Looking for advice for hunting not target shooting. I own a Dan Wesson 44mag VH 10" barrel revolver. I have taken 2 elk with open sites. I shoot rifles with scopes, but always shot handguns without scopes, hence I felt more confortable with open sites. Am I missing a better opportunity. Whats your thinking and experience on a scope for my situation. I mostly hunt whitetails. I do own a leopold scope with low to no magnification, came with the used gun. Looks like a quality scope. Thanks for your advice in advance.

I have similar experiences like you. I have a SRH that doesnt wear glass. It cost me a shot at a huge deer this year! At first I thought I just had to get me a scope, but I finished the season without one, didnt get a deer either. but after much thought about the scope on my revolver, Ive decided to keep it iron sites. I like the dependablity of irons and the challenge which are the main reason I hunt with a revolver! If I need meat Im not afraid to get the rifle out.

I bought a smith 500 the year before. shooting it at the range i was talked into putting glass on it. after a grand into mounts and glass i finished my elk hunt this year with iron sights at 35yards. If you want glass on your shootin iron then ill sell ya mine cause ill never put it on again.

Sandman,

All of my hunting revolvers wear glass from .41 Mag on up - but of course many a game animal has been taken with irons. Leupold is my preference and the 2x and 4X models would serve you well on the longer shots (out towards 100) on whitetails.

One suggestion - practice, practice, and practice some more. Some shooters take some adjusting getting the eye relief right on an extended eye relief scope, especially in hunting (ie adrenaline charged) situations.

Since you already own one, mount the Leupy, try it during the offseason, and see if you like it. Personally, I feel it extends my range considerably over irons, especially on tougher shots, wooded situations, and smaller targets.

Good luck!

I know this is going to sound weird but...

My first revolver was a DW 357 Max. I took many deer and woodchucks with open sights. When the 480 Ruger first came out I got one and put a 4X Leupold on it right away. I took 3 deer and 10 woodchucks with it, in the first couple of seasons. So shortly after that I put a 2-6 Bushnell scope on the MAX. I have hunted with it and racked up some woodchucks. Heres the weird part I don't like the scope on the DW. Most all my other revolvers are scoped and I'm fine with that. But the Max just does not seem right with a scope. I'm most likly going to take the scope off and use it iron sighted. Back to old school.

So mount a scope and use it all summer long and see what you like and are proficent with.

for me personally with out.however like some others have said since you already got the parts glass it up during the off season and see which you prefer.

IF my eyes were up to it (at 50 with bifocals they aren't), then I might still use open sights on my hunting revolver, but I just can't see that front sight clearly.
I don't really need magnification with my revolvers so I compromise & go red dot. Easy to focus, about as fast as iron, fairly small. It's interesting to note that my right (dominate) eye even blurs the dot a bit. I know it's not the sight becaus when I switch eyes it's sharp. May have to learn to shoot crosseyed!

It's a personal 'thing' unless age and or eyesight makes the scope usage almost manditory (I'm 61 and diabetic). I 'preferred' open on my revolvers and scopes on my TC's.

Get the best of both worlds...good excuse to get another handgun. Have one scoped and one iron sights. Both can be handy, depending on situation. Obviously, with a scope, you can achieve more accuracy. Hence the invention of the scope. That being said, a scope is not always the most practical and same goes with irons. You are more limited to you abilities with iron sights. If I owned only one, hunting handgun, it would be scoped.....but, I do love hunting with my iron sighted revolver.

All of my contender barrels wear glass but my SRH in .41 mag and my single six wear irons. the only modifications I have made to the revolvers are One ragged hole rear sights and the SRH also has a green fiber optic front sight. Yesterday I entered a friendly wager with a good friend, his Ruger 10/22 vs. my Single Six at 65 yards. The target a bunch of old bottles we found in his trash pile. My 1st 3rd 4th and 6th rounds broke glass while it took him 8 rounds to break his first bottle. I will say that his was a brand new rifle and he'd never shot it before yesterday, but a supported rifle rarely looses to an unsupported handgun. Before you add the bulk of a scope to what is currently graceful revolver try out a One Ragged Hole rear sight. If you do, order it through midway or some other online supplier, as i have heard rumors that factory direct shipments are running very slow at the moment.

If you have killed two elk with open sights you are doing everything right in my book. Keep of the good work! On the scope topic I only have scopes on my Contenders. My revolvers and plinkers wear fiber optic open sighs. I like open sights to but had to move to a fiber optic front sight to continue using them with my eye sight. A scope just doesn't seem as handy on a revolver to me, but I am only using revolvers at close ranges. I know I am a lot more confident hitting a moving target with an open sighted revolver (at under 50yds) than I am with my scoped Contender barrels. Try the scope though as others have mentioned over the summer, it may suite you. You could also try something like Gregg and others have done using one of the small reflex sights if you really want to cover all the bases. I would love to try one of these on a revolver. It solves the eye relief problem of a scope, doesn't weigh down the revolver, requires only a little modification to your current holster, and best of it looks like a very accurate sighting system. You can see a photo of Greggs setup on the braggin board at
http://www.handgunhunt.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=2391&ppuser=872

Thanks for all yall's help. Its nice to read this forum. I don't have any handgun hunting buddys. I will try the scope this summer and will get a rear peep site and try it also. I'll let you know what I learn. Geaux SAINTS.