Barrel length for hunting sixgun

[Bill in Oregon]

Jim keeps posting all these wonderful vignettes of the game he has taken over the years with handguns, and it got me to pondering on the matter -- and on the ideal barrel length of a hunting sixgun based on my own experience. And let me state right up front that while I have taken rabbits and squirrels sith .22 pistols, the only thing I have killed with a centerfire revolver is rattlesnakes -- no big game, yet.
I hunted three seasons with Ruger single actions back in my Oregon days but never had a shot. The first year had to have been in the early to mid-1980s as you still had to have your deer tag stamped "Handgun only" at an ODFW office. I hunted up near Diamond Lake, which is close to Crater Lake in the Oregon Cascades. This was blacktail country, and I carried a Blackhawk in .41 Magnum with 4 5/8-inch barrel loaded with handloads consisting of the 210-grain Sierra JHP over a charge of Blue Dot. All I ever had was a glimpse of a buck gliding through those dark lodgepoles like he was on a jet sled. I drew but just didn't have a shot.
The next time I handgun hunted, Oregon had relented on the handgun-only stamp. I had gone the opposite direction: 10 1/2-inch stainless Super Blackhawk, Leupold EER 2X, Uncle Mike's barrel-clamp sling swivel stud up front and butt of the revolver drilled and tapped for the other stud. Man, that was a handy rig to carry slung over my shoulder, but I realized it was terribly unhandy for off-hand work when I jumped a mulie buck out of a stand of aspen in the Beulah Unit in Eastern Oregon and it crossed in front of my brother on the other side. He dumped it with one shot from his 6.5 Swede Mauser.
The last time was bear hunting in the Siskiyou Mountains near my home in the Rogue Valley, probably 2011 or 2012. (If you haven't heard it pronounced, it's sis-Q.) I was easing along on a Forest Service logging road looking for fresh sign on the soft dirt banks, when darn if a blackie didn't just lope right across the road in front of me. I bailed out of the F-150 and drew the revolver -- this time another 10 1/2 inch SBH, blued, iron sights, 300-grain hard cast over a load of 296 -- and huffed and puffed up the bank , cut his trail then quickly lost it in the tangle of brush. I got to a vantage point where I could listen and glass, but he had vanished, for all intents and purposes.
Thinking back over my time afield with Ruger sixguns, I know that the 7 1/2-inch barrel makes a lot of sense. It gives your powder a chance to give your bullet a good shove, it gives you a very useful sight radius for accuracy and it is reasonably easy to carry -- but not as reasonable as the 5 1/2-inch. I have long thought the best compromise might be the 6 1/2-inch, but for some reason Ruger has only made them in .357 and .41 Magnum that I can recall. This might be the "ideal" barrel length for packability and shootability in a dedicated hunting sixgun. Fun to think about. Maybe someday I'll buy a 7 1/2 in .44 Magnum or .45 Colt and have the barrel bobbed an inch to satisfy my curiosity.
I miss that Siskiyou country just north of the California line, but Oregon politics have gone hard left and I'll never go back. In our rural neighborhood in the foothills we had deer, turkeys, and yes, bears. Here was one I caught briefly while heading up the mountain to hunt deer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wMv1lggk4I

[JimT]

I've hunted with 4" barrel and 10 1/2" barrel and most everything in between. My Linebaugh .45 Colt Ruger is 8" as is the 480 Achilles. The 6 1/2" .41 Magnum by Bowen is my favorite hunting sixgun, though I like them all. These days I find the 5 1/2" very handy and like the 4 3/4" Colts and the 4 5/8" Rugers. I guess my barrel choice is limited to whatever the handgun I choose to hunt with has on it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Jim, what is your favorite bullet in that .41?

[JimT]

Jim, what is your favorite bullet in that .41?

210 gr. XTP ... I load 20 gr. of WC820 (military surplus H110) and have taken pigs, Elk, deer with it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Wow. That's got to be clipping along at close to 1600. Do you have a favorite heavy cast for the .41?

[earlmck]

Back in ancient days when I was shooting handguns a lot I killed a couple elk and a deer with the Ruger Redhawk, 7 1/2" bbl. I thought that gun was so close to perfect I bought a second to have on hand for when I wore out the first one. Haven't wore out the first one so have two of those "Model Perfect" babies (to quote old Mr. Herter). I catch anybody trying to bob an inch off that barrel they're gonna' have trouble on their hands.

'Course I've shot a passel of wasskly wabbits with 6" bbl Python and GP100 357's and consider those pretty much perfect also for the frame and cartridge.

[JimT]

Wow. That's got to be clipping along at close to 1600. Do you have a favorite heavy cast for the .41?

I have an old NEI 230 gr. FP mold that works pretty well but I don't load or shoot many. The 210 gr. XTP is the mainly what I load and shoot. I think I have a 215 gr. SWC also but haven't made any or loaded any in years. If you are shooting a .41 I will send you the SWC mold to use IF I CAN FIND IT!!

Edit:

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[Bill in Oregon]

Jim, no worries. I don't even own a .41 currently.
Just thinking about a "last" hunting sixgun. Neither I nor my wrists are as youthful as they once were, and those mid-range heavy cast loads in the .41, .44 and .45 are a lot more interesting to me now.
I was posting with a fellow who was Cimarron's warranty gunsmith for a decade about changes required to make an old model Colt clone's sights really useful for hunting and concluded that I had best just go find a Blackhawk of some sort.
Earl, I admire a guy who holds onto his guns the way you do. You know I am about the opposite!
Hope you get a chance to wear out that second Redhawk. I bought one in .44 Magnum, 5 1/2-inch, stainless, for a fly-fishing trip in Alaska 25-ish years ago and was darned glad to have it, but it was a kicker with 325 hard-cast over a case full of 296.

[JimT]

Neither I nor my wrists are as youthful as they once were, and those mid-range heavy cast loads in the .41, .44 and .45 are a lot more interesting to me now.

That's one reason I have settled on the .41 Magnum. The 210 gr. slug does not recoil harshly ... is very accurate and works really well. This is the slug that was stopped by the hide on the off side of the Elk I shot. It went through the ribs .. lung/heart area and made big bulge in the skin on the opposite side. It lost very little weight.

210 gr. XTP.JPG

[Bill in Oregon]

Jim, the recovered bullet tells no lies. Mebbe I'd best start considering a .41. I almost hate to add that I have a Glock Model 40 with 6- and 9-inch barrels that I have yet to mess with. But an auto is just not the same ...

[Grizz]

I shot a couple of deer with a 4 inch Model 66. One was from a skiff and was the best shot i ever made.

I didn't care for the 357 when compared to the 44 mag. (((in spite of the great things Mic M says about it))) i got a 10.5" SBH like you had and was shooting white box 240s I think. Semi jacked flat point. Then a friend started casting 325Gr plain base hardened bullets, and I started buying them. I worked up a load that was very comfortable to shoot. I have no idea how many i shot with it, but it was a good percentage of the harvest.

as to the sling thing and getting it into action, I never had one for it. i stalked, and used a deer call, holding the gun in my hand.

when i shot them from the skiff i had the revolver laying on the thwart beside me. i had a shoulder holster for when i needed three hands to descend the slopes, climbing down the tree roots in some cases. I had a bead front sight and a peep rear sight and the bead was the bullet.

my daughter asked me for my ruger and i gave it to her, ((!!!)) and she took some deer with it and a caribou in the interior. by that time my older two were out hunting with their friends and took over the harvest. we had 4 to 6 tags apiece, and i hunted all of the tags when the kids were little, and they hunted their own later on and replaced me!! so a 4" barrel and a 10" barrel, and that one was like a carbine but handier. the only bother with the long barrel was when i had in a hip holster i slid down the muskeg a ways and plugged the barrel with mud. found a stick to clean that up, and bought a shoulder holster. it's amazing how there are so many memories with one gun.
.
†

[JimT]

Me wearing the long .44 around town .. didn't always use the sling ..

me - Dale.JPG

[Bill in Oregon]

Grizz, I'd like to hear more about that bead front and peep rear -- I assume that was on the 10 1/2-inch SBH? You also mentioned calling deer --were these Sitka blacktails?
Jim, I think it takes a certain kind of guts to pack a 10- 1/2 SBH in town! Did small children have their photos taken with you?

[stretch]

I like the 41 Magnum! One of my all-time favorite cartridges.

That looks like a dandy load, Jim.
I'll have to try that XTP.

Bill, I have 2 cast loads I like:

215gr. LSWC over 7.0 gr. of WW231. OAL 1.280". I guess this is about 1,000 FPS. Very accurate, low recoil, easy on the hands.

250gr. WFNGC from Cast Performance over 19.8 - 20.0 gr. of H110. OAL 1.550" Best group was around 11/4" at 25 yards with 19.8.
VERY stout load! 25 of these is enough for me in an afternoon! I only shoot these in my Blackhawk. I developed this one for moose
hunting. Didn't get a moose, but that's another story.

(Back on topic - Blackhawk barrel is 6.5")

-Stretch

[JimT]

Jim, I think it takes a certain kind of guts to pack a 10- 1/2 SBH in town! Did small children have their photos taken with you?

We lived in the small mountain community of Oracle, AZ. In those days there wasn't 3000 people there and someone walking around with a gun on wasn't even looked at. Once a year they had a street festival and parade and my wife and oldest daughter were riding in the parade.

My daughter on her Blue Roan ... she won First Prize ... my good friends Sam and Fran Bass made her outfit and helped paint the horse.

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[Bill in Oregon]

Jim, what a wonderful memory. Does your daughter still keep horses? Mine just got a new one to train -- a Gypsy Vanner colt. I had to look up the breed -- Shire, Friesian, Clydesdale and some Yorkshire Dales pony to keep the size manageable.

[JimT]

No .. she would love to but horses are a way of life, not pets ... and her life at this point anyhow, would not accommodate them.

[Grizz]

That's a memory to cherish. What a blessing. Did she ride bareback much?

[JimT]

That's a memory to cherish. What a blessing. Did she ride bareback much?

She learned how to ride bareback before riding with a saddle. She could stick to a horse like burr.

[Bill in Oregon]

And I fall right off of them as if greased ...

[Grizz]

That's a memory to cherish. What a blessing. Did she ride bareback much?

She learned how to ride bareback before riding with a saddle. She could stick to a horse like burr.

I rode bareback for a while at a summer camp where I was a "counselor". I would lead the trail horses into the night pasture, and ride bareback on the only horse i could find that was steerable. That is a stellar feeling, loved riding bareback

[Grizz]

Grizz, I'd like to hear more about that bead front and peep rear -- I assume that was on the 10 1/2-inch SBH? You also mentioned calling deer --were these Sitka blacktails?
Jim, I think it takes a certain kind of guts to pack a 10- 1/2 SBH in town! Did small children have their photos taken with you?

Yes 10.5" SBH. I will look for a foto. I cut the blade off of the ramp and then dovetailed the block and installed a very fine bead. Then i got a rear blade called, i 'think', the omega peep. I 'think' it is a pachmyer grip, but don't remember. I'll try to borrow it from her when we are done with winter travels... The recoil felt mostly straight back into the palm. Yes sitka blacktails. at the time NO parasites of any kind, and NO gamey taste. My kids said "what's this" when we served them steak at the end of a fishing season celebration . . . we were blessed by living in the mother load of venison and fish. didn't need to do much hunting, mostly just gathering in.

[Blaine]

I hunted blacktail in WA for a few years with a S&W 629 PP 6 1/2 inch. (Ported from the factory....took a bit of the bite out of my 300 grain handloads). I had a Burris Speed Dot on it and at 25 yards it was one ragged hole accurate. I took several grouse with it, but no blacktail.

[Grizz]

I hunted blacktail in WA for a few years with a S&W 629 PP 6 1/2 inch. (Ported from the factory....took a bit of the bite out of my 300 grain handloads). I had a Burris Speed Dot on it and at 25 yards it was one ragged hole accurate. I took several grouse with it, but no blacktail.

that's nothing to grouse about

[FLINT]

I've only killed two deer with a handgun.

Both with a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 mag with 6.5" barrel.

First was 210 grain soft point over H110

second was Winchester factory 240 gr. HP platinum. that was some awesome ammo

I sold the 41 mag like a dummy and got a 45 blackhawk bisley with 7.5" barrel and haven't hunted with it. need to fix that.

Loved the 41 though. I think it hits the sweet spot.

[Bill in Oregon]

Blaine, I have hunted and hunted blacktails and the darned things were always smarter than I was -- or in the end, I was smart enough not to shoot one way up a hillside covered with slash or down in a steep draw choked with poison oak -- the recoveries would have about kilt me. Only two blacktails to my credit I shot while in high school in Arcata, CA, on a friend's ranch on the Bear River south of Ferndale.

[Blaine]

Blaine, I have hunted and hunted blacktails and the darned things were always smarter than I was -- or in the end, I was smart enough not to shoot one way up a hillside covered with slash or down in a steep draw choked with poison oak -- the recoveries would have about kilt me. Only two blacktails to my credit I shot while in high school in Arcata, CA, on a friend's ranch on the Bear River south of Ferndale.

They are absolutely ghosts....

[Grizz]

Blaine, I have hunted and hunted blacktails and the darned things were always smarter than I was -- or in the end, I was smart enough not to shoot one way up a hillside covered with slash or down in a steep draw choked with poison oak -- the recoveries would have about kilt me. Only two blacktails to my credit I shot while in high school in Arcata, CA, on a friend's ranch on the Bear River south of Ferndale.

They are absolutely ghosts....

that's a Fact. even in Alaska with high density populations they can absolutely go stealth with their cloaking apparatus . . . something of a teleport faculty perhaps

[marlinman93]

I've hunted with several different handguns, and with barrel lengths from a 4" Model 19 S&W in .357 to a 10" Contender in 7mmTCU. Barrel length choice was more of a "what do I own to use this year thing" rather than what is best. But my preference has always been a handier length around 5.5"-6" if I had the choice. I've used a Uberti in .45 Colt with a 6" barrel, but also my AWA SAA in .45 Colt with 4.75" barrel too. Both were a couple favorites of mine, and the shorter barrels are quicker to draw and get on target if needed. Plus I'm a fan of the .45 Colt for hunting.

[Bill in Oregon]

Vall, if my eyes were younger and could make good use of those original Colt SAA sights ...

[44shooter]

When I was a teenager NC had some pretty convoluted manner of taking laws. Small game could be taken with a 22 pistol not less than six inches. Hence when I wanted a 22 pistol, I asked for the Mark II Target 6 7/8 in barrel as the much handier 5 1/2 was illegal for hunting and the six had fixed sights.

For big game which at that time was deer, boar, and bear (turkey is regulated like big game but can only be taken with shotguns or archery) required a bottleneck cartridge of at least 6mm or a straight cartridge of at least 357 power. In either case the barrel had to be at least 5 1/2 inches. So a 4 5\8 Blackhawk or 4 inch 29 was illegal.

Many years later I got a letter from NC Wildlife Commission. It was a questionnaire on suggested changes to regulations. I pointed out these rules excluded many popular models unnecessarily. To my surprise all those restrictions were wiped out. There are no caliber or barrel length limits on any game that can be taken with a handgun now. Turkey along with the usual federal birds cannot be shot with either rifles nor handguns.

A family friend gave me a barely used 586 in six inches. I took it along sitting for squirrels with my 77/22. Sure enough a buck came trotting from behind and froze to left. I had cocked the revolver while he was rustling the leaves. I shot at point blank range and he just stood there. When I recocked he took off never to be seen again. He was close like maybe five yards and I was really good with that revolver at that time. I do not believe I missed. The round was Hornady Frontier 158 gr. HP. This was before the XTP release. Not long after a local houndsman said he killed a deer from that block of woods that had been shot before. I was convinced the 357 was marginal and needed tough heavy bullets from then on. 41 mag or bigger, maybe 10 mm or 357 with carefully selected bullets. I’m not really a handgun hunter but I have carried handguns while hunting with a long gun for shooting things that I may not want to do with the latter. I would rather carry something in the 3-5 1/2 range for these purposes. I have pocket carried a 642 more recently for a more inexpensive dispatcher if needed. For this a pocket 22 would do.

[Aggie01]

The 5.5 Ruger Bisley is my go to.
I have one ea in .45 Colt, 454 Casull, 500 JRH & 500 Linebaugh
I carry when hunting in either a Simply Rugged Chesty Puller or Barranti Northwest Hunter.
I carry over my coveralls and under my coat. A 6.5" has just enough extra length to hang up inside the coat.
Even my Bisleyized Ruger Maximums have been built with 5.25" barrels, so I can use the same gunleather. (.445 SM, 500 S&W, 500L Max)

I tend to crossdraw hip carry a 4.25 barreled five/sixgun when I am doing something out at the property, but that's for unplanned situations, not for planned hunting.

[marlinman93]

Vall, if my eyes were younger and could make good use of those original Colt SAA sights ...

Even with young eyes those SAA sights aren't great, so it does require careful shot placement, and limiting shots to distances we feel comfortable with. But I've never taken long shots at game with a handgun, even with great sights. I did have a 1.5x-4x scope on my Contender, and could take longer shots with it with good accuracy. But I never did get a chance at a buck with it, so it remained untested in real hunting.

[JB]

For actual hunting, I don't want anything over 7.5". 6" would normally be my ideal barrel length for hunting, but I do have a 5" S&W 686 that just seems to balance perfectly and still gets decent velocity.

[Scott Tschirhart]

4 5/8 inches

[Bill in Oregon]

That's a mighty handsome revolver you have there, Scott. The brass SBH dragoon grip frame really works well with it.

[Scott Tschirhart]

That's a mighty handsome revolver you have there, Scott. The brass SBH dragoon grip frame really works well with it.

Why thank you. It’s an old model in .45 Colt. I had to open up the throats to really make it shoot but the effort was well worth it.

[Bill in Oregon]

Took the new to me .41 Blackhawk along yesterday on a range trip to zero a couple of new rifles -- a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Grendel and a Bear Creek Arsenal AR upper in .450 Bushmaster. Both performed waaay beyond my expectations, but neither is a levergun so I'll leave it at that unless someone desires particulars. The Rossi 92 should be along soon to remedy my current lack of lever rifle.
Anyway, I was on the 50- and 100-yard rifle ranges and have not yet sighted in the Blackhawk wearing the One Ragged Hole rear sight, but I just had to do some plinking with it. Running the Lee 41-210 TL, I shot three cylinders of five each with Unique, Universal and LongShot -- the latter being a noticeably louder powder. My shooting, offhand, was not worth mentioning except to say that, while I managed to fetch the gong a few times, I also fetched one of the chains holding it up -- and reported myself to the authorities when I got home. I am not sure what to think about that big aperture rear. I believe I tried a version of this marketed as the Omega sight 20 or 30 years back and didn't particularly like it. Jury is still out on this one.