Making Choices

Larry Weishuhn

Heading into the upcoming hunting season, one where I hope to do a “fair amount” of handgun hunting, I have been thinking seriously about what my choices.  There are in those decisions two “constants”: Taurus revolvers and Hornady ammo.  I have come to rely heavily on both. The reason for doing so is both have proven they are as the Hornady tagline states, “Accurate, Deadly, Dependable!”

Life is full of choices!  Some are easy, some not quite so.  However all are important.

As a “gunwriter” for many years, starting back back during the latter 1990’s with my stint as the hunting editor for SHOOTING TIMES and HANDGUNNING and even longer as a serious hunter with many years of experience hunting with handguns, I have several guns at my disposal. These include break-open single-shots and both single and double-action revolvers.  Yes, I do own semi-autos, specifically Model 1911s, and a few “smaller” framed guns what some refer to as “carry guns”.  But I do not hunt with them. For a while I also had bolt-action handguns specifically the Remington XP-100 and Savage Striker, but those have since been given to friends.

I truly like shooting and hunting with revolvers, both single and double-actions.  Frankly I could use any handgun. However, these days I use revolvers manufactured by Taurus, for good reason.  I’ve shot and hunted with many of the other revolvers made by Smith & Wesson, Colt, Ruger and others.  I own several revolvers manufactured by these companies.

The Raging Hunters I own are chambered in .44 Mag, .454 Casull and .460 S&W Mag.  I really like shooting and hunting with all three, whether topped with a Stealth Vision red-dot sights, or vintage Thompson/Center Arms or Simmons long-eye-relief scopes. They have proven to be extremely accurate with Hornady ammo, talking about shooting clover-leaf sized groups at 100-yards from a hunter’s rest, meaning something short of hand bags.

I have taken numerous whitetail deer, hogs, javelinas and even coyotes with my Raging Hunters chambered in .44 Mag and .454 Casull, shooting primarily Hornady’s Custom 240-grain XTP Mag ammo.  I shoot both at longer range and can regularly hit a 14-inch steel gong at 500-yards with both guns. I do the same with Hornady’s 200-grain Handgun Hunter, 200-grain MonoFlex ammo. Both my guns shoot extremely accurately with both those Hornady loads.

In the not too distant future, I need to shoot those same loads and guns at targets between 100 and 500-yards. I have been remiss in doing so.  I do admit liking to shoot at the 500-yard steel gong.  I have also helped friends hit that distant target with my Taurus guns and Hornady ammo.  I start them shooting at 25-yards, then go to 100, them to 500-yards.  Love seeing the expression on their faces when then hear the metallic “thunk” sound of their bullet hitting the long-range target.

Would I ever consider taking a shot at any living creature out to that range? No! But it sure is fun and satisfying hearing the bullet strike steel at that long range.  One thing it has done is create within me extreme confidence in shooting my Taurus revolvers.  Doing so I know when I crawl or otherwise manage to get within my self-imposed hunting maximum shooting distance of 125-yards or less with my .454 Casull and 100-yards or less with my .44 Mag I can precisely place my bullet into the animal’s vitals.

Admittedly, the factory triggers on Taurus Raging Hunters are a bit heavy.  I have a couple which still have factory triggers and even with these I have shot extremely tight groups at 100-yards and hit 500-yard steel.  Early on I had a qualified pistolsmith “lighten” the trigger of my .454 Casull.  I will soon have that same individual, who was long the firearms instructor for Texas’ Department of Public Safety, work on the trigger in my .44 Mag. Even though as it is, I shoot extremely tight groups both near and far with the factory set trigger.

I plan on hunting primarily with my .454 Casull this coming fall, but will also strive to take a few animals with my .44 Mag. With both, I truly appreciate the Raging Hunter’s integral muzzlebrake and picatinny rail scope/sight mounting base. The handgun’s weight, muzzlebrake and “recoil absorbing” grips truly make these two guns a pleasure to shoot.  Frankly they also make the .460 S&W, which to me has more felt recoil than that of a .500 S&W Mag or just about any other big caliber handgun round, tolerable when it comes to recoil.  Most .460 S&W handguns, in my experience, have an acutely sharp recoil compared to other rounds.

The .500 S&W Mag’s recoil, for example, even though a “bigger” round is a more deliberate push back not unlike shooting a 12-gauge gas-operated semi-auto compared to shooting a single-shot 12 gauge.

I hunt with both rifles and handguns, and frankly will admit I love hunting with single-shot rifles such as the Ruger No.1 rifles. They are classy looking; blue steel and gorgeously grained wood (one of my prerequisites for owning and hunting with one).  Mine are superbly accurate when shooting with appropriate Hornady ammo.

When I hunt with a rifle, I still like having a handgun with me, one that is good looking while also being relatively easy to carry, fun to shoot and accurate. Thus, the very first time I saw a Taurus’ single-action Deputy I knew I had to have one to carry when hunting, or not, in a crossdraw belt holster.

Why a crossdraw holster?  I carry my .45 Colt Deputy, 5 ½-inch barrel in a holster on my left side, even though I am right-handed and usually shoot my gun from that side. But I also shoot when necessary, using a left-hand point or aim.  Crossdraw holsters go back to another era, when men spent a lot of time horseback.  They carried their revolver in a crossdraw holster opposite of their primary shooting hand.  The reason?  That way their revolver could readily be drawn with either right of left hand.  According to the older cowboys I grew up around who had grown up before there were any great number of automobiles, they carried their sixguns so they could reach them with either hand, crossdraw.  If their horse fell and they were pinned in the saddle or underneath their horse, if required, they could pull their gun with either hand, shoot the horse before being kicked to death.  Makes sense to me.  I carry my “protection gun” in that manner, even though I no longer ride horses or mules.

Shortly after getting my Deputy in .45 Colt I headed to Becker Bottom, the ranch owned and managed by my friends the Cotton Family, Edgar and David.  On a previous trip I had left several 240-grain Hornady XTP handloads at the ranch. I had shot some of those loads through both my .460 S&W Mag and .454 Casull Raging Hunters.

Hornady currently only does .45 Colt Cowboy commercially produced rounds. These are fun to shoot, but not what I use when hunting anything much bigger than rabbits.  This is the reason I have 240-grain Hornady XTP bullet loads done for me by a friend who lives in the eastern part of Texas.  I will not give the “load formula” used. Suffice it to say when properly loaded for hunting, the .45 Colt is an extremely formidable hunting round.

I shot my Deputy, using “hunting rounds” off-hand at a target 20-yards distant.  Using the gun’s existing “rear notch” with the front “blade” sight, I took “a fine bead”, meaning having the front blade even with the top of the notch (as best as my eyes would allow), after cocking the hammer I held where I wanted the bullet to strike the target.  I put pressure on the trigger, the gun fired and recoiled.  The bullet struck the target, about 3-inches high of the bullseye.

I cocked the hammer and held just a hair lower, pulled the trigger.  The bullet was about an inch below the first shot.  I then shot the remaining four rounds at the same target.

At the target I saw all six shots were grouped within a 5-inch circle, easily within the the vital zone of a deer or wild hog at that distance.  I know with a solid rest and some more shooting I can shrink that group considerably so I will feel comfortable shooting at a live target out to at least 25-yards and later out to 50-yards.

After initially shooting my Deputy, I have to say I not only like the way it looks but also how well it shoots.  It has quickly made its way to the top of my choices to my regular “carry gun”.

As I said we all have choices, I really like my latest!