Revolver cal question
 

While deer hunting this year I encountered a situation that has encouraged me to purchase a side arm. I hunt with a single shot Ruger. and on the third day of hunting while leaving my stand I was accosted by a dog pack (4) I was in a spot, not really know what to do I shot the biggest one, (thinking he was the leader) they ran and I had time to reload, and dispatched one more after walking a few yards, this is fairly remote area so I was surprised to have seen them. the rest of the season I hunted with a pump action rifle and did not encounter anything. what bothered me the most is that I usually try and get to my stand very early and had this encounter occurred then I am not sure just what would have happened. Now to my question, If I am going to buy a sidearm i might as well purchase one I can use for hunting, and I need help with a caliber, 357mag,
44mag??? I have a friend who has a .45 Ruger (single action) which is like new for sale and I can really get a good price on it, I am not that familiar with revolvers so I thought you guys could help me out,
is a .45 good enough or is it overkill, Thanks Doc

If it's a .45 Long Colt then there are loadings that will be fine for deer, but this cartridge is also popular with the Cowboy Action shooters and some loadings aren't very powerful...

I would guess that the 3-4 most popular revolver cartridges for deer hunting are the .44 Mag, the .41 Remington Mag, the .45 Long Colt and the .357 Mag...

Finally...My Glock 23 in .40 S&W is just as accurate as my Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Mag...For dispatching dogs, both work but the Glock holds more ammo but isn't legal here in NC for deer...

I would go with a .44 Rem. Mag. Good luck.

A 44mag would be a good choice I have a Ruger super blackhawk the Redhawk is very nice to

Thanks a lot!!!! You were a big help, up. I'll look for a .44 or .41 I was kind of thinking along those lines. I might grab that .45 though, it is a nice gun at a good price. Doc

You might want to go with the 44 mag. One good reason is it can also be used in rifles of that caliber ( Ruger Carbine, Winchester levers, etc ).

If you want the option of using it to hunt with as well, start by consulting the reg's for your state. Than, consider the barrel length and caliber options available to you. I believe that the .45LC is legal in most states for hunting.
I personally am leaning towards the .357 Ruger Redhawk. Because of the load variations available.

Get your friend's .45colt and load it up with a good medium to upper power level hollow points. Stay away from the low power cowboy loads except to practice. The Ruger will safely handle any .45colt loading. The .45colt Ruger will serve you just fine with some practice.

44 Mag, it would probably be the most effective without having to try to load it up and the over the counter options are very good. 45LC is good too, and can be loaded up to 44 mag levels, but like I said, it has to be loaded up. Both throw a huge chunk of lead though. The 357 Magnum would be another attractive option, just because it is so easy to shoot well and you also have the option with it of using 38 special in it to shoot it cheaper.