Pistol for deer hunting

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My favorite hunting pistol is a contender. My favorite hunting pistol caliber is .30-30 Winchester. I wouldn't hunt with any auto pistol short of 10mm. I have taken deer and hog with .357 magnum, good power for medium game inside 60 yards. 165 grain cast SWC at 1470 fps from a 6.5" Blackhawk.
 
If you can confinant you can make the shot, take it. You can always just not shoot it. Deer and humans are similar in what it takes to kill one. Police love the 40s&w . Not near as many .45 ACP in law enforcment now as was.
 
Trouble is, wildcatter, some folks do have the skill and the self-control to be quite effective on Bambi with such as a 1911 in .45 ACP or similar package.

It's like many situations in hunting, whether rifle or pistol: Some folks are quite competent with "marginal" gear; others are not. IOW, an all-inclusive categorization is not useful.

But those people are incredibly rare, and they need a good dollop of luck also.

I go along with the idea that recommending a .40 S&W for deer hunting is irresponsible. I've used a .40 to dispatch one wounded deer, and at 10 feet the 155gr. XTP did not even penetrate to the heart. If it won't do it at 10 feet (every single time with no excuses) then it can't be relied on to do it at 25-50 yards, no matter how skillfull and competent someone thinks they are.
 
I am of the opinion that that caliber would only be good if the deer was going to be standing, say, within ten feet of the shooter, even then, the bullet may ricochet off its head or other hard bone.

IMO, a .44 Magnum or .500 Magnum would be more the kind of round I would prefer for shooting deer or black bear.

When I had a .454 Casull, I used to hunt deer and black bear with that. I also used to use a Desert Eagle 50AE that I owned to deer and black bear hunt.

Now, the large caliber pistol I use is my .500 Magnum. I wouldn't even think to hunt deer using my .45 Auto unless there was no other gun around and I was able to set myself up in such a place so as to get a good, clean shot off at less than 10 feet!
 
here in Iowa, we can also use .40 s&w and i have in the past (as a backup/finisher). if you want to hunt with it i would suggest you load a 180gr xtp as hot as you can, keep the distances short, and practice a lot! do all this, and you should be just fine. but yes, for a dedicated hunting pistol, the .40 is a little light.
 
if you think your .40 is not enough caliber for shooting deer at 10 feet then you need to reconsider it for SD purposes.
 
Over in the shotgun forum they're praising the .410 throwing like a 90 grain at 1200 for deer. I guess it's magich if it's half power but throwed out of a long barrel. feh
 
I've cleanly killed a few deer with a 1911 (45acp)...and 2 with a 40 S&W.

Use heavy bullets (180 grains), penetration is your friend...patience, good judgement, and accuracy are also essential.

Killing deer with pistols is no big deal...its a lot like bowhunting (up close and personal, watching nice bucks walk by just out of range, etc.)

No deer I shot with a 45acp (230 grain bullet at 860 fps) went more than 40 yards after being shot...and several dropped right where they stood, 4 legged critters tend to do that when you bust both front shoulders.

http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=186035
 
if you think your .40 is not enough caliber for shooting deer at 10 feet then you need to reconsider it for SD purposes.

Deer and humans are similar in what it takes to kill one. Police love the 40s&w .

Who or what reliable source says that deer and humans are similar in the levels of cartridge power and performance that are required to quickly kill or stop them? Statistics show the 357 mag to be a first rate man stopper but it's performance on deer is nowhere near being equal to what it is on a man. How does the police's acceptance of 40SW have any bearing whatsoever on it's suitability for use on deer? Pound for pound animals are tougher to stop and are more tenacious than people and, unlike people; animals do not go into shock and die due to the psychological impact of being "shot." So you don’t believe deer are tougher than people? I doubt many humans who are gut shot with a high powered rifle or 12 ga would typically run up and down mountains or jump fence after fence like a deer will when pushed too soon after a bad shot. Will a 40 SW kill a deer? Sure it will, but so will a 22LR. Simply being able to kill a deer does not mean that it is powerful enough for quick, clean, reliable kills. I don’t want the areas I hunt or live in to be full of wounded deer or rotting carcasses because of some other hunter’s stunts run amuck.
 
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I used my 44 redhawk to take 2 deer.
It had a 4 X scope--after 2 years the scope was full of black spots inside.
I got tired of lugging this cannon after 2 seasons & went back to my 6MM Rem
A 40 is a good police weapon---not a good deer hunter.
 
Personally, I wouldn't want to use anything smaller than a 6" .357 magnum and 158gr. JSPs, 180gr. JSPs or 180gr. hard cast LSWCs.

I've been hunting with a friend in Missouri a couple of times in the last ten years. The year we got something, it was a buck big enough that I wouldn't have wanted to shoot it with a .40 S&W. Maybe a 200gr. 10mm out of a 5" M1911 or a 6" S&W 610.

In addition to my Savage 112BVSS, I carried a 6" S&W Model 29-2 loaded with 240gr. JSP Winchester White Box.

My goal was to KILL game, not wound and chase it.
 
here in Maine, you can carry a sidearm while hunting, or in the woods without a conceale carry permit but with a Firearm Hunting license, even in Archery season. In Archery season and black powder you can not use a pistol to dispatch a deer.

If you just want it for protection, it should be ok. I carry a 44 while hunting or fishing.
 
I have shot many problematic wild boars while on duty with a 9mm duty pistol and LEO loads and must say that the results were poor at best. In those situations, I can't say a .40 would have done much better. Now a deer is constructed a little differently, but I have shot many wounded ones roadside with 9mm too and would not use it for deer (or a .40 for that matter). The only .40 I would use for hunting is a 10mm with full power loads and a good penetrator like a Hornady xtp.
 
I am of the opinion that that caliber would only be good if the deer was going to be standing, say, within ten feet of the shooter, even then, the bullet may ricochet off its head or other hard bone.

IMO, a .44 Magnum or .500 Magnum would be more the kind of round I would prefer for shooting deer or black bear.

When I had a .454 Casull, I used to hunt deer and black bear with that. I also used to use a Desert Eagle 50AE that I owned to deer and black bear hunt.

Now, the large caliber pistol I use is my .500 Magnum. I wouldn't even think to hunt deer using my .45 Auto unless there was no other gun around and I was able to set myself up in such a place so as to get a good, clean shot off at less than 10 feet!

If deer were that tough down here, I'd be afraid to go into the woods.

Must wear kevlar where you're from?

I don't consider .45ACP a hunting round, but inside 25 yards, it'd kill deer just like the .40 would. I don't go hunting with either, though. I prefer to use more gun. Now, I have a .45 Colt I wanna shoot something with. Only thing I've killed with it is trapped hogs and it's got as much umph as a .44 magnum. I've killed several deer with a .357 which ain't got as much.

After i shoot something, deer or hog, with that .45, I might finally decide to try my Ruger Old Army. Loaded to the gills with 777, it pushes a 220 grain conical Lee cast HP almost 1300 fps. That's pretty serious right there. AND, that gun is ACCURATE, 2" at 25 yards accurate off the bench.
 
I have shot many problematic wild boars while on duty with a 9mm duty pistol and LEO loads and must say that the results were poor at best.

A 115 +P Hornady at 1263 MV killed this boar. He was in a trap, but he went down rather rapidly with a head shot. No, this is not one of my hunting pistols, just checked the trap that day after sitting on my stand and didn't wanna use my muzzle loader to kill him because I didn't wanna clean it. I'm lasy that way and I had a hog to quarter and get on ice. He was something shy of 200 lbs. Hell, I've shot 'em in the head with my 1 5/8" .22LR NAA mini revolver and killed 'em just as dead close range head shot in the trap. But, I've shot 'em in the trap in the shoulder with 9mm before and got good results, better results than .45 Colt and a 255 flat point at 950 fps. That's un-scientific as heck, but I trap a lot of hogs, so why not try different calibers? I must say, of all my carries, .357 magnum is the most impressive. My .45 Colt is not a concealed carry gun, 4 5/8" stainless Blackhawk.

107nclh.jpg
 
MC that is one ugly mean looking critter to look at.....have you considered cropping the pic so all we can see is that good looking piggy? ;-)







posted via that mobile app with the sig lines everyone complaints about
 
The boar in Calhoun County are of European phenotype, almost 100 percent even today. Here's some reading explaining that happenstance. They come from pigs released on nearby Powderhorn Ranch back in the 30s. My place is located between Seadrift and Port O'Connor, Texas near the Powderhorn.

http://books.google.com/books?id=rh...=onepage&q=powderhorn ranch wild hogs&f=false

The little 80 lber is one I shot walking down the trail to my feeder with my carry that day, a 3" .357 magnum. He's particularly FUGLY. :D

Same pig in the first post...

bhkbi1.jpg

Fugly little pig....

1zzj2g3.jpg
 
Oh, BTW, none of my bullets, even in .22LR, ever "bounced off" a pig's scull. :rolleyes: But, I shoot most of the pigs I take in the trap, not in a hunting situation. They can't go anywhere. For hunting, .357 is a good caliber and my base line for hunting and the longest shot I ever made was on a pig at 60 yards with my Blackhawk.
 
here in Iowa, we can also use .40 s&w and i have in the past (as a backup/finisher). if you want to hunt with it i would suggest you load a 180gr xtp as hot as you can, keep the distances short, and practice a lot! do all this, and you should be just fine. but yes, for a dedicated hunting pistol, the .40 is a little light.

Any time I push the 124gr 9mm xtp over 1250 fps it has jacket separation and frags does the .40 do better at higher speeds? I also live in iowa and it torques me that I can't hunt with my 9 but anything higher is ok.

Also I've seen deer shot once in the ribs with a .22 and die so I would have no problem using any caliber to hunt one, again like always shot placement is king.
 
I carry a 40 for SD but I am not wanting to stop the deer from attacking me or breaking into my house - I want to stop it DRT so I do not lose it or have to chase it. I use a 44mag with 250g hard cast at about 1200 fps - not a brutal load but it kills Hogs and Deer with a good hit.

I would use a 40 at under 20 yards if I did not have a better option.
 
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