Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I have a Ruger .41 Rem Mag. Hunter with a 7 1/2" barrel Model 0863. I haven't shot it very much mainly because I shoot many other caliber's , Revolvers and Semi Auto Pistols. I really don't plan on any serious hunting with the .41 but , I have been wanting to mount a scope on a Revolver for a while and feel like this would be perfect Revolver / Scope set up. The .41 Hunter has grooves for scope mounting and came with recommendations for optics and mounting configurations . Is anybody shooting a Revolver with a scope or can recommend not mounting a scope .

The scope will make it harder to conceal.

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The 41 Mag revolver with a decent scope, and it's favorite diet of round even if they happen to be hand loads makes a great medium game hunting setup that's lighter than a rifle, and more tha capable of taking deer sized game out to the 100 yard mark if your comfortable shooting decent groups that far out. I know here in VA we rarely see a hunting shot on a deer past 50 yards, but the pistol you have can and will preform nicely. If you want a pro's opinion, just drop Gary Reeder at Reeder Custom Guns an email, he will respond back, and he has been using a 41 mag, ad his own 41GNR to take game all over the US for years.

Casey

I have only shot my .41 about 200 rds. I've been shooting at 20 and 25 yds. I have shot a friends 44 mag. with a scope a few times...It just seems a little much for me to hunt with. I've got a lot of deer on my property and since I haven't ever hunted with a pistol I thought I would give it a try. The brush is very thick but I have several miles of cleared trails . The .41 should do quite nicely.

I find with free holding the gun, anything more than about 2x and I get seasick. Get a good rest, and 4x becomes usable.

Most of my revolvers wear a 1.5-4x Burris. A few have a 2-7. They've all lived even on 460's and 500 S&W.

Indeed...I've got a Burris 2X7 mounted on my Ruger SRH .44Mag, and it's a lot of fun. As previously mentioned though...using a rest makes things a whole lot more accurate .

Bill

Just out of curiosity, is there an advantage of a scoped pistol, over a scoped rifle? Outside of carriability, anyway.

Or is this more of a "we do it because we can" kind of a thing?

I'm not trying to be snarky or critical; I am genuinely curious.

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I've shot a few Revolvers with Scopes but , never really thought of it until shooting a friends earlier this week. There's so many deer on our property and I can kill one just about anytime I want. I've killed deer with Rifle's , Shotgun's , Recurve Bow , Compound Bow and Black Powder Rifle. So I would enjoy hunting with a Revolver and the scope just makes it pretty cool. Maybe if I get a deer with a handgun this season or next I may even try something else. I do have several Bowie Knives , a sling shot and a Blow Gun !

SHMIV wrote:Just out of curiosity, is there an advantage of a scoped pistol, over a scoped rifle? Outside of carriability, anyway.

carribiliy, maneuverability, weight.

Convenience. I'm much more likely in the fall to have my 454 with me than a rifle, while I'm out and doing farm chores.

We can debate, but at reasonable handgun ranges, you are very likely to have a through-shot with the size of VA deer. A 44-45cal revolver is a fairly common hunting hand gun bore size, where as, with a rifle, its fairly rare to find a hunter in the eastern woods with something bigger than a 30. A larger projectile, generally means larger hole, therefore, mo' hole, mo' blood. Easier tracking, and quicker expiration.

Do you want a scope for magnification/target ID? Do you need it to help you see the deer or to see horns on a deer?

If not, have you considered a red dot sight. I mean something like an RMR, or DP Pro, Burris Fast Fire III, etc? The small red dot type sight is less bulky than a scope. Cost could be more depending on what you bought.

Lots of the RMR type sights on competition guns these days. Just for an example of size, here's my CZ P07 (.40 S&W) with a Trijicon RMR mounted on it.

SHMIV wrote:Just out of curiosity, is there an advantage of a scoped pistol, over a scoped rifle? Outside of carriability, anyway.

In a broad sense, in many states, there are separate seasons or restricted areas not available to rifles. In MN for instance, for deer, much of the southern part of the state is "shotgun zone" which includes handguns but disallows rifles. This made AR "pistols" in .300 Blackout, an instant hit there.

Personally, I don't have a scoped revolver, but I do have a 4X on an XP-100 in .221 Fireball. I would have to say that without the stock to align your face, finding the crosshairs AND the target can be a challenge. For hunting, I don't think I would want to go with much magnification. A dot sight might make more sense.

I too agree with the lower power scope, or even a red dot. My 10mm Contender wears a 4x fixed, and even that can be a challenge at times, the 30/30 Contender wears a 2x-7x and I tend to keep it down in the 2-4 range 99% of the time. I need a little magnification for my older eyes, but if I was 20 years younger I would stick with a dot, or maybe a 1.5x -2x scope just for that quick target acquisition. That 10mm has shot single ragged hole groups with it's favorite diet of heavy hot loads, and makes more than enough power to cleanly take down any deer I have seen here in VA.

Hhmmm, I hadn't even thought about a red dot for the revolver, but that's a great idea! I appreciate that!

A Red Dot was the first I thought of when my buddy started talking about a scoped pistol.His .44 mag. Is a little more than I want to use for hunting. Since I already have a .41 mag . and a .357 mag. I think I am going for an inexpensive Red Dot , just to see if I like it. I did notice shooting his .44 I was moving the Revolver a lot because of the magnifcation ....I think a RD would be easier for these old eyes. I am hoping Jim and Mike will come to the meet and greet . They love to share thieir shooting irons with everybody !

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Cool. Several reasons for a scoped pistol, then. Fun stuff.

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Snakester wrote:A Red Dot was the first I thought of when my buddy started talking about a scoped pistol.His .44 mag. Is a little more than I want to use for hunting. Since I already have a .41 mag . and a .357 mag. I think I am going for an inexpensive Red Dot , just to see if I like it. I did notice shooting his .44 I was moving the Revolver a lot because of the magnifcation ....I think a RD would be easier for these old eyes. I am hoping Jim and Mike will come to the meet and greet . They love to share thieir shooting irons with everybody !

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That's exactly what came to mind! Magnification past 2X, and you're not getting a good sight picture, but that red dot? Put it on, pull a trigger, that's the ticket!

Put down the rifle in 1984 or so and have been pistol ever since. Went 2x on my .22 and was always open on the Smith 44. Eyes started to go and Smith too valuable to drill and tap so I did a Contender with red dot. Have not shot at game yet but looking forward to it. Then I tried bifocals and the Smith may be back in.
Nice to have choices and buy more guns!!!