GRAYBEARD'S HUNTING HANDGUNS PAGE

My favorite tool for hunting is the handgun. I will share with you here
my thoughts and views on many of the handguns useful for handgun hunting
of game. I am partial to revolvers by Smith and Wesson and the Taurus
Raging Bull and Contenders by Thompson Center Arms and make no apologies
for those choices. If you are a of those others such as the Ruger, Colt
or Dan Wesson revolvers or of the bolt guns by Remington and Savage or
one of the other variants of the single shot handgun don't despair. Even
thought I don't personally use them I am including data on them here so
that "newbies" to handgun hunting will have a better feel of what is
available to them. You old hands at it are like me and too set in your
ways for me to change your minds anyway. We can still chew the fat or
shoot the bull about them if you would like just drop me an e-mail.



TC CONTENDER: The Thompson Center Arms  Contender or just TC for short
is my favorite of the long range handguns. Some folks call them hand
rifles or specialty pistols or various unprintable names depending on
their personal view of what handgun hunting really is. I sometimes
wonder myself if I am really "handgun" hunting when I take out my TC and
find it shoots better than my rifles. They really are that good. I have
never owned a TC in a bottleneck caliber that would not shoot sub-moa
with at least some of my handloads. I once had a 14" barrel in .223
Remington  that I got that level of accuracy with only one load.  I
returned it to TC for their evaluation and they returned a new barrel to
me at no charge. That is the kind of customer service you will get with
Thompson Center Arms. The new barrel shot much better than the one I
send them but still didn't meet my personal expectation for it. I
consider anything in .223 caliber to be a varmint or target gun. I
expect all varmint guns to consistently shoot 5 shot groups at 100 yards
that measure less than 1" center to center. If it won't then it isn't
welcome at my house. Neither of the .223 Remington barrels I have
personally owned or that are/were owned by my friends will do that. All
of them except the one I returned would have met the 1" or less standard
if I had been willing to accept 3 shot groups as I do with big game
calibers but that just isn't what my expectations are. Contenders are
available in a variety of "rifle" caliber's which are suitable for the
hunting of game both large and small and if the factory doesn't make a
barrel to suit your fancy then JD Jones at SSK will as will Bullberry
Barrel Works and Virgin Valley Arms. I have no personal experience with
Bullberry or Virgin Valley but what I hear is all good. JD makes nothing
but the best and backs it as well. Varmint Al has several Bullberry
barrels and also a Virgin Valley barrel or two and he is very
complementary of them. Spyro Andes has only good things to say of Virgin
Valley also and he has much experience with them.


TC Encore: The latest iteration of the Thompson Center Arms single shot
break action handgun. Everything the Contender is the Encore is in
spades. It is stronger but also heavier. The Encore has the capability
to handle rounds the Contender can't even up to and including the belted
magnums. Spyro Andes even had one chamber to .416 Rigby. Now don't you
know THAT is a handful when it goes BOOM! JD Jones at SSK has worked his
magic again and developed a whole new line of JDJ rounds based on the
30-06 case blown out with shorter necks. He says he can get pretty much
equal velocity from his 30-06 JDJ as he can from the .300 Winchester
magnum with less powder and less recoil. I bought one of the early
Encores in 7MM-08 and had one heck of a time getting it to group. It
would put two touching and the third might be anywhere from an inch away
to off the paper. I finally fixed it by in effect "free floating" the
forend from the barrel. Chris Mushel (csm@axs4u.net) is selling pillar
bedded forends that free float to solve this problem if you ever feel
the need. They are now available in stainless steel in some calibers and
I bought another SS Encore in 7MM-08 as before. Once again I was not
satisfied as I was unable to get my handloads or factory loads to
consistent shoot well in it. After a short fling with it I traded it off
and decided to just stay with the Contender which I much prefer.


SMITH & WESSON: I own and use a number of S & W handguns and have owned
over 200 in my lifetime. I am very happy with every one I have ever
owned and have never needed to have service performed by the factory on
any of them. I'm still not happy about the trigger locks S&W and now
most others put with their guns. I've just come to accept it as a
necessary course of action for the companies to take in light of all the
law suits now being filed against them.  Smith makes hunting revolvers
in about every hunting worthy caliber short of the .454 Casull and the
Linebaugh monsters. They make the Models 17 and 617 in 22LR for small
game hunting. The now discontinued Model 48 in 22 WMR is an excellent
small game and light varmint gun. The Models 66 and 686 in .357 Magnum
will handle any and all chores to which a .357 should be put. The Model
657 in .41 Magnum, is as good as it gets in this not so popular but
excellent caliber. I have one and  like it. The Models 29, 629 and 629
Classic/DX are the cream of the double action field in .44 magnum. They
are accurate and come from the factory smooth as glass with excellent
triggers. There are more but selection changes and you should visit
their web site or get a catalog.


RUGER: I don't currently own any Ruger products. Ruger places all their
handguns in plastic boxes and include small padlocks to lock each box
rather than providing trigger locks and I like that. I have owned
several Ruger guns in the past and found them to be solid well made
handguns and generally very accurate. Since they lost a lawsuit many
years ago the triggers on their handguns will usually be more in need of
work than the Smith's or Colt's but then everybody has become afraid of
lawsuits nowadays. That's a shame but people just aren't willing to take
responsibility for their own actions anymore so we all suffer. I do have
one bone of contention with Ruger. Bill Ruger himself publicly stated he
didn't feel that the general public had a need for handguns or rifles
with high capacity magazines. I have seen the quote in an interview
before and wish I had made a copy so I could put his words here for all
to see. I think Bill Ruger was wrong on that and sure wish that such a
powerful spokesman for the gun lobby hadn't made such a public statement
EVEN if he believed it to be so. He hurt us with that. For all the Ruger
fans out there I'm not trying to put down your gun of choice or the
company. I don't like what he said but I wasn't there in his shoes and
won't pass judgement. Since I don't buy Ruger products anyway it cost
him nothing from me. Heck I still might buy another some day to put on
the used gun market when as always I find it displeases me or maybe it
won't displease me and I'll keep. Boy will I ever hear it from the Ruger
fans then. They make single action revolvers in 22LR, the excellent 32
H&R Magnum, .357 Magnum and .44 magnum. The Redhawk and Super Redhawk
are as strong as double action revolves get. Now the Super Redhawk is
even available in .454 Casull for those who just gotta have power.


Colt: Yeah I know it's out of sequence. Colt is lucky they even made the
cut this time. They didn't in the past. Opinionated old rascal ain't I.
Colt drew a lot of heat and rightly so awhile back when their CEO made
some rather anti gun sounding public remarks. It is my understanding he
is no longer employed at Colt and I hope they are making a turn around
in their stance. Colt never made many handguns I consider to be good for
hunting. They jumped on the 44 magnum bandwagon very late due to the
fact they didn't want the S&W name (as in .44 S&W magnum) on their guns.
They made the Anaconda for awhile and I'm hearing mixed reviews on it. I
haven't shot one myself and so have no opinion good or bad to report. It
is a good looking gun and is big and should be strong. If they shoot as
well as some say they should be one fine hunting revolver. But if the
reports I get of poor accuracy is true then.. Well you decide for
yourself. As for me I'll take a S&W thanks. The Python is a real class
act, priced way too high but they are as smooth as a revolver get and
very accurate. I've owned 3 or 4 and all were very accurate. If you just
gotta hunt with a .357 Magnum then there is no finer than the Python.
Since Colt is no longer making any of these handguns if you want one
you'll have to get it on the used gun market. It is my understanding
they will now make only the Single Action Army and the Gold Cup but that
might or might now be current when you read this.


Taurus: This Brazilian firm is really coming on strong in the handgun
market. I've owned a few but admit they were made several years ago and
from what I'm told they get better each year. They have revolvers in
.357 magnum, 44 magnum and the Raging Bull in .454 Casull. For those who
just gotta have something different they even make a Raging Hornet in of
course .22 Hornet. The firm of Rossi has now joined with Taurus and
while handguns are still available under the Rossi banner they are now
made at the same plant as Taurus. In 1999 I finally broke down and
bought a Raging Bull in .454 Casull and I'm impressed. It is as well
made and finished as any of my S&W revolvers and just as accurate.
Recoil even from 325s at 1550 fps is not unpleasant. I have a Product
Review of the one on my Product Test Page at:
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/producttest.html  for your review. This
one is a keeper.

Savage Arms Company: Savage now makes both the Striker and the Super
Striker based on their time proven Model 110 action. Here is what Savage
says about the newer Super Striker. "The new 516BSAK "SUPER STRIKER "is
the ultimate combination for any hunting or competition enthusiast. The
"dual pillar bedded" custom designed thumb-hole laminate stock is
matched to a fluted stainless steel button rifled barreled action with
our patented "Adjustable Muzzle Brake"(AMB). The "Adjustable Muzzle
Brake"
reduces recoil up to 30% by releasing compressed gases through open
ports at the muzzle end of the barrel when the "Brake" is in the open
position. The new Savage
Engineered Step Performance (ESP) fully adjustable two-step trigger
system makes
the 516BSAK second to none in the hunting handgun arena. Drilled and
tapped for
scope mounts."  They are good looking guns and I've nothing but good
reports on them from owners. If you like bolt action specialty handguns
give this one a try.

Magnum Research Inc.: This company now makes the Desert Eagle semi auto
pistol in several hunting calibers to include the .44 mag and the
powerful .50 AE. They also offer the Lone Eagle single shot handgun in
many calibers suitable for hunting. The latest introduction from them is
the "BFR" Revolver in such powerful rounds as the .454 Casull and even a
long cylinder version in .45-70. I've never used any of these but you
may want to check them out to see if one of them is right for you.

Casull Arms Corporation: Dick Casull founder of Freedom Arms has now
started a new company and should be making delivery of his new CA 4000
Large frame revolver in .454 Casull as well as his smaller CA 3000 Small
frame revolver in both .32 H&R and the .32 Casull.

Freedom Arms Corporation:  The Bakers have bought out Dick Casull's
portion of this company and continue to make both the original large
frame FA revolver as well as a newer smaller frame gun. They still offer
the original power house .454 Casull and now also offer the more potent
.475 Linebaugh also. These guns are considered by many
to be the most finely made revolvers in the world and while expensive in
the extreme are highly regarded by their owners.

Remington Arms:  Remington is once again making the XP-100 bolt action
specialty handgun that started the bolt action handgun craze all those
many years ago. It is still the one to compare to for those looking for
a bolt action handgun.

 

 

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