Hi All!!

I think I made a post about this back when it was released but couldnt find it.... I just noticed that the DVD had been mentioned a few times here recently and thought I would re-raise the topic.

As you may be aware I had a fair part to play in (the field part of) producing the DVD.

Now that more of you (keen handgunners) have watched the DVD, I would be very keen to gather your comments, both for myself and to pass onto Lynn. Lynn takes this stuff VERY personally and seriously - and he would sure appreciate those constructive comments.

In general the comments have mostly been positive ... but not all...

ALSO - if anyone is interested in learning about the handgun rules in Australia - then I am here to help. Since the DVD was produced there has been a further concession made by the NT Police (Firearm Licencing), allowing Australian residents the ability to get special handgun hunting permits - for safari hunting... which is another step in the right direction.

We will be encouraging all of our Aussie clients next year to get these permits (whether they really want to handgun hnt or not) - so that the facility is at least being used. Hopefully in the future that will lead to better things... perhaps one day down the track the Feds here will allow visiting hunters to bring their own handguns but I fear the airlines (and other govt authorities - even in the USA) will shut this down before it is ever realised. Anyhow at least we are making progress here in parts of Australia!!

Cheers all
Matt

Here is the commercial link to the DVD
Handgun Hunting DVD

Matt, I purchased the DVD a couple of months ago and have enjoyed it much. It is very well produce, interesting, and Lynn is hell on wheels with a handgun.

I find his choice of ammunition for the water buffalo a bit odd, but Lynn is living proof that shot placment is most important.

matt, it is by far the best handgun hunting video i've seen. i find his choice of ammo not odd but refreshing that lynn did not fall in line with the current "dogma" that is preached. it gave me alot of support in that i have always thought people blamed the calibers a bit more than they blamed themselves. gave my kiddos alot of pride in using their .44 mags. i also find lynn's attitude refreshing and enjoyed him on the disc as a person and didn't have to turn it off like i do sooooo many others. he didn't apologize for killing the animals and cut away each time one was gonna fall over. he explained why he hunted the way he did, why the animals were being culled and if someone continues having a problem with that then tough. there's always naysayers. in fact i bought a couple spears for my oldest son's christmas gift b/c of that video. also will buy more cold steel products just b/c i agree with lynn's thinking and the way he thinks.

btw, great shooting and it's also living proof alot of people felt the .44 wasn't enough but proof is on the video it's plenty. seeing those buff not only go down, but fast as i've seen with rifles was awesome. great vid. love to see more and his african stuff.

Wow,gotta order that Video!!!

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
matt, it is by far the best handgun hunting video i've seen. i find his choice of ammo not odd but refreshing that lynn did not fall in line with the current "dogma" that is preached. it gave me alot of support in that i have always thought people blamed the calibers a bit more than they blamed themselves. gave my kiddos alot of pride in using their .44 mags. i also find lynn's attitude refreshing and enjoyed him on the disc as a person and didn't have to turn it off like i do sooooo many others. he didn't apologize for killing the animals and cut away each time one was gonna fall over. he explained why he hunted the way he did, why the animals were being culled and if someone continues having a problem with that then tough. there's always naysayers. in fact i bought a couple spears for my oldest son's christmas gift b/c of that video. also will buy more cold steel products just b/c i agree with lynn's thinking and the way he thinks.

btw, great shooting and it's also living proof alot of people felt the .44 wasn't enough but proof is on the video it's plenty. seeing those buff not only go down, but fast as i've seen with rifles was awesome. great vid. love to see more and his african stuff.

Tradmark, if you consider flat-nosed hardcast bullets the "current dogma," perhaps you haven't been handgun hunting very long or not paying attention. There is nothing new about it, really. I agree that the little .429 needs all the help it can get in the diameter department, particularly when going up against big game like water buffalo. But when you are starting off with nearly a half-inch or more in diameter, expansion really isn't needed.

I do agree that the video is great, and that Lynn is a class act and a great shot, particularly when dealing with multiple targets. That is not in dispute. I find his bullet choice a bit odd on such large game, where I personally put more of a premium on penetration potential. I am in no way being critical of Lynn Thompson. We is a hunter and a half IMHO.

I would still love to see what he could do with a .475 of a .500! That would be really exciting!

i've been hunting for plenty of time, and have been paying quite a bit of attention. i just don't see what i want or what others have been saying as dogma. i've always had more impact with expandables. you're very very caught up in hundreds of an inch. whether it's .429 or .44 or .475. what works works and those buff went down just as quick as i've seen with much much larger calibers. i've always had more "impact" and larger wound channels with expandables. technically .429 is big bore and doesn't need expansion either and lynn showed shot placement and not caliber makes the difference. you still can't use a bigger caliber and make poor shots and get results. a 500 smith doesn't kill those buff deader and it doesn't allow for kills in non vital areas. i think lynn illustrated this quite perfectly and when compared with the same animals on the other hunting vid with the rifles they didn't drop any faster unless spine shot and those rifles "hit alot harder" than any of these handguns.

by dogma i mean "that which shall not be questioned." you can go to any handgunning boards and there's a current line of thinking and to question it is heresy. after all it's been proven in newsprint, selectively screened of course. that said, this video is more proof of what does and does not work right up front in person on the largest toughest game animals. a .475 or .454 wouldn't have killed those animals any quicker or any deader. it's great for people to see they really can hunt with a .44 they can control instead of putting thousands into some huge uber magnum they will never shoot enough to be good with. lynn did handgunners and handgun hunting as a whole a big favor with those vids. hell, my brother has been a handgun nut since taking a buff last january with a .44 shot placement wasn't perfect and he has been going to these boards and others and was absolutely convinced he needed at least a .454 and likely a .500 smith or linebaugh. i always told him to shoot his .44 a bunch, get good with it and stick with a caliber he could shoot well. well, after watching lynn's video he was convinced and is putting in alot of time with the .44 and is sure it's plenty. which it is.

I don't know about you, but lots of us here practice a lot with our "uber magnums" and are as comfortable shooting them as are folks with .429 magnums. Hell, lots of folks can't even shoot the .429 well enough, but that doesn't apply to this group here as many of us aren't neophytes. Poor shooting, is poor shooting no matter the caliber, that I agree with as I pretty clearly stated in my above post.

You are a bit of a contradiction. You state that you seek the larger wound channel of the expanding bullet in the .429, yet you speek of the .454 and the .475, and the .500 in dismissive tones as if they are not needed -- yet you seek a larger diameter. Which one is it? Is the .44 mag enough?

If diameter doesn't matter, why do seasoned hunters prefer .30 cals over .25s on big game -- afterall, there is little difference in their actual size? Yet you dismiss the difference of a .429 and a .510. I find that a bit incongruous.

That you can't see the difference in animal reaction moving up to the truly big caliber handguns amazes me, really........

Thanks for the comments guys!! Interesting that you should see the armory choices as the biggest question hanging over the production (if you could even say that??).

The choice of calibre was really made for Lynn - due to the restrictive laws - 44M was the gun that we had available and Lynn was OK with that and the Redhawk suited him because he owns and shoots one quite a lot. His personal pref. was for 454cas. Not sure if he regularly uses heavier cals like 475 but I doubt it because he likes revolvers.

Ammo: This choice was made for him by the sponsors - Hornady!! While this normally makes me shudder (when a manufacturer decides the hunt) and indeed I did shudder when Lynn bought out the ammo - I HAD to defer to Lynns experience and trust in his ammo.

That trust was justified. On recovery the bullets certainly did their intended task and to my great surprise really didnt open-up much at all. No doubt due to the low velocity. The ammo - like all factory ammo is a bit on the light side and subsequent handloadings with the same 300gn XTP projectile has got us even more penetration still with little expansion. Overall a pretty good result for a HP projectile!

That being said I am still convinced that that ammo IS still a far stretch on a critter as big as a buffalo bull - but it goes to prove that you cant question it, or the calibre, on animals any lighter. Pigs and deer - LOOKOUT!!

Great response, Matt! I was in no way being critical of Lynn, you, the hunt, or the DVD. You all did a fine job!

Little expansion, means that it penetrated well and acted similar to a solid -- that answers that question. My own experience with XTPs years ago, proved them to be too soft and as a result, over expanding at the expense of penetration.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Great response, Matt! I was in no way being critical of Lynn, you, the hunt, or the DVD. You all did a fine job!

Little expansion, means that it penetrated well and acted similar to a solid -- that answers that question. My own experience with XTPs years ago, proved them to be too soft and as a result, over expanding at the expense of penetration.

hehe - I know you werent being critical mate!!

Yes that was my experience of XTP in the past too but obviously the new 300gn'ers are a bit different and at that velocity - just seem to work!

i figured they wouldn't expand much at those velocities but my guess would be going from .429 to .5 inches at that velocity. matt....we just love discussing calibers and ordinanced so to speak. it's all in fun. most of us would be able to spar back and forth here and have a great time on a hunt together.

whitworth -- i've never varied what i said on this. i've always thought the .44 was adequate for anything. you just gotta pick the bullet choice a bit more than some larger calibers. i've always also said i thought the advantage of a .454 was trajectory not in killing power so to speak. i've also always stated i never saw a difference in killing time so to speak amongst these handgun rounds when used with optimal bullets. in fact, with expandables is the only place i've seen the big smith's really make any difference over any of the other "lesser" rounds so to speak. everything i hit with a vital shot goes down and rather quickly on the largest game with hardcasts. the diff. i see is on small deer etc, with expandables versus other larger bores with hardcasts.

btw, whitworth, i've always had great use with the xtp mags though i never tried 240's on elk, used 300's. were you referring to the mags or the standard xtps.

hey matt, one question, i have an article in handgunner magazine that has a writeup of a hunt a guy used a .44 mag and also used a smith 460 revolver on buff there. is that caliber legal?

quote:

Originally posted by tradmark:
hey matt, one question, i have an article in handgunner magazine that has a writeup of a hunt a guy used a .44 mag and also used a smith 460 revolver on buff there. is that caliber legal?

Yes it perfectly lehe gal because it is OK for the (appropriately licenced) outfitter to own a 460 (or bigger). I think there is an outfitter here who has a 460.

We are looking at our options for bigger cals. At the moment the 454 looks a winner but Id like to find a practical reason for a 460... We also need to boo more handgun hunters to justify it!!

Tradmark -- I think the advantage the .454 has over the .429 is diameter and the ability to sling heavier lead, and not trajectory.

Matt, from a practicality standpoint, I would go .454 before .460. It has an enormous case that requires an unwieldy revolver to house. For client hunters, I think you would be better served by a more "normally" sized revolver. I don't think you will really gain much with the velocity of the .460. JMHO.

Matt -- PM sent......

Tradmark, I was talking about the old 300 grain XTPs, when there was only one version available.

i was curious because i've used the xtp mags to great effect in the last year. also the barnes and the buffalo bore with the original FA 300 grain bullet. i haven't liked expandables out of my .475 much at all. i think it's just right with the hardcasts. i love buffalo bore 270 gr jsp's for the .44 mag.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:


Tradmark, I was talking about the old 300 grain XTPs, when there was only one version available.

Was there two kinds???

Matt, there are now -- a magnum version able to withstand higher velocities and a softer one.

Hey, thanks for sending me the information I requested!