Barring
any stifling new legislation that would completely curb the use of pistols,
handgun hunting now has a strong enough foothold to be called a serious sport.
Bow hunting has received more publicity, has gained the acceptance that led to
pre-season hunts on game preserves and other favored treatment. Unfortunately
for the sixgunner, his hunting gun is one that often is associated in the minds
of lawmakers and a large part of the general public with murder, mayhem, and
outlawry.
Then,
too, it’s a sad fact that our image is sometimes tarnished by the screwballs
in the handgun game. These types seem to believe that using a sixgun rather than
a rifle entitles them to throw sportsmanship out the window. They attempt
casual, offhand game shots at ridiculous ranges, thankfully missing their
targets most of the time, but frequently crippling animals that could have been
surely taken with a rifle.
Some
of these sad sacks believe that the purchase of a Magnum revolver will somehow
make up for lack of skill. They who can’t connect with a beer can at 25 yards,
shooting a .22, invariably seem surprised when their .44 Maggie doesn’t strike
within spilling distance of a beer keg at 100. Never ones to admit personal
ineptitude, these are the boys who write gun editors for dope on how to load the
.44 up to .300 Weatherby performance, or where to get a scope for 1,000 yard
work, and “Is it legal to put a shoulder stock on it?”
Given
their heads, they would soon “accessory” themselves back into the rifle
business.
I
can remember very few men who actually hunted with handguns, except when it was
necessary to hunt for food or to kill a predator, and a handgun was the only gun
available. Albeit, my compadres have taken a trainload of game with the
six-shooter, and I’ve brought home a generous share myself.
The
distinction is a matter of semantics, and of the intent and purpose of the
pistol packer when he leaves the hearth and takes to the field. The best men at
the art of handgun game shooting are outdoorsmen, but not necessarily hunters as
we think of hunters today.
Gun-toting
cowboys largely belonged to the past even back when I was a boy. Some waddies,
though, carried along a little ballast in their britches during their strenuous
day’s toil and they brought home meat. When the bosses’ bacon and beans got
tiresome, it wasn’t too much of a chore to bush them up with grain-fat
mallards or Canada honkers, a Canadian River turkey, or the backstraps from a
mulie buck. If these delicacies didn’t make an appearance during a day’s
ride, the hired hand on horseback could always use his hogleg, generally carried
in a chap’s pocket rather than a holster, to gather a brace of cottontails or
even a neighbor’s straying Rhode Island Red.
I
remember rural mail carriers, forest rangers, truck drivers, farm hands, and
telephone linemen who carried sideguns. And pistol-toting country doctors and
seismograph crewmen and bulldozer operators and cattle magnates. These were not
swivel-chair, once- a-year deerhunters, but outdoorsmen who made intimate
contact with game every day. Many were only so-so pistol shots, but free from
the ravages of buck fever, could Indian up close enough to an unwary deer to hit
him with a rock, let alone a handgun.
Their
guns were pretty sorry by today’s standards. There were a lot of WWI Lugers,
worth about five bucks during the Depression. Single action Colts abounded in
every caliber. Some of the better-paid invested in new Colt or Smith double
actions, and the real gun nuts were seen to carry the crisply made .22 Colt
Woodman automatics. One self-sufficient country boy I knew left Texas and spent
more than 10 years in the back country of Alaska, loading his Dodge Power Wagon
with cooking utensils, several hundred pounds of books, a gasoline-powered
washing machine, and a Colt Police Positive .32-20. He never passed a day there
without eating meat.
It
behooves the modern handgunner to take advantage of the excellent selection of
hunting guns that are now offered. No serious hunter, when contemplating the
acquisition of a new, centerfire handgun, should consider anything but a Magnum.
While it is true that revolvers like the .38 Special, the .44 Special, and the
.45 Colt and .45 AR can be handloaded into excellent performance, the Magnums
can likewise be handloaded to outperform these older calibers at the peak of
their efficiency. The shooter who plans to spend all of his time taking
jackrabbits with mild, .38 Special target loads is better off with a .357 than
he would be with the finest .38 Special revolver. With the Magnum version,
simply dropping the right ammunition into the chambers will equip him to cope
with chance shots at bobcats, javelina, or deer, and his .357 will be of the
same, highly refined grade as his choice of the best of .38 revolvers.
With
their wide range of bullets and loadings, the .38 Special and .357 cartridges
can do anything that might be desired of less powerful loads, and would thus
preclude the choice of a new hunting revolver in a lesser, centerfire caliber.
This
statement might raise the eyebrows of devotees of varmint pistols like the .221
Remington and the .256 Ruger Hawkeye. While they are interesting guns, and most
efficient when applied as varmint killers, these two pistols do not fit my
interpretation of the gun to be carried by the everyday woodsman. To take full
advantage of their long range accuracy, they must be fitted with telescope
sights. This is acceptable to an experimenter or specialist who carries his gun
on a car seat, but the total bulk of the resulting rig makes it as cumbersome as
a small rifle, thus removing it from the handgun category.
The
new Ruger .30 carbine revolver can be expected to throw lighter bullets of
smaller diameter at velocities comparable to those of the .357. So doing, it
will have definite limitations as to the size and variety of game it can
adequately kill.
The
.44 special and .45 guns, while quite good, do not have the latitude in power of
the .41 and .44 Magnums, yet cost more money when purchased new. I have both
calibers in my collection, and wouldn’t be without them, but for a new hunting
six-gun I would, of necessity, select the Magnums.
To
narrow it further, I choose the .44 Magnum over the .41 for hunting, although
the latter is extremely close to the .44 in potency. It is doubtful that a heavy
animal would know the difference when hit with a factory or heavy handload from
either of these calibers. The two javelina I have killed with my .41 Smith &
Wesson were certainly dispatched as fairly as I could have expected them to be
by the .44.
I
pick the .44 simply because it does have a slight edge in bullet weight and
diameter. The recoil-shy will also find that it kicks somewhat more strongly. In
the deluxe grade, the Smith & Wesson .41 and .44 Magnums are offered in
4”, 6 ½”, and 8 ⅜” barrel lengths, and are identical in every
respect including price. The model 58 Smith .41 cannot be considered a
hunter’s gun because of its short barrel and lack of adjustable sights.
Ruger’s
catalog does give some reason for choosing the .41. Their Blackhawk single
action in that caliber lists for a modest $87.50, making it a very reasonably
priced heavy six-gun, with all the refinements necessary for game killing. It is
offered in 4 ⅝” and 6 ½” lengths, the latter best for hunters.
This
matter of barrel length is important in several ways. The least noteworthy of
these is the increase in velocity gained by the longer barrel. Approximately 100
fps difference exists between the performance of full Magnum loads in 5” and 8
⅜” barrels. This is not sufficient to be a deciding factor in the choice
of the length of your sixgun’s barrel.
More
vital is the enhancement of the holding qualities of your revolver when it gains
muzzle weight with a longer barrel, and the reduction in sighting error
resulting from the longer distance between rear and front sights.
A
Magnum to be used solely for hunting should carry a minimum barrel length of
6”. Longer tubes, up to S&W’s 8 ⅜” model, are better. Anything
longer than that is too unwieldy for normal use, negating what practical
advantage it may have gained in power and accuracy. In 1958 I did considerable
shooting with a 12” Colt Buntline .45. The old long Tom, even though mounted
with fixed sights, shot beautifully, and I made some excellent groups with it.
Most of my shooting had to be done from or near my car, since the only way to
carry the Buntline was to carry it in the hand.
Other
faults of the freakishly long barrel are that it tires the arm so rapidly in
offhand shooting, and is rather slow in aligning for a snap shot. Although these
two shots will rarely be essayed at game, the barrel’s length should not be so
extreme as to handicap the shooter seriously.
The
real sportsman always takes advantage of the best result available, and shoots
two-handed. When an offhand shot is absolutely necessary, the heel of the
shooting hand should be rested in the cupped palm of the off hand. Lateral
barrel movement can be dampened somewhat by extending the first two fingers of
the lower hand to support the trigger guard.
Some
hikers carry a staff, and steady their handguns against it, or the staff-holding
hand. I have never found this comfortable, since the staff hand, if it takes a
full grasp of the stick, leaves nothing but a couple of knuckles on which to
rest the revolver. If the thumb is opened to allow the gun hand to rest on its
web, there is never enough room and unwanted side pressure is exerted against
the gun.
Neither
do I care for the lanyard arrangements sometimes seen. Although useful in
preventing loss of the gun, and an aid to steady holding when the shooter is
pointing straight in front of him, these accessories, to my way of thinking,
simply add to the paraphernalia that a man is trying to rid himself by carrying
a handgun in the first place.
When
shooting from a rest, such as a fence post, or from a car window, remember not
to permit any part of the gun itself to touch the surface of the rest. To do so
will affect the point of impact of the bullet at the target, due to the
revolver’s not being allowed to recoil naturally. The off hand should support
the gun hand, as described earlier, and should itself rest on the hard surface
to act as a cushion. Those with small or bony hands may find it desirable to
wear a leather glove to protect their support hand.
When
no rest is available, various positions other than standing may be employed for
two-handed six-gun work. By far the steadiest is the back rest. If something
solid, such as a tree or large rock, is handy, the shooter sits down, resting
his back against the anchor object. Both knees are drawn up, and the forearms
rested on the insides of the thighs, just behind the knee joints. The handgun is
grasped in the usual, two-handed manner, and the hold can be made rock-steady by
the application of a little inward pressure by the legs.
Sitting
without a back rest is not so good. As the shooter lowers his head to see the
sights, his body tends to rock backward, and it is necessary to hook the elbows
in front of the knees on the shins to remain balanced. This is a strained
position, and I do about as well standing.
The
belly-flopping prone position is not as beneficial to handgunners as it is to
riflemen unless an artificial rest such as sandbags or a pad are on hand to make
a base for the gun. Without this support, the hands are extended too far
forward, and are held up by a framework of trembling muscles, instead of bone.
Another bad feature of the prone position is that the gunner’s head must be
held back unnaturally far to look down the sights. Also, the line of sight is
extremely close to the ground, and view of the target is likely to be obscured
by weeds, brush, and small rocks.
Better
than going completely prone is to sit down, extending your legs in front of you.
Then lean back, resting the weight of your upper body on your off elbow. Draw up
the knee of your shooting side, and rest the wrist and inner forearm against it.
Although it looks rather strange, this is a very good position in lieu of a
rest.
Given
the proper gun and loads, anyone who has the desire and is physically normal can
master the techniques necessary to kill game with the handgun. Equally as
important as proficiency is attitude and conduct in the field. Handgun hunting
needs the quiet, competent gent who obeys the rules of good sportsmanship, who
picks his shots with care, and who can come home feeling rewarded on the day he
didn’t get a shot.