Why would anyone use a handgun for hunting in a non-emergency?

Sue

Same as any other means of hunting - for the fun & challenge, and to "make meat." I like a .22 pistol for small game because it's easier to carry with a good holster, especially getting through brush and fences. I've never tried big game only because I'm too cheap to spend the $$ required for a nice hand cannon.

Susan:

When they first started allowing large caliber handgun hunting (.22 pistols have been allowed forever for small game.), I thought it was stupid, unnecessary, and self-serving for the handgun manufacturers. Now that I have bad legs and find it hard to use both hands with a rifle, it makes more sense for me.

If I were able to find fellow hunters that would traverse the woods with me and my limitations, a handgun braced against a tree or hiking stick with one hand while the other hand is used to brace and keep me from falling makes a lot of sense.

One-armed individuals that want to hunt can do so easier with a long barreled handgun than they could with a rifle.

Bountyuhunter

Well forget large game because the handguns used effectively for that type of hunting are way too barrel heavy for one-hand use, not to mention recoil and added weght from the scope.

Some are. Some aren't. Some depends on the hunter. I don't use scopes on any of my pistols and they are all comfy to shoot one-handed. If I was shooting off a ladder in a Texas beanfield, I would agree - long range pistols are what you describe for heft and balance. There are other kinds of terrain / methods of hunting.

One handed assumes an off-hand shot, which I try like the dickens to avoid with rifle or pistol. Off a rest it doesn't take two hands. Handguns can be grossly more sensitive or grossly less sensitive than a rifle to POI shift off a rest - depends on pistol, ammo, and the specific point of contact on the rest - the range is the right place to find out the particulars.

Handgun hunting is high art and not for the novice - but in the large bores it doesn't require a canon, long barrel, or optics. Stalking skill, strong ethics, and superb marksmanship are what it takes.

Just my 2 cents.

For the challenge/sport of it. Along the same line of thought, why would anybody use a line and pole, when night line or net fishing is so much more productive/easy? It's all in what you want to get out of it.

Troy

Wow... deep, profound, and a lot more "saleable" than my standard "for the sport of it", and being that I'm catching up with you in the knee, hip, shoulder, and back health department, thanks bounty, that statement of yours makes a lot more room for pause against an anti-gunner.

Troy

You gotta be jokin'. My .45 long colt is legal and effective on large game, and a whole lot easier to use one handed than any long gun I own, or for that matter, can even think of.

Troy

Brian,

Some favorite handguns include: S & W m.27 with an 8 3/8" bbl. in .357 Mag. weighing about 56 oz. IIRC; a Ruger Super Redhawk with a 7 1/2" bbl. in .44 Mag. also weighing about 56 oz. IIRC; and a Ruger Blackhawk with a 7 1/2" in .45 Colt weighing about 41 oz. IIRC. All of these revolvers are eminently shootable one-handed. And if a lanky, middle-aged lawyer from a PC community like me can shoot them well, I shudder to think what a Texan could accomplish. {^;

All of those handguns can harvest game as large as deer within 50 yds. The .44 and .45 (with proper handloads) can easily kill larger or more difficult game such as black bear, boar and other large animals and at longer ranges.

I prefer to limit my handgun hunting to within 100 yds. Therefore I have no need for optical sights with increased complexity, weight, bulk, and vulnerability.


Susan,

I began hunting with a handgun a long time ago. I started with an S & W K-22 (6" bbl, 38 oz.) revolver on squirrels due to the increased challenge, convenience, and fun. I often carry a handgun when I am hunting big game with a rifle. Normally it will be a 4" bbl. revolver in one of calibers .22 LR, .32 H & R Mag., or .357 Mag. (loaded with .38 Spec ammo). Such handguns are very handy for harvesting such targets of opportunity as cottontails, jack rabbits, and squirrels. They can also be handy for eliminating poisonous snakes in/near camp (preferably with shot loads). In some areas it may also be legal to hunt some local game birds with a handgun (e.g., grouse, and possibly quail). As far as I know, it is not legal to hunt any Federally Regulated Wildfowl with a handgun. My use of a small to medium sized revolver to hunt is normally incidental to a hunt of big game with a rifle. When I am exclusively hunting with a handgun, it will normally be with a revolver having at least a 6" bbl. Handguns are also very useful for ranchers since an immediate need for a gun may present itself while primarily attending to agricultural endeavors.

In short, hunting with a handgun is eminently practical and a lot of fun. It's also a lot harder to do well than with a rifle. Handguns definitely have a place in hunting.

Have fun with your shooting,

John

Come on guys,

At 32 years of age I'm not an old man (unless you ask a teenager) and I'm sure I don't have as much experience as many of you but I still have 2.5 decades of shooting and hunting experiece. Not just a couple times a year but almost weekly trips to the range to fire off a couple 100 rounds per trip (admittedly though mostly from the bbl of a Sig229 these days <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />). My point is that I do know a little about what I'm saying though I may not be saying it clearly and I am aware that there are plenty still with more experience than I.

Most people hunt large game for decades and are worthless with even a rifle at 100 yards with open sights so lets not give inexperienced hunters/shooters the impression that it is an easy and/or common task, especially with a barrel-heavy or short barrel (6" or less) revolvers. For 99% of the people out there it takes thousands and thousands of rounds worth of range time to aquire that skill with the highest quality of handguns and for some people , based on factors like size, stature, stamina, how they handle recoil, steadiness of their hands, etc, they may simply never gain the skill. To say the least, it is very difficult to acheive that level of skill and even with the skill you'll never shoot better than the way your gun shoots from a vise, so this only applies to high quality firearms to begin with.