For whatever value it might be to you here is an article I wrote several years ago at the Request of Marshall owner of Hunt America back when I was serving as the Handgun Hunting Forum Moderator for him as well as running my own site. Back then I had a lot of photo links but they were URLs pulled from other sites and today I doubt any would be valid so I will not include them.
Hunting HandgunsA Beginners Guide
I am often requested to provide some information on hunting handguns for beginners since many folks aren't all that familiar with the idea of handgun hunting and what guns and loads to use.
Since I have no knowledge of what level of experience a new handgun hunter or new handgunner might have I always recommend the first gun be a 22LR revolver or semi auto. I prefer to see the first one be a revolver because there are mighty few semiauto centerfire handguns suitable for hunting big game and I believe in practicing with a handgun as close to what you are going to hunt with as possible. Here is a photo of a good example of a first handgun in 22LR. It is an S&W 617.
Regardless of how much experience you gain in handguns and handgun hunting I still recommend that a lot of shooting be done each year with a 22LR handgun to keep your skill level high and your shooting eye sharp. If you later obtain a TC Contender or Encore or both then you might also want to get a rimfire barrel for it.
The 22LR and/or 22 magnum are excellent choices for hunting small game such as squirrels, rabbits, raccoon, opossum, and the various ground squirrels found across the country. They can be used while on big game hunts to pot the occasional game bird where legal to add to the larder for camp and they do a fine job of taking off the head of poisonous snakes you come across while hunting.
The next step I recommend for new handgunners who haven't yet had the experience is a .357 Magnum revolver. With this you can begin to experience recoil and do so at either the mild .38 Special level or at the full magnum level. A good 6" or longer barrel on a .357 mag is a good bottomline beginner gun for some big game such as whitetail deer at ranges up to about 50 yards. I don't like them further off than that. If you choose to use one on deer I recommend the 158 to 180 grain bullets for adequate penetration and also recommend keeping to the same shots an archer would use on game. I believe that penetration is more important that expansion with this caliber and would recommend the use of cast bullets over JHPs or JSPs.
The next logical step up the ladder is to a .44 magnum revolver. Yeah a .41 magnum will do but there are few of them around and fewer still are the good factory ammo choices. A person new to handguning should not dally with the .41 yet. Photos of some good choices in the .44 magnum line are shown below. They are the S&W 629 Classic DX with 8-3/8" barrel which is my personal choice, S&W Classic, the Ruger Super Redhawk and the Ruger Redhawk.
A revolver chambered for the .44 Magnum will and has killed everything that currently walks the face of the earth or at least those that man knows about. The 240 grain bullet has become sort of the defacto standard by which all others are judged. For use on deer and antelope size game I don't feel it can be beat. A good hardcast bullet of 240 to 320 grains with a wide meplat will do for all hunting with the .44 mag. If you had to choose just one I'd say make it a 300-320 grain hardcast with wide meplat. I don't have to choose just one so I prefer a 240 JHP for deer and antelope size game. I have found both the Hornady XTP and the Nosler JHPs to be excellent. My powder charge of choice is to use 24.0 grains of W296 with any good 240 grain jacketed or cast bullet.
The 300 XTP is an excellent choice for larger game such as black bear, elk, moose or big hogs but I really prefer to move to hard casts for such game. If you cast your own then the Lyman 429640 and 429650 moulds drop perfect bullets for such game and really for all game. The various LBT bullets in this weight range are also excellent and are available ready to load from several bullet casters.
If you are good enough to place your shots in the kill zone the .44 mag is all the gun any one needs for big game the size of deer to moose out to 100 yards or a bit more. My tired old eyes require me to scope the gun for shooting much beyond 50 yards these days. There are several excellent scopes for this task made by Leupold, Burris and TC. Yeah there are others but those are my first choices in good quality. I've had good luck with the Tasco World Class 1.25x4x28 and can also recommend it and the Bushnell Trophy 2x6 which has also served me well. Pictured below are the Leupold 2x, 4x and 2.5x8 as well as the excellent Burris 2x7.
The next step up either can be to a more powerful revolver in .454 Casull or even the .475 or .50 Linebaughs if you are really into recoil. I have for you photos of the Taurus Raging Bull which is my personal choice in a .454 Casull and also the excellent but expensive Freedom Arms.
Ruger claims to have a Super Redhawk in .454 that is a six shot unlike the RB and FA which are both five shots. No one except a few writers for the major magazines have seen and held one yet and its fate is currently unknown. I keep hearing it has hit the shelves but still I personally know of no one who has actually seen or held a production sample as of January 2, 2000.
Beyond this level we have the specialty handguns also known as hand rifles and single shots among other more colorful names given by those who are revolver purists.
The original of the type is the TC Contender. It has been in continuous production for a long time. It is or has been chambered in the 22LR to the .45-70 and lots of rounds in between. JD Jones of SSK as well as a few others have developed wildcats capable of making it suitable for all game up to elephant in size. I have a good discussion of caliber choices on my page on handgun calibers. Photo below:
TC now makes the Encore which looks similar to the Contender but is much stronger and is chambered even for the powerful belted magnums on the H&H case. This one for sure is up to the task of taking all the world's big game animals. Photo below:
The next photo is of the Remington XP-100 bolt action handgun. It is the oldest of the bolt actions and is typical of the breed. They can be chambered in most anything your imagination desires. They are a bit heavy and bulky for my tastes but many serious handgunners swear by them. Bolt action handguns are made by Remington, Savage, Weatherby, and others.
