Henry Rifle Forums

Just curious if any of you or maybe anyone you know of ever hunted deer with say a .44 C&B revolver?
I've hunted and killed deer with revolvers, just not a BP.
I carry one with me during or Muzzler loader/BP season.
Thought it would be cool in the right circumstances.

Thoughts?

RP

Ok, before any of you answer, that's if ya read the second post before answering.
Our muzzle loader season started last Saturday.
I've seen several does and some scrub bucks that need to go.
No real good shots on the bucks and not wanting a doe just yet.
I usually try and get one or two of the scrubs, and a doe.
Lookin for a nice buck if it happens.

Ok today about 8 I have a spike come out around 60 yds. I accidentally shoot before I need to, lol.
Not funny at the moment.
So an hour later I'm watching this doe, I think if she gets close enough I'm going to try with the pistol. Takes a while before she ever gets close enough. Well then this little one comes out, I'm watching both. Little one eases back into the woods and the big doe catches something back to my right. I don't try to see what she's looking at then here comes a small deer running from that direction. Then she wanders into the woods and then this nice size doe comes across, stops out in front of me probably 50, 60 yds.
She looks back over her shoulder so I look also and when I do I see this deer coming through the woods.
So I lay the pistol in the floor and grab the binoculars, I see right away it's a buck and not half bad. So lay the binoculars down grab the.54 Renegade.
Kindly hurrying I think I have the set trigger but hell no.
Boom shoot plumb over him.
The doe takes off, he looks at me then back towards where the doe was, back at me long pause.....
He looks back towards where she was and I grabbed the pistol up off the floor and eased it up.
He looked away again and I raised the pistol up over and rested it on the wall of the blind.


Squeezed and he took off, but his tail was down and he wasn't running just right.

Went back to the house and got my little dog and he found him in short order.
He was about 50 yds away when I shot him and he probably ran 150 yds. RP

Vaquero wrote:He was about 50 yds away when I shot him ....

RP

tip of my cap to you .... 50 yards with a cap and ball is truly impressive .... nicely done indeed

Yep - great shot. That .44 no doubt packs a wallop!
I assume .44 is the minimum caliber for handgun hunting in your area.

Thats way cool Vaquero and congrats.

Mistered wrote:Yep - great shot. That .44 no doubt packs a wallop!
I assume .44 is the minimum caliber for handgun hunting in your area.

I'm not real sure about our black powder/muzzle loader season.
During reg gun season it's 357.
During the reg season, I have used both 41 and 44's.
This is my first with a cap & ball.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

RP

A 22 LR can kill a deer , but not a my weapon choice for deer . 44 Black powder revolver are near 45 ACP in power and is a very poor choice to hunt deer even with a slug in them and should only be use to kill a down and wounded deer to finish him off .

That C&B revolver hanging in those antlers is sure a great harvest photo.
Congrats!

What a neat recall of how folk used to regularly hunt with C&B --- you've kept that traditional shooting going today. Very cool to see such an interesting hunting report using a "non-state-of-the-art" wheel gun. Thanks for the post.

PT7 wrote:What a neat recall of how folk used to regularly hunt with C&B --- you've kept that traditional shooting going today. Very cool to see such an interesting hunting report using a "non-state-of-the-art" wheel gun. Thanks for the post.

60 some years back I hunted with my Grandfather in his bear/boar/deer hunting club .... I well remember sitting around the fire at night listening to the stories told by older hunters ..... many grew up hunting with black power rifles, shotguns and some with handguns .... they hunted with what they had .... not only did they hunt with them, they fed their families doing so ....

A 22 LR can kill a deer , but not a my weapon choice for deer

And most likely not legal ANYWHERE for deer.

Man, that sounds difficult! Congrats to you on some nice hunting and quick reaction times! Very nice! Thanks for sharing.

Mistered wrote:

A 22 LR can kill a deer , but not a my weapon choice for deer

And most likely not legal ANYWHERE for deer.

I NEVER said 22 LR was legal . I said it can kill a deer but not a good choice for deer . C&B revolver is a poor choice for deer ..... WOULD you use your 1911 45 ACP for deer hunting ...NOT ME .... The 44 C&B has less power then a 1911 in 45 ACP ...

but not a good choice for deer

No you said:

but not a my weapon choice for deer

Which denoted some MIGHT be using it for deer (not you of course) and that precipitated my comment about the probable, no doubt illegality of the .22 LR ANYWHERE for deer.
Of course I would never use a 1911 for deer and you are right - a BP revolver, regardless of caliber, is a poor choice for deer no matter what the range.
Just semantics at work here.

I’m old enough to remember my grandfather who was born in the very late 1800’s. On his dairy farm he only owned .22 and single shot shotguns. Never had a problem killing animals. Of course kids these days grow up thinking you need a .30 caliber for everything. But, relality is that for many years cap and ball revolvers has killed lots and lots of deer.

In my state, a muzzle loader pistol must be .44cal or larger, with a single barrel at LEAST 12" long, and NOT firing a saboted round.
I have a replica 1846 Colt Navy revolver in .44cal.
I used it many years ago to dispatch a deer that had been hit by a car.

With the standard black powder load, I watched a .44cal lead ball bounce off of a does skull, merely taking the skin.
That round didn't even think about penetrating the skull.
The next shot went into the chest, and I've never considered using it again for deer hunting.

Mistered wrote:

but not a good choice for deer

No you said:

but not a my weapon choice for deer

Which denoted some MIGHT be using it for deer (not you of course) and that precipitated my comment about the probable, no doubt illegality of the .22 LR ANYWHERE for deer.
Of course I would never use a 1911 for deer and you are right - a BP revolver, regardless of caliber, is a poor choice for deer no matter what the range.
Just semantics at work here.

MS has no caliber restrictions for deer. I don't know anyone who actually uses .22lr for deer, but it's not illegal.

From MDWFP:

https://www.mdwfp.com/media/253620/18-2 ... -pages.pdf

Gun:
There are no caliber or magazine capacity restrictions on firearms. Primitive weapons (as defined above) and archery equipment may be
used during gun seasons.