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Thread: "Hunting" Handguns

  1. #41
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    Quote Originally Posted by Krazykarl View Post
    Lost river,

    That looks like familiar terrain. I spent 7 years in Burns, Oregon area.

    Karl
    Karl,

    Geographically speaking I hunt similar terrain. Southern Idaho, and Northern Nevada. Also spend a bunch of time in central ID where I have a cabin in the heart of Elmer Keith country.

    That said, I used to stomp around eastern Oregon a fair bit. I rode roughstock through college (bucking horses) and met my wife at the Big Loop in Jordan Valley. We spent years going to Cattleman's Associations dances and Grange Hall dances back in the day, in places like the ghost town of Silver City and Oreana, in Owyhee County.


    If you are not familiar with the Big Loop, the main event is the roping of wild mustangs. Cowboys have to build a 20 foot loop to rope the wild horses with. It could get pretty sporty when a mustang, who had never felt a rope, and had had minimal contact with humans all of the sudden got roped. Quite often they got the better of the cowboys, which was entertaining too.




    BTW,it takes years to master that kind of roping.

    I never was a roper. Strictly a bronc rider.


    In the early 90s it was still a pretty small gathering primarily of ranch hands and families and hands. Cowboys often would sell their leather goods they spent the winter making, at the rodeo. Eventually commercial vendors moved in and a bit of the "ranch/buckaroo rodeo" flavor was lost, but it was still a good time.

    Very much a night and day difference from today's commercial rodeos.

    A completely different culture, for sure.
    THE CHAIR IS AGAINST THE WALL.

  2. #42
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    Trying to explain the frontier life and sheer vastness of the land to people here in the upper Midwest is difficult. They can't comprehend the distances involved and greatly reduced infrastructure. You just don't run to the store for a gallon of milk. If something breaks you are on your own. My years there were concentrated in the steens mountain area.

    To keep this gun related it is fun to describe to city folk that a 911 dispatcher in God's country may advise you to take care of your self with your own weapon. It happened to my family twice. That hardworking and stretched thin LEO service is 45 minutes away after all...

  3. #43
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    For you guys that have been shooting them awhile: what do you consider a reasonable load for huntin with a 629? I just picked up a 629-5 Mountain Gun and want to start reloading for it.

  4. #44
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    S&W's MG format is my favorite for hog/deer loads. The 4", skinny barrel is easily packed.

    In my 629 MG's I run a 250 to 300 gr., "Keith" type SWC or WFNGC (Wide Flat Nose Gas Check) bullet in Starline brass, with CCI LMP Primer and AA9 powder.
    I keep velocity <1200 FPS. The sweet spot (for me) is 1100 FPS in terms of controllability for repeat shots- and accuracy.
    I use AA9 instead of the standby H110 because you can download it safely, to run moderately hot, as opposed to screaming hot loads.
    I have found that AA9 works best with a magnum primer as I have experienced "hang fires" with reduced loads using standard primers. No problems in this regard have been experienced using magnum primers.
    The MG's saving grace is it's portability. Shooting monster loads from it is NOT conducive to accurate shot placement.
    If you want to shoot top end loads; get a Ruger BH/Bisley.
    I've found, for my hunting- a HC lead bullet, particularly one that is "long for caliber", at 1100+ FPS, usually shoots right through whatever I'm hunting. This includes hogs of 300 lbs.+.

  5. #45
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    Thanks for the info, I'll have to track down some AA9. I'm hoping to start working up a load in the next few days. I was considering Titegroup to try to get a complete burn in such a short bbl and try to cut down on flash. I have a box of 240gr XTPs and some ancient cast semiwadcutters to try out. 1100 sounds pretty doable from 4" based on the reloading books I have. Should be a fun weekend.

  6. #46
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    I'd caution using Titegroup or any similarly fast (Red Dot/Bullseye/etc) powder as a magnum handgun propellant.
    I've seen two m29's destroyed using fast powders- presumably with a double charge.
    I do use Titegroup in mild, 9mm loads and think it's a great powder in that, or similar applications.
    I advise using a powder that comes close to filling the case, that will overflow if double charged.
    Your extreme spread and potential accuracy are nearly always better with a slower powder in a magnum pistol as well.

  7. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gingerkid View Post
    Traded a plastic Glock for this beefy blaster. I say good trade. Hope to take a deer with it this fall.

    Enjoyed shooting the big boy, figured I needed more single action and bought the little brother Single Ten 22 LR. Should be cheaper to feed!


  8. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by gaijin View Post
    For my purposes, deer and hog hunting, nothing has worked as well as a FO sighted, 4" N frame- chambered in .4X, in the Mountain Gun (skinny barrel) format.
    I have done (double action) trigger work on these.
    The chamber throats have been reamed on the .44 and .45's to shoot cast bullets- they were too tight from the factory. The .41 mag was spot on however.
    All have modified Herrets "Shooting Master" or "Trooper" stocks.
    All are "Pre-Lock" guns.

    So I had my first range outing yesterday with the 629-4 MG and I'm hooked. The recoil was not nearly as bad as I was expecting and 50 rounds of factory .44 Magnum was perfectly doable. The gun is extremely accurate. I can't wait to see if I can do better working up my own load for this gun. The double action trigger in this -4 is a little stagy compared to my older tool steel guns but it's completely usable.

    My only issue is that my hand starts to ride up the back of the grip and by the sixth round the web of my hand is above the hump behind the trigger spur. I'm going to continue to work on my technique but in your experience is that something those Herrets might address? In your picture which are the Shooting Master and which are the Trooper stocks? What did you do to modify them? I actually like the trigger finger placement facilitated by the stock grips so I wouldn't want to lengthen it, do the Herrets add or subtract significantly to the trigger reach?

    Also, what sights are you using for hunting?
    Last edited by mkmckinley; 05-28-17 at 09:31.

  9. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by mkmckinley View Post
    So I had my first range outing yesterday with the 629-4 MG and I'm hooked. The recoil was not nearly as bad as I was expecting and 50 rounds of factory .44 Magnum was perfectly doable and the gun is extremely accurate. I can't wait to see if I can do better working up my own load for this gun. The double action trigger in this -4 is a little stagy compared to my older tool steel guns but it's completely usable.

    My only issue is that my hand starts to ride up the back of the grip and by the sixth round the web of my hand is above the hump behind the trigger spur. I'm going to continue to work on my technique but in your experience is that something those Herrets might address? In your picture which are the Shooting Master and which are the Trooper stocks? What did you do to modify them? I actually like the trigger finger placement facilitated by the stock grips so I wouldn't want to lengthen it, do the Herrets add or subtract significantly to the trigger reach?

    Also, what sights are you using for hunting?
    Good deal.

    The single action will "clean up" with use. I'd advise against Tweaking single/double action unless you're intimately familiar with S&W's trigger groups, too easy to ruin the hammer/trigger (dreaded "voice of experience here...I since learned from the mistakes.).
    Dry firing is your friend; both to clean up (lap in) the parts/pull and for familiarity with the firearm.

    The first three L to R are "Shooting Masters", the last on the right are "Troopers".
    The Herrett's DO address the issue you bring up.
    The back of grips cover the revolvers backstrap. This DOES increase the length of pull marginally; I must shift the gun in my hand a bit to shoot double action. There is no free lunch.
    However, 99% of any shooting while hunting will be single action- as you'll have time to prepare for the shot. A worthwhile trade off in my book.

    I use an SDM FO front sight, pretty sure they are all .300" tall for the 4" S&W's.
    The "half moon in a dovetail with a roll pin" is a less than ideal arrangement for the front sight.
    Install is pretty easy; be sure and break the bottom edge of the "half moon" on FS before attempting to tap into the mortise on barrel.
    I used to screw with drilling sight for roll pin, but the last half dozen+ I just use JB Weld and no roll pin. That has worked for the last several years.
    The S&W rear sights are completely adequate.
    I have Bowen's "Rough Country" rear sights on a few of my MG's and a Ruger Bisley. They are extremely well designed/machined, a PITA to dial in and expensive.
    If you plan on shooting ONE load through a gun, they are a contender.

    I'll bring up something re. accuracy with the MG's.
    The cylinder throats have been tight in every .44 mag and .45 Colt of recent manufacture I have owned or worked on for my buds. This has not been my experience with the .41 magnum guns.

    My 3- .44 MG's and 2- 4" 629's had throats that measured as tights as .4275". This is nuts.
    Ideally the throats will be same diameter as bullets, or .0005" under. I shoot .432" cast bullets, I reamed my throats to .4325" using a "Mansion Throating Reamer".
    These overly tight throats WILL shoot jacketed bullets fairly well- as the gilded jacket material can "spring back" and obturate in the bore/barrel- to a point.
    (If you think about it; undersized cylinder throats will cause pressures to spike- as the bullet is swaged down from .429" or .430" (depending on bullet) to .428"/.427" or whatever.)

    Lead bullet accuracy sucks ass however. There isn't enough chamber pressure to swage the lead bullet down to get through the cylinder throat, then to "bump it back up" to obturate/seal the bore.
    Additionally an undersized bullet can much more easily enter bore/engage rifling a bit tilted- further compromising accuracy.

    The above may be of limited, to zero interest for most handgunners, I get it.
    If you are looking for OPTIMAL accuracy from your MG, by all means- check the cylinder throats.

  10. #50
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    Very interesting, that is good information. I'd like to wring as much performance out of this thing as possible partly for practical reasons and partly just for the fun of it. I'll measure the throats today. Is a dial caliper sufficiently precise? Would a throat that's sized-to-bullet-diameter ideal for jacketed as well as cast or is that a cast-only thing?
    Last edited by mkmckinley; 05-28-17 at 10:11.

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