Ground hog shootin'

[RDavidP]

I have a .44 caliber 1851 Colt Navy Revolver, and my mother in law hates the ground hogs in her yard.  They are a big carrier of rabies in my area.  Would the revolver loaded with 25 to 30 grains of Pyrodex have enough force to throughly take care of some ground hogs?  If so, what should be my maximum distance?  I was sitting on her porch and poping them in the head as they stood up on their hind legs at 50 yards with my 30/30, and also made ground hog shiskabob with my Fred Bear Grizzly recurve, cedar arrow and broadhead.  I wanted to check how my arrows would perform with a broadhead, and a ground hog decided to appear, knocked him down good and dead.  I target practice with my bow at my in law's since she has a nice long backyard.  I am just itching to try taking a few with my C&B, but want to make sure that it has enough force to cleanly kill, you know one shot, nice and dead.

Thanks,
David

[yooper]

In years past I've taken several coons with a Remington repro .44...You should have no problem drilling a whistle pig and putting it down for the count with your revolver. Keep the hits clean,know your limits and the critter will never know what happened.

[ribbonstone]

A clear case for accuracy over pure velocity...pick the load (at least above 20gr.) that shoots the best, keep the range short, and drill them through the internal stuff that really counts.