Hunting handguns.

[Adam Helmer]

Jack & skeet,

Yes, Remington brought out the 760 Rifle because PA requires "Manually operated rifles" for hunting. That has been the law in PA for as far back as my collection of Hunting & Trapping Digests go. Also, back in the 1950s and onward, PA was the #1 seller of hunting licenses in the nation with over a million licenses sold every year. Hence, Remington did cater to that large number of deer hunters.

In the early 1990s, we still had a great deer herd in PA, and I lived in NH. My neighbor bought a non-resident PA hunting license and bought a 742 in .30-06 at the local NH gunshop. He drove to PA and learned he could not hunt deer with the semi-auto. He had not read the book. In NH semi-autos are legal and big game has a 5-shot limit on magazines.

Adam

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I have three main handguns that I use as hunting handguns.....a Colt Trooper MkIII in .357 mag, a S&W M29 in .44 mag, and a Ruger MkI in .22 LR. The revolvers each sport 6" barrels, and I've taken sheep & deer with the .357 and a sheep and boar with the .44. I've taken rabbits with the .22, and I hope to use it for squirrels in the future. The only modifications I've done with the revolvers is to add pachymar grips; the .22 has wood grips and target sights added to it.

However, I almost always have some type of sidearm on me while hunting; this past weekend it was my S&W M39 in 9mm while grouse hunting up north.....not a 'main' weapon, but it would have come in handy for any coyotes (two legged or four legged) that crossed my path!

[Rapier]

Adam,
I have a 4500 Kabota and a Club Car (sporting clays conversion) 48 Volt cart I use on the farm. Both have upright rifle racks. With two ponds on the place I shoot turtles on a regular basis to save my fish and last year shot a redwolf while I was drinking my first cup of coffee one morning. I have seen about a half dozen or so yotes, but they see me a long time before I see them and usually are in high gear at a distance before I see them. I will probably start putting out locking snares, so I can remove a pet if it gets caught. A lot of folks in these parts put out poision, but I do not like that approach as it is non selective and some so powerful it even kills buzzards and crows.

My place is a tree farm so it can be thick in places and I have spent two years getting the thick brush cleared between the trees, it was so bad that the burn contractors were afraid to burn the place else it get into a crown fire. So I had long root rake and bush hog deal.

I get to see a good many snakes and keep the good guys moving on, I have about a half dozen big black snakes on the farm, but the copperheads and cottonmouths get shot on sight, I do not like bad actors, those without a warning system. Our cottonmouths are very agressive and if disturbed look for something to bite. The Browning has a fair score on turtles and bad actors. Oh, I also have 5 covies of quail, so the egg eater also go away on sight, coons, armidildos, etc.

I have hogs across the highway and know it is a matter of time before they cross, then we will have a war, me shooting and them dying, but me steady loosing ground. At least we have no season here and I can dispose of them as I wish. But they are unbelieavably destructive. Your place looks like a air strike occoured in just one night.
Ed

[dovehunter]

I worked up a deer load for my .45 Colt 7-1/2" barreled Blackhawk and spent a lot of time at the range practicing with it. Now if I can just get a deer within my comfortable range everything will be great. Incidentally the load I am using is 20 grains of Lil'Gun behind a 255 gr. hard-cast SWC. I also use my .22 Ruger auto and a red dot sight for squirrel hunting. It'll do the job out to 25-30 yds. if I can hold it steady enough.

Regarding quirky hunting laws, Virginia (I think) allows handguns for hunting nearly all game (with the possible exception of birds), Their only restriction is that handguns used for deer hunting must have a muzzle energy of at least 350 ft-lbs (manufacturer's rating). It must also be .23 caliber or larger (as with rifles). I don't think either of these restrictions is unreasonable. The law we have that has always been and always will be stupid is not being allowed to hunt on Sunday.