I am relatively new to handgun hunting.I have taken a medium size buck with a rbh 44mag. @ 30 yrds with iron sights.It was my third hunt with a handgun and I haven't done much handgun hunting since.I have always enjoyed the S&W's and have gotten one.I am wanting to strictly handgun our 3 month season for white-tails this year so here are my questions.I can hit a pie plate everytime 6for6,at 50 yrds with iron sights.Is a scope a necessity?I was told as far as I could do that same kind of shooting up to 100yrds or so that would be my effective range.Comments welcome please.Next question is cast ammo v/s hollow points,flat points,all copper,platinum etc.?I have acquired 300+rounds of cast ammo over 23.5grns of powder in Texas nickel brass.Would this ammo be effective on deer?I will be shooting S&W 629-1 w/6" barrel.Thanks for all the help.

Scopes are personal. My Dad uses scopes on handguns because of his eyes. The scope puts the sight picture on one plan and he does well. On the other hand, a scope will help the most to extend your shooting times and dusk and dawn. Keep in mind that your group size might increase a little when that deer walks out in front of you. I shoot a 22 a lot off hand to practice. Half of my shots from tree stands have been off hand so that is how I do a lot of my practicing. A scope would require the same type of practice to get use to it. One thing you can do at home that will REALLY help is use “snap caps.” They help a lot with trigger control. They will make it very obvious how you are depressing the trigger.

Iron sights can work just fine, I use them all the time for black powder and ½ of my pistols, but I always strive for the best group I can. I also limit my range to were I think I can cleanly and quickly harvest what I am shooting at. That range will change for everyone on this form.

By the way, welcome to the site. Glade to have you here.

Because my eyes are starting to "get old" (48 tomorrow) I've really come to like the red dot sight I mentioned in the other thread on a revolver. With the "UltraDot 4" I use, you can choose a small enough dot that it allows plenty precise aiming on big game animals out to 100 yds. There are 4, 8, 12, & 16 moa dots(each dot covers approx that many inches at 100 yds, half that at 50 yds, etc.). I usually keep mine set on the 8 moa dot for hunting, although if I'm approaching my bear bait in thick brush & worried about brown bear, I kick it up to 16 moa for fast target aqusition at close (under 25 yds) ranges.
Very versatile, & very dependable.
On the Encores I go with standard scopes.

I shot a Big Black Bear at 80 yards with a Red Dot and it made the shot easy. I am now using a 4x scope due to my eyes being old (53)I have yet to hunt with it so I've looking forward to shooting something with it. I personaly feel the open sights are the fastest for me, then the Red Dot and then the x4. But I suppose that is just because I have practiced more with open sights. My personal range is 100 yards with my RBH Hunter no matter what sighting system I'm using.
As far as bullets, I like a WFN Cast bullet or a Nosler Partition. That is another personal choice. Some like JSP or HP depending on what they are hunting. If your cast bullets are a WFN then you have a good hunting bullet, if they are SWC, they will not be as good for hunting. If they are a RNFP then I understand they are not good for hunting because they slip threw easily and don't leave much of a hole. Of course all of this is just my Two Cents.
As TCMan stated, go for the smallest group possible. Yes a paperplate is the kill zone on a large deer but as he said if you get excited that group is going to grow. Try running a hundred yards as fast as you can then stop and try the same 100 yard shots. All six shots in less then 30 seconds. If you can get them all on the plate that's some good shooting. This is some of the type of shooting we did when I was a cop. It really helps practice for shooting under stress. Sorry for rambling on. There are a lot more guys on here that have been hunting with a handgun alot longer then me that can really help you get your shots down to a small group. I like a grouping of about 4" at 100yards in hunting situations.

upon futher investigation of the ammo it appears to be magnus flat base swc over 23.5 grns of unknown powder in Texas brand nickel.Would this be a effective load on eastern white-tails?

You really need to shoot it over a chrony to find the ballistics. Not sure of a wad cutter for hunting but it will punch a hole. If a hard cast bullet it should do the same as any other hard cast, if being pushed hard enough. What is the bullet weight and velocity, that is the question that will provide your answer.

As far as your ammo goes, I suggest you burn up the other guys reloads in practice (300 rds goes REAL quick when you are having fun!) & then load some know quality reloads of your own for hunting.
I would think that for whitetail either the Nosler Partition or equevilant (go for a lung shot) or a good hardcast with a wide meplat (WFN) (go for bone... Front shoulders!) would work fine.

I'm not familiar with the magnus bullets but if they aren't hard cast with a heavy load of powder under them you will probably have a leading problem, that powder weight would be in the ball park of 296, h110, or lil gun.

Food for thought....I NEVER shoot anyone else's reloads. You have no idea how many firings are on the brass, the quality of their craftmanship or that ever case has 23.5gr of that certain powders...especially when you have no idea what kind it is!!

Welcome, I have used 240 grain SWC,22.5 of powder and have shot a big doe with no problem. A friend of mine has been useing that load for years. I live in iowa and the doe's are pretty good size. I would be also concerned about the handloads. The only habdloads i will shoot are the ones I made.
Just have fun and get used to shooting it.

Dan B. makes a very good point. You should never fire handloads you now nothing about. I don't even fire my fathers and he tought me. You don't know for sure what or how much powder they used. Or if they combined two used cans into one. Since we are talking safety and, you said you are new to handgun hunting. You will buy more guns. A rule i stick too is never have more than one box of ammo open at a time. Especially if you have more than one fire arm. I have a pair of Rugers, one in 41 and one in 44. Wellll....once apon a time i was shooting at my back yard range. I run six throught the 44 and they were REAL hard to eject. I actualy had to pull the cylinder and drive the split cases out. I had been swapping back and forth leting them cool and had run hot 265gr 41 mag loads out of my 44. I had it checked out and no damage done. I didnt even notice they were the wrong shells until i went put them in the box. There weren't any empty spots. Scared the crap outa me.

I label everything. I have a several rounds that I reload for multiple firearms. I have also noticed that the SBH and the SRH don’t like the same loads. So I am marking all the heads of the SBH black and all the loads for the SRH red. I am using different bullets in my 708’s. SST’s in the pistol and SPBT’s in the rifle. But EVERYTHING is labeled and clearly marked including the date it was loaded, bullet type and weight, and powder type and # of grains.

I would use my Dad's reloads, I know exactly what I am shooting. That is the reason I am so meticulous now about it.

My father can't see through a barb wire fence. The thing is, any body can make a mistake. If some thing goes wrong. I know who the bonehead was and, he don't have to live with it.

i got about 100 rounds of loaded ammo that was fire formed and then loaded for my 35 remington..
first thing i did was to pull all the bullets.. socked all the powder and disposed of it.. then i poped all the primers in the gun.. it tock a while but i rather waste some time .. then waste my hand

That is the reason I will use my Dad’s reloads. He is he exception, no the rule. His notes in his reloading books are very extensive. He also made sure I realized the importance of using book reloading data. He was very adamant about it. He told me that if I needed a round to be hotter, that I needed to buy a bigger round.

And yes I do agree, as a general rule of thumb, I don’t shoot other peoples reloads either.

i have to agree on making notes in my load log if i forget which
i do some times i can look back to see what i did with that load.
only way to go. you have to think safety first.

It only took me once. I was working on loads for the 223 and didn’t label everything sufficiently. I had to pull a round and look at the bullet and powder weight to determine what I had loaded it with. I then understood why my Dad was so meticulous!