Semi autos as a first hunting handgun

First off I sure aint trying to start a war. I am genuinely courious why the semi auto is thought of as inferior or at least as "not as good a choice" as a revolver.

I hunt with all types of handguns a love them all. Many of you have seen my posts about the .460 Rowland I built out of a Glock 21SF. One theme that has been repeated here many times is that people new to our craft are recoil sensitive.

A while back we took a 14 year old girl and taught her to shoot the Rowland. The comp works so well that she had no problem shooting loads that were making just over 900ftlbs. As soon as she figured out it wasn't going to beat her up she started hitting drink cans at 30 yards consistently. Since most .44 mag factory ammo comes in below that figure and kicks 3 times as bad it would have been hard to get her to duiplicate her shots with one of our .44s. Even the hot loaded specials kick worse.

There is deffinately no deficit in the accuracy department. It will out shoot most open sighted revolvers. It never offers to jam. The gun can be dropped in the mud and washed out in a creek and still be none the worse for wear.

So what is it that is considered inferior? Just asking. reflex264

the only thing I have against semi-auto pistols is the slide movment,just don't care for it.

Maybe it is the stuff ya have to do to the auto to get it to "hunting standards"? I mean, a revolver you can buy and get after it. But ya had to build the 460 Rowland. Most people won't mess with it. I hunt with a Ruger MKIII and love it. But that's small game.

I don't know really. Maybe its the extremely limited range with an auto?? Just thinkin out loud...

Inferior no. I wouldnt say that. More things to go wrong yes. A new shooter less is more. In my family we started out shootin an old remington breach action 22 rim fire , bumping up to single shot shotguns... then onto pumps. I know hand guns are different.. revolvers dont stove pipe , ftf , fte. I think revolvers makes more sense in that you limit rounds , have to cock the hammer to shoot... single actions any how. Most have longer site radius. Less moving parts.. slides magazine release. My first handgun was a glock 21 , learning to shoot that was a lot harder than my first revolver...my wife likes the single six better than my 22/45 I started her with and she says its easier for her to shoot. I guess its an opinion and or personal preference.

I shoot some loads in the 1911's that would be good hunting rounds and they are not abusive, to me, to shoot. Now, for a true beginner, I really don't know...but anyone used to shooting a 1911 could be effective with it.

255gr WFN loaded to about 925...guns never miss a lick with them.

I certainly would not call it inferior. However, I suppose most newbies would not have access to someone such as yourself to build these custom guns, and the ammunition is more expensive, rare and specialized. A semi auto in the Glock dept is not safe for a novice to carry racked, in my opinion, but racking it upon sighting game can be an exercise for the excited, buck-fevered novice as well, especially for the beginner, small woman, teen girl? I carry my concealed carry 1911 cocked-and-locked, and we don't want to even go there, at least not with my wife or any one of my four teenage daughters

I know in the Marines the new MP's and Sea going bellhops always shot better with the model 10 38spec than the 1911 at first and most all the way through training.For myself I just dance with who brung me

I think most people consider a semi auto as a defensive handgun as that is what it has been pushed as for years. Most semi auto's are not hunt ready power wise right out of the box [there are exceptions like the 10mm or 50ae . I didn't forget the 45 ap but to get it truly hunt ready you need to change springs and maybe add a buffer or comp to handle warmer loads .So if you want to hunt with most semi's you have to build them . Put a good comp or brake on the .44 and she would probably do as well with it as the auto. I personaly think a revolver is a safer starter pistol for a novice as it is easier to check its condition, just open the cylinder or loading gate .With an auto you have to overcome a heavy recoil spring. As for accuracy a well tuned auto will shoot with anything out there .J.M.H.O. :)I like them all!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why not a Coonan? 357 power in a semi auto handgun that absorbs some recoil, isn't massive and heavy like a desert eagle, and has all the operations of a 1911.

Thanks for the replies as I honestly want to know. Most of you probably know I love my wheel guns as well but the auto is growing on me. I also understand a novice shooter hunting with a glock without the added safety like I did could be touchy. My brother had a Coonan. It was well built and accurate. It also gained 100fps over a 6" Security Six with identicle ammo.

I guess this spawned another question. If you had a semi auto that had a manual safety and was chambered in a cartridge capible of taking deer and hogs cleanly, was accurate and had good sights would you still think of it as a second choice to a revolver?

Ballistics are ballistics.
I have hunted deer with a tricked out 10mm (2x LER scope) with no problem. Used the old Black Talon ammo.
Whatever cartridge you use, just pick a bullet and stay within it's range limitation/capability.
If you can shoot accurately from field positions, then have at it and have a great time.

In my opinion of course.
Inferior to a Revolver? NO.
More complicated than a Revolver? YES & NO.

In this day and age of match grade barrels and all sorts of way to accurize a Semi Auto I believe than can be the equal of any Revolver. However typically with both types of handguns box stock I would have to say that in my experience the accuracy would favor the revolver.

With the exception of the 10mm Auto and some of the +P .45 ACP loads a revolver can be chambered for a wider array of hunting suitable cartridges. Granted there are exceptions to this considering the Coonan Arms .357 Magnum, the Grizzly LAR chambered for the .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum and .45 Winchester Magnum as well as the Desert Eagle in it's various chamberings.

I for one carry either a Glock 21SF or Glock 36 .45 ACP on a daily basis. In the Glock 21SF I have and do use the Remington 185gr. +P JHP Ammo. I have carried it for several years but have yet to harvest a Whitetail with it while hunting. However I have dispatched several wounded Whitetails while working over the years. In my experience with the Remington 185gr. +P JHP's or a equivalent velocity handload using the 185gr. Nosler JHP I feel this cartridge with this load to be AT LEAST as effective as anything I have ever fired out of a .357 Magnum Revolver.

When handgun hunting for Whitetail Deer I NEVER go with just one handgun. I hunt in too much varied terrain and cover to do that. I typically carry an open sighted handgun as well as a scoped sighted handgun if I am hunting with only handguns. Actually when hunting with a Scoped Rifle I too carry an open sighted handgun.

In my opinion for the average hunter that wants to hunt with a Handgun it is just simply easier to go buy a revolver and set out to hunt with it. In this day and age in which every one is so busy that is just the way it is for a lot of hunters. But then Handgun Hunters are not your average hunting either.

Larry

Larry one of the advantages I see is the ability to buy ammo such as the 185 +P ammo and head for the woods. I have shot two deer with 185grs out of a .45 Super and it killed them just fine. I don't have any illusions about any auto cartridge less than a .50AE going toe to toe with my 360gr loads from my .45 wheelgun. I think that the semi autos may be the Rodney Dangerfield of the handgun hunting world.

You may be right on that one. Hopefully some day I can have the opportunity to take a Whitetail with the Glock 21SF with +P ammo.

I just like revolvers because I don't lose my brass.

I've had the itch for several years to use a semi auto for hunting, I just haven't really got the chance to do much hunting in the past few years. I've got basically two options, one is a Glock 35 with KKM 6" barrel that will toss a 180gr JHP to over 1350 or a 200gr XTP over 1250, or the G21 using .45 Super, both using handloads.

Recently worked up some 255gr SWC in the Super that from the 5" barrel averaged right around 1100 fps, or with the warmer loads (compensator needed!) I can run a 250gr XTP to 1300 fps, the BTB 255gr WFN does well too.

I would venture a guess that for many, hunting with a semi auto (let alone a "plastic fantastic"!) just doesn't have the mystique that hunting with a wheel gun has, but that's just an guess. I also think it's harder for many to shoot accurately with some semi auto types than with a revolver. I certainly think the bigger bore wheel guns work a better especially with larger game, but for most deer and moderate sized hogs I think the semi autos do just fine.

I think junebug has the handle on it, as on some 1911 sites you'll get nothing but grief if you mention the 1911 is a fine hunting pistol. I don't think most of them have ever harvested a deer, as most seem to think deer wear kevlar or are as thick as a bison.

As with most game, unless you take out both front shoulders or get a CNS strike, that animal just might take off and run for a while and it really doesn't matter whether you're using a 460 Weatherby or a 38 Special.

Back in the 50's the 38 Special accounted for its share of deer/bear and when the 357 became popular - that was the miracle handgun round. The 44 mag - now there was a handgun caliber that was too powerful to use on deer or black bear and not many ever thought about it but the youngsters got an interest when dirty harry movies came out.

I haven't seen to many "young" deer hunters in the field within the past 10 years with a rifle less than a 7mm and their field of fire is maybe 80 yards.

Relative to rifles, my family used the 30-30 and when the 308 came about some switched while others stayed with the 30-30 or went to the 243. Handguns were always the 38 Special, 357 or the 45 ACP in the 1911 platform - I was the only idiot going big bore with the 44 and now the 50 Linebaugh Max and everything in between.

I started my grandkids hunting predators (fox/coyote) with the 1911 and they love it and my 15 yoa granddaughter is deadly with it to 35 yards on a stationary target - anything that doesn't want to come within her "killing range" will still get a proper send-off and one of these times lady luck will be on her side and a yote at 100/150 yards will take a tumble - so far close but no cigar.

The 1911 is a wonderful handgun and can do about anything a marksman would want to do with it relative to hunting anything that walks on the North American Continent. The 44 mags, 454's, 475 and 500 Linebaughs and 500 S&W's are mighty fine handguns around a campfire as well, but the only thing they can do better is break both front shoulders on elk size or larger game - and of course, they can penetrate larger game end to end and have a longer effective range - I guess that's more than "only thing" but that 1911 is a very formidable handgun.

I would think on a charging brown bear the 255/265 grain cast bullets could break a brown down if you had the time, which in most cases you won't have; so for my money, I'll have a double-action revolver with a lanyard, so when he pounds my butt in the ground I might have a slim chance of retrieving my revolver and getting off a miracle shot.

I've gotten more deer with 1911 style handgun in .45 ACP with standard self-defense 180 to 230 grain JHPs than any others simply because I had it with me working my mini-ranch, finding where the horses escaped, fixing fence, pick and shovel reclamation, clearing trail, etc. I have carried more recently Glock 20SF in 10mm auto, Glock 35 40 S&W and recently Glock 41 .45ACP+P. I carry standard factory ammo in the 10mm auto, use Double Tap 200 grain "controlled expansion" (bullet unknown to me) in 40 S&W, Hornady 220 grain FlexLock in 45 ACP+P. I know small,lighter, fast bullets work but find piece of mind with .40 cal/200 grain/1000 fps as minimum. A longer sight radius seems to help me, along with adjustable sights, fiber optic or tritium inserts. The extra barrel length gives less than a 100 fps edge in most of my Glocks, not really an issue but a nice bonus. I dedicated hunt with a revolver most of the time. Semiautos are with me for targets of opportunity.
Saving the brass to reload while practicing in the woods/fields seems to be the only inescapable fault of semiautos.

My Glock 21 460 Rowland and love it.

I like my autos..a lot! And I don't believe that it is a "power" issue at all. I have killed enough deer with a 38spl to know, all you have to do is hit them in the right spot....

But the auto is a huge safety issue for All of us. Especially the new shooter!!

EVERY TIME the gun goes pop...the damn thing reloads and re-cocks itself.

You will never "double-tap" a Super Black Hawk. But my match 1911 10mm will pop 2 real easy...

At least the 1911 has a manual safety and a grip safety...Glock considers the manual safety an aftermarket add-on for the smokin deal of $90..LOL

Even with the 1911 if you want to unload it you have to take the darn thing off safe and point it at "something?" Ever seen the new shooter try to lower the hammer on a 1911?? Or try to work the slide while holding it in tight and close to there belly to gain leverage? Not pretty!

Yeah it is my belief that the auto serves very little use for the "NEW" handgun hunter.

I have said this before, but the new handgun hunter ( and a lot of veterans) could be no better served than with a good, long barreled, 357magnum revolver.

I think another part of the issue is that many newbies, myself included back when I started, think that you need something like a warmly loaded 357 or a 44 in order to kill a deer quickly. While that's obviously not the case, as members of this site have repeatedly demonstrated, the belief is still there.

Before I built my .460 Rowland I found an acount of a hunter with a .460 Rowland and the 230gr Factory FMJ Rowland loads stoooing a brown bear charge. Penetration was great evenon the bears skull. reflex264