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Hanshi

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It's really tough to answer when someone asks you "what's your favorite pistol, revolver, etc. I always have to hedge my reply by saying "depends on favorite for what?" With that in mind lets talk about cf sidearms. What's your favorite for various jobs or just plain favorite(s). I'll putt in with mine a bit farther down.
 
It's really tough to answer when someone asks you "what's your favorite pistol, revolver, etc. I always have to hedge my reply by saying "depends on favorite for what?" With that in mind lets talk about cf sidearms. What's your favorite for various jobs or just plain favorite(s). I'll putt in with mine a bit farther down.
Great topic for discussion Hanshi ! :thumbs up:
Unfortunately I've yet to enjoy the challenge of hunting big game with a handgun. I'm hoping for the day when Massachusetts allows handguns for hunting big game like deer. For now my future plans are to go out-of-state to hunt whitetails with a scoped-handgun. I'd really like to know what hunters are using successfully to harvest a big game animal with a handgun. Caliber, sights and loads would be a good start.
 
Well I truly love single shots, so my favorite hunting gun is a T/C Contender. I've taken deer with a 30-30, 357 SM, 375 Win, and 445 SM. I like the .222 Rem for called in coyotes.
My favorite wheel gun for hunting is my FA 353. Taken quite a few deer with it.
For woods carry, I like either my Ruger Black Hawk in 45 colt or a S&W Model 60, 3" in 38 special.
 
I have several of the Pedersoli single shot muzzleloaders, and play with them at matches and hunting occasionally. I have had a thing nagging me somewhere in the back of my brain about the use of a Pedersoli Bounty Hunter in .50 caliber......so I ordered one the other day. I'm thinking it might be some time before I receive it due to all the crap going on around the country. I'm sure if I can get it shooting right, it's going to have to account for a few hogs and maybe a deer or something.
 
Presently My Ruger blk hwk 5'5" is my "Fav". Close behind that is a same in 41 mag. Both of these have a trigger job and a free spin pawl and are all steel. I just got a new model 44 mag 5'5" I'm anxious to try. Those "Dragoon" style trig guards are hell on my arthritis in the middle finger of my right hand. Back in the day!, early 70s, I had a collection of 600 and 660 Remington's and a few Mohawks I converted to every thing from .17 Rem to 458X2 American ( Now goes by 450 Marlin). After checking legalities I chambered my 221 Fireball to .223 making it legal for deer in NM at that time. Again after consulting ATF I mounted a spare .243 Win barrel from a Mohawk, opened up the boltface and cut it to 14" It was fun!. Then I put on a spare .308 Mohawk bbl. Everyone thought (knew) I was crazy thinking a rifle cartridge would work in a handgun. The 308 was pretty rowdy, BIIIG muzzle flash and the recoil split the nylon stock so I made one from a walnut blank, no shake-and-bake stocks available back then. I sold it to a fella in Kimball Ne in the late seventies and tried to buy it back several times to no avail. I guess it turns out I was a visionary in the evolution of SS handgun development. Anyway it was all mucho fun!.....Mossie
 
These are the wheel guns I've used on deer back in Georgia. The only after-the-kill photos are snapshots in various albums. I'll try and find out if I can somehow get one or two posted. Post photos if you have them and go back and post the pics described in earlier posts. I NEVER tire of talking & seeing photos of guns; NEVER!
Below: 7.5" RSBH .44 mag, 4" S&W M19 .357, 6" S&W 686 .357, RBH 6.5" .41 mag. Killed all my pistol deer with these.

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Some of the pistols I've used to take small game/varmints. There have been others but these are the ones I recall most: S&W M14 .38 spl, S&W M17 .22LR, .45 Colt, Colt .45 acp Combat Commander, Ruger MKI .22LR, Diamondback .38 spl, S&W M25 1955 Target .45 acp, S&W M15 .38 spl, S&W M18 .22LR, Colt Sport Target Woodsman .22LR.

 
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Presently My Ruger blk hwk 5'5" is my "Fav". Close behind that is a same in 41 mag. Both of these have a trigger job and a free spin pawl and are all steel. I just got a new model 44 mag 5'5" I'm anxious to try. Those "Dragoon" style trig guards are hell on my arthritis in the middle finger of my right hand. Back in the day!, early 70s, I had a collection of 600 and 660 Remington's and a few Mohawks I converted to every thing from .17 Rem to 458X2 American ( Now goes by 450 Marlin). After checking legalities I chambered my 221 Fireball to .223 making it legal for deer in NM at that time. Again after consulting ATF I mounted a spare .243 Win barrel from a Mohawk, opened up the boltface and cut it to 14" It was fun!. Then I put on a spare .308 Mohawk bbl. Everyone thought (knew) I was crazy thinking a rifle cartridge would work in a handgun. The 308 was pretty rowdy, BIIIG muzzle flash and the recoil split the nylon stock so I made one from a walnut blank, no shake-and-bake stocks available back then. I sold it to a fella in Kimball Ne in the late seventies and tried to buy it back several times to no avail. I guess it turns out I was a visionary in the evolution of SS handgun development. Anyway it was all mucho fun!.....Mossie
Having had the custom walnut stock I can see why the owner is reluctant to give it up.
As far as loads go, have factory loads been adequate for hunting or do you re-load?
 
These are the wheel guns I've used on deer back in Georgia. The only after-the-kill photos are snapshots in various albums. I'll try and find out if I can somehow get one or two posted. Post photos if you have them and go back and post the pics described in earlier posts. I NEVER tire of talking & seeing photos of guns; NEVER!
Below: 7.5" RSBH .44 mag, 4" S&W M19 .357, 6" S&W 686 .357, RBH 6.5" .41 mag. Killed all my pistol deer with these.

[/url]

Some of the pistols I've used to take small game/varmints. There have been others but these are the ones I recall most: S&W M14 .38 spl, S&W M17 .22LR, .45 Colt, Colt .45 acp Combat Commander, Ruger MKI .22LR, Diamondback .38 spl, S&W M25 1955 Target .45 acp, S&W M15 .38 spl, S&W M18 .22LR, Colt Sport Target Woodsman .22LR.

Nice collection! I especially like the .41 mag👍
I still have my Ruger MK1 in .22LR. Great shooter but sometimes a real p.i.t.a. to reassemble after a good cleaning.
 
I always used stock wheel guns with open sights; guns I could carry on my hip. But then, I used to be the firearms instructor at the police academy and shot A LOT. I gave the big single shots a try but they just never felt right, if you know what I mean. Eyes got so bad that I stopped handgun hunting quite a few years ago.

The pronghorn and hog are impressive. We had plenty of hogs but I just never got around to hunting them.
 
Having had the custom walnut stock I can see why the owner is reluctant to give it up.
As far as loads go, have factory loads been adequate for hunting or do you re-load?
With the exception of the rimfires most all of my firearms have never seen a factory round, from the snow camo AR through to the 1866 50/70 Springfield trapdoor.....Mossie
 
I think the only one of mine that has shot factory ammo is my Contender 15 inch 375 Winchester barrel. Could not find any brass to reload and then found 4 boxes of factory ammo on a gun sales site for 50.00 for all 4 boxes that was cheaper then buying brass that nobody had for sale. They have all been shot and reloaded now.
 
99 % plus of all my shooting has been with my reloads. I have a Dillon 550B(?) (I think that's the right #) and have loaded thousands of .38 spl and .45 acp on this fast progressive press. My Rock Chucker has loaded the thousands of rifle and other handgun rounds. I've bought exponentially more brass than factory ammo. I also managed to collect many thousands of .38, .357, .45, .38sup, .44mag & spl, .41, .45 Colt, 9mm, .380, 7.65mm, .32s, 30/06, .308, 250 Sav, .243, 6mm, 257R, .25/06, 375 H&H, 45/70, .350 mag, .22H, 7X57, 30/40 Craig, 30/30, .458 Win mag, .338 Win mag, .270 and a few others not readily recalled. Even after giving away a couple hundred pounds of brass I still have thousands for use. I also collected tens of thousands of a bewildering assortment of brass that I never owned a gun to shoot them in. I also gave away all the weird brass as I, obviously, had no use for it. Almost every time I was able to exceed factory velocity, accuracy or BOTH. And NO, I didn't push to maximum speed, either.

Early on I did buy some loaded ammo to jump-start my stash; haven't had to do that in decades. But I have killed deer with factory ammo on a few occasions (rare). Currently powder, primer and "sort of" primer poor. Couldn't bring much with me so it's stored with a good friend; my only problem now is finding a way to get it up here. Corona virus kinda threw a monkey wrench into that. If I had a way to load .22s I'd even do that.
 
I always used stock wheel guns with open sights; guns I could carry on my hip.
..
Hanshi,

Finally decided on a pair of Ruger SP101 in 9MM (one for the wife and the other for me). The wife with her MS only has one arm and hand that still functions so using a semi auto is out with not being able to work the slide. With a revolver in 9MM we use the full moon clips (easy to load acting like speed loaders) which is perfect for her. I like the idea of the full moon clips for a fast reload and not messing around with single cartridges floating around in my pocket. The reason for 9MM is compatibility and having close to 3,000 rounds of different type loads.

Just ordered Wilson spring kits, Hogue grips and a better sight option for both guns, sold a few of the auto loaders yesterday that covered the cost of these handguns .... :thumbs up:

Later
.
 
One of the things I like about my S&W 1955 M25 is the ability to use full moon clips. It's, of course, a .45 acp/.45 auto rim. I have a decent supply of acp rounds/brass - there are a couple of Colt 1911s that eat the same food - But maybe only one box of auto rim.
 
It's tough to select my favorite handgun. Each has its own character and there is something to like about each of them.

For accurate, fun shooting, I like my Ruger 4 inch barrel Security Six in .357 that the previous owner Magnaported and worked on the action. The grip (Hogue) fits my hand well; the trigger is crisp; the sights are right on target. The only mechanism in question is the one behind the gun, holding and aiming it.

When working on the Gulkana River in Alaska, a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 mag with 7.5 inch barrel was the favorite.

A Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt and .45 acp (separate cylinders) also is fun to shoot.
Ron
 
It's tough to select my favorite handgun. Each has its own character and there is something to like about each of them.



Because of my right eye problem I had to virtually stop my handgun shooting. I'll be scheduling retinal surgery in a day or two. There's risk in this surgery but everything has risks. IF it helps I may gain back a little of my shooting vision. I love pistols (wheel and otherwise) and miss getting to take to the local range.

Your statement, Ron, is very true. Any of my posted choices could change in just a week or two.
 

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