Anyone else use their Huntin Handguns for small game??

I have a 10" 45/410 barrel for my contender that I use for grouse and rabbits.

This year I'm going to hunt grouse with my .44mg.
Fuzz

I don't have a Huntin' Handgun per se. However, I was on a caving trip outside of Bend Oregon and was in the right place to see a Coyote run down a jack-rabbit. The kill happened about 30yds in front of me. I had to wait until the coyote stopped long enough for me to take a shot. I hit him in the hind-quarters just below the spinal cord. This was done with my 1991A1 and fixed sights and Federal 230gr Hydra-Shoks. The range was 61 paces.
I wish I could have that kind of dumb luck all the time!

ZM

I use a 10" .22 match barreled Contender with 2x scope, for squirrels, with very good results. Accuracy with standard ammo is excellent. (Never tried match ammo).

Squirrels and rabbits all my life with a Colt Woodsman bought new in 1954.

I used a Sears 9 shot revolver in .22lr to take squirel, rabbit and quail in my teens. I shot it so much that the barrel litteraly came loose.

I've since replaced it with a pair of Ruger single sixes. One in .22lr/.22mag the other in .32 H&R mag.

-M

I've used alot of different handguns over the years for small game.
All the .22 LR guns I used didn't kill as well as I liked. The exception are the birds with HP ammo. The .22 Mag RF is a whole different animal. Kills Jack Rabbits much better, for instance. Even the shot rounds work OK on the two smallish rattlers I've killed. My favorite is the Ruger Single Six Convertible. I've used the S&W K-22, and the early Colt Woodsman in the .22 LR round.
The .38 Special in the K-38. Excellent small game round, especially for edibles like tree sqiurrels. I like the wadcutter target ammo.
The 9 mm in a Browning HP. Handloaded with 90 gr. HP's @ 1400 fps. Really destructive on small stuff.
The Ruger Hawkeye in .256 Winchester. Very accurate, and excellent long range capability.
The .44 Magnum in an S&W .44 Magnum. Really too much, but, loaded down to 750 fps. with a 250 gr. cast bullet, it is very accurate.
The 1911 Colt style guns in .45 ACP. Great small game gun with wadcutter target loads. Anchors tree squirrels with body shots. You can eat right up to the bullet hole. E

Tree squirrel, ground squirrel, rockchuck, coyote, muskrat, grouse, jackrabbit, cottontail... Think that's about it. Mostly with .45 auto or .357 S&W, although a .22 Colt Woodsman has seen some use too. Oh yeah, missed a beauty of a bobcat a couple of years ago. Will regret that miss forever!

My pet hunter is Bernardelli M-60,8" in .22lr. Much more accurate than I am capable of shooting. With Propoint installed,I am able to hit targets at extreme ranges.
This pistol has seen more shooting that all my guns combined and targets include;steel plates,rabbits,sitting birds(doves,ducks,partridges),and lot more.
Really LOVE it.....

other then the bow the only way I hunt anymore is with a handgun. For small game usually I carry one of my smith .38s or my .32 birdshead if Im really seriously bird hunting its the tc .410

My bull barreled 22/45 is very dangerous to the local squirrel population.

I've used pistols like Emericus and hunted critters from rabbits and squirrels on up. Started with and about wore out a Ruger automatic .22, them moved up to 38s, 357s and 44 mags...and then started including .45 autos. Standard practice with my .45 autos was to save it for all "close shots" and get out of the truck and try to take them on the run as they hit the afterburners. Today I hunt with .41 Mag almost exclusively with emphasis on nailing stuff further and further away.

Pistol hunting is a lot of fun and can be accomplished with good effect if you are sensible about your shots. With some practice in the field I think you get a feel for the gun and it's trajectory and then it really gets exciting as you start making shots you don't even tell anyone about because they wouldn't believe you.

NM is a great please to perfect these skills as out in the desert regions, every time you miss you will see where your bullet actually hit thanks to the puff of dust. So you have "visual aids" to what you are doing wrong each shot. This flattens the learning curve a lot.

My ususal small game gun is a Norinco copy of a Walther TT Olypia target gun. It's been pistolsmithed to smooth out the trigger, a scope rail was machined in to the barrel, and a fancy custom magazine release was made for it. It's got a 1" Ultradot mounted on it.

This little 4" barrel semiauto will group 10 shots well under a dime at 50' from sandbags. It's my backup bullseye target gun, but it fits in the pocket of a field coat.

When rabbits are running, nothing is funner than the T/C .410 barrel. Or more frustrating! Unlike clay pidgeons, rabbits bounce!

Now I'm trying out a .357 Ruger Vaquero. It's not as accurate, but we have a deer problem and will have (effectively) an open season on them. I expect the coyotes will become a problem, too. Not as heavy as my newest, a big n' heavy Casull. I guess I could do it all with the .45, once I get the loads worked out. I'd just feel silly slinging 330 grain bullets at a squirrel- might make the tree fall down!

Pete

[ 09-14-2002, 22:57: Message edited by: stinkeypete ]

S&W Mod 17. Has been with me 20yrs. I have taken squirrels, fox, ground hogs(too many to count). Its been carried so much that it needs re-bluing but I'm afraid if I send it to S&W, they will change trigger that has been "worked". I always use solids........................OTTO

I use a Ruger 22/45 and a Ruger Redhawk with a 4" barrel in .44.

I run from Dallas out to Fort Stockton every monday afternoon. just about every monday evening I stop a ways south of Pecos Texas and about an hour before sundown the jacks start coming out and I've managed to take a dozen of the rascals with my Vaquero 45/LC using 250 lbt's out to 35 yards or so. Missed a rattler at about 8 feet though! sobering, very sobering! Great shootin'fun in the desert.

I use a Ruger MKII Target to hunt tree rats and rabbits. It's allot more fun than using a shotgun or 22 rifle.

My favorites for small varmints are the standard Ruger .22 auto. I've worn out a couple of these on jackrabbits. And my other pet is a .45 ACP.

I like to jump up jackrabbits into a run and try to roll them with a .45 auto.

Pistols and varmits are lots of fun.

S&W Model 16 in 32 H&R MAgnum for serious smallgame other than tree rats.

Otherwise it's a M63 "snubbie" which surprises even me when charged w/ Velociter's.