Small Game Handgun Hunting

[Ferret Master]

Good luck in June. Hope you get your pistol ready.

 

[Flinty Scot]

Just to restate the obvious- if you get a smoothie, you can use shot on small game.

 

[hanshi]

.45 so it's big enough for me to legally carry during deer season. Not that I would use it on a deer, but anytime I'm in the woods for deer, I could make a living on all the squirrels that swarm. Had one climb up and sit on my knee one time. Jumped half out of his skin when I said "hello!"

I had a fox do about the same thing once. He came trotting toward me on my right. When he hit my legs - that was when he smelled my scent, I guess - he leaped straight up from my lap and turned 180 degrees in the air and was running on afterburner as I swung my .58 around and fired. That's the quickest I've ever seen a fox move. It would have been pretty funny if, when he jumped up, he'd fallen back down in my lap instead of 8' away; or maybe not so funny.

 

[Stony Broke]

I threw one of my .40's into my truck with me this morning and took it to the woods with me. I ended up seeing about 30 or so hogs, but none within a reasonable distance for a handgun. Maybe one of these days...

 

[Ferret Master]

My father in law had a funny encounter with a Red Fox one cold frosty morning in December. We had been on our deer hunting stands since about 5:30am and were about frozen stiff. He said the desire to be able to feel his feet had overwhelmed his desire to bag a buck. So he moved from his stand to sit on a stump in the sunshine. He remembered that he had a can of his favorite snack in his fanny pack; a can of Vienna Sausage and a pack of yellow mustard. He had just taken out the can of culinary delight and was about to open it when he spotted the fox walking up the hill towards him. It walked to within a few feet of him and then he popped the top on the sausage can. He said it was like something from a Bug's Bunny movie, the fox almost turned himself inside out trying to reverse direction. He said he never new a fox had such big eyes. Than fox just didn't know what a treat he was missing. He had enough sausage and mustard for both of them. Not sure if George was carrying a pistol or not but it put a smile on my face when I remembered the encounter, thanks Hanshi

 

[bigted]

I built this .40 cal pistol with a 15 inch Charley Burton barrel, a real tack driver.View attachment 32065real tack driver and a blast to hunt with.

That my friend is a real beut! Seems a likely recipient for a removable butt stock in like style.

Thanks for sharing such a cool pistol!

 

[Stony Broke]

It took me a few days to get one in my sights, and can't seem to run into any large ones when I want one. I gave up and took this guy finally with my little .40 plinker. I just used a prb with 25 gr. of 3f. One shot behind the ear and it was out! I don't really condone a lot of hunting situations with such a small caliber, but a headshot such as this at 15-20 yards, they will do the job.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Well, he should be good eating.

 

[hanshi]

Shooting straight is the most important factor. I know of a guy who kills wild pigs with a .32 prb in a rifle.

 

[Zonie]

I'm moving this to the Hunting section of the forum.

 

[Christophero]

In the 80's I used to hunt squirrels with a TC 32 Cherokee in my hand and an 1851 Navy on my hip. I took a few of the squirrels with the .36 pistol, too. It was much fun, and a challenge. But the duel cleaning chore with the Cherokee and pistol took too much time. Eventually I gave the 1851 to my cousin, as he was growing into the shooting sports.
Since my kids are all grown deer hunting is about all we do together when it comes to hunting. Glad to be able to do that. One of these days I'll stalk a squirrel with the little rifle again, though.
Thanks for the memories.

 

[Patocazador]

I have killed a few hogs and a deer with a Ruger Old Army pistol. The deer had already been wounded after I hit the shoulder joint with my .50 cal. rifle. He walked up and stopped 40 yards from me. I thought he would go off and rot someplace so I tried a shot with the revolver. It went through both lungs and he went 50 more yards before dropping.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I have only ever hunted handgun wise with an airpistol. Why? Because I live in a dumb country.
I would love to hunt with a muzzleloading pistol. A smoothbore .50" so I could also use shot.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Grouse in Idaho and Montana with 1858 Remington … headshots only at 10 yards max … missed a bunch

Polecat

 

[pab1]

I enjoy handgun hunting. I've taken a variety of small game with my.54 cal Lyman Plains Pistol. All were taken with a a 20gr charge of Goex FFF, a .530" ball and .018 pillow ticking patch. This comes in at 655fps and has been an excellent small game load. The snowshoe hare at the bottom was taken with a ball cast over fire using a Callahan bag mold that morning.

 

[Britsmoothy]

I enjoy handgun hunting. I've taken a variety of small game with my.54 cal Lyman Plains Pistol. All were taken with a a 20gr charge of Goex FFF, a .530" ball and .018 pillow ticking patch. This comes in at 655fps and has been an excellent small game load. The snowshoe hare at the bottom was taken with a ball cast over fire using a Callahan bag mold that morning.

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I just turned a funny shade of green !

 

[bigted]

Very cool post. This is the kinda stuff stories are made of ... oh wait

 

[Hermit Tim]

Got this little guy on my birthday in 2017 in mid December. .490 patched round ball with 3F powder. Shot him at about 35 yards and he fell dead in his tracks, only facing the opposite direction. The gun pictured is an old CVA Mountain Pistol in .50 I snagged off GB used for a little over a hundred bucks. It is tons of fun to carry and shoot and is always with me as a backup or for close shots when deer hunting. Planning on trying some squirrel and rabbit hunting this season with my CVA Kentucky pistol in .45.