What was the first handgun that you used to take an animal with? Whether it be a varmint, or a game animal.

Mine was my grandfather's Colt Woodsman .22 lr. I shot a beaver with it when I was just 19 (before they changed the handgun laws and now you have to be 21 to get a pistol permit) at about 20 yards away.

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Vaya con Dios

My frst handgun kill was with a Ruger MkII .22lr, stainless with bull barrel. My best friend and I were out squirrel hunting and a squirrel ran into the middle of the dirt road and stopped. I decided to take a shot with the pistol and actully hit it in the head. The distance was 71 paces. My friend said it was a good shot. I said it was lucky.


snakeman

squirrel with a K22

Groundhog with my dad's Ruger MK I. He still has it. As a kid he let me carry it whenever we went into the field.

My first game animal with a handgun was a cottontail rabbit.At about 30 paces.
With a Dan Wesson
.357 Magnum

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Garage Logician

+1..................I still carry a pre-18 ( in addition to a scoped .22 rifle ) when I hunt squirrels, for any close enough for a pistol shot.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

Squirrel's with a High Standard Sharpshooter .22

As a kid (back in the 60s) I shot skunks with my dad's H&R 922.
I still have that gun to this day.

Squirrel with a K-22.

At age 14 or 15, a Benjamin air pistol, in (I think it was) 5mm, a rabbit at about 20 yards. A perfect head shot that penetrated completely, and dropped him like a stone. I'm not sure who was more surprised, my girlfriend's little brother or me.

Oops. I just re-read the original post. My first non-game animal would have been either a ground squirrel or an english sparrow at age 10. The gun was a CO2, Crossman Mark II, in .177. I wish I knew where the gun went, I'd love to have it now.

Tweety birds with an old "Spittin' Image" (of a model 94) before I was 10. Also a dove with that gun at about 8 or 9. First firearm kill was with.22 LR or 12 gauge at jackrabbits. First handgun kill was a S&W M28 .357 on ground squirrels. Next year (age 19) tagged a deer with M29 6 1/2". Fun times.

First ever was squirrels with a 10/22 I bought in 73.

First big game was a 160# hog with a 6.5" 29-2 loaded with 265g (Lyman 429244) GCSWC over 22g W296.

Went through the pig and didn't even know the pig was there when it did. 20 yards.

Probley was 40 years ago when I shot this deer with a colt 357 trooper.

Coyote with my llama .45 (wannabe 1911 clone). There were ghree at my favorite plinking spot in the high desert scaring an ignorant family taking their young kids out to shoot their .22's and they didnt even wanna get out of the car. I got 2 of the 3 that were there in rapid concession. I practice target transitioning alot so it was a good real world chance to test my ability with a handgun. Im actualky friends with the family now. They gave me 1100 rounds of various ammunition. Pretty nice people. Just ignorant about animals. Lol. They didnt even try scaring the coyotes away. They had actually never seen any in their life until that point and were afraid they would snatch their youngest kid away. Lol

Shot a doe with a Thompson Contender 14"
bbl in .357 max cartridge. Came out of recoil and
saw 4 hooves in the air. Neck shot at about 40
yards.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

what are those stick shoved into the dog's skull for?

Was out visiting grandparents in Texas and shot a couple of jackrabbits on the move. One with a Ruger Mk.I .22 and one with a Ruger Security Six .357. I was hooked after that.
Any fool can shoot game with a rifle!

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

Whitetail doe with a Super Blackhawk. Now my deer handgun is a model 657 in 8 3/8 inch.

Gray squirrels with my 14-3, speer swc, and a light charge of unique. Front shoulder hits did little damage to the eatin' parts.

A squirrel ,with a cap and ball revolver,about 35 years ago.

Mine would have to be my no dash MDL 629, and the wild boar it downed. Mighty fine eaten too!

Snowshoe hare with my "Old Model" Ruger Blackhawk .357.
It was sitting under a pine tree late in the afternoon. I shot it with
my .38 reloads.

When I was in my very late teens I used to shoot groundhogs on my grandparents' farm with a 6" blued model 19, the first handgun I owned. It would be a number of years later, around 10, when I took my first deer with a Ruger Super Blackhawk.

Cottontail with a Ruger Single Six.

First handgun kill was a 'coon with a Dixie Gun Works 31 Baby Dragoon cap and ball reproduction. Then a squirrel with a Ruger single six .22. Got My first white tail with my 8 3/8" model 27, two years ago. Just got a 8 3/8" model 57 to use this fall. It's initial range performance is sweet!
John

I use to squirrel hunt with a 6 inch S&W m-48 about 40 years ago. My first handgun hunt with a whitetail was a 29-2 6 1/2 Bbl.

The very first 'animal' I ever shot with a handgun was a mouse.
I had just gotten my pistol permit at 17years of age (NYS). A Ruger Standard Auto 4" ($41 new) and a cross draw flap holster that I had made for it.
Skipping school as we usually did to go woodchuck hunting that spring, we were walking accross some heavily matted down grass and a field mouse ran out. I drew the pistol out, disengaged the safety and fired one shot off hand at the running critter. Probably a 25ft shot and nailed it perfectly.
I remember thinking at that moment,,'This pistol shooting thing is pretty simple'.
That was the last time I ever had thoughts like that again.!

Woodchuck was the primary target over the time I did hunt. .22, 38sp & 45acp were the calibers I used. I did have a Mod 57 'S' prefix ser# 4" I had bought new in '67 but don't recall ever taking that out on a woodchuck excursion. Never did big game hunt.


The Ruger pistol is long time gone.
I quit hunting altogether around the early 70's.
I just gave that holster to another shooter last spring. He had inherited a short bbl'd Ruger Standard auto. Figured he could put it to good use.

chipmonk out of grandmothers rose garden.
S&W 27-2 8-3/8 barrel with 158 grain jacketed hollowpoints.....

don't know who was more supprised . me , the chipmonk, or grandmother.

Oh as a P.S. never, ever, leave a loaded .357 mag somewhere that a rather "inquisitive" seven year old can get ahold of it, and see if he can shoot a chipmonk out in the rose garden..
especially when he's standing inside the house aiming out the bedroom window.

P.S.S.... also as a side note....... one should always make sure when shooting out a window at said chipmonk.....
make damm sure the windows open, that way you only get you butt beat for one thing, not two.....

Two squirrels killed with a .22 cal Ruger MK I short barrel. My first pistol and I still have it.

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

I must have put 20 K rounds down range in various pistols, but I have yet to hunt game with one. I think I missed something I'd like.

Shot a possum with a 22 cal ruger mkI. Was about 12 years old.

Armadillo with a Ruger SP101 .22lr last year.

Whitetail doe with my Dad's Colt SAA in .45 Colt. We were on out place and I was eight or nine at the time.

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JOE MACK aka .41FAN

I know that the pistol was my father's Colt Huntsman. First animal was either a snake or a sparrow. There were many of each.

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Corripe Cervisiam