has anyone used one of these to kill animals like either game to eat or varmits causing trouble etc?

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I have heard stories about people taking deer with Navy pistols. I don't doubt them. For some reason, handgunners seem to enjoy pushing the limits, sometimes beyond reason. Among riflemen, the .36 is seen as a good squirrel rifle. I have seen grown men come nearly to blows while arguing about whether a .36 caliber flintlock is adequate for turkey hunting. Tossing in a suggestion that it is also good for deer would have resulted either in laughter or a knife fight.

In my opinion the Navy revolver is as good for deer as is a .380 semi auto. Take that for what it is worth. If, however, the keen marksman can hit squirrels, rabbits, and what have you with his revolver, then more power to him.
 
I bought two of these last year and I love these two pistols but I hadn't killed anything yet with them besides paper, so has anyone taken, killed any animals with theirs? thanks!

You guys are correct that a .375 ball from a revolver is not a good idea on deer,

However, nothing in the OP's post suggested that he was going to be using his pistol(s) on deer.

A lot of fellows over the years have documented taking forest game such as squirrel and rabbits, although I always find rabbits in meadows not the forest, but the local DNR calls them "forest game". Also birds on the ground have been taken by the little .36. It is a little light to take a shot at a coyote, but a groundhog, sure one could take such IF you can get close enough.

LD
 
This was taken in 1995 and was a target of opportunity from a distance of about 20 feet as I walked along the driveway of the house. Pistol was a Colt Navy .36 reissue. That was an extremely well made and accurate pistol. Another gun I let go foolishly believing it was "right to do" at the time, but now regret. Which is why if anyone posts advice on getting rid of a gun, my advice is not to.

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This was taken in 1995 and was a target of opportunity from a distance of about 20 feet as I walked along the driveway of the house. Pistol was a Colt Navy .36 reissue. That was an extremely well made and accurate pistol. Another gun I let go foolishly believing it was "right to do" at the time, but now regret. Which is why if anyone posts advice on getting rid of a gun, my advice is not to.

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YOU SHOT THUMPER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :what:
 
Using an energetic powder with a short for weight wide flat meplat bullet can achieve .38 Spl+P performance levels. A 100-110 (I forget which he used but it was barely longer than a .380” ball) pushed by just 20 grns (or a max load from a Colt Pocket Police) achieves low end .380 ACP performance. A wide meplat, even at low speeds, creates a much larger than caliber permanent wound track. I wouldn’t want to use a .36 for medium game. It’s why mine are .44/.45.
 
I know some people in Kaidos circle of friends/customers have used his 140 and 145 grain .36 cal conical on deer and pigs. Dont sell the .36 navy short...its one meam beast of a gun with the right bullet and powder combo. 20-25 grains of energetic powder such as old eynseford,swiss, or triple 7 paired with kaido conicals or similar and you have a killer combo. I had a custom REAL type bullet mold made for my .36 navy guns and it does some big damage. Theres a video that murphys muskets did using the kaido combo i mentioned above and it went through a thick shoulder bone that was embedded in balistic gel. Went through the gel and straight through the thick shoulder bone and shattered it ..and all the way out of the gel block making a huge wound channel. Check out the vid...it shows what a .36 can really do with the right bullet and powder combo. Keep in mind it weighs as much as a .44 round ball yet has a wide meplat. Its a hard hitter for sure.
 
The only part about the video that was problematic was his description or display of the timing. That revolver had rather late bolt drop. The locking notch should be just to the left of the left cheek of the recoil shield and the left side of the hammer slot (that's your timing mark on an open top). You'll notice it's about half way across that line when the bolt drops (lockup is just on the other side of that line) (so, as a refresher - bolt drop is to the left of the line - - lockup is just to the right). There, clear as mud!!

Mike
 
Well, yes. I’ve shot a good number of jacks with a .36 and a crazy badger invading my campsite with an 1860 Army.

Some of those jacks were on the move. Hard to hit with a Navy but gratifying when you do.

Shot a yote at a Lake Mead campsite. He was hanging around way to close for way too long and wouldn’t shoo. We had little kids with us so I did him with a Remington 58 and a 190 grain conical. That put him down flat. Dragged him off about 200 yards and the next morning he was breakfast for the buzzards. Served him right.

Long ago, some pals and I trailered some horses from school over to the CA NV line (Chocolate Mountains) looking for petroglyphs and to just shoot and ride. It was mating season and an alpha javalena (about a 40 pounder) came charging down a hill at me and my horse. I got him on top of his head at about 25 yards with a beater brass .36 and his snout dug a trench in the sand. He twitched a couple of times and that was it. Never found an exit wound. One of the luckiest (my horse really wanted to leave) and most satisfying shots I ever made. A dead stink pig beats a pile of vet bills, any time.
 
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I know some people in Kaidos circle of friends/customers have used his 140 and 145 grain .36 cal conical on deer and pigs. Dont sell the .36 navy short...its one meam beast of a gun with the right bullet and powder combo. 20-25 grains of energetic powder such as old eynseford,swiss, or triple 7 paired with kaido conicals or similar and you have a killer combo. I had a custom REAL type bullet mold made for my .36 navy guns and it does some big damage. Theres a video that murphys muskets did using the kaido combo i mentioned above and it went through a thick shoulder bone that was embedded in balistic gel. Went through the gel and straight through the thick shoulder bone and shattered it ..and all the way out of the gel block making a huge wound channel. Check out the vid...it shows what a .36 can really do with the right bullet and powder combo. Keep in mind it weighs as much as a .44 round ball yet has a wide meplat. Its a hard hitter for sure.

Have a link to the video?

*EDIT*

Of course I scroll done and see you’ve done so...
 
The first shot with the conical performed quite nicely. It’s hard to get excited about the last conical breaking the bone as it did as it was compromised at that point and didn’t go deep. However this was with standard (?) Goex which doesn’t produce a velocity to get excited about. Imagine had it been something that produces maybe another 150 FPS. Otherwise this might be what one could expect at 50 yds using an energetic powder.

I also wouldn’t be so happy with the group size at his 6 paces (maybe 7 yds?). For me that range is belly gun range. Home protection is 15 yds and hunting is no less than 25 and I wouldn’t be happy with anything less with that being marginal. I was getting 3-3.5” groups with my ROA offhand at 15 yds and I wasn’t all warm and fuzzy for using it as a primary weapon (25 yds). But then he was using what seemed to be close to a max charge. I choose what’s more accurate and still satisfactory (25 grns of energetic powder in my .44/.45 guns). I’d take a .457” ball in my gun with 3F Olde E over his conical and load every single time, but then I wouldn’t do that either.
 
My first Jackrabbit with a ROA was about 25 ish yards, 45 grains of 3 seven under a .457 ball. I didn't get many shots on rabbits over 40 yards for a while. Best one so far has been between 75 to 80 yards with Black MZ under a 200 grain semi wadcutter. The round ball seems to give better performance with more penetration than the conical. I know everyone is discussing .36s, I think it will do an excellent job on small game.
 
Small game yes. 36/44 will take bunny, squirrel size game no problem. Can you kill a deer with a 36 or 44,sure, but aside from any game laws I would only attempt this in a pure survival situation. I remember an old article from the late Robert T. Shimek in G&A taking a deer with a Colt Walker replica, if I recall correctly he thought it was marginal.
 
I think the Walker would do ok on a deer, if you stalked in close, and had good shot placement, say around 50 yards and under. Having seen what full house loads with round ball will do to small game I have no doubt it would drop a deer. Keep in mind the Walker was the mosg powerful revolver until the .357 mag came along. My brother dropped a deer at around 75 yards with a .357 when we were youngsters, so it may be unethical to many out there but it can be done.
 
Small game yes. 36/44 will take bunny, squirrel size game no problem. Can you kill a deer with a 36 or 44,sure, but aside from any game laws I would only attempt this in a pure survival situation. I remember an old article from the late Robert T. Shimek in G&A taking a deer with a Colt Walker replica, if I recall correctly he thought it was marginal.

That depends on the powder used. The common powders such as standard Goex are rather weak, but use their Olde Eynsford, Swiss, or Triple 7 and a NMA with my 195 grn bullet is performing on par with a standard .45 ACP/Schofield, and my ROA and just 5 more grns is in the +P realm according to the few chronographed results one can find and the testing done by Mr Cumpston and Mr Bates in their book Percussion Revolvers. That’s not marginal by any means and that’s without any modifications to chamber capacity.

And concerning a ball, at 25 yds it is performing much like a ball shot from a rifle at 100-125 yds, which has brought home venison for how long?
 
I imagine your getting pretty close, in my neck of the woods there are 2 types of Jackrabbits, really dumb ones that you can walk right up on and the others that get up 60 or 70 yards out and don't stop till they reach the next zip code. I am impressed that you're having success with that itty bitty barrel.
 
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