I have been reading articles and topics on here for a few years, finally registered. I am really wanting to take a big game animal with my 454 Casull. I have been a handgun shooter for a very long time, I reload, and I cast my own bullets in addition to using the occasional jacketed bullet. I love the 45 caliber, but also shoot a 44, a 357, and a 32 H&R. I have a cow elk tag for a December hunt, and I'm really trying to work up the nerve to leave the rifle at home.

Dave

Welcome to the addiction.

Dave, Good to see ya... By any chance are you a guide in NM???

You just have to trust yourself and equipment and be willing to say great hunt bet I connect next year.The challenge comes first and the harvest second.

Welcome! Sell the rifle and it won't be an issue; you'll have to kill it with your handgun...

Thank you for the kind words. I will keep shooting, trying to boost the confidence to make hits 100% of the time at 60-75 yards, I am using irons, and while I regularly shoot targets at twice that distance, don't feel it would be ethical for me to shoot at game that far, if I decide to scope in the future, I will let the 454 stretch it's legs.

James, I am not a guide, for my age, I'm really not that good of a hunter, except birds, I'm pretty good with the birds.

AKBman,

I'd say you're off to a great start. You're honest about your capabilities and you seem to have the right level of commitment. You may not get an elk if you leave the rifle at home - you might not get one if you take it with you, but if you get one with a handgun it will fulfill one of the greatest challenges in hunting and mean far more to you than killing one with a rifle.

This.

As above...well said.

Thanks Gary! Words to live by. Getting ready to head out and practice, my FA 454 and SBH 44 are rarin to go.

So I went up into the hills to shoot, the 44 with a Lee 305gr bullet I cast and size to .430 and H110, and in the 454 I was shooting a 325gr WFNGC bullet over H110, and some light loads with the 300gr Sierra over HS6. The 44, aside from shooting 4" high, and needing some windage adjustment, was shooting a 3" group at 59 yards, the 454 on the other hand, was shooting patterns with the 325s, and good groups with the 300gr Sierra, will have to take a look at what I have changed since the last time I shot the 325s. That 44 SBH of mine has been the best money I ever spent on a pistol, $200 with 10 rounds down the tube, 3 boxes of shells (minus10 rounds)a box of 100 270gr Speer GDSP bullets to reload, a pound of 2400, and an Uncle Mikes Shoulder Holster. I have shot this pistol so much, that it is devoid of any bluing on the back of the grip frame, and until I purchased my first 454, it was my main carry pistol in Alaska, missing the bluing from the end of the barrel and ejector rod housing as well. The Freedom Arms, my second 454 (first was a Ruger Super Redhawk when they first came out), was the culmination of a 20 year dream to own a Freedom Arms revolver. A lot more practice is needed before December.