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Has anyone ever tried hunting with their SASS gun?


Jed I. Master

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Has anyone ever tried deer hunting with their lever gun that they use for SASS? I was thinking about dual purposing mine and thought that the collective wisdom here might grant me some experience before I make a mistake while hunting. I realize I'm out to kill the creature and eat it but I still want to hunt ethically.

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Rossi 1892 in 44 Magnum

Light, handy, I shoot it well

Great caliber for Ohio deer cuz the ranges are reasonably close, and 44 Mag bullets are great for deer-sized game.

--Dawg

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Many of the guns used for SASS are tuned for competition. Dual purpose generally means it is not good for either purpose. Sort of like "universal fit" means it does not fit anything.

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A buddy of mine had an Elmer Fudd hunt at his deer lease this year, and the requirement was you had to use older style lever or pump guns, no optics, I watched his father in law shoot a nice deer at 125 yds with one of those dang Lightning pump rifles in 45 Colt. One shot....dead where it stood, never would have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes!

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Yeah, but it was not a good thing... Before I could stop myself I had shot him 10 times with the rifle, then slipped 10 more in from my handguns... ran up to him and hit him 4 more times with the shotgun. Then looked around and ask.

"What was my time?"

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I kept one of my 1897s at the 29.5" barrel length for sporting clays and field work.

I would not hesitate to take my Win 1892 in .38-40 for deer, especially with the high speed Remington ammo from the 1970s.

I expect that Mr. Groundhog or coyote would fall to one well placed .32-20 from my original 1873. Elmer Keith killed an elk with such a round in his early years (and recommended that no one else try this feat).

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I've dove hunted with my double. That was a lot of fun. I've also taken my Marlin .357mag out hog hunting. With the loads I worked up hogs drop like they've been hit by a cannon. 168gr RNFP traveling at about 1500fps with gaschecks. As long as I stay withing 100 yards I'm good. I wouldn't hesitate to take it deer hunting. Cycles my hunting rounds the same as my CAS rounds.

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Am going to use my Uberti '73 in 44-40 next year on a friends ranch.....seems to have a good number of mule deer living in his alfalfa fields....usually less than 100 yards....

 

Bugler

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I have not but I am planning to use my Rossi 92 .45 on deer this coming year. I have already tried it with the Leverevolution round and it's accurate and consistent. I may not even bother trying to handload a round for it for hunting after shooting that round....nah, I will anyway. That's part of the fun :D

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Rossi 1892 in 44 Magnum

Light, handy, I shoot it well

Great caliber for Ohio deer cuz the ranges are reasonably close, and 44 Mag bullets are great for deer-sized game.

--Dawg

+1 .

Now that you can use straight wall pistol cartridges in a rifle ,

In Shotgun zones.

The Marlin the 92 and the Henry in 44 mag are hard to find around here.

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I've never shotv one with my rifle but the last 6 years I've harvested deer with my vaquero s. I've also taken 2 with my sass shotguns. 1 with an 87 one with a 97

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use to get extra doe tags in Colorado. Son and I would always take the cowboy guns and fill our tags. The Fusion bullet line and leverolution are both great rounds and a box will last many years. Does not even pay to work up a load just for hunting in your caliber.

Wife wants to take a buffalo with the 45/70 but has not yet drawn out.

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Well I've shot a few things with my marlin 1895 and then started using it in sass side matches. Does that count? I do plan to use my original Winchester 1873 made in 1887 in 38-40 to hunt one of these days and I occasionally use it in sass.

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I took my 1878 Cimarron/Colt shotgun on a quail hunt. I actually took it as my backup. Well the primary autoloader decided it wanted to be a single shot, so I broke out the old hammered double. Some of my friends laughed and asked if that was a muzzle loader, but I shot it better than the other gun. I even tried a few blackpowder shells near the end of the day, I don't think I hit any birds with them, couldn't see anything after the first shot!

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I have a brass 357 rossi that Nate slicked up for me for SASS.I like it for hogs and for deer.I have a 44-40 rossi that is being worked on as I type that is going to be for SASS and going to be my hog and deer gun when I get it back.

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I have not but I am planning to use my Rossi 92 .45 on deer this coming year. I have already tried it with the Leverevolution round and it's accurate and consistent. I may not even bother trying to handload a round for it for hunting after shooting that round....nah, I will anyway. That's part of the fun :D

Ain't those Leverevolution rounds the best!? Big fan of those, shoot many in my 45/70 Marlin Cowboy. It puts a thump'n on things for sure.

 

Major Art Tillery

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My long range buffalo .50-140 3-1/4" 650 grain Sharps has taken elk. All of my tens have harvested ducks and geese.

Distances here call for different calibers than in the heavily wooded East and Mid West. I hunt here with a

.44 Rem Magnum S & W revolver so I guess my long range rifle caliber Henry Big Boy in .44 Rem Mag would also be

OK for very short range hunting. I use all of my guns to shoot pocket gophers and to plink.

 

My Bond .45 Colt deringer and my two .44 Long Colt Thunderers have yet to take anything yet!! I suppose that they

could do the job if I were to trap an animal in a "Have a Heart" trap. :-)

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Many of the guns used for SASS are tuned for competition. Dual purpose generally means it is not good for either purpose. Sort of like "universal fit" means it does not fit anything.

There's a lot of truth here. I have been in the process of helping my buddy choose his first rifle, and one of the initial requirements he had was that it serve dual purpose of hunting and sass. Now this guy has never been hunting, and only shot 3 sass matches. I couldn't seem to talk him out of it, so I had him try out a 92 and a 94 then compare a 73. He liked the 73 more by a lot, but was still going back and forth about the hunting thing. Finally realizing that he was a big time fisherman, I asked him what pole I should buy that would be good at both deep sea fishing and fly fishing. I think he finally got it and is now in search of a 73 haha.

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Shot a nice sow in central FL with my Winchester 92 rifle in .44 mag, open sights, and carrying a OMV Ruger in .44 mag in case I needed a short gun. I had dressed as if I was hunting after a cowboy match, was fun.

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Ain't those Leverevolution rounds the best!? Big fan of those, shoot many in my 45/70 Marlin Cowboy. It puts a thump'n on things for sure.

 

Major Art Tillery

Yes they are. I have fired the .45 Colt in my Rossi 92 and my old model Vaquero. They are accurate in both guns. I just picked up bullets for my 30-30 and a pound of Leverevolution powder. I plan to load some of those up soon. I also bought 2 boxes of the factory ammo to compare to my hand loads.

 

Regarding dual purpose use,

It depends on how you set up your competition gun and what gun you use. A full race '73 with a great big brass bead for a front sight would not be a good choice for hunting.

A Winchester or Rossi 92 with "close to stock" sights, why not?

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I'm not sure about all of the Leverevolution calibers but I know that some of them use slightly shorter brass. If you buy loaded factory ammo you could re-use it but other factory brass might need to be trimmed.

They do. The .45 Colt brass is shorter by about .1". Good Point, Smokin' Gator! :)

I am not sure about the others.

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Has anyone ever tried deer hunting with their lever gun that they use for SASS? I was thinking about dual purposing mine and thought that the collective wisdom here might grant me some experience before I make a mistake while hunting. I realize I'm out to kill the creature and eat it but I still want to hunt ethically.

 

 

Are you kiddin'?... my lever is my main go-to. They are great brush-guns... 100 yds or less.

 

Don't know if I would trust a semi-rifle caliber like the 44-40... or a .45LC... any further than that.

 

But they are great on groundhogs... in the fencerows of the fall. That's when... great horses... break legs. Gotta protect 'em... $5 a head bounty on whistlepigs. This photo was taken on a neighbor's farm... three or four years ago... had to let my hair down due to a big-a$$ rain. Had to dry it up some. My daughter, Kaitlyin... took this picture. This shot... only 'bout 75 yds. out from a fat'un.

 

IMG_0481B_zpshj7hbvew.jpg

 

Tell you one thing... please don't say stuff 'bout my hair. Tonight... I am lucky to keep it. Stuff happens... nobody's fault. C'mon now... it'll be mighty sportin' of you anti-hippies out there. It won't hurt nothin' to leave this be. I don't won't to be banned.

 

Let's be... nice... please... THANK YOU MUCH!

 

ts

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I do.....

Javalina with a Uberti Lightening, or 1860 Henry in .45, or Ruger Old Army.

Elk and mule deer with my Shiloh Sharps, deer with a Marlin .44 magnum and all my guns end up in the woods eventually.

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Many of the guns used for SASS are tuned for competition. Dual purpose generally means it is not good for either purpose. Sort of like "universal fit" means it does not fit anything.

I will respectfully disagree. The function of the gun is to load and fire a cartridge at a target. Be that target live game or steel. If it functions properly, it will do that just fine. Now, if you're running a gun that's on the ragged edge of safe operation, you probably ought not be using it in SASS or the hunting field. Removal of trigger block safeties and other features is plain foolhardy in the field, and at the SASS match.

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No, I use modern longrange stuff. The farm has steep rolling hills, long draws, and flats. Quick twist 243, 6.5 creedmoore, and 28 nosler, fit in better. Shots from 200 to 600 are comcommon for the area. I do have a long brushy area above the house that works out great for muzzleloader season. The muzzleloader has waaaaay more snort than my 105 gr slugs from my 66. I've shot magpies with my skb, but that's a poor choice too. A full length, choked sg would work much better. Oh, I forgot, I did shoot a deer with a 535 gr postell, at 200 yards once. The deer wandered off in some crp for a ways. The bullet was 20:1 lead from a 4570 loaded with black. It killed my deer but the bullet went through with no expansion. If I hadn't shot him through both lungs with that bullet, I would've lost him. The sharps was a poor choice. I killed a buffalo awhile back with a 50 cal muzzleloader and pure lead round ball. I still have the ball, it blew through both lungs, and lodged in a rib on the opposite side of the bull. That ball performed perfectly. It flattened out like a saucer, and did severe damage to the vitals. There's not an all around gun that does it all, or we wouldn't have so many. Lunger

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