hunter revolvers come with excellent “open” or “metal” sights. If you have no trouble seeing such sights when shooting at a distant target, then by all means continue shooting and hunting with them.
Me, while these days thanks to the miracles of surgery and I have 20-10 vision, I still have problems shooting “open sights” very accurately. Thus my choice for quick target acquisition and accuracy are the red dot sights produced by Trijicon, specifically their SRO and RMR with a 2.5 MOA red dot. The 2.5 MOA simply means at 100 yards the “dot” covers two and one-half inches. This is to me the best sized red dot when it comes to hunting. These type of sights easily and quickly install on the Raging Hunters’ integral picatinny rail. These sights’ red dot can be increased or decreased in intensity depending upon light conditions. When it is bright I use a brighter setting, and, a lower less intense setting when light conditions are poor.
In years past most of my hunting handguns wore long-eye relief scopes. But these days I really like the red dot sights and with them feel comfortable shooting at distances out to 100 or so yards, which too is my self-imposed distance when shooting at an animal.
I plan on mounting a long-eye relief scopes on my .460 S&W. There are currently several optic companies that produce such scopes suited for handgun. However, my personal choice in handgun scopes are those produced years ago by Thompson/Center and Simmons. These were and still are in my opinion not only the toughest handgun scopes but also in terms of being “forgiving” when it comes to eye relief, meaning essentially the distance the handgun can be held from the body, while still seeing a full view through the scope.
Those are the basics. With shooting a revolver, there are a few things to remember, beyond going back to an earlier statement, “The bullet goes where the barrel is pointed when the trigger is pulled!”. Which is another way of saying never point a revolver at anything you do not intend to shoot and treat all revolvers as if they are loaded and ready to fire! Another important thing to remember is holding the revolver when shooting. That said, I generally wear leather gloves when shooting my handguns. NEVER reach up with your supporting hand so it rests in front of the cylinder in any form or fashion. When a revolver fires there is substantial amount of “fire”, shot escaping gasses, that comes out where cylinder meets the barrel. Putting your hand or fingers at or in front of the cylinder WILL result in severe burns, if not removal of a digit or two.
When shooting, even with my double action Raging Hunter I cock the hammer before my first shot. It is not necessary, but I spent many years shooting single-action and old habits are sometimes nearly impossible to break.
Another old habit I have with no intention of breaking or changing is always when shooting at an animal is to shoot from a solid rest. Those “rests” come from a variety of sources including trees, limbs, rocks, commercial tripod shooting sticks with specialized rests and many things in between. I learned many years ago I shoot more accurately when shooting from a rest, particularly when I am excited.
Handgun hunting? Once you try it, you will love it.
Larry Weishuhn partners with Jeff Rice and Luke Clayton in the weekly tv show, “A Sportsman’s Life” which can be seen on www.carbontv.com, where also can be heard his personal weekly podcast, “DSC’s Campfires with Larry Weishuhn” among many other places. For information about Larry newest books, CAMPFIRE TALK co-authored by Luke Clayton, please go to www.catfishradio.org.
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