Valorius

I don't think that people who carry sidearms hunting typically carry them for hunting. They're carried for self defense.

It would certainly be legal to shoot a bear that attacked you with a legally carried handgun in Pennsylvania while you were hunting.

Oldtimr

Well yeah, that would be self defense, not hunting.

hardcastonly

for defensive use a 45 acp might be very effective, but I don,t hold it in high regard, Ill grab a 357,or 44 mag almost every time, as a side arm,
many years ago I purchased a AMT long slide and worked up a very accurate load with a hollow point bullet,
in that particular gun, 7 grains of unique under a 200 grain bullet and federal primers produced consistently,
2" 25 yard groups
in one of my less brilliant moments, I decided to try using it on a deer hunt


on my first successful hunt I shot a 4 point buck at about 30 yards in the heart/lung area ,
the bullet hit where I aimed and while it was 100% fatal, the deer ran about 60 yards after bullet impact
I was not impressed, but you can,t base your opinion on a single hunt, about a year later I used that pistol on a couple hogs that weighed about 90 lbs each,
yes it was lethal, but again, the game ran after bullet impact further than it generally did when I used a 357 mag revolver and 158 grain soft points over a stiff load of 2400 powder

now don,t think I don,t like the 45 acp, I still occasionally hunt hogs with my

EAA/CZ 45 acp, its effective but not really impressive

CalHunter

That bear hug video was pretty cool Erno. Any idea what they were watching out the window? Your point about an out of battery issue for any semi-auto is absolutely correct. Same as freezing the cylinder of a revolver. Pros and cons for just about any weapons system but a hunter should carry what he/she feels most comfortable with.

Cub Slayer, it sounds like you hunt turkeys in a rough neighborhood.

Hardcast makes a good point about the efficacy of semi-auto rounds versus revolver rounds for putting game down quicker. If I were hunting with a pistol (someday maybe), I would want a revolver, probably in 44 mag. While I don't disagree with anybody carrying a revolver as a backup, I tend to agree with Butch on carrying a a semi-auto (usually something in 45 ACP or 40 S&W) since these are either duty guns and/or CCW guns for me and I have LOTS of practice with them under sometimes stressful situations. From what I can tell in this topic, it seems like everybody believes in carrying some kind of backup which is smart.

Hardcast, for a separate topic, (and you've probably posted a bit about it already), I think a topic on what pistols and calibers work best for hunting different kinds of critters would be fascinating and a good read. It's one thing to talk ballistics, etc. about different calibers but a whole different animal (no pun intended) when actual hunting experience is shared. I haven't got into pistol hunting yet but it is on my bucket list.

hardcastonly

Ive used mostly magnum revolvers for hunting big game
in my opinion the one tip to success is get into under 70 yards before you fire and spend a great deal of time at your local range practicing at 60 and 100 yard targets,
shooting from field positions not shooting off a bench rest.
shot placement with any handgun cartridge is critical to getting consistently decent results
and if your using iron open sights ranges should be limited at under 100 yards in my opinion
hard cast bullets of proper design and weight work reasonably well,
remember critical, precise shot placement and a good knowledge of the anatomy of the game helps immensely
and heavy for caliber, hard cast projectiles provide deep penetration,
Id suggest you think of handgun hunting as similar to archery your lethality is dependent on precise shot placement
suggested bullet weights
357 mag= 158 grain-180 grain
41 mag= 220 grain-250 grain
44 mag= 270 grain-320 grain
45 caliber -300 grain-350 grain
480 caliber 350 grain-400 grain
50 caliber 400 grain-480 grain

Ive used a longer barrel 44 mag revolver , loaded with a 310 grain lee gas check bullet on most hunts over 21 grains of h110 powder
its zipped through most deer and hogs and Ive taken two elk in 50 years with it. (both at under 70 yards)in both cases the bullets exited the far side chest
in both cases a lower chest hit was selected,


from what Ive seen, the 500 mag is significantly heavier, noticeably more powerful, and it hits considerably harder, its also far heavier,
I reload for several guys that own them,
the 500 S&W revolvers are harder to control and less easy to use, and since a 44 mag is fully up to killing an elk and leaves an exit on a chest hit elk I doubt its more lethal.


I hand load and cast bullets for 3 guys that own and hunt with 500 S&W mag revolvers
22 grains of blue dot powder under a 440 grain hard cast bullet works ok.
https://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-c501-440-rf.html

those revolvers are excellent as far as accuracy and have all the power you need,
but in my opinion loading them with anything other than a 350 grain too 500 grain hard cast ,GAS CHECK,bullet,
and pushing them past about 1400 fps-1500 fps makes them recoil too hard,
and adds little too nothing to their potential lethality,
as even at that level they zip though hogs and deer at 100 yards and with iron sights,
most people are hard pressed to shoot well enough past that distance.


Ive also used and own a 10" dan wesson 445 super mag, it shoots the same 44 projectiles as the 44 mag but at about 1550 fps vs about 1350 fps in the 44 mag
https://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-c-430-310-rf.html
the 445 DWSM is noticeably more accurate but like the 500 mag its a noticeably heavy pistol





according to info Ive seen the guy in the video is using a 44 mag with 300 grain hornady hollow point bullets
hard cast easily out penetrate hollow points but provide a bit less shock effect.

hardcastonly

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Kno...allistics.html


projectiles with a melplat about 65%-80% of the bullet diameter seem to work reasonably well,
use of an alloy of 95% wheel weight and 5% tin allows consistent predictable and controlled expansion at handgun velocity with minimal projectile weight loss in most cases

gemihur

Handguns can shoot bottleneck rifle cartridges too. Here's the 7-30 Waters on the Thompson Center Contender

CalHunter

You know erno, if your revolver doesn't work on the bear, you could use some of these moves.

Bocajnala

Used to be you could "fight" bears at the county Fair. I missed out on all that fun. -Jake

kacey

I always carry my little Airweight 38 Special when out hunting. It's small and light and is out of the way on my cross draw holster. I've used it for coup de grace shot on downed deer and hogs occasionally. More importantly I used it for dispatching moccasins and rattlesnakes. Every year I use it on 10-20 poisonous snakes.