good first handgun...
 

im looking to buy a handgun that I could use for deer hunting, it needs to be at least .30 cal. and have a 4 inch barrel im thinking about a .38spc and I dont have a lot of money... :fighting0007:

Have you considered a .357 Magnum? When hunting, it has more more knockdown power and you can still shoot .38 Special cartridges in it for practice, smaller game, etc. You might also be able to find a used police revolver in .357M at a really good price.

If you Google search hunting deer with a handgun, you can find lots of articles and reference information that will give you more information. Here's a link to a Chuck Hawks article that addresses this very issue.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/handgun_hunting.htm

A deer hunting handgun is not a good first handgun.

A .22lr is a good first handgun. Anyone can pick up a deer rifle and learn how to shoot it well, handguns are not the same. A .22lr handgun is far and away the best investment a handgunner can get. Here's the skinny: by the time you put enough rounds through a hunting handgun to be skilled enough to hunt with it, you'll have burnt enough ammo that you could have paid for a .22lr handgun and gotten MORE practice for less money. In the long run, it really does save you money to start with a .22lr and learn how to shoot handguns, then only need a bit of practice with your hunting handgun. I learned that lesson the hard way, and have instructed bad habits out of dozens of shooters over the last decade that started out with a gun too powerful for them to learn with. You REALLY will save money by buying a 22lr handgun first.

The .38spcl is not a legal deer cartridge in many states, and honestly, I'm glad it's not. It's woefully under powered. It CAN kill deer, but it's not powerful enough to do so reliably, and there's no reason to spend money on the wrong weapon for the job. (Remember the conversations we had about the .22mag and the .410 for coyotes? Buy a hammer to drive a nail. Not a wrench).

A .357mag revolver will give you the option to fire .38spcl rounds for practice, but have enough power with .357mag loads to kill deer. Ruger Revolvers are my favorite.

With money a concern, look at the Ruger Blackhawk .357mag or GP-100. These can be had for around $550 new, occasionally under $400 used in decent condition. Get a 6" or longer model, shorter barrels are difficult to hunt with (short sight radius = hard to aim for new shooters) and give up a lot of energy.

Personally, I HAVE hunted deer with a .357mag quite a bit in the past, but my go-to round for deer is the .44mag. 100% NOT GOOD FOR A FIRST HANDGUN, but if you get a .22lr to practice with a lot and get your fundamentals down, you can jump up to .44spcl loads, then .44mag for hunting. Ruger Super Blackhawk is a great hunting revolver.

This is my go-to deer hunting handgun. Ruger Super Blackhawk .44mag 7.5", with a Simmons Prohunter 2-6x32mm scope. Bought it for $350 new 'round-abouts 1999, got this scope for it 2 seasons ago (aint as good as the Leupold I had on it before, but aint as expensive). Filled a freezer many seasons with it.

ok thanks! I think I will get a 22lr first.

I missed the title part about this being a first handgun and thank NoMercy for making the catch. NM's advice is especially spot on, especially the part about a longer barrel. If you're just learning to shoot a pistol, it's much easier (and cheaper) to shoot a .22 LR.

Thought I might mention, in congress with my other post...

I bought that Ruger SBH .44mag as my first revolver when I was still in high school, and learned how to flinch REALLY fast. Hated shooting it, but was too stubborn to sell it. Hated practicing with it, couldn't hit much with it because I couldn't take the time to learn how to shoot it.

Then about a year later I came across a Ruger Mark II .22lr 6 5/8" stainless pistol for a steal from a buddy that couldn't keep it ($90). My pistol shooting career officially started. For $15 for 500 rounds, I could practice all day long every Saturday. By that deer season, after 3months of practicing with the .22lr, I had made more progress shooting the .44mag than I had in the entire year before that with the .44mag alone. Without exaggeration, I'm almost tempted to have that .22lr pistol buried with me when I go.

HIGHLY recommend the Ruger Mark III pistols (Mark III replaced the Mark II). I have a lot of .22lr pistols, none that I like as much as the Rugers, and none that shoot as well on average. Let alone reliability - the Ruger's set the bar for reliability (most other brands get pretty picky about being wet lubed or having dirty chambers). I have 2 Mark I's (just got a "new" one last week!!), 4 Mark II's, and 3 Mark III's these days, really can't say a bad thing about them. Only other model I'd recommend as runner up (long ways between 1st and second for me) is the Browning Buckmark.

Still looking for one of the Ruger Mark I faux ivory grip blued ~4" barrel, with the ORIGINAL phoenix grips instead of the aftermarket ones... In case you run across one that isn't $400 or more while you're looking for your own .22lr pistol, let me know...

ok thanks and I will!

Bravo! That is wonderful advice!!!

Nomercy has EXCELLENT advise BUT I'd recommend your .22 1st handgun to be what your deer hunting revolver is, a revolver. If you're going to get a single action like the Ruger Blackhawk then get a single 6 or single 10. If you're set on a double action then make both that. That way you'll already be intimately familiar with the manual of arms and all you'll be doing is changing cartridges/calibers. Manual of arms means how the firearm is used/loaded/unloaded/cleaned/etc. Also I personally feel a .38 Special is too weak to deer hunt with, stick with at least a .357 or .41 mag when you move up.

Stalkingbear hit it spang on. Even befofe I read his post, I felt the same way.. Keep 'em both the same type of action. As far as caliber/cartridge, I just love the .41 Mag. I also have a SBH with 10 1/2" bbl in .44Mag, and enjoy the .41 far better (Blackhawk as well). That .41 will knock the stuffin's out of a deer as well...

Not at all to be argumentative here, just offering up a different perspective on the topic. This is how I came to my recommendations, which way any given shooter goes is up to them...

I understand the theory of matching your practice 22lr handgun to your primary hunting handgun, but the application in PRACTICE is pretty hard to justify for me.

The idea is that your muscle memory develops so you are 100% familiar with your firearms functions. I'm fairly certain this theory actually dates back to the NRA youth shooting programs, where they used 22lr versions of military bolt action rifles to train kids to shoot. The idea was that they'd know how to shoot, and be familiar with the weapons by the time they got old enough to enlist, or be drafted. The weapons included should give you an idea of how old that theory is, since it's been more than a couple weeks since we issued bolt action rifles to our soldiers.

But I'll offer a few counter points as to why I don't necessarily encourage the new handgunners I've instructed over the last decade to follow that "match-em-up" rule:

1. Biggest hurdle: Price. You won't find a .22lr revolver that matches your hunting revolver of the same quality as a Ruger Mark III for the same price. A Mark III can be had new for $250-350, whereas the Single Six goes for $450-700, Taurus Tracker is $500, S&W is $600+. The Charter, Rossi, cheap Taurus's, Braztech, Puma, Heritage, etc Imports are all cheap POS's.
   
2. Size/Balance: The theory of matching your practice .22lr with your hunting handgun is great, but they don't really match. I have a Single Six Hunter .22lr that's 10oz (20%) lighter than my Super Blackhawk, and has a smaller grip frame. We just picked up an SP-101 .22lr for my wife to practice with, in place of her .357mag. But it's actually heavier, has different sights, and balances WAY more forward than her 2.25" snubby, and 3 extra shots kinda messes with your head (she automatically thinks she's out after 5 from previous training). Function on them are the same as their bigger counterparts, but function is easy to remember with minimal practice. Unfortunately, the feel and balance are still different, so why did we spend an extra $200 trying to match it?
   
3. Counterpoint: If I only ever drive an automatic car, I may not be able to drive a stickshift should the need arise (can't help but think about my sister here). But if I practice regularly on both an automatic and a manual vehicle, I'm more diverse. If a new shooter gets only single action revolvers, they'll never have an opportunity to practice safe clear techniques for a semiauto pistol. Owning both makes them a more diversely experienced handgunner, and therefore by extension, a safer handgunner.

Value of following the rule:

For me, is next to nothing. The value of having a .22lr to practice with is 1) the affordability of ammunition to practice with, and 2) the lack of recoil to let you develop good shooting habits, without developing bad ones. It's like running bump-off plays at football practice in school, or making test laps at a race track. A hunting pistol doesn't have a "take it easy" button to let you focus on your trigger control.

In this case, we're talking about HUNTING. If you're a competitive shooter, then matching up muscle memory for speed reloads on the clock is an entirely different ballgame, but that's not what we're talking about.

We're also talking about OWNING both weapons. Not owning one, practicing with it, then picking up the other one as he drove out to go hunting. The shooter will be familiar and practiced with both weapons, just have more trigger time on the lighter recoiling version.

Here are a few parallel examples:

I learned how to ride a single speed, pedal brake bike as a kid. When I got a 10spd with handbrakes, I had to learn new controls, but 90% of what I knew about riding a bike transferred over.

I learned how to drive in an old stickshift GMC pick up. Sure, when I jumped in an automatic the first time, I instinctively tried to press the clutch and reached for the empty floorboard, until I realized the controls were different, but I still knew how to drive it, 90% of what I knew about driving transferred over.

I have ridden sportbikes for over a decade. When I had to ride my father-in-law's Harley Electroglide 780miles to Sturgis for him a few years ago (while he drove the follow truck with my sportbike in the bed), he had to show me how the radio worked, but I still knew how to ride it. 90% of what I knew about riding motorcycles transferred over.

And as an exact example, I learned how to shoot handguns with a Ruger Mark II semiauto pistol. When I swapped over to shooting a 1911, or that Ruger Super Blackhawk, I had to pay attention to cock the hammer before I fired, and had to learn a different way to release the mag, or empty the cylinder. But 90% of what I knew about shooting handguns accurately and safely transferred over.

So ultimately those are the reasons I don't coach new handgunners that I've instructed over the years to paint themselves into a corner and end up spending an extra $200 or more for a practice 22lr revolver, or buying a low grade revolver, just to make it match my hunting revolver.

May have to go used on a .41mag, and I might be reconsidering buying one right now. I was just telling my wife last week that I'd like to get her a Ruger SBH Hunter 41mag, or Super Redhawk 41mag, but when I went looking around, it doesn't seem like anyone still makes a 41 for hunting?

The only .41mag on Ruger's site now is the Bisley SBH Hunter, listed as a distributor exclusive, not a regular production piece. Taurus shows all of their .41's as discontinued/archived. S&W only shows one model on their site that isn't in the "Archive", the 57, which is more of a service-type revolver than a hunter, but at least it's a 6".

Only had 2 boxes of .41mag at Gander mountain last night (gold dot's I believe), none at Cabelas today.

WTF happened?

Can a 13 year old own a pistol in your state?

I don't know that ANY state allows 13yr old kids to "own" any firearm, let alone a handgun, but "ownership" is a loose term at that age. I "owned" around 40 firearms on my 18th birthday, half of them handguns.

Most states respect the parent's rights to purchase firearms for their children, regardless of age, as does the FED. i.e. purchasing a firearm for your under-aged child does not constitute a straw purchase.

BUT.....

I'd venture that IL is more strict than most states, especially when it comes to handguns, but in KS, we could legally hunt solo at the age of 12, but I believe had to be 18 before we can possess a handgun without parental supervision, and this was ONLY under certain conditions - shooting competition or hunting, or the active practice of such, or in transportation to or from.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together about your age nor location in some of your other threads, regarding the .410 or .22mag for coyotes threads, for example. IL has very strict, and frankly, strange laws about what you can hunt with and where, so please keep that in mind as you take advice for what to buy or to hunt with, as what's legal in most areas may not be legal in yours.

So all that said, IL may not allow hunting with centerfire handguns in many areas, may not allow solo hunting with or possession of a handgun by an unsupervised minor-child at all, etc etc.

How are you getting to and from hunting on your own at 13? I was fortunate to live near my hunting spots so I could ride horseback or ATV to get to my hunting spots until I got a "farm permit" at 14. When I hunted with a handgun from 14-18yrs old, the hunting and transporting wasn't actually legal. I got pulled over a couple times, luckily in rural America at that time, a kid having a gun in their car in case they saw coyotes while feeding calves in the mornings was still a legitimate reason.

About where have the .41's gone.. Good question. I own two of them in Blackhawk. I bought one NIB many years ago at a gun show.. think it was somewhere in the early '80's.. Still have it in unfired condition. I picked up my shooter shortly before that used at a local gunshop for a nice price..somewhere in the $250 range, if I remember right. You still see them once in awhile at some gun shows, but not nearly as often as you run into the .357's and 44 Mags. The one I call my "shooter" is deadly accurate at 50 yds. if I do my part.

As far as ammo goes, I bought a bunch of new brass and dies a long time ago, and I roll my own. I would have to go downstairs and check, but I'm sure I probably have 200 - 300 loaded up now, and a box or two of empty brass that needs loaded. I haven't been doing anywhere near as much shooting as I used to, and need to get back on the range and get the rust knocked off.

Back to the availability of Rugers or any other handguns in .41 Mag, last time I checked on GunBroker there were some available. However, as you know, you can't hold them in your hand, visually inspect as you would like, check for cylinder slop, throat erosion, etc, etc. The best you can hope for is have the seller agree to a 3-day inspection for your satisfaction, and free return shipping if isn't up to your expectations. Most honest sellers won't have a problem with that. I have personally bought quite a few long guns and handguns thru GunBroker, and only remember having trouble with one sale but it got resolved favorably. Good luck in your quest..

I got a Blackhawk and a GP-100 in .357 mag. Both of these revolvers handle max loaded ammo with ease, everyone knows Ruger builds a durable piece. I don't know if a 13 year old would enjoy a magnum handguns recoil and noise or the legality of a minor with a handgun. Barrel length is always something an individual should determine, I personally like the 4-4 1/2 inch revolvers barrel length for ease of carry. For sure it cost range and power but I only shoot handguns at archery distances.

I have seen plenty of kids with pistol caliber rifles. One would be easier to shoot accurately and with added velocity over a wheel gun.

Really hoping that this is just a circumstance of the recent climate, and not a foreboding message about the future of the .41mag.

As a .44mag and .454 cassull hunter, and a .357mag defensive pistoleer, I've seldom had enough justification to buy a .41mag, but I'd love to have one for my wife - specifically a .41mag Ruger Super Redhawk, or full shroud/lug N-Frame S&W. Or a 3-4" 5 shot K-frame.

Love to have one for myself, just can't put the money towards it.

.41mag is probably the .243win of hunting revolvers. Often overlooked by folks that think they need something bigger, but likely the ideal balance of shooter-friendliness and huntable killing power.

Nomercy, you're looking for a Ruger Redhawk in .41mag, not a Super Redhawk. I LOVE my 5.5" blued model, have had it for years. The Redhawks and Super Redhawks have vastly different lockwork. The Redhawks feature 1 spring for both mainspring and trigger return spring whereas the Super has more conventional lockwork with 2 springs. What that means is the Redhawk offers exceptionally smooth double action pull that don't stack up like the S&W or the Super Redhawk. With a spring kit and some polishing the Redhawk action rivals the famous Colt Python's slickness. As to the S&W models, the 58 is the service version whereas the 57 & 657 have adjustable sight and target hammer/trigger. They make (or did) a Performance Center version of the 657.

I have a 10mm auto that I would use if I was in archery range. I do not have a revolver but I plan to outfit my G20 with a 6" barrel and slide soon. I know people have hunted with them before. .40 cal bullet with a bit more pow than a .40 S&W. Might be something to look into. But if you wanted something specifically for hunting, I would go with what Nomercy448 said. I use my G20 for more than just carrying in the woods.

Blazer, my first handgun was a stainless Ruger GP100 with 6" barrel in .357. I shot mild .38 wadcutters and got comfortable with the revolver, and then shot .357 Mag ammo until I was proficient with it. A quality made gun like that will last forever, has the weight and barrel length to be accurate and a kitten to shoot with .38 ammo, and once you've gotten comfortable with shooting .38s, you can practice with .357 ammo that can take deer. The best part for someone on a budget is you're buying one reasonably priced revolver that babies the newbie and can later serve as a hunting gun.

Buy something you can get bullets and snake shot for

Why? Is snake shot really that important for a handgunner?