bamaranger
New member
I have long desired to take a deer with a handgun. I read a lot of Bob MILEK and Ross SEYFRIED as a kid and over the years and that created an interest in handgun hunting. I took some small game but never a deer, primarily because I never dedicated the time. Bowhunting deer (and gunning spring gobblers) became my passion and on the occasion when I carried a handgun on a deer hunt, Bambi never showed up. I decided that this year, before my eyes got any worse, or my mobility slipped, I would take a deer with a handgun.
But what handgun? Logical choice would be a magnum revolver, and I have both .44 and .357 from which to choose. But in my noggin' I got the idea that I would hunt with a 10mm Auto. My Glock 20 initially was the choice, but as I worked with it I realized two things: 1) despite a rear sight blade change a few years back, the dang thing was still shooting high and 2) Despite a Ghost 2.5 connector, I really didn't care for the trigger pull for accurate work past 15 yds or so. But I had a 10mm Auto with a fair trigger (better than the Glock anyhow) and good sights......a RIA 1911!
I'd purchased the RIA 10mm about a little over a year ago and had sent it off for a set of decent "retro" sights and filed the tall front down to a precise zero at 25 yds with a 180 gr bullet, the slug landing right on top of the post. My handload with the Hornady XTP/180 just made 1200 fps with a max charge of 2400 pulled from an old RCBS manual. At the distances I planned to shoot (bow range) I figured I had enough gun.
Early December I found a white oak saddle that had a lot of feed sign on it.
I'd had success there before with the bow, but this time I would sally forth with the pistol. Things being like they can be, I arrived a bit late, and was not in place 'till after 3:00 PM. After climbing with the stand to about 20 ft plus, I fastened the seat and settled in....and looked up to see a deer coming in about 50 yds out! Then the circus began.....
To adequately see the front sight, I had a set of reading glasses on a lanyard around my neck. I also had a set o f horseshoe type (like hickock45) orange hearing plugs on top of my head. So the drill was, get the plugs in, glasses to the end of my nose like the town librarian and draw pistol. Watch the deer work in to shooting range, then slide the glasses up my nose to shoot. Put the glasses in place to early and I could loose sight of the deer as things went fuzzy at distance. But I managed it all and the doe worked in to 15 yds, I lined it up.......and missed.
I dunno, I guess I mashed the trigger. She wasn't totally broad side, more quartering to, and I shot in front of her is the only explanation. Anyhow, she ran off 100 yds in the open timber, stopped, and blew and blew! Huh?
Disappointed, but more than one deer left all this sign, so I stayed put. At near dark an hour later, 3 more came in. The plugs, glasses, pistol routine happens again, and this doe stops also quartering at about 20 yds. I make DANG sure this time I manage the trigger properly. Through the muzzle flash I see her go down hard.......well that's that. I climb down carefully to avoid mishap though excited and in a couple of minutes behold my pistol deer!
Autopsy later yields that the bullet entered where the neck joins the shoulder, clipped the spine, entered the very upper front of the chest cavity, descending sharply to exit same, on the off side, breaking the opposite foreleg just where it joins the body. There, caught by the hide, I recovered the XTP, intact, mushroomed, and none the worse for striking spine and foreleg bones. Weight of the recovered slug was 163 grains or if my math is correct, 90 percent. The XTP performed admirably, and so did the budget 1911, once I handled it correctly.
So, that box is checked. I've since put a 6" bbl on the Glock and a micro-red dot, no more librarian glasses. Even with the notchy trigger, at 25 yds, the Glock will plunk five of the big 200 gr slugs into circle about as big as the mouth of a coffee cup. I've not chronographed the 200's from the 6" Glock but suspect they will run near 1200 as well. Carried it just last afternoon and passed up a doe!
But what handgun? Logical choice would be a magnum revolver, and I have both .44 and .357 from which to choose. But in my noggin' I got the idea that I would hunt with a 10mm Auto. My Glock 20 initially was the choice, but as I worked with it I realized two things: 1) despite a rear sight blade change a few years back, the dang thing was still shooting high and 2) Despite a Ghost 2.5 connector, I really didn't care for the trigger pull for accurate work past 15 yds or so. But I had a 10mm Auto with a fair trigger (better than the Glock anyhow) and good sights......a RIA 1911!
I'd purchased the RIA 10mm about a little over a year ago and had sent it off for a set of decent "retro" sights and filed the tall front down to a precise zero at 25 yds with a 180 gr bullet, the slug landing right on top of the post. My handload with the Hornady XTP/180 just made 1200 fps with a max charge of 2400 pulled from an old RCBS manual. At the distances I planned to shoot (bow range) I figured I had enough gun.
Early December I found a white oak saddle that had a lot of feed sign on it.
I'd had success there before with the bow, but this time I would sally forth with the pistol. Things being like they can be, I arrived a bit late, and was not in place 'till after 3:00 PM. After climbing with the stand to about 20 ft plus, I fastened the seat and settled in....and looked up to see a deer coming in about 50 yds out! Then the circus began.....
To adequately see the front sight, I had a set of reading glasses on a lanyard around my neck. I also had a set o f horseshoe type (like hickock45) orange hearing plugs on top of my head. So the drill was, get the plugs in, glasses to the end of my nose like the town librarian and draw pistol. Watch the deer work in to shooting range, then slide the glasses up my nose to shoot. Put the glasses in place to early and I could loose sight of the deer as things went fuzzy at distance. But I managed it all and the doe worked in to 15 yds, I lined it up.......and missed.
I dunno, I guess I mashed the trigger. She wasn't totally broad side, more quartering to, and I shot in front of her is the only explanation. Anyhow, she ran off 100 yds in the open timber, stopped, and blew and blew! Huh?Disappointed, but more than one deer left all this sign, so I stayed put. At near dark an hour later, 3 more came in. The plugs, glasses, pistol routine happens again, and this doe stops also quartering at about 20 yds. I make DANG sure this time I manage the trigger properly. Through the muzzle flash I see her go down hard.......well that's that. I climb down carefully to avoid mishap though excited and in a couple of minutes behold my pistol deer!
Autopsy later yields that the bullet entered where the neck joins the shoulder, clipped the spine, entered the very upper front of the chest cavity, descending sharply to exit same, on the off side, breaking the opposite foreleg just where it joins the body. There, caught by the hide, I recovered the XTP, intact, mushroomed, and none the worse for striking spine and foreleg bones. Weight of the recovered slug was 163 grains or if my math is correct, 90 percent. The XTP performed admirably, and so did the budget 1911, once I handled it correctly.
So, that box is checked. I've since put a 6" bbl on the Glock and a micro-red dot, no more librarian glasses. Even with the notchy trigger, at 25 yds, the Glock will plunk five of the big 200 gr slugs into circle about as big as the mouth of a coffee cup. I've not chronographed the 200's from the 6" Glock but suspect they will run near 1200 as well. Carried it just last afternoon and passed up a doe!
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