Handgunning for whitetails

[Arkansas Paul]

I've decided to buy a revolver for deer hunting as soon as the finances allow. It's probably going to be a single action Ruger due to the reasonable price and will eventually be scoped. The two calibers I'm looking at are of course the .44 mag and .45 Colt. I was looking at some load data the other day and the velocities I was seeing were drastically different. Now that I think back on it, I'm convinced that the load data I was seeing for the .45 was cowboy action loads. I've heard that .45s can be safely loaded to near .44 mag velocities, especially in Rugers. So who's loaded for both? Will one be just as good as the other? I'll only be hunting whitetails and the shot will be no farther than 50 yds. I hate to start another "which caliber is best" thread, but while I'm experienced with long guns, my handgun knowledge is limited. Tell me what you think.

Edit - It will probably be a seven and a half inch barell by the way. Not sure if that matters in this case.

 

[gordy]

I have shot both and would say I like the 45 colt better.
can't give much info about the two.
Look up the 41 mag. that is a very good round also.
Not as easy to find.
happy hunting

 

[Arkansas Paul]

The .41 mag would definately be an option too. I handload, so I'm not too worried about ammo availability. As long as I can get the brass, I'm good.

 

[ljnowell]

45 colt is the cats ass in a ruger single action. You can load 45 colt to 44 mag velocities with less recoil. 45 colt can do what 44mag can do with about 10K less pressure.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Awesome. That's what I was wanting to know. I'm thinking about a Blackhawk Bisely. I think I'll look for one in .45 colt.

 

[Victor1Echo]

45 colt is the cats ass

that means it's good?

 

[Hunt480]

Handgunning Whitetails

This is my opinion only;Its a matter of preference, I have a 41,couple 44's,couple 480's and a 500 but my favorite is the 480 Ruger. The 480 is the perfect deer gun to me. My choice between a 45 and a 44 will always be a 44mag it is the better performer to me by a mile over the 45.

 

[44Dave]

45 colt is the cats ass in a ruger single action. You can load 45 colt to 44 mag velocities with less recoil. 45 colt can do what 44mag can do with about 10K less pressure.

But can I buy that load at Walmart?

 

[Hunt480]

Advantage 44

 

[villemur]

I have both calibers for my T/C Contender, and truthfully, they're both equally versatile if you reload. Ken Waters in "Pet Loads" spoke of the .45 being made of thinner brass and having a smaller rim, which he though made it less than optimum for the highest pressure loads. In reality, I don't think these objections turned out to be much of an issue.

If you reload you'll be happy with either one. If you don't reload you'd get the .45 as more of a target/plinking/cowboy gun, and the .44 as a hunting gun. I think that I like the .44 a little better, but I'm not really sure why I feel that way.

 

[ljnowell]

But can I buy that load at Walmart? z

Why does that matter? You can easily order it from doubletap or Buffalo Bore, or you could just reload for the gun, as most of us that own one do anyway.

FWIW there hasnt been ANY 44mag or 45 Colt on the shelf at my local walmart for over a year, so who cares?

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I roll my own. Don't care what wal mart has.

 

[44-henry]

I've killed deer with both and at that range and a decent shot either will do. I would personally nix the scope, but that's just me. It really doesn't take much to kill a deer, buy whichever your most comfortable with.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Northwest Blacktails with a .357 Magnum Colt SAA with 4 3/4" barrel and handloads.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

44-Henry, you're not the first person who's told me to forget the scope. I figured 50 yds with only a seven and a half inch barrel was a little on the long side for open sights. I will be fairly new to revolvers though, so I have much to learn. I've only owned one, and I didn't put over 200 rounds through it before it went down the gun trade trail. It was a GP 100 and I regret getting rid of it. So open sights are good enough for a 50 yd shot huh? I know it goes without saying that much practice will be needed. Darn, I'm going to have to shoot a lot. I hate that.

 

[tango2echo]

Either is plenty for whitetails at reasonable ranges, say under 125-150 yards.

The .41 is often overlooked. Shoots alittle flatter than the .44 and .45. Ammo is hard to find locally for me, but I reload.

Bullet selection for the .44 is where it has a slight edge, atleast for jacketed bullets.

Too me, the .45LC with REALLY hot loads kicks less than an identical Blackhawk in .44Mag with REALLY hot loads, given the same bullet weight and velocity.

I can buy .44Mag ammo at the ACE Hardware near my house.

.45LC just "feels right" in a single action revolver.

I would buy the Stainless Blackhawk Bisley Hunter in .45LC.........but Ruger only chambers it in .44Mag!

 

[ljnowell]

I roll my own. Don't care what wal mart has

Then the 45 colt is for you. 2400 is your friend, at least its became my favorite full power load. Are you going to be using lead or jacketed bullets?

 

[S&Wfan]

Hi,

You don't need a jacked up .45LC hunting round to plant a deer. Also, it can be hard to find.

OTOH, there are a lot of dedicated hunting rounds out there for the .44 Magnum, and the .44 will do the job extraordinarily well with good shot placement.

I agree you don't need a scope. However, I believe very strongly in the benefits of a quality red dot scope. From years of handgun competitions I've come to really appreciate their incredibly fast target acquisition times. With scopes you sometimes can't swing the gun and find the sweet spot easily . . . and with iron sights (where sight alignment perfection is so key) it is hard to keep the eye focused on the front sight with a blurry deer at a distance and also be able to notice limbs and twigs in the way that can spoil your bullet's path.

My favorites are the Holosights. I'm a deer hunter that hunts with a .44 Mag handgun and I have now for many, many years. I started with an iron-sighted 3-screw Ruger Super Blackhawk, moved on to an early Thompson Center Contender in .44 Magnum, and have been using a S&W Model 29-5 for the past decade or so.

BTW, the hide beneath the gun is from a rare Piebald Whitetail Buck. I took it in extremely thick cover at 35 yards. As he was working his way quickly past me during the rut, I could see the rack but not the body!

Finally, he passed through an area where the shoulder and heart area would pass behind a slight break in the vegetation of about eight inches or so. I could NOT have tracked him with a scope and seen the opening probably, and iron sights would have made it difficult too. You see . . .

The Holosights let you keep both eyes open and looking at the deer as it moves through the thick woods. The red dot seems to magically look like it is painted on the deer, and your eyes are freed to look for the right spot in the understory to squeeze a round through an narrow break in vegetation and bring your deer down humanely.

Effectiveness?

Twice now I've dropped THREE in mere seconds, once in a fresh clearcut on a ridge, and the second time in a thick, hardwood bottom. The first time, the second deer took off when the first one went down and was running full speed, BROADSIDE (luckily) at a measured 65 yards. I swung the Holosight and had a perfect sight picture when I touched off the round. The deer hit the ground like a stone RIGHT THERE, and never twitched! The a third deer stood up (it was bedded in the clearcut and I didn't know it) so I dropped it too. Ah the memories!!!

This past season, I took my best to-date Whitetail buck (an eight-point) with my gun and sight. The bullet took the heart out and he never pumped another beat.

Holosights are used today in combat and by law enforcement against targets that won't stand still, and they are incredible in their effectiveness. My AR15 also is topped by a quick-pointing Holosight! Bottom line . . .

I DO NOT LIKE TO TRACK DEER . . . AND I want instant kills, and the Holosight has made all the difference in the world in not having to track downed deer!

 

[ljnowell]

You don't need a jacked up .45LC hunting round to plant a deer

You are right just about any standard pressure(not cowboy load) rond from a 45 colt will do it. And he reloads, so........

 

[22-rimfire]

I use 480 Ruger with standard factory bullet weights. The SRH is a handful, but I have a higher degree of confidence that I will put a deer down quickly with a reasonably placed shot. When I carry it, I almost feel like it is a rifle (big gun, you know). It is a very versatile caliber and plenty of medicine for anything in North America you might likely hunt with a handgun.

I also like the 41 mag for deer hunting. I don't have a scope on my M57, so I keep the distances reasonable although I shoot it fairly well at 100 yds. For the money, it's hard to beat a Ruger Blackhawk in either 41 or 44 mag. Yes, I have one in 41 mag.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've seen a .480 Ruger mentioned more than once now. I got the opportunity to shoot a friend's Super Redhawk in .480 and I loved it. I would dearly love to own one, but right now finances are steering me towards the single actions. Also i would think to get the most out of a .480, you really would need to scope it. JMO But you guys are right. The .480 is a dandy. Thanks for all the info. Keep it coming. I would love to hear from more people who hunt with the pistolas.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I'm a dedicated .45 man -- I have two Blackhawks and a Colt New Service. I have shot everything from "Ruger only rattle your teeth" loads to mild plinking loads. My experience is that a 5 1/2" Blackhawk is all around the best choice and that a 255 grain bullet loaded ahead of 12.5 grains of HS 6 will generate about 1,000 fps and do anything you need to do -- and that's a SAAMI standard load (14,000 psi or less). I use the Lee 452-255-RF bullet, lubed with liquid ALOX.

A real sleeper of a load is the 300 grain Lee .454 diameter "Improved Minnie Ball" with the same charge of HS 6 -- that's about a starting load in the "Ruger only" category and that will shoot through an elk, side to side.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

ljnowell, I will probably use a combination of both lead and jacketed bullets. Lead is cheaper obviously, so I'll probably do a lot of practicing with them. I was thinking jacketed hollow points for hunting. Is this a good idea? Would regular soft points be better out of a .44 or .45 for hunting purposes?

Nice Blackhawk. That's what I've got in mind. That or a Bisely.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I never use anything but lead in my big bore revolvers -- in fact, that's the point of a big bore. Don't depend on a jacketed bullet expanding, shoot one that's already big enough to do the job.

 

[EnsignJimmy]

44-Henry, you're not the first person who's told me to forget the scope. I figured 50 yds with only a seven and a half inch barrel was a little on the long side for open sights. I will be fairly new to revolvers though, so I have much to learn. I've only owned one, and I didn't put over 200 rounds through it before it went down the gun trade trail. It was a GP 100 and I regret getting rid of it. So open sights are good enough for a 50 yd shot huh? I know it goes without saying that much practice will be needed. Darn, I'm going to have to shoot a lot. I hate that.

Fifty yards is not long for the open sights on a revolver. As long as you've got a good, consistent load for your gun, fifty yards won't be a problem. Not even a hundred yards. Two hundred yards is doable, but not recommended. Or necessary, even.

ljnowell, I will probably use a combination of both lead and jacketed bullets. Lead is cheaper obviously, so I'll probably do a lot of practicing with them. I was thinking jacketed hollow points for hunting. Is this a good idea? Would regular soft points be better out of a .44 or .45 for hunting purposes?

Nice Blackhawk. That's what I've got in mind. That or a Bisely.

For hunting with big-bore revolvers, you don't need a JHP or JSP. You only need a big lead bullet with a wide flat nose. That kind of bullet, moving a modest velocities; penetrates deeply, lets a lot of air in, and a lot of blood out.

In fact, with the .45 Colt, you don't want to use jacketed bullets at all. You lose that "does everything the .44 Magnum does with 10K less pressure" advantage, since you'd need to up the pressure to get back the velocity lost forcing that hard copper jacket down the bore.

For whitetails, the .45 Colt doesn't really need more than a 255 grain Keith-style lead bullet leaving the muzzle at between 900 to 1050 ft/sec. In other words, a SAAMI spec load out of a 7.25" Ruger Bisley. To reach out and touch bigger animals, or smaller ones at longer ranges, the .45 Colt likes big bullets. My personal favorite is a 335 grain WFN lead bullet going at 1050 - 1100 ft/sec. My Rugers love this load, and it doesn't require more than 20 - 25K pressure to achieve.