With the fall hunting season here again, my Mossberg 6.5 PRC and 7mm PRC rifles are topped with Stealth Vision scopes, sighted-in to shoot 1 MOA and less groups at 100 yards with Hornady Precision Hunter. My Rossi lever-action Model 95 30–30 Win is finely tuned, as is my over 100-year-old lever-action Winchester Model 1895 30–06 I bought this summer.

I plan on hunting with several guns this year and will likely also be using a TenPoint crossbow in preparation for black bear hunting in Canada next spring. However, when pursuing older, large-antlered, mature bucks, as well as moose in British Columbia, I will carry my Mossberg/Stealth Vision/Hornady combination rifles. For hunting moose, I plan to use my 375 Ruger Mossberg rifle shooting Hornady Outfitter ammo. I will use the other rifles and crossbow primarily while hunting does, management bucks, and wild hogs. Thankfully, I get to hunt several properties under Texas’ Managed Land Deer Permits, which allows me to harvest several deer on those places.

If you’ve noticed, I haven’t yet mentioned handguns… You do know I love hunting with handguns. I have some strictly handgun hunts planned. The two handguns I will be using are Taurus Raging Hunters — one in 44 Mag and the other in 454 Casull. Both are topped with long-eye relief scopes manufactured years ago.

My long-eye relief scopes were made by Simmons and Thompson/Center (T/C) back in the past century. They are still the best today due to their ruggedness in retaining accuracy and their excellent longer eye-relief capabilities. When held up close to your eye, you see only a pea-sized image. Moving the scope away from your eye fills the scope with the image. But move it too far forward, and you lose the image.

When I first got my 44 Mag and 454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter handguns, complete with their integral Picatinny scope/red dot sight mounting rail and their integral muzzle brake, I mounted 2.5 MOA red dot sights on the guns. I loaded them with Hornady 240 gr XTP Custom ammo. From a bench at 100 yards, I learned that this combination was quite accurate. I could shoot two-inch or less, five- and six-shot groups. That always amazed me because the 2.5 MOA red dot at 100 yards covered two-and-a-half-inches of the target. Somehow, I was able to shoot groups tighter than what I could see on the target.

Years earlier, while hunting with T/C’s break-open Contender and Encore handguns, topped with long-eye relief scopes and shooting appropriate Hornady ammo, I often shot at milk jugs and steel targets out to 500 yards. With several of my Encores, I could shoot one-inch groups at 100 yards. At 500 yards, I was shooting essentially five-inch groups.

Shooting targets at 500 yards with my single-shot handguns prompted me to see if I could do the same with my 44 Mag and 454 Casull Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers, using Hornady 240 gr XTP Custom ammo. Initially, with the 2.5 MOA red dot sights, I did hit the 500-yard, 20-inch circular steel gong several times with that combination. Later, I replaced the red dot sights with T/C and Simmons long-eye relief 2.5–7x scopes from the past century. After doing so, I regularly hit the 500-yard steel gong with both guns.

Would I shoot at an animal at that distance with my revolvers? No way. At those ranges, the bullets no longer produce sufficient downrange energy to kill quickly and humanely. But hitting steel at that distance with a revolver is quite fun.

My love affair with the 44 Mag goes back quite a few years. I have long used 44 Mags to take numerous whitetail, mule deer, pronghorn, exotic species, antelope, and warthogs in Africa, and even several elk. I used my 454 Casull on deer, several elk, and Alaskan brown bears.

This hunting season, I will probably spend a bit more time shooting my 44 Mag. At least, that’s the plan for now, however that could change…

Over the years, I have learned a lot about hunting handguns. One thing that always amused me was the questioning looks I got when I showed up in a hunting camp and we went to the rifle range to ensure our guns were properly sighted in. Fellow hunters, especially guides and outfitters, often had concerned looks on their faces. Most considered handguns inaccurate and ineffective for hunting.

At the bench, from a solid rest, my 44 Mag revolvers were always as accurate as, and in numerous cases more accurate than, rifles being used by other hunters shooting at the 100-yard target. Using Hornady ammo, I could consistently shoot less than two-inch groups and often one-inch groups or less, dead-on at 100 yards.

I often invited guides and fellow hunters to shoot my handguns. With a little coaching, I soon had them shooting two-inch groups at 100 yards. I remind everyone that my handgun is just like their rifle: “The bullet goes where the barrel is pointed when the trigger is pulled.”

While my Taurus Raging Hunter revolvers are double-action, I still shoot them single-action, meaning I cock the hammer each time before pulling the trigger. Were I being charged by an animal, I would shoot double-action, but that very seldom happens. Although, I have been charged by enraged wild boar hogs a few times.

When shooting revolvers at animals, I always take a rest. That rest might be a tree, a limb, a rock, a fence post, the crown of my western felt hat, crossed shooting sticks, or tripod shooting sticks — homemade or commercial — anything that helps me shoot accurately from a solid position. Unless the range is extremely close, 10 yards or less, I will find something to rest my firearm on.

When shooting a revolver… never, I repeat never, place your hand on the cylinder or in front of it. Always keep your hands back where they are only on the handgun’s grips. There is considerable hot gas released at the front of the cylinder where it meets the barrel when a round is fired. Placing your hand on the cylinder or in front of it will cause severe burns, lacerations, and possibly the loss of a finger or two.

If you are not already into handgun hunting, there is still time to get started. Once you procure your own Taurus Raging Hunter 44 Mag or 454 Casull and start shooting it with Hornady ammo, you too will quickly develop a love affair with handgun hunting.

Photo credit: Larry Weishuhn Outdoors