Hunting with a BP Handgun

I was wondering about hunting big game with a BP single shot handgun. Are there any traditional pistols (Traditions, Lyman?) in .50 or .54 that produce enough energy to hunt deer or bigger game or would one need to go to an inline BP pistol to get enough energy for hunting? Thanks.

There was a program on in Kentucky I think where the host only has one hand and had a long barreled pistol made to hunt deer with and he did take one with it. So it is doable.

Found it,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmGoIoKltxw

Jim Chambers Flintlocks has a pistol kit that may be what you are looking for. That would be my choice anyway.

steve

I have a .54 cal flint (TVM) that I carry as a backup hog hunting. Shot one last year with it. Worked alright, do not know if I would want to have it as my only weapon on a hunt.

grndhunter, Here in ark we can use a bp pistol as a main hunting arm several restrictions apply, In short gun must be of 54 cal or larger, and have a minimum of a 10 inch bbl. You can carry any cal handgun as a backup with a legal longarm. Is doable but is definately a close range proposition yours hounddog

making a traditional gun capable of burning enough powder before the ball exists the muzzle, to impart a large ball with killing power is a quandary. One of the Italian Companies makes a 14 or 16 inch barrel kentucky style pistol. I don't recall what caliber. I think it is called the bounty hunter.

Even if in 50 or 54 caliber and the barrel weight is sufficient to take a strong charge. Is the lock decent quality, or a cheap POS. A 10 pound trigger pull makes pistol shooting a waste of time.

grndhntr said:

I was wondering about hunting big game with a BP single shot handgun. Are there any traditional pistols (Traditions, Lyman?) in .50 or .54 that produce enough energy to hunt deer or bigger game or would one need to go to an inline BP pistol to get enough energy for hunting? Thanks.

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This is the leg bone of a deer killed with a 54 caliber percussion pistol broke the bone took out the heart and lodged against the far side hide.
Yes they work. But it requires practice and fairly stout loads. Like 50-70 grains in a 54. This may require a slower twist than some pistols have. I prefer rifle twist barrels for pistols at least those with 50 and over bore and barrels over 6-7 inches.

Dan

WOW..Now that is damage,,Have seen leg bones from The Civil War that look just as broken...

hounddog said:

grndhunter, Here in ark we can use a bp pistol as a main hunting arm several restrictions apply, In short gun must be of 54 cal or larger, and have a minimum of a 10 inch bbl. You can carry any cal handgun as a backup with a legal longarm. Is doable but is definately a close range proposition yours hounddog

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.45 can be used provided your shooting a conical of at least 200gr, and 9" barrel.
Arkansas has some of the dumbest handgun hunting regulations. Example, I could legally use a 4" .38 special for deer. However it's illegal to use my ROA which can generate over 1100 fps with 143gr round ball.

I think Colorado may top Arkansas for dumb rules. For example, you can hunt with a 4" 357 revolver but not with a .357 rifle. You can carry any handgun you want but no handgun is legal to actually take game during the BP season. If you use a handgun for the "coup de grace" you may or may not be in trouble, it's up to the discretion of the individual game warden.

I once had an acquaintence here in Arkansas who regularly poached deer with a Remington C&B .44 using a round ball. He reported excellent penetration and ded deer.
However, him being a liar, cheat, scoundrel on top of poacher, I always suspected he never mentioned the wounded ones that ran away. He wasn' the type that would track them down.

I think the critical factor would be range. During the mountain man era there are a few accounts of trappers riding right up beside a buffalo and shooting it with a pistol. Did it always work? NO. But then again there are stories of guys shooting a buff 20 times with a rifle and the buff is still standing.
Pistols have less power. No argument. If you are sitting on the ground hunting deer and a deer walks up on your "bad side" for a rifle shot, you could kill it with a pistol, provided the range is close and you're a good shot.

I harvested a small whitetail last year with my Dragoon. The range was under 10 yards (treestand) and the ball penetrated completely, going through both lungs and the top of the heart. The deer trotted about 30 yards, wobbled, and then fell over dead.

This was with 45 grains of FFFg under a .454 roundball (around 141 grains), which chronographed at just over 1100 fps. I would think that most single shot pistols would be capable of producing more energy than this load, as you can use a larger caliber and more powder.

From my experience, the secret to success with a handgun on big game is to limit your range to "bow range" and then be able to place your shot right where it will do the most good. You just don't have a lot of extra energy to possibly make up for poor shot placement. :idunno:

I like to hunt deer with my .44 Bison using .454 roundballs and 35 grains of fffg GOEX.

Well, I e-mailed the Colorado Division of wildlife and asked about hunting with one in the ML season. Can't do it. In fact, they told me that I couldn't even use one with a rifle tag, which I think is wrong, as long as it has the minimum 550 foot-pounds of energy @ 50 yds. needed for a handgun.

What I'm looking for is a lighter, more manuverable gun for use during the Colorado ML season. I don't really care if I have to keep my shots to under 30 yds., but I would like to have something easier to carry. My next idea is to try a carbine rifle, maybe with about a 16" barrel. Does anyone make something like that or would I have to custom cut down a barrel? If my math is right, I think that on my TC Renegade, taking 10" off the barrel would take about 2.1# off it's weight, making it much more manuverable and light-weight, while still being "traditional". What do you guys think?

Cutting a rifle barrel to less than 18 inches makes it an Title II NFA weapon which is regulated. I don't know if the "antique weapons" rule applies in this case, I would think it would, but I'd check to be sure, we all know gun laws are not always consistent and this is a special case. Just a suggestion, I don't claim specific legal knowledge here. :surrender:

Sounds like a good idea to me, North Star West "blanket gun" or "canoe gun". Smoothy that can double for upland game also? 30 yards shouldn't be an issue imho.

steve

Generally handguns have a faster twist than whats used in rifle barrels. So a cut down rifle barrel would be a poor choice for a pistol barrel.