How many states allow semi autos for hunting.

[Hokkmike]

Does your state allow semi auto use for hunting?

What do you think of the practice?

PA does not. I think it is an issue of "fair" hunt and NOT safety.

It doesn't bother me in particular.

 

[MrDig]

Why would a state not allow Semi-Auto's? Some states have maximum magazine capacites but as a class and or platform I don't think semi-auto is illegal.

 

[EricTheBarbarian]

ohio allows semi autos. However, for deer, we can only use shotgun and can have a semi auto or pump as long as there is a plug in the magazine tube so we can only hunt with 3 slugs. As far as a fair hunt goes, Ive never had a chance to follow up with a second shot, if I miss, theyre gone.

 

[Hokkmike]

The semi-auto IS illegal in Pennsylvania, and I believe, some other states as well. You must use a bolt, lever, pump, etc., for any game taken with a rifle in PA. No semi's may be used in pistols either.

 

[ArmedBear]

CA allows them.

I think it's a bit silly not to, unless your deer are deaf, blind and brain-dead. It's not like they'll sit around and wait for the next shot, once you've fired once.

Furthermore, a slide-action or lever-action is not significantly slower, with a large centerfire round.

Does PA allow semiauto slug guns for deer?

 

[JoeG52]

Parts of PA allow semi-autos. Semi-autos are allowed for deer hunting in the special regulation counties.

 

[ArmedBear]

Parts of PA allow semi-autos. Semi-autos are allowed for deer hunting in the special regulation counties.

What's the difference between the counties (terrain, vegetation, deer population, etc.)?

Do you think semiautos are restricted based on hunter density and safety, fair chase, or something else?

 

[Lupinus]

I never got bans on hunting with semi autos, if you are fast with something liek a lever action the follow shot is either no faster or is insignifigantly so.

 

[R.W.Dale]

What kind of Communist state wouldn't allow you to use an autoloading rifle or shotgun to hunt with.

 

[wagoneer1019]

arizona you can use semi-auto however,

if you have a detachable mag it must only hold 5 rounds or less. I got the 5 round mag for my ak-47 as a back up gun for coyotes and javelina

 

[MCgunner]

Why would an SA be any more dangerous than anything else? Some of 'em are danged accurate, too! Texas and New Mexico allows 'em so long as they're center fire on deer. My buddy hunts with a Browning BAR in .300 Win Mag, or, well, usually he uses his .308 BLR, but he has a .300 Win Mag BAR. I use a Winchester M1400 semi auto shotgun for ducks and doves. I've got a sporterized SKS I've hunted and killed deer with. I've used rimfire autos on squirrels and rabbits, too.

In center fire hunting rifles, I prefer bolt guns, but I really like the auto loading shotgun, soaks up a lot of recoil.

 

[buck460XVR]

sounds like an antiquated law made by folks who thought those "new fangled auto-loaders" were gonna eliminate the deer herd. Kinda like what they said about compound bows when they first came out.

Here in Wisconsin they are legal, and are very popular. I myself use a bolt action or one of my revolvers.

 

[El Tejon]

Indiana allows them. Deer hunting is usually only shotgun or blackpowder, unless predation. I use a bolt action in 6.5 Swede for predation hunts.

I have no problems with people using self-loaders to hunt. It is not the weapons that are the problems, it is the jacklegs who pretend to be hunters.

 

[musher]

Alaska doesn't allow machine guns for hunting (doggone it) but semi's are ok with no magazine limits.

 

['Card]

In West Virginia, I think the extent of the regulations are something along the lines of "...if you can tote it, you can hunt with it."

Here in North Carolina the hunting regs are a major mess, with each county having a lot of influence over the laws, so you end up with this bizarre patchwork. Some counties allow rifles, some counties don't. Some that allow rifles only allow you to fire them if you're in excess of 10 feet above the ground (presumably in a treestand). But as far as I know, of the counties that allow rifles, they don't make any distinction between bolts, levers, semi-autos, or what-have-you.

Personally I hunt with semi-autos exclusively, and I've hunted deer in WV, VA, NC, SC, TN, AL, and TX. Before I started reading gun forums on the web, it never occurred to me that anybody might have a problem with a semi-auto, so I never really read the regs all that intensely. I may very well have been breaking the law, but nobody said anything at the time. *shrug*

 

[rbernie]

Texas does not have mag restrictions nor rifle action restrictions for game hunting. They do have mag restrictions but not action restrictions for bird hunting.

 

[gunmn74]

Kansas

In Kansas we have minimum cartridge length limit that excludes most
semiauto guns. Saddley I can't use my .45 even though it would do a
good job. This only pertains to handguns.

 

[stevelyn]

I've never heard of it as being an issue before. Somebody's buying BARs Remington and Benelli semis to hunt with.

 

[pete f]

So far as I have ever known, PA is the only state with this ban. Its been in place since maybe the fifties, but it was a reason for a long time that the remington pump sold as many as it did.

 

[scout26]

In Illinois semi-auto shotguns are okay for anything you can use a shotgun on (deer, birds, small game). No semi-auto handguns on deer though. Semi-auto rifles are okay for coyotes, rabbits, etc.

 

[MCgunner]

In Kansas we have minimum cartridge length limit that excludes most
semiauto guns. Saddley I can't use my .45 even though it would do a
good job.

Good job to a very limited range. I bought a .45 Colt, myself, and don't carry my ACP afield much. It's very accurate and would be a good rabbit gun, I guess, but it just ain't got the power. That 300 grain XTP at near 1200 fps lays down the law. I figure better one of those than a mag full of 200 grainers at 1100 fps. I never send a boy to do a man's job.

Does the 10mm meet that cartridge length requirement? I really consider the 10 about the only viable medium game hunting round for autos. Yeah, at very close ranges, a .45 CAN take deer, small deer anyway. But, the 10 is MUCH better, up a little hotter than a good .357 magnum out of a 6" barrel. If you wanna hunt with an auto, and it meets those length requirements, the 10 is the answer, well, in a service size gun. You could get a Desert Eagle, I guess. Might as well carry a rifle, though, big as those things are.

 

[gunmn74]

45 from treestand

I currently hunt deer with a hoyt bow and my longest shot
on a Whitetail is about 40 yards, most are under 20 yards.
I would like to try using a handgun for deer, for something new.
I guess I need .41 or .357 before next deer season

 

[Lupinus]

I could be wrong as its been a few years since I lived in PA and since I didn't have much hunting on the brain only really glanced at the laws but doesn't PA have some restriction on using a bullet less then .30 cal on deer?

Like I say I just glanced through so I could be wrong there.

 

[birddog]

NY

Here in NY you may use semi-autos in the shotgun and rifle areas. I hunt near home (shotgun area) frequently with either my pump Mossberg 500 or my semi-auto Remington 1100. Follow up shots are the same speed with either. Despite the fact that cycling might be faster (MIGHT be) with an auto, it still takes the same amount of time to get back on target after the recoil of that first shot. By the time I'm on target, the pump has been pumped / the semi has cycled. Absolutely no difference.

 

[MCgunner]

I currently hunt deer with a hoyt bow and my longest shot
on a Whitetail is about 40 yards, most are under 20 yards.
I would like to try using a handgun for deer, for something new.
I guess I need .41 or .357 before next deer season

I could never shoot a bow worth a toot due to eye dominance problems. I do shoot left handed because of the eye thing. I'm nearly blind in my right eye.

Iron sighted handgun range is similar to bow range with a compound bow, so that's how I put the challenge in my hunting. You don't get the "early season" as with a bow, but that just makes it even more challenging.

With my .357 Blackhawk, I like the target to be inside 50 yards. I've shot a couple of deer with it, missed a hog at 65 with it this year:banghead: , but usually hunt with my scoped Contender in .30-30 which is cheating I guess, but I've gotten five deer with it. It about doubles my effective ranges in the field from typical field rests. Longest shot so far was 90 yards on a spike. There's just something I like about that contender and hunting with it. I could throw the iron sighted .45 Colt barrel on it and be restricted to 50 yards if I wanted more challenge, but that .30-30 is addicting.