I have a SBH 44 mag and would like to harvest a deer with it,besides mop up stuff, I have never taken a deer with a handgun before.I have heard people say that a 44 mag can take deer up to 100 yards but I have yet to find any ballistic tables for the 44 mag that give me 1000ftlbs of energy at 100 yards.I have been shooting it at the range at 50 and I shoot it ok. Anyway any advice will be appreciated on bullets that give me 1000ftlbs at 100 yards and also should I buy a scope or just keep the open sights,as I stated above at 50 I shoot ok with the open sights but never tried them at 100.

It's the operator that messes up....not the equipment.Have confidence in yourself and shoot straight.

I have shot a few with hand guns. I have shot one with a 45 auto at 40 yards. The deer ran about 20 yards and expired. I have shot them with a 44 mag, and a 44 mag has plenty of power at 100 yards. I have never tried a shoot over 50 yards (im not that good of a shot). I carry a side every time I rifle hunt, when a deer comes within 40 yards ill take it with my pistol. I have not gone pistol hunting by itself yet.

As for the ballistics on a 44 mag, I have them at home but cant remember any off of the top of my head. I do know my niece has shoot deer over 100 yards with a 44 mag rifle. She had no problem knocking them down.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity" Martin Luther King Jr.

Most of the good reloading manuels will have ballistic tables for pistols. We carry them during muzzleloader season here in Iowa as a backup and have had great success with them.

I personally shoot a .357 and have taken four deer with it in the past 5 years. Out to 50 yards it is deadly and have shot one buck out to 100 yards that had been wounded. I would normally limit it to under 50 yards because of my shooting ability not the guns ability. The .44 is capable of taking deer out to 100 yards with almost any deer size bullet. Practice will be the key. If you can hit the boiler room with it, it is going down.

I do not scope mine but mainly because it is a old ruger blackhawk single action. You should be able to push the range further with a scope though.

" Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad"

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I have to second the advice you have already been given. If you don't practice at 100 yards, and have confidence you can shoot well at that distance, take a rifle instead. I often carry either a .44 or .357 mag but I limit my shots to 40 yards which happens to be my accuracy comfort zone. IMO a TC Contender or Encore chambered in a rifle caliber topped with a scope is the rig for those 100 yard shots.

Just some advice for ya.

The 44 mag in a handgun will not give you 1000ft lbs at 100 yards. In a rifle yes but not a handgun. Don't worry about that because the 44 mag will kill deer at that range and a bit farther. The only draw back is the person behind the gun. meaning us. We are the limiting factor as far as how far we can take game with the 44 mag or whatever we choose to go afield with. Don't and I mean don't use the 180 grainers for deer. THis is just MY opinion as they just seen to be too litely jacketed for the job. I know others say that they have done it before but far too many problems have been attributed to the lighter bullets in the 44 mag like the 180 gr xtp. Use 240 and up and you should be fine.

You stated that you shoot ok out to 50 yards and you do Ok, well that bothers me a little bit in that you might want to shoot farther like the 100 yards you are inquiring about the ballistics of the 44 mag. If you shoot ok at 50 yards then stay at 50 and no farther. If you put a 8" paper plate up, can you hit it every time at that distance. AND not with just a bench or ransome rest but field positions like useing a pole or just the bench with no rest to resemble a rock or something to give your arms a rest on. Stuff like that. People take handgun hunting as being easy just a shorter range weapon then rifle will its not. I am a much better shot with my bow then my handgun. If you stay or make your personal range to no farther than 50 yards you should do fine. 50 yards is far with a handgun and not something to sneeze at. I myself limit my shots with my handgun to 50 yards as it is now because I am just not confident enough at farther ranges. It takes time and a ton of practice to be able to shoot at 100 yards. It is not easy and anyone that says it is, is full of horse hocky.

Scopes on handguns are great but you need to practice a lot with them to become good enough. It humbles me a lot when I tried with a scope. Its a whole new ball game my friend. I thought it would be easy with a scope on and put up a small target at 100 yards to see what I could do and shot 4 times and guess what I never hit it once.

Trigger control is so important I can't stress it enough to ya. When you look through a scope and you will see how much you move with a scope its very humbleing to say the least. SO a good trigger job is important for good quality shooting.

I would like to stress that this is just my opinion from someone who was bitten by the handgun hunting bugg. SO I do take things to the extreme. You could surly do fine with your gun the way it is but don't shoot farther than you feel confident in placing the bullet every time.

Use good bullets like speer gold dot and unicor disign as they are tremendous performers in the field. If not Federal has some good cast bullets in there line up and would give them a try. I am a heavy for caliber bullet user so just find a bullet that is 240 gr and heavier and if it shoots good great go afield knowing you can harvest a deer with no problem. Just do a lot of practice so you are good enough and have fun.

I got bitten by the bug a while ago and am a little nuts in this catagory. That is why I went full hog on my gun and got a Dan Wesson 445 supermag and scoped it with a burris 2x7. I love this gun and it shoots much better than I do. I can only shoot with the scope out to 50 maybe 75 yards. I am just not good enough yet but I am working on it. I am getting a progressive reloading maching so I can get better by shooting more and more. Good luck and if you have anymore questions just ask because I love handgun hunting. Take care



Brian

I haven't taken my S+W 629 hunting yet, but maybe next year.
For hunting, I will probably use my red dot Pro Point 5 on the gun.
If you do end up getting a scope for it, I've been advised not to go above 4x power. They get too shaky on a handgun.



Keep 'em all in the Bull.

Bulzeye, Good point on the scope magnification power. I forgot to mention a bit on this. The scope of 2x is by far the most popular for handguns for reasons bulzeye mentioned. I got an adjustable because I could leave it on 2 or when I get better shooting form and control I can use the increased power for better accuracy at longer range. That is why I got an adjustable scope for me. Good luck and take care.


Brian