In large bore it's about even between S&W Models 29 and 57. Those two leave nothing at all to be desired and no complaints. For both it's a Bianchi X-15 shoulder holster. I shoot the .41 a little better. It's the 8 3/8". Years ago I treated it to smooth ebony oversize grips with speedloader cutout that look good against nickel. The 29 is the 6 1/2". Your old "Dirty Harry". It's been factory JHP ammo running on the warm side with Cor-Bon and Hornady. Deer has been it. We don't have anything else for the big bores, though I'm told hogs are headed here.

In small bore, too many to remember. H&R 999 did a lot of the damage. S&W Model 41's the most accurate by mountains and miles.

Speaking of which, there's nothing like a cold, crisp morning in the squirrel woods, sitting against an ancient oak, working with the call, and spotting real high in the sunlit treetops a nice one. And putting one bullet on target and watching it drop to the forest floor. And when you gather it up, it's one of the biggest red Fox squirrels you've ever seen. With that white on the face and tail. The last one like that I had mounted and made it a gift to the landowner as a Christmas present for letting me hunt his woods all these years. The joke is, he puts it outside and it scares the city squirrels.

This is over four approaching five decades...

Seems it's always with me in the woods. It's so hard to reach past it for something nicer or bigger.

I took a pile of game with my old .475 Linebaugh SRH -- took some animals with it when it was a .480 as well. Killin' machine.

ya can't beat a good super redhawk no matter the caliber. i personally love the look.

I haven't taken lot of big game with a handgun but my red hawk 44 and my Ti 41 come out on tops.

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
ya can't beat a good super redhawk no matter the caliber. i personally love the look.

Yeah, I do too, Mark, there is just something beautiful about the functionality.

I have used Contenders a good bit A few with the Encore and a bunch with revolvers. In a wide variety of calibers and a large assortment of bullets. Snuck in a few with rifles along the way and a few with shotguns as well. All in the last 50 years in the deer woods.
With just handguns I think the tally is around 250 head of big game and a gazillion varmints.

By far it would be my 8 3/8" Model 57 that Jack Wiegand worked over and installed a new barrel on for me.

For small game it would be my AMT Lightning .22. Several hundred blue grouse have been taken with that pistol.

My go to big game revolver is my stainless 6" Dan Wesson .44 magnum. A close second is my old Herters .44 mag.

Jeremy

Any number of .41Magnums, of course. Everything from picket pins to ornery range cows. Want to take an eland next trip to Africa. Elk-sized game and black bears are no sweat. This year is going to be the year of the .41 caliber wildcat. The .410GNR, .41GNR#2, and maybe .411JDJ will get a workout.

Whit, did you convert the 480 SRH to a 475 Linebaugh?

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
I took a pile of game with my old .475 Linebaugh SRH -- took some animals with it when it was a .480 as well. Killin' machine.

Yes he did.........

Man, Whit, you're going to make me go out and buy an SRH, aren't you!

I used to not like the look of them, but they are certainly growing on me!

I wish I had some game-count to add to this thread. Sadly, I cannot claim any game to date with a handgun. I'm hoping to change that soon. Maybe a blackbear next year.

quote:

Originally posted by Hunt Logic:
Whit, did you convert the 480 SRH to a 475 Linebaugh?

Jwp is correct. It was great revolver -- very accurate. It is up for sale from what I understand.....

If you liked that one, you would have loved my SRH in .500 Linebaugh!

quote:

Originally posted by FFemt5287:
Man, Whit, you're going to make me go out and buy an SRH, aren't you!

I used to not like the look of them, but they are certainly growing on me!

I wish I had some game-count to add to this thread. Sadly, I cannot claim any game to date with a handgun. I'm hoping to change that soon. Maybe a blackbear next year.

Brandon, they are great guns -- they're tough and well built.

Be patient! Once you handgun your first animal, you'll never turn back!

Oh, and keep us posted!

The only game I have taken with a handgun is small. The largest being badger and skunk. I really don't know how many thousands of our local ground squirrels. We call em Pot Guts. The gun that is always with me is a Ruger MkII target model. Stainless Steel, Slab sided barrel, laminated target grips, Rugers great sights. One of these days I am going to put a scope on it just long enough to see how accurate it really is. I know my old weak eyes can't do it justice. DW

Shack, leave the Smiths at home!

So..having a little difficulty with my new set-up. A friend of mine that is headed back to Moz with me next month has a buddy at EOTech. They sent me a 512 gratis to try on my 480 SRH. I first tried the Weigand base but it did not work well with the 512. A B-square was suggested so I mounted that. I took it to the range today and after about 12 rounds it started coming a tad loose. This is after having a hole drilled (prof gun smith) through the base that lines up with the original rear site screw for extra support. Starting to think that I might have to go with the Ultradot and rings..any thoughts?

Have any of you guys mounted a EOTech 512 on a big bore with a weaver style mount?

The handgun I've hunted the most these last 45 years is an old pin-barreled, recessed jug, 6" M57 S&W 41 Rem Mag.

Has a 2x Leupold on Buehler rings.

Simply an old friend now.

I just love those M-57;s

You know something? That makes FIVE of us here who are fans of the .41 Magnum. Two of us apparently even go for the .41 "exotics", like the .41GNR#2, and in my case the .41 JMP/AMP.

That's quite different from what you get in the hunting community at large, even among guys who own some handguns. I say I hunt with a .41 and typically I get, "don't you mean a .44??"

I think it got somewhat squeezed out between .357 and .44 is why it's not used more. Kinda like the 16 ga is a "tweener" between 20 and 12. When actually it'll handle an once of shot quite nicely and do almost anything the other two will do.

But, I do wish they'd made the Model 57 in a 6 1/2"...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Shack:
You know something? That makes FIVE of us here who are fans of the .41 Magnum.....QUOTE]

Six. I've got 3: 6.5" BH, 5.5" RH, 14" T/C Contender. But I admit, I also have a .44 SRH.

I think the Redhawk 44 is still ahead in head count, as that was the gun that started the passion over 20 years ago...however recently, the handgun multiplication has allowed more guns to get into rotation

Count me as a 41 fan as well, my Mod 97 FA has gotten a lot of use since it joined the lineup.

Yeah, my original go-to was a Model 29.

I'm on my second Model 29, or third if you count the 629 "Classic". And the Model 57 is also my second. Those have both been 8 3/8 nickel. I really have liked the longer barrel.

Anyway, we now got us seven .41 guys. How about that?? And just in a brief isolated sampling. Really I'm convinced the .41 is for the true pistolero at heart and those who appreciate the unusual in fine guns.

I could kinda see feeling that way about the .475. Except in my neck of the woods there's unfortunately nothing that rises to the importance of getting shot with it.

Oh, btw I too have been thinking over and over the idea of an FA 97 in .41. I was thinking of a octagon 7 1/2" barrel with white (tan actually) FA Micarta grips/stocks. I even once asked if the cylinder could somehow be custom fluted to match the octagon look. Seemed a sharp idea at the time...

I took a large Illinois whitetail with my 44 mag Bulberry Encore a couple years back.



Have also taken small game with S&W 29s and 57s, but the most small game with my scoped 10" Buckmark 22LR.

centerfire
3: EAA witness compact wonder finish in 10mm - this one slayed many piggies
2: sw 625-9 45lc mountain gun -- but its new, and my fav.. and, as some folks have witnessed, is a great tool for head shooting rabbits
1: ruger bisley vaquero in 45 lc - it has been a finisher for "everything" when i was guiding.

22? either mom's sw 17 or dad's hr

quote:

1: ruger bisley vaquero in 45 lc - it has been a finisher for "everything" when i was guiding.

Do you have mainly one go-to load for carrying the .45, or is it several depending on what game you're after?

We have deer only here, so if I carried a .45 afield I guess it'd be a standard 250ish JHP and that would be all. But if I lived where likely to encounter bear or hogs, I suppose the go-to should be a hard cast in a heavier weight and let that double for antlered game too?

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:

quote:

1: ruger bisley vaquero in 45 lc - it has been a finisher for "everything" when i was guiding.

Do you have mainly one go-to load for carrying the .45, or is it several depending on what game you're after?

We have deer only here, so if I carried a .45 afield I guess it'd be a standard 250ish JHP and that would be all. But if I lived where likely to encounter bear or hogs, I suppose the go-to should be a hard cast in a heavier weight and let that double for antlered game too?

I know you are asking Jeffe, but I don't. I'm a one load kind of a guy. I load for the worst case scenario which will work on virtually any and everything. I shoot a 335 grain WLN at 1,300 fps in my Bisley with a 5 1/2-inch barrel, and a 360 at about 1,100 out of mt .454 Redhawk (4-inch barrel).

Any and all are always welcome to answer...you learn more that way...

my go to load for all around is 250gr at 1000fps .. shoots clean through most things,mild even in the mountain gun, and very accurate for me...

thanks for asking

I'll assume you've taken your share of deer with that. When you hit one at 25 yds or thereabouts straight sideways thru the middle of the ribs, is it almost always "bang flop"?

In a .44 that's virtually always what I get. But mine's a 240 at 1350. I've been wondering if that's more than really needed. Or, on the other hand, if 1450 would serve any useful purpose.

In other words, with velocity in that bullet class when do you have "too much of a good thing"?

I like mild pistol recoil. I shoot it better if it doesn't savage my hands. Pigs, deer, most exotics, small game and birds. Works great for me

1-doe Ruger P89 9mm
1-spike Ruger P89 9mm
3-doe 1911 45acp
1-spike 1911 45acp
3-bucks/spikes Ruger BH 45 colt
7-does Ruger BH 45 colt
6-rattlesnakes Ruger BH 45colt
3-rattelsnakes 1911 45acp
3-hogs RBH 45colt
There are others i've shoot with RBH 357mag, S&W 460mag, RBH 44mag, and a few others but none of these were mine and i only shot 1 animal with each.

So, For me the winner is the RBH 45Colt.

9mm glock.....1 sitka blacktail doe

41 mag blackhawk 4 5/8" barrel.... 1 spike SB spike, 1 doe.

44 mag 6" Llama super Comanche...1 SB doe.

454 casull Raging Bull....1 SB doe and a fork horn Mulie buck.

Put the brakes on a bull moose with a 41 mag taurus titanium 4".

............

Right now I have a 5.5" 45 colt Blackhawk and a 6.5" 41 mag blackhawk. I am planning on bagging some deer with. Which ever one I shoot better with to 100 yards I am going to take with me elk hunting just in case I get the chance to take an elk with the handgun.

In the .41 I think we're up to nine guys now.

If I had to guess which I shot best with iron sights at 100 yds, a .41 6.5" or a .45 5.5", I'd take an educated guess probably the .41. After about 50 yds I need all the barrel length and sighting plane I can get.

Dang, looks like I need to get myself a .41!

I've taken a lot of game with the 41 maggie, starting in 1967 with a 4" model 57, Texas whitetails hated it. Also used the 44 & 45 a great deal on all sorts of big game.
Took a few with a 357 maggie but was always a little nervous about the end results, it worked but I like a bigger hammer.
A 357 Maximum with 180's or 200's is nasty!

Dick

quote:

Took a few with a 357 maggie but was always a little nervous about the end results

I see bullet placement as one of the two main problems with the .357. You just don't have as much margin for error. And, there's the mental perception problem along with that. I personally think it leads to tensing up and flinch and therefore spoiled shots for which the too easy conclusion gets drawn. In other words, if you're already looking for something not to like, you'll find it.

The other biggest problem I believe is using it in standard loadings at too great a distance.

I used to carry a Model 27 on deer hunts, but never could find a deer who'd volunteer for a case study of its terminal effects.