I hunt a lot...bow, rifle, shotgun and handgun....because I am retired. When I step out my back door I have 200 acres of prairie and wooded ravines. All of my handgun hunting has been with iron sights-- Ruger Mark II with a 5 1/2 bull barrel, Ruger .357 mag GP-100 with a 6 inch barrel and a .44 mag Ruger Redhawk with a 7 1/2 inch barrel. I've been using a handgun for hunting for about 30 years and have done OK keeping my shooting range to bow hunter distances.

I just purchased a new .44 mag Bisley Hunter with the intention of scoping it. It's such a darn "purty" gun I am having second thoughts about the scope. :-)

I got into handgun hunting because I found that when I was in heavy cover, a scoped rifle was not all that handy.

My question (finally). In heavy cover do you run into problems using a scope? Most of my handgun hunting is for whitetail deer. My typical shot in heavy cover occurs when a deer "busts out" of his/her bed. The area where I most often handgun hunt is very shaded.

Any comments.

Welcome Aboard Tom!!!

Just like shooting with iron sights a scope requires practice to be efficient. I would suggest going out in your back yard with snap caps and try to find birds while they are flying. It works! When I first started hunting with a scoped rifle I did the same thing. I honed those skills by putting the rifle scope on 20 power and still try to find the bird. But if you can find a bird while it is flying in the air, a walking deer or a beaded buck while your hart is pounding is going to be a lot easier. In fact it is going to be second nature.

JMHO

Duane

I use irons and scopes on my handguns. Both have their place and challenges. The unique thing about the bisley hunter is; it can be readily used with or without scope in just seconds, using the supplied ruger mounts. This can be done easy and without loss of zero. That's one thing I love about mine.

Excellent observations Kral!

But the Bisley Hunter is still a darn "purty" gun with a scope.

It sure is. Now about a nice holster for that hunk of iron with a scope on it. Galco?

You guys are serious handgun hunters. I'm a "semi-serious" hunter. When I go on a hunt, if I get a good shot I take it and usually hit what I'm aiming at. If I don't shoot anything, I don't have anything to field dress or clean so it's still a good hunt. Makes sense to me.

Because I am 6'3" and have long arms, I need a scope with good eye relief. My choices so far are a Weaver (Yes, a Weaver.) 2X28 or a Burris 2X20. Either should be good enough for my hunting style. I shoot my center-fire handguns and rifles only enough to stay in pretty good shape for hunting. Don't like punching paper much at all. I don't reload so I'll be shooting factory loads.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Tom

I have a Weaver on my SBH and it works just fine for me in fact I put 40 rounds through it today to stay in practice. I like the Weaver 2x28 and the Burris is a fine choice also pick the one that suits you best and dont look back

The 2x28 weaver looks like a nice scope. Im tempted to pick one up just to have one and try it out.

I still prefer iron over scopes on my revolvers. I will just keep my shots close.

I'm quicker on target and more accurate with a 2x then open sights. With open sights I'm comfortable out to 50 yards or so (+ -), with a 2x I'm OK to 100 or just a little beyond. But, most of my hunting has been with scopes so I'm a bit prejudiced. I hunt the West so "for me" and my hunting locations give weight to optics.

Bill in OR

With my aging eyes I have found that I prefer a Red Dot sight over irons, in MOST SITUATIONS...

And a 2X scope is even better in some cases. It is tough to choose one sighting system that is perfect for all scenarios.

That is why it is great to live in America: We have choices!

For certain visual situations, iron sights may be the best set up.

OK: I am going to go back to basics: For any and all purposes when push has turned to shove it up.........and your back is against the wall and the wall is caving in:

Can't beat iron sights, they are sturdier than any scope or electronic device.

And that's why Ruger went from the flat top (that so many miss) to the current style where the steel "ears" now protect that rear iron sight.

Iron Sights Rule for Strength and Durability, and simplicity.

For those reasons, Iron Sights Win. No scope or electronic wizardry dot sight can really hold up to what irons can. JMHO

I like it!! That is a great point that too many people forget…

As a beginner, I find 50 yards a challenge with open sights, but I need much more range time. I do intend to buy a scope, and try out Krals suggestion. I also am looking at Weaver, Burris and possibly Nikon.

Put me down as a red dot guy. With bifocals it's a pain for me to get a quick crisp sight picture with irons any more. The red dot is perfect for me out to any range I care to shot at game with a revolver.
My SRH in 480 carries a 30mm Ultradot 4.

I broke 3 Nikons before I bit the bullet and paid for the Leupold. One of the Nikons only lasted 3 shots and I knocked the recital right out of it. This was on a 9.5" RSRH 454 Casull with 32gr of H110 and a 300gr XTP slug.

Wow. I've always loved Nikon on a rifle. The Burris has been at the top of my list so far. 2X-7X-32mm in the ballistic reticle is what I've been looking at. I just hate ordering by mail and nobody sells them around here.

i use a Millet red dot on mine (SRH 454 7.5), but i only shoot 300gr XTP Mag pushed with 28 grains of W296... how does that 32 grains work for ya? what kind of velocities are you getting?

i can take it off when i dont need/want it and i have found it returns to zero each time i re-install it.

Its been about 5 years since I sold the Ruger 454. If I remember correctly I believe it the velocity was around the 1850 fps range. It was a stout load, about all I care to shoot any significant amount (20-30 at a time max). I remember I had problems with bullet pull and the crimp was very important. Also I had problems with Winchester brass. The mouth was not annealed properly it seemed. The mouth would crack and slit horizontally just below the crimp. No problems with Starline or Hornady brass. I also remember having to use a Mag primer due to the thicker/stronger primer cup.

If your comfortable with 28gr and want to run it up some make small batches of 10 or so and go up .5gr at a time. At 32gr with the 300gr XTP it was a very compressed MAX load, maybe even close to +P.

I finally settled on 31gr of Lil'gun, softer recoil, same velocity, burned cleaner. I may have stuck with H110 knowing what I do now about Lil'guns tendency to wear and cut forcing cones under certain conditions.



Once fired Winchester brass splitting problem.


My old Rugers, 44mag with the red dot and 454 with the 2.5-8x32 Leupold.


Sorry to thredjack,

Tom, based on my 1896 handgunned deer and 11,500 groundhogs the way to go for revolvers and old eyes is a Bushnell 2-6X Elite scope. I've done turkeys, deer, groundhogs, exoctics with this on several revolvers and Ruger MkIIs. Works in shade, sun, rain, fog. The ONLY time I ever regretted a scope on my gun was on a 12 yard elephant charge. I only saw grey, but I got the sucker.
WVHitman

i have a 2x leupold on my bisley hunter and its great. i have been handgun hunting for 30 years and just started useing scopes in the last ten. for me my shots are close and the leupold works great. i have tried dots but the scopes work much better in low light. i am much faster with a scope with sharp crosshairs on a sharp image. i'm used to both eyes open from bow and pistol shooting so it works out great with the 2x scope. yes the bisley hunter is a sharp gun even with a good scope. i'm just having isues with the single action grip, i always shot dbl actions. i'm thinking i should have got a super redhawk instead.

Here's my 45 Colt Bishunter. 2x28 Weaver and Wyoming Combination holster. Makes for a great setup. I can shoot 1.5 inch 6 rnd groups at 50yds with the weaver. Thats with 355gr 1200fps fullhouse loads. No way I can shoot open sites like that with my 50 year old eyes. Here's a thread with a full writeup I did on it. I have since used it hunting and it's great in the field. Hiking with and without a pack and also on an atv.

http://www.handgunhunt.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/73279/page/0/fpart/1





Here it is next to my 4" Redhawk 45 in a Simply Rugged pancake for a size comparison.