Hand gun for hunting

boltaction · January 1, 2010, 01:58 PM

I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag. back in November just befor our gun deer season here in Mich. I did'nt hunt with it because I really did'nt have time to sight it in or shoot it much to get a feel for it. Next year I would like to hunt deer with it so what would be some good bullet loads? I know that when I sight it in it should be with the ammo I hunt with but what about target shooting? If I go to the range and shoot 44 specials will I have to re- sight it in?

ptrumble1 · January 1, 2010, 02:06 PM

Yup--but should not take you long--although whats wrong with hunting with 44 sp loads-

W. C. Quantrill · January 1, 2010, 02:20 PM

.44 Specials are plenty of medicine for whitetails. All things with a dose of common sense. Think bow range, if you can kill it with a bow and arrow, then you can also get it with a pistol. 40 yards or so is max for most people and pistols unless you are into long distance competition and know your gun and loads very very well.

vanilla_gorilla · January 2, 2010, 12:10 AM

Quote:

.44 Specials are plenty of medicine for whitetails. All things with a dose of common sense. Think bow range, if you can kill it with a bow and arrow, then you can also get it with a pistol. 40 yards or so is max for most people and pistols unless you are into long distance competition and know your gun and loads very very well.

This is probably very good advice. I prefer something a little stouter than a factory-loaded .44 Special, but my hunting handloads are about the equivalent of a .44 Special +P: a 265 grain cast bullet at ~1050 fps. It will punch through a deer at any angle that is presented to me.

GeauxTide · January 2, 2010, 09:32 PM

I've used 240 Remington SP because they are as cheap as lead and they are devastating with 22-24gr of H-110.

treg · January 2, 2010, 10:53 PM

Lots of good advice here. 240 gr hard cast lswc's or LBT's at 1000 fps or so won't recoil too bad in that SBH and are good deer medicine out to 60 yards. Another 200 fps will take it out to 100 yards - when / if you are comfortable and competant at that range under your hunting conditions.

Kudos to OP who is a good man for waiting and preparing to hunt with a new gun, 'specially a handgun.

bswiv · January 3, 2010, 06:59 AM

Forget the load for a moment and do this.

Sit in a VERY quiet place with the empty gun in your hand. Now slowly cock it. Do it as quietly as you can. You will hear 4 clicks probably. Most likely a couple of those clicks will be louder than the others.

Work on it a bit and see how quiet you can make that gun cock. Some of them are quieter than others.

I used one for 3 seasons. No matter what I did it was like shaking a bag of rocks to get that thing cocked. Shot a number of deer and hogs with it but after spooking the second deer while trying to cock it quietly I sold it.

Of course we are hunting THICK woods and the deer were close so depending on your terrain it may not be a problem at all. I went to a Contender after the second deer, a nice SC buck that slipped up behind me, busted me as I tried to cock it.

As for a load. What someone said about +P .44 Spl is right. It'll do the job just fine if that's what you want to use. Same thing can be accomplished with the less expensive lead .44 Mag. loads if you do not want to reload.

On the other hand 44 Mag. XTPs are a very reliably choice..........

BIGR · January 3, 2010, 09:15 AM

Quote:

On the other hand 44 Mag. XTPs are a very reliably choice..........

I must add that I have a Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 MAG. and never have tried it, but I will tell you one thing. The .44 MAG. XTP's are deadly on deer when used in my .50 CAL. muzzleloader. Never has a deer went more than a few feet when shot with one of those. I have always wanted to try and take a whitetail with the pistol. I think it adds a little more of a challenge.

.284 · January 3, 2010, 01:15 PM

I use W296 26 grains under a 210 gr Sierra JHC. This has been a very deadly and accurate load for my S&W 629. If you are going to use it here in Michigan, we seldom have greater than a 75 yard shot anyway. The great thing is that you can use it statewide. Good luck!

jrothWA · January 3, 2010, 08:57 PM

be using.

Max range is that which keeps a cylinder load group within a paper plate.

Take your time and be PATIENCE!

I'm Lenawee Cty., what be you?

boltaction · January 4, 2010, 04:19 PM

Thanks for all the advice guys, lots of good stuff here. Hi jrothWA, I'm in Mecosta county north of Grand Rapids. Isn't Lenawee south of Detroit near the Ohio border? If it is your a good 3-3 1/2 hrs from me.

Old Grump · January 4, 2010, 08:23 PM

I use 240 gr SP in both 44 spcl and 44 mag out of my Super Blackhawk. Both shoot to same point of aim but the 44 spcl shoots about 1/3 the size group as the magnums, both will serve you well. As far as cocking, It doesn't take long to cock the gun, effectively 1 click, if your critter is between 60 and 100 yards you should be drawing a bead on him before he has time to react. Hasn't been a problem yet. Probably because I cock it and set it on the shelf in front and to my right when I set up on the stand. If walking I have to draw and cock and by then they already know where I am so the clicks don't mean a hill of beans I already have a target moving to someplace else and its no time to be subtle. Enjoy and practice with the special, its more fun, easier on the hands and the gun and still gets you that much needed trigger time on the gun.

dmazur · January 5, 2010, 01:55 AM

If you reload, you can load "mild" .44 Mag for practice. This eliminates the worry of building up a crud ring in front of the shorter .44 Special cases.

(Make sure to mark your boxes...you don't want to try shooting a deer with powder puff loads.

)

T. O'Heir · January 9, 2010, 02:01 AM

"...and shoot 44 Specials will I have to re-sight it in?..." Yep. Just like you would if you used a different .44 Mag load.

January 1, 2010, 01:58 PM	#1
boltaction Member Join Date: December 26, 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 18	Hand gun for hunting I bought a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 mag. back in November just befor our gun deer season here in Mich. I did'nt hunt with it because I really did'nt have time to sight it in or shoot it much to get a feel for it. Next year I would like to hunt deer with it so what would be some good bullet loads? I know that when I sight it in it should be with the ammo I hunt with but what about target shooting? If I go to the range and shoot 44 specials will I have to re- sight it in?

January 1, 2010, 02:20 PM	#3
W. C. Quantrill Senior Member Join Date: February 11, 2008 Location: No Man's Land Posts: 354	.44 Specials are plenty of medicine for whitetails. All things with a dose of common sense. Think bow range, if you can kill it with a bow and arrow, then you can also get it with a pistol. 40 yards or so is max for most people and pistols unless you are into long distance competition and know your gun and loads very very well. __________________ NRA Life Whittington Center Life

January 2, 2010, 10:53 PM	#6
treg Senior Member Join Date: November 26, 2006 Posts: 1,102	Lots of good advice here. 240 gr hard cast lswc's or LBT's at 1000 fps or so won't recoil too bad in that SBH and are good deer medicine out to 60 yards. Another 200 fps will take it out to 100 yards - when / if you are comfortable and competant at that range under your hunting conditions. Kudos to OP who is a good man for waiting and preparing to hunt with a new gun, 'specially a handgun. __________________ .44 Special: For those who get it, no explanation is necessary. For those who don't, no explanation is possible.

January 3, 2010, 01:15 PM	#9
.284 Senior Member Join Date: July 8, 2009 Location: davison, michigan Posts: 665	I use W296 26 grains under a 210 gr Sierra JHC. This has been a very deadly and accurate load for my S&W 629. If you are going to use it here in Michigan, we seldom have greater than a 75 yard shot anyway. The great thing is that you can use it statewide. Good luck! __________________ Guns have only two enemies, rust and politicians! Deer are amazing creatures....so please don't burn the sauteed onions and I'll pass on the steak sauce, thank you.

January 3, 2010, 08:57 PM	#10
jrothWA Senior Member Join Date: November 11, 2006 Posts: 2,519	Target shoot with the hunting loads you'll .. be using. Max range is that which keeps a cylinder load group within a paper plate. Take your time and be PATIENCE! I'm Lenawee Cty., what be you?

January 1, 2010, 02:06 PM	#2
ptrumble1 Junior Member Join Date: August 3, 2008 Posts: 9	Yup--but should not take you long--although whats wrong with hunting with 44 sp loads-

January 2, 2010, 09:32 PM	#5
GeauxTide Senior Member Join Date: April 20, 2009 Location: Helena, AL Posts: 4,423	I've used 240 Remington SP because they are as cheap as lead and they are devastating with 22-24gr of H-110.

January 3, 2010, 06:59 AM	#7
bswiv Senior Member Join Date: June 4, 2006 Location: NE FL....... Posts: 1,081	Forget the load for a moment and do this. Sit in a VERY quiet place with the empty gun in your hand. Now slowly cock it. Do it as quietly as you can. You will hear 4 clicks probably. Most likely a couple of those clicks will be louder than the others. Work on it a bit and see how quiet you can make that gun cock. Some of them are quieter than others. I used one for 3 seasons. No matter what I did it was like shaking a bag of rocks to get that thing cocked. Shot a number of deer and hogs with it but after spooking the second deer while trying to cock it quietly I sold it. Of course we are hunting THICK woods and the deer were close so depending on your terrain it may not be a problem at all. I went to a Contender after the second deer, a nice SC buck that slipped up behind me, busted me as I tried to cock it. As for a load. What someone said about +P .44 Spl is right. It'll do the job just fine if that's what you want to use. Same thing can be accomplished with the less expensive lead .44 Mag. loads if you do not want to reload. On the other hand 44 Mag. XTPs are a very reliably choice..........

January 4, 2010, 04:19 PM	#11
boltaction Member Join Date: December 26, 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 18	Thanks for all the advice guys, lots of good stuff here. Hi jrothWA, I'm in Mecosta county north of Grand Rapids. Isn't Lenawee south of Detroit near the Ohio border? If it is your a good 3-3 1/2 hrs from me.

January 4, 2010, 08:23 PM	#12
Old Grump Member in memoriam Join Date: April 9, 2009 Location: Blue River Wisconsin, in Posts: 3,144	I use 240 gr SP in both 44 spcl and 44 mag out of my Super Blackhawk. Both shoot to same point of aim but the 44 spcl shoots about 1/3 the size group as the magnums, both will serve you well. As far as cocking, It doesn't take long to cock the gun, effectively 1 click, if your critter is between 60 and 100 yards you should be drawing a bead on him before he has time to react. Hasn't been a problem yet. Probably because I cock it and set it on the shelf in front and to my right when I set up on the stand. If walking I have to draw and cock and by then they already know where I am so the clicks don't mean a hill of beans I already have a target moving to someplace else and its no time to be subtle. Enjoy and practice with the special, its more fun, easier on the hands and the gun and still gets you that much needed trigger time on the gun. __________________ Good intentions will always be pleaded for any assumption of power. The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions. There are men in all ages who mean to govern will, but they mean to govern. They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters. --Daniel Webster--

January 5, 2010, 01:55 AM	#13
dmazur Senior Member Join Date: July 5, 2007 Location: Pacific NW Posts: 1,310	If you reload, you can load "mild" .44 Mag for practice. This eliminates the worry of building up a crud ring in front of the shorter .44 Special cases. (Make sure to mark your boxes...you don't want to try shooting a deer with powder puff loads. ) __________________ .30-06 Springfield: 100 yrs + and still going strong

January 9, 2010, 02:01 AM	#14
T. O'Heir Senior Member Join Date: February 13, 2002 Location: Canada Posts: 12,453	"...and shoot 44 Specials will I have to re-sight it in?..." Yep. Just like you would if you used a different .44 Mag load. __________________ Spelling and grammar count!