38 Cal. (.357 dia.)	44 Cal. (.430 dia.)	.475 Linebaugh	50 AE (.500 dia.)
41 Cal. (.410 dia.)	45 Cal. (.4515 dia.)	.475 Wildey Magnum	.510 diameter

Hunting With Handguns

Game Laws vary from state to state but the variation in rules governing handgun hunting can create a ballistic challenge. Iowa recently joined those states permitting handgun hunting. For instance, Iowa only permits straight cased cartridges in calibers of .375 or larger.

The frustrated handgun hunters that have come to us were dealing with one of the following problems.

-Inadequate cartridge power for hunting conditions and game being pursued.

-Poor accuracy at true hunting distances.

-Bullets that fail to create sufficient wound channels, and don’t expend their energy in game.

-Bullets that lack the integrity to hold together, shattering and splintering at close range with hot loads.

One of our clients is a butcher that lives in an area that experienced a boom in development throughout the 80’s and 90’s. This led to a ban of the use of rifles during their firearm season. Hunters now must choose between a shotgun or a handgun. As a butcher, he saw first hand how poorly equipped most handgun hunters were. Accomplished hunters were forced into a learning curve and making a lot of mistakes along the way. A number of the deer he butchered had been previously shot by handgun hunters that failed to put down their game. He found bullets that either lacked the velocity to penetrate and expand or simply wouldn’t on deer sized animals. One of his customers brought in several deer with large wound channels and exit holes. Impressed, he asked what caliber he was shooting. The reply was that it wasn’t necessarily the caliber as long as the cartridge was adequate, but if your bullet won’t perform you still can run into trouble. It’s how well the bullet expends its energy within the game and to do that use a Hawk Precision bullet. A call to us and our butcher friend soon had a load worked up that was accurate, had sufficient energy, and would expend its energy in the animal leaving large exit wounds. He and his son were successful taking two deer both with one shot. He found that an adequate cartridge with the Hawk Precision bullets not only mortally wounded the deer but put the deer in shock. Neither went very far and the wound channels bled freely insuring recovery.

Among the bullets we’ve tested, most handgun bullets fall into two categories: 

                                                           

1.) Failing to expand or retain an increased frontal area. At handgun velocities you’ve got but so much potential energy to deliver, but unrealized if the bullet passes through with little or no enlargement. You may have hit the game perfectly, but still have to follow a sparse blood trail a considerable distance before locating the downed game. The bullet expends too little energy in the game, failing to damage organs and tissue outside of the cutting path, and delivers little or no shock to the animal.                     

                                                            

2.) Lacking the integrity to hold together and just fly apart especially at close range. Fortunately some critical organs lie just inches below the surface. A properly placed shot will stop game with this bullet, but under dense hunting conditions, brush can fragment and change the bullets path prior to reaching game.    

                   
     
This illustrates the Hawk Precision bullet.  Its "soft" jacket expands, stretches back, and the pure lead core flows with it forming a perfect mushroom, expanding in diameter, sending hydro-shock well beyond the cutting path, damaging 5 or more times as much tissue with internal hemorrhaging.   High weight retention insures a through and through shot, leaving large exit holes that bleed freely. 

Bullet Selection

The Hawk .025 jackets will work fine at handgun velocities, even on lighter game and/or longer shots, especially if it is a hollow point bullet, as they give the best terminal performance. In the past, hunters of the largest game, have ordered custom bullets using the .035 jackets in flat points, mainly to insure deep penetration and handle heavy bone. This demand has steadily increased so we have made the .035 jackets available in most calibers as a stock item. Our customers report excellent results on a variety of big game from moose to brown bear.

PRECISION BULLETS FOR HANDGUN HUNTING --ALL PRICES PER BOX OF 50-- 38 Caliber (.357 dia.) Flat Points 180 grains x .025 FP.............$36.00 200 grains x .025 FP.............$36.50 Hollow Points 180 grains x .025 HP.............$36.00 200 grains x .025 HP.............$36.50 41 Caliber (.410 dia.) Hollow Points 200 grains x .025 HP.............$36.50 44 Auto Mag (.429 dia.) Flat Points - Auto 180 grains x .025 FP..........$36.50 200 grains x .025 FP..........$37.50 240 grains x .025 FP..........$38.50 265 grains x .025 FP..........$39.50 44 Magnum (.430 dia.) Flat Points 200 grains x .025 FP...........$36.50 240 grains x .025 FP...........$37.50 265 grains x .025 FP...........$38.50 300 grains x .025 FP...........$39.50 Hollow Points 200 grains x .025 HP...........$36.50 240 grains x .025 HP...........$37.50 265 grains x .025 HP...........$38.50 300 grains x .025 HP...........$39.50 45 Caliber (.4515 dia.) Flat Points 300 grains x .035 FP..........$41.50     350 grains x .025 FP..........$41.50  c3 Hollow Points 260 grains x .025 HP..........$38.50     300 grains x .025 HP..........$40.00  c3 .475 Linebaugh Flat Points 265 grains x .025 FP...........$40.00 300 grains x .025 FP...........$41.00 350 grains x .025 FP...........$42.00 350 grains x .035 FP...........$47.00 400 grains x .035 FP...........$48.00 Hollow Points 265 grains x .025 HP...........$40.00 300 grains x .025 HP...........$41.00 350 grains x .025 HP...........$42.00 .475 Wildey Magnum Flat Points - Auto 265 grains x .025 FPA.........$37.50 300 grains x .025 FPA.........$38.50 300 grains x .035 FPA.........$43.00 350 grains x .025 FPA.........$39.50 Hollow Points - Auto 265 grains x .025 HPA.........$37.50 300 grains x .025 HPA.........$38.50 350 grains x .025 HPA.........$39.50 50 AE (.500 dia.) Flat Points 300 grains x .025 FP...........$41.50 350 grains x .025 FP...........$42.50 Hollow Points 300 grains x .025 HP...........$41.50 350 grains x .025 HP...........$42.50 500 S&W (.500 dia.) Flat Points 300 grains x .025 FP..........$40.00 350 grains x .025 FP..........$42.50 400 grains x .035 FP..........$45.50 450 grains x .035 FP..........$48.00 Hollow Points 350 grains x .025 HP..........$42.50 400 grains x .025 HP..........$44.50 450 grains x .025 HP..........$47.00 .510 diameter Flat Points 350 grains x .025 FP...........$43.00 350 grains x .035 FP...........$44.00 450 grains x .025 FP..........$46.00 c3 Hollow Points 300 grains x .025 HP..........$39.50  450 grains x .025 HP..........$46.00 c3 Top

The Ultimate Test-Hawk Bullets mushroom well at handgun velocities, but could we destroy one, just break the jacket into bits, by pushing it at 2300 f.p.s. into consecutive water jugs at only 20 yards.  We did and it stayed together! (.452 x 300gr x .025 HP before and after)               The .475 WILDEY MAGNUM Pistol is worth consideration for the handgun hunter.                       "For jacketed bullets the place to go is Hawk Bullets, with bullets from 265 gr. all the way up to 400 gr. with a heavy jacket (.035") for the big stuff or lighter jacket (.025") for deer.  When ordering these excellent jacketed bullets, specify that they will be used in the Freedom Arms .475 and they will be cannelured accordingly."                        -John Taffin "Model 757 - .475 Linebaugh"                                   Guns       Also From Hawk for the .475 Wildey Mag. Full Metal Jacketed Bullets .475 Caliber, 230 Gr. Auto Nose Design Qty. Price Ea. 100 .375 500 .315 1,000 .300 "My test gun shot OK with factory ammo, but tailored handloads with Hawk 350 grain bullets were stellar."                                          — John Kronfeld                                  ".50 Caliber Handguns"                                             Guns & Ammo   "(Hawk’s) 350 grain flat nose bullet, which (because of its short ogive) is only a fraction of an inch longer than the Speer 325 hollow point, cut a .25-inch group at 25 yards with several loads. This is the bullet I would use on elk size game and up."                                          — John Kronfeld                                    ".50 AE Desert Eagle"             Shooting & Hunting Buyer’s Guide                   Please note:  A lower case "c" appearing after the price indicates it is a custom order.  The number after the "c" indicates the minimum number of boxes required to order.