Big bore revolvers

I'm a fan of the 480 ruger cartridge for hunting. Pokes a big hole and is more pleasant to shoot than the 454 or 460. The 454 and 460 are a must for ear protection even for one shot.

I don't care for the walker game ears and other hearing protection while hunting so at least I can shoot the 480 or a 44 mag one or two shots without ringing my ears and the worry of causing bad damage to my hearing.

To me the 454 and 460 have a terrible load crack to their report whereas the 480 is more like a 44 mag on steroids and has more of a lower pitched boom to it's report.

All that said I find myself carrying a 44 mag the most now days but if I want more I grab a 480.

Dog Soldier said:

The .357 was not legal here in the early days. It was not considered adequate for Elk and Moose. Bob Milek and I worked together to legalize handgun hunting in Wyoming.
The Ranchers and Big Game Outfitters are the most powerful group politically in the state. They opposed handgun hunting. The state's taxpayers financed the Freedom Arms plant for Mr. Baker in Freedom, Wyoming.
The very gun they produced the .454 Casull was not legal for hunting within the state. In 1978 we won the right for handgun hunting by one vote.
Without the help of Bob Milek, S&W and Ruger it would have taken longer. Bob passed in 1993. He was a great fellow.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39496866

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Very cool. I would think the energy folks (coal, oil & gas) would have a great deal of influence in Wyoming now.

I still don't consider the 357 adequate. My first centerfire handgun was a 6" Colt Python. I purchased it primarily for handgun hunting for deer and writers like Milek gradually convinced me that the 357 mag just wasn't quite powerful enough for hunting but a great self defense round. I moved into the city and was away from convenient hunting for years, and later picked up a S&W M57 (41 mag) as my first serious handgun hunting revolver. I don't view hunting as a rich man's sport, but the "sport" is moving that way more and more. My first exposure to the money aspects of hunting was in South and Central Texas in the 70's. At the time I refused to spend money for leases or the right to hunt on a property. I was invited to hunt on a number of the high fence operations (for free) in Texas during that time, but I felt that if I wasn't a paying customer, I shouldn't be there hunting.

Yes, Energy interest is intertwined with land ownership and leasing. The Wyoming Livestock Association that hired gunmen like Tom Horn remain the most powerful political group. The Outfitters are aligned with the Big Ranchers and are a powerful Org.
I have never hunted on leases or fenced in compounds. We have open public lands and waters.

Dog Soldier said:

Where did handgun hunting first become popular in the 1980s? ...

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In PA silhouette was growing very fast in the late 70s and through the 80s. The Thompson Contender changed the way I looked at handguns and certainly contributed to make handgun hunting more popular where I lived. I hunted with a Ruger Superblackhawk and later added a Dan Wesson 357 SM but my favorite was the Contender. I can only speak to the area I grew up at but, IMHO, it seemed like handgun hunters became more common in the 80s. There were always handgun hunters but I seen more after the Contenders were more common and after silhouette became popular. YMMV

I remember that very well. I was Wyoming State Director of the Silhouette Shooter's Associations. We opened a new Range on Poison Spider Road West of Casper. I was writing articles under a Pen name for a Silhouette News Paper.
Bob Milek of Guns & Ammo late of Shooting Times and I were at the dedication of the new Range. I think that was in 1978. Bob and Steve Harrett were developing new rounds for the TC Pistol. I preferred my S&W Mdl. 29 8 3/8" .44 Mag. I usally lost to the TC pistols.

I recently bought a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk in 45 Colt, and its a lot of fun whether you load to max power or standard pressure plinkers. For me, the Bisley grip is much more comfortable to shoot the heavies than the standard Blackhawk grip. Picked it up on line brand new for $650 and couldn't be happier. Its good that you reload, because factory ammunition is not cheap for either cartridge. Stay away from the new Vaqueros in 45 Colt because they will not handle the heavy pressure loads-their frames are smaller. So far as I know, the heavy framed Rugers which will handle heavy loads have a 2 digit prefix in their serial numbers and the lighter frames have 3 digit prefixes. The 44 Magnum will handle higher pressures than the 45 Colt-it being limited to 30K psi max, but it does have the advantage of launching heavier bullets. The downside of the Bisley is that they do not make the convertible cylinder setup, which is odd because the only difference is in the grip frame itself.

Delmar said:

The downside of the Bisley is that they do not make the convertible cylinder setup, which is odd because the only difference is in the grip frame itself.

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It might be in the current catalog, but I purchased a convertible 45 bisley NIB just a few years back and spotted others local gun shows since. The acp is unfluted, but a real tack driver. Very flexible setup and one of my favorite to shoot. Would recommend in a heartbeat.

Delmar said:

I recently bought a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk in 45 Colt, and its a lot of fun whether you load to max power or standard pressure plinkers. For me, the Bisley grip is much more comfortable to shoot the heavies than the standard Blackhawk grip. Picked it up on line brand new for $650 and couldn't be happier. Its good that you reload, because factory ammunition is not cheap for either cartridge. Stay away from the new Vaqueros in 45 Colt because they will not handle the heavy pressure loads-their frames are smaller. So far as I know, the heavy framed Rugers which will handle heavy loads have a 2 digit prefix in their serial numbers and the lighter frames have 3 digit prefixes. The 44 Magnum will handle higher pressures than the 45 Colt-it being limited to 30K psi max, but it does have the advantage of launching heavier bullets. The downside of the Bisley is that they do not make the convertible cylinder setup, which is odd because the only difference is in the grip frame itself.

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The Vaquero is capable of the 23k max pressure level loads, since the gun is offered in 45 ACP. Mine does fine with these "Tier II" loads. However, those are not the loads one usually finds listed as "Ruger/Thompson Contender only". Magazine article archives will support the 23k max, mid-level of 45 Colt loading. The Vaquero is the ideal gun for that, unless you want bigger than really necessary in order to absorb recoil energy.

Delmar said:

The 44 Magnum will handle higher pressures than the 45 Colt-it being limited to 30K psi max, but it does have the advantage of launching heavier bullets.

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Both cartridges top out at about the same bullet weight. The .44 slings them faster.

MaxP said:

Thank you, but they are Dall sheep, hence the pink tint. It has become one of my favorite sheep horn grip material -- well that and big horn.

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Ah, that explains it. I couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light or if it was actually s little pink. Beautiful setup.

460Shooter said:

Ah, that explains it. I couldn't tell if it was a trick of the light or if it was actually s little pink. Beautiful setup.

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Thank you!

Good morning
Shoot a BFR 475 Linebaugh with a 7.5 barrel when up north in the US of A. Fine revolvers ! Very accurate and built on a heavy duty frame.
Use the 325 grain cast for plinking and random hunting loaded to 1250 FPS. For serious hunting a 400 grain GC wide flat nose cast at 1450 FPS. Revolver will do a lot more but have not found any woolly tuskers roaming about to up the power factor. 1680 works nicely with cast bullets.
Mike in Peru

Dog Soldier said:

Yes, Energy interest is intertwined with land ownership and leasing. The Wyoming Livestock Association that hired gunmen like Tom Horn remain the most powerful political group. The Outfitters are aligned with the Big Ranchers and are a powerful Org.
I have never hunted on leases or fenced in compounds. We have open public lands and waters.

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Same as it ever was. Anyone interested might want to research the Johnson County War. There's interesting perspective in Charles Askin's book Gunfighters.
Now outfitters put intimidating signs on public land. Some state something like "Hunting on Deeded Land Prohibited", which is true, but they post in on a lot of state and federal land.
I love GPS.

So true. Anyone who has not spent years in Public Land states never understand how this all works. The violations are as bad as the Frontier days. There are the rules governing access to Public Lands. And there is the real world.

I have yet to use the real world approach to woods wandering and occasional handgun plinking on National Forest lands which are all WMA's here in TN now. But I guess if I really spent some serious time, I would ignore the shooting rule within TN national forests. I asked a ranger about the national forest thing and he just sort of smiled suggesting why would I ever ask such a thing. Let's deal with the real world and what is practical. It sort of do what makes sense and safe, but don't rub my face in it or I will follow the rules.

SlowFuse said:

Big bore revolversLooks good @Hondo 60

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I have a 4.25" barrel Redhawk in 45 Colt and find it too big to carry concealed and the barrel too short to realy enjoy range time with it. I bought another in 5.5" barrel and think that balance is much better but still either a hunting gun, range toy, or bowling pin killer.

The serious issue with Ruger and grips is if you are particular about how the grips fit the grip frame. I find it makes no difference in my shooting and that a perfect fit would be more expense than I would want to afford.

I put the black plastic back on my Vaquero so I could use the fancy grips for a different gun and found I liked the flatness and the checkering better on these plastic originals. Plastic has its place, and I have no immediate aversion to its application.

RealGun said:

I have a 4.25" barrel Redhawk in 45 Colt and find it too big to carry concealed and the barrel too short to realy enjoy range time with it. I bought another in 5.5" barrel and think that balance is much better but still either a hunting gun, range toy, or bowling pin killer.

The serious issue with Ruger and grips is if you are particular about how the grips fit the grip frame. I find it makes no difference in my shooting and that a perfect fit would be more expense than I would want to afford.

I put the black plastic back on my Vaquero so I could use the fancy grips for a different gun and found I liked the flatness and the checkering better on these plastic originals. Plastic has its place, and I have no immediate aversion to its application.

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I just looked at a new 4" (+) Redhawk in 41 mag. I'm tempted. The factory grips are way too big for my hands but would work okay two handed.

I didn't find the original grips too bad in palm swell, but the grip frame makes the trigger reach very long, and thus the advice to go for an exposed backstrap grip design.

I shoot both revolvers and 1911's. I didn't want to gear up for 44 spl/mag so purchased a S&W 625-8 JM. Some people don't like moon clips but I find them a novel idea and very useful. I load up about 150 rounds in clips, throw them in a drop bag and head for the range. Reload takes about 3 seconds.

I was already loading for 1911's so this worked out pretty well. I use the same ammo in both my 1911's and my 625 JM. Old Jerry put together a pretty nice package.

Dog Soldier said:

So true. Anyone who has not spent years in Public Land states never understand how this all works. The violations are as bad as the Frontier days. There are the rules governing access to Public Lands. And there is the real world.

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Just go in armed with a scowl on your face. I worked as a surveyor for 40 years in the western states. I always knew where I was and I also knew who owned the property. I had some pretty heated arguments with farmers and ranchers on public land. Sometimes they think they own everything.

Dog Soldier said:

The .357 was not legal here in the early days. It was not considered adequate for Elk and Moose. Bob Milek and I worked together to legalize handgun hunting in Wyoming.
The Ranchers and Big Game Outfitters are the most powerful group politically in the state. They opposed handgun hunting. The state's taxpayers financed the Freedom Arms plant for Mr. Baker in Freedom, Wyoming.
The very gun they produced the .454 Casull was not legal for hunting within the state. In 1978 we won the right for handgun hunting by one vote.
Without the help of Bob Milek, S&W and Ruger it would have taken longer. Bob passed in 1993. He was a great fellow.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=39496866

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Nice to see mention of Bob Milek. Bob was a favorite writer of mine back when first got into shooting. His articles on specialty pistols and running "feud" with Ross Seyfried as to what constituted a handgun always merited a read. I had a 10" TC Contender I got due to his influence in .44mag & .22lr and found it to be amazingly accurate with a superb trigger. Got rid of it some time ago and sometimes wonder why...

SlowFuse said:

I do reload. From what little research I've done the 44 mag and 45 Colt can be loaded to similar upper end power. Probably wouldn't be hitting that often with general plinking.

Don't think I could afford to shoot many of the cartridges I have if I didn't reload.

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I've had .41's, .44's, .45LC/.454 & .480/.475 Linebaugh. All are fun but the .44's were the easiest and cheapest to feed both in factory ammo and in easily available/affordable components for reloading. If this is to be mainly a range gun, not carried, one gun I always loved shooting was Ruger's 10.5" Super Blackhawk in .44mag. A buddy had one and it shot like a laser and was very pleasant to shoot even with magnums. Just saw a new one in stainless at my favorite LGS for in the $600-650 range. A hell of a lot of gun for the money IMHO.

Manny said:

Nice to see mention of Bob Milek. Bob was a favorite writer of mine back when first got into shooting. His articles on specialty pistols and running "feud" with Ross Seyfried as to what constituted a handgun always merited a read. I had a 10" TC Contender I got due to his influence in .44mag & .22lr and found it to be amazingly accurate with a superb trigger. Got rid of it some time ago and sometimes wonder why...

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Thanks so much for that post. I hope a few folks will remember Bob. He was a very kind polite gentleman. I often remember him .

CoalTrain49 said:

Just go in armed with a scowl on your face. I worked as a surveyor for 40 years in the western states. I always knew where I was and I also knew who owned the property. I had some pretty heated arguments with farmers and ranchers on public land. Sometimes they think they own everything.

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Well I can see, you have been to "See the Elephant". You speak the truth. Thanks so much for that post.

While I have to agree with Seyfried on the definition of a "handgun" (and just about everything else), I thoroughly enjoyed Milek's writing. I remember in particular an article about shooting varmints with a .22Hornet Contender that I poured over many times.