Location: Occupied Territories of New York (Buffalo)
Posts: 2,898
.308 or 454 casule? (handgun)
ok guys i need to replenish the stocks. i had to sell my deer hunting handgun last year due to all the hardships the accident caused well now its time to re-fill the cabinets. :right:
so here is my delema, i didn't get as much in the settlement as i had thought so i need to decide between a striker in .308 (this is the one i used for deer before) and a ruger 454 casule.
my shots are normaly at distances that both will handle and i'll be useing the same optics on either. and normaly one shot kills are the shot of the day. so here it is, .308 or casule. the cost on both is within $50 of each other.
so what do you guys think? remeber i only with a handgun, so this is not a back up gun. :flame:
__________________
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity"
-Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
"If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective."
- Ted Nugent
"Self-defense is Nature's eldest law."
-John Dryden
Glad to hear things are going well for you. I would go with the .308 simply for cost reasons (gee my dutch side isn't showing is it?), you can pick up some .308 ammo and practice alot cheaper than you can with 454. And if you would have to take a long shot the .308 is going to have better accuracy at range. Just my .02
Colt get a used Ruger Blackhawk in 45 colt I am running loads greater than casual and they could easily drop anything you want we are pushing a 330gr bullet at 1300fps out of a 4.5" barrel
as much as i love and enjoy shooting the 454, the .308 is a better choice. its cheaper to shoot. either way you go , when hunting bring hearing protection- either of these guns will severely screw with your hearing.
Problem with 308 is that it will not have enough energy unless you load it with pistol grade powder -- rifle cartridges need the length of the barrel to burn all the powder properly if you are going to get full use of the cartridge
shaun- enough energy compared to what? only a fool would load any kind of pistol powder into a rifle case. i shoot a single shot 7mm-08 with a 15" barrel and only loose about 200 fps compared to a rifle- it makes nasty holes in deer. you may sell reloaded ammo, but sometimes i wonder.
shaun- enough energy compared to what? only a fool would load any kind of pistol powder into a rifle case. i shoot a single shot 7mm-08 with a 15" barrel and only loose about 200 fps compared to a rifle- it makes nasty holes in deer. you may sell reloaded ammo, but sometimes i wonder.
Lefty when someone says pistol I think 4 to 6" barrel not a 15"
Oh I do work with many of the powder manufacturer labs and bullet manufactures to verify safety standards before putting together loads.
he reffered to the savage striker in .308, and while i dont remember the exact specs, they come with i believe a 16" barrel. although loads do need to be tailored to the single shots/repeating pistols that fire rifle cartridges. with winchester factory 140grainers in my 7mm-08 i get 6-8 foot fireballs out of the muzzle. with my loads of IMR 4064 i get muzzle flash that is comparable to the average rifle.
I'd go with the .308 just because of versatility.ie more bullet weights to choose from etc. Plus you're already familiar with how the 308 performs. You know what to expect from it.
A friend of mine has one of those Striker .308 guns and beware of the hair trigger, I shot dead the motor of the target holder at my indoor gun club with this pistol a couple of years ago.
The .308 ammo is cheaper and readily available in most areas as opposed to the casull loads that have to be specially ordered around here and very expensive when you get them.
If must be a revolver, a 6" bbl 44 mag would fit the bill quite perfectly.
If you're in the NE, I'd say 44 Mag as well. Of course I'd carry a rifle for primary hunting and a handgun only for backup. If you're looking for range, I suppose the 454 would be much better. I guess there's not much at all I couldsay that you don't know better already, so good luck on whatever you get!
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Trust is earned, not... GIVEN away. - Worf
Ammo for the 454 Cas is of course not cheap...of course you can shoot 45 Colt (Long colt) in a 454 cas. Im a fan of bigger bullets do more damage mentalaty so the 454 wins if you use that logic.....in reality not much gona take a hit from a 454cas and be standing...Recoil is a problem...it is not a handgun that you go to the range with a 100 full power loads (as opposed to 45 colt or light reloads) and blast away with. As for reloading the 454 Brass is expensive (compared to 308 or 45 colt) but otherwise it drops the cost per round down a lot.
Ammo for the 454 Cas is of course not cheap...of course you can shoot 45 Colt (Long colt) in a 454 cas. Im a fan of bigger bullets do more damage mentalaty so the 454 wins if you use that logic.....in reality not much gona take a hit from a 454cas and be standing...Recoil is a problem...it is not a handgun that you go to the range with a 100 full power loads (as opposed to 45 colt or light reloads) and blast away with. As for reloading the 454 Brass is expensive (compared to 308 or 45 colt) but otherwise it drops the cost per round down a lot.
:uzi: :uzi: :uzi: :uzi: :uzi:
I would agree that bigger is better most of the time, and if money is no object, then why not the SW 500, this gun is very precise and I was amazed that the recoil was very controlable and less than that of a 44 mag desert eagle.
Ammo for the 500 is the most expensive, dificult to get ammo I've come accross, so I sold mine for $100.00 more than what I paid for it about 6 months after I got it.
Location: Occupied Territories of New York (Buffalo)
Posts: 2,898
i was more than half way to the striker again, just like the 454. but i know i can shoot farther with the 308, (oh, i shoot a 135 gr soft point with 42.5 gr of IMR 4895 it yeilds 2480 fps) the striker has a 14" bbl with a 2" compensator.
the 454 has a 7 1/4" bbl and with q 300 gr semijacket we are getting 2300 fps. and man does that puppy kick!!!!!!!!!!!!
guess the 454 will have to wait awhile.
__________________
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity"
-Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
"If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective."
- Ted Nugent
"Self-defense is Nature's eldest law."
-John Dryden
shaun- we're cool, i understand you missed the striker part.
colt45, may i ask how you are loading to get 2300fps from 300gr bullets. the #'s just seem a little off to me, as the hottest ive seen are the 240grainers at 2000fps, and even hornady has throttled them back a little since then.
Location: Occupied Territories of New York (Buffalo)
Posts: 2,898
they seemed way off to me as well, i'll have to ask my buddy what he loads for powder. i almost craped my pants when he put the first round through the cronie and it popped up with 2250 fps i had him put five more through to make sure it was working (acctualy one more would have done it but i liked watching his face when he touched off the triger......lol sick lil puppy that i am) i knew my .308 was right on i had cronied that load on several of my friends outfits, have to get one of my own one of these days. anyway, when he fired that shot i about droped. i quickly reset it and tried my .308 load and it came up right where i thought it would. so i had him shoot the rest of the cylender to see if that first one might have been a double charge or something. they where all right in there some a lil higher some a touch lower. i'll check with him and get his load for you. all i know is it crunches when he seats the round. he is sick though loves big recoil and is allways pushing things to the max. guess its a good thing all he owns are rugers. i would never try any of his loads in a smith they would come apart in your hand.
__________________
"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity"
-Sigmund Freud, General Introduction to Psychoanalysis
"If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective."
- Ted Nugent
"Self-defense is Nature's eldest law."
-John Dryden
shaun- we're cool, i understand you missed the striker part.
colt45, may i ask how you are loading to get 2300fps from 300gr bullets. the #'s just seem a little off to me, as the hottest ive seen are the 240grainers at 2000fps, and even hornady has throttled them back a little since then.
I will talk with Morgan and get the load data Lefty -- its out new Kodiak defense load that we are working on for our hunt next year
