Posted By: minnesotahunter
First deer with the 460 Rowland 1911 - 02/10/2020 11:35 PM
Hey guys and gals. Been a while since I posted. Have been filling my tags with the bow lately so I haven't been on as much. That along with kids and work has taken most of my time. However, one of my favorite things in the world is chasing game with a handgun!
After an exciting bow season I still hadn't taken any deer, so I got to bring out the Springfield Range Officer 1911. It has a Clark Custom 460 Rowland conversion that I have been extremely happy with. The kit includes a barrel, compensator, and a 24lb recoil spring. Recoil is stout but manageable. The gun is very accurate shooting 460 or 45acp.
Love the fully adjustable sights, and love that it still shoots the much cheaper 45acp which will cycle reliably, but does not have enough power to lock the slide back on the last round.(no big deal)
The ammo I'm shooting is Underwood 230grain Nosler jacketed hollow point at 1400fps.
Now to the story of the first deer.
I was hunting at my place, and the day began with me not hunting for myself, but for my 12 year old Cousin Ezra. He is the same age as my oldest son Christian. Ezra had never taken a deer and so we all agreed that he would be the one to take a deer if we got the chance.
The 3 of us were planning to sit together(they are too young to hunt alone)on the edge of a picked bean field behind a blind I had put up.
Just as we were heading to the woods my uncle called(Ezra's dad)and said he would come along. My son Christian wanted to sit with Ezra instead of hunting for himself, so I set the 3 of them up behind the blind and headed over to a tree stand not far away in the woods.
With around half hour of shooting light to go I let out a series of soft grunts. Couple min later I could see movement down the ravine through the trees. Sure enough it was a buck and he was making his way towards me. As he got closer I caught glimpses of his rack and determined he was a deer I wanted. I could see where he was heading and got my gun ready. I knew I would only have a second once he hit the small opening about 25 yards away. The buck was walking and I settled right behind the shoulder and squeezed off a shot. He mule kicked and took off circling my tree to head back down the hill. I took one more shot as he was running and then he disappeared over the edge and went crashing down the very steep hill.
Confident that he was down I climbed down and walked over the edge and found him about 50yards into the ravine. He was dead on his feet and fell/rolled most of that distance.
The first shot took the heart and one lung, the second took his close shoulder. The second shot was totally unnecessary. All it did was ruin some meat, but I didn't know at the time where I had hit him with the first shot. I also didn't know how well the bullet would perform as this was my first animal with the gun/load.
It was super exciting to be there with my uncle and the 2 kids who were excited to say the least. Getting him out was difficult where he ended up, but my parents came over as well as my brother to help and join in the fun.
Neither bullet exited but the insides were jelly and the shoulder was smashed. He was dead within 10 seconds of the shot. I love this gun!!! My new favorite semi auto for deer.
A couple days later I was hunting with that same gun in a different treestand. A couple does filtered out of the same ravine off to my left. They were around 20 yards away. I eased the 1911 out of a chest holster and flicked off the safety. I now had total confidence in the gun and knew I could place the shots at that distance. I decided to go for double lung shots to see if I would get pass throughs. Once they both cleared the brush I leveled the gun and aimed. The does were standing close to each other and I fired 2 quick shots through the lungs of the first and then the second doe. I flicked the safety back on and re-holstered knowing I wouldn't need follow up shots.
I watched both does fall with the gun back in it's holster. It was a surreal moment. 2 does down with my hands back in my pockets on my hand warmers and the woods quiet again as if it had never happened. I don't really know how to describe it, but it felt strange. Like I had imagined it. I think because I wasn't holding a gun or something. Not sure. One went 30 yards and the other only 20 or so. Both shots were double lung and both exited. Like the buck, neither doe lasted more than 10 seconds.
I am exceedingly pleased with the performance of the gun/load. I'm even OK that the bullets didn't exit the buck. It killed so quickly that it makes up for a lesser blood trail. I am confident that if the shots had been a double lung they would have exited the buck also.
P.S.
I made the mistake of not having ear protection in when I shot the buck. I will not make that mistake again. It was way worse than any 44 mag I have shot. My ears rang for 2 hours. I won't shoot it again without protection.
I had my electric muffs on for the 2 does, and it was totally comfortable. Relaxing even.
Thanks!
After an exciting bow season I still hadn't taken any deer, so I got to bring out the Springfield Range Officer 1911. It has a Clark Custom 460 Rowland conversion that I have been extremely happy with. The kit includes a barrel, compensator, and a 24lb recoil spring. Recoil is stout but manageable. The gun is very accurate shooting 460 or 45acp.
Love the fully adjustable sights, and love that it still shoots the much cheaper 45acp which will cycle reliably, but does not have enough power to lock the slide back on the last round.(no big deal)
The ammo I'm shooting is Underwood 230grain Nosler jacketed hollow point at 1400fps.
Now to the story of the first deer.
I was hunting at my place, and the day began with me not hunting for myself, but for my 12 year old Cousin Ezra. He is the same age as my oldest son Christian. Ezra had never taken a deer and so we all agreed that he would be the one to take a deer if we got the chance.
The 3 of us were planning to sit together(they are too young to hunt alone)on the edge of a picked bean field behind a blind I had put up.
Just as we were heading to the woods my uncle called(Ezra's dad)and said he would come along. My son Christian wanted to sit with Ezra instead of hunting for himself, so I set the 3 of them up behind the blind and headed over to a tree stand not far away in the woods.
With around half hour of shooting light to go I let out a series of soft grunts. Couple min later I could see movement down the ravine through the trees. Sure enough it was a buck and he was making his way towards me. As he got closer I caught glimpses of his rack and determined he was a deer I wanted. I could see where he was heading and got my gun ready. I knew I would only have a second once he hit the small opening about 25 yards away. The buck was walking and I settled right behind the shoulder and squeezed off a shot. He mule kicked and took off circling my tree to head back down the hill. I took one more shot as he was running and then he disappeared over the edge and went crashing down the very steep hill.
Confident that he was down I climbed down and walked over the edge and found him about 50yards into the ravine. He was dead on his feet and fell/rolled most of that distance.
The first shot took the heart and one lung, the second took his close shoulder. The second shot was totally unnecessary. All it did was ruin some meat, but I didn't know at the time where I had hit him with the first shot. I also didn't know how well the bullet would perform as this was my first animal with the gun/load.
It was super exciting to be there with my uncle and the 2 kids who were excited to say the least. Getting him out was difficult where he ended up, but my parents came over as well as my brother to help and join in the fun.
Neither bullet exited but the insides were jelly and the shoulder was smashed. He was dead within 10 seconds of the shot. I love this gun!!! My new favorite semi auto for deer.
A couple days later I was hunting with that same gun in a different treestand. A couple does filtered out of the same ravine off to my left. They were around 20 yards away. I eased the 1911 out of a chest holster and flicked off the safety. I now had total confidence in the gun and knew I could place the shots at that distance. I decided to go for double lung shots to see if I would get pass throughs. Once they both cleared the brush I leveled the gun and aimed. The does were standing close to each other and I fired 2 quick shots through the lungs of the first and then the second doe. I flicked the safety back on and re-holstered knowing I wouldn't need follow up shots.
I watched both does fall with the gun back in it's holster. It was a surreal moment. 2 does down with my hands back in my pockets on my hand warmers and the woods quiet again as if it had never happened. I don't really know how to describe it, but it felt strange. Like I had imagined it. I think because I wasn't holding a gun or something. Not sure. One went 30 yards and the other only 20 or so. Both shots were double lung and both exited. Like the buck, neither doe lasted more than 10 seconds.
I am exceedingly pleased with the performance of the gun/load. I'm even OK that the bullets didn't exit the buck. It killed so quickly that it makes up for a lesser blood trail. I am confident that if the shots had been a double lung they would have exited the buck also.
P.S.
I made the mistake of not having ear protection in when I shot the buck. I will not make that mistake again. It was way worse than any 44 mag I have shot. My ears rang for 2 hours. I won't shoot it again without protection.
I had my electric muffs on for the 2 does, and it was totally comfortable. Relaxing even.
Thanks!
