# Centerfire handguns for small game



## Bobby Linton (Aug 3, 2019)

I would like to be able to hunt small game with my ruger 357 blackhawk and trailboss LSWC loads.  It would be great practice for big game and it's the pistol I shoot the best.  I read old time gun writers talking about what a fine weapon a 38 special is for small game hunting.  Have centerfire handguns ever been permitted for small game in Georgia?  I'm no outlaw, just would like to be able to take a walk on a WMA and be able to legally hunt with it.  A .50 cal is a legal small game gun!


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## rosewood (Aug 4, 2019)

I believe it has to be rimfire, 22 or smaller.  Read the latest regs on legal firearms, they have been updated this year.  Can hunt with air bow and hunt deer with air rifle .30 and larger.  Plug no longer required for Turkey.  Fox and bobcat can be hunted with almost anything.


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## John Cooper (Aug 4, 2019)

If it were legal I would get the blackhawk in .30 carbine, maybe not a deer round but would be nice for small game!


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## rosewood (Aug 4, 2019)

John Cooper said:


> If it were legal I would get the blackhawk in .30 carbine, maybe not a deer round but would be nice for small game!


Wear ear muffs....


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## John Cooper (Aug 4, 2019)

rosewood said:


> Wear ear muffs....


True dat, course I would with the .357 or 38.


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## Bobby Linton (Aug 4, 2019)

rosewood said:


> I believe it has to be rimfire, 22 or smaller.  Read the latest regs on legal firearms, they have been updated this year.  Can hunt with air bow and hunt deer with air rifle .30 and larger.  Plug no longer required for Turkey.  Fox and bobcat can be hunted with almost anything.


I know that it hasn't been illegal since I took hunter safety in the 80's.  Just was trying to see if there was a reason.  Is it typical of other states laws?  And with the current liberalization of the weapons rules, aka air guns and such, can we get it changed?


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## Bobby Linton (Aug 4, 2019)

John Cooper said:


> If it were legal I would get the blackhawk in .30 carbine, maybe not a deer round but would be nice for small game!


I would buy the Ruger single six they are making in 32 caliber in a heartbeat if I could hunt squirrel and rabbits with it.


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## John Cooper (Aug 4, 2019)

Bobby Linton said:


> I would buy the Ruger single six they are making in 32 caliber in a heartbeat if I could hunt squirrel and rabbits with it.


I forget about that one, yes sir that would be the bees kneez. That little round is potent !!


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## Bobby Linton (Aug 4, 2019)

John Cooper said:


> I forget about that one, yes sir that would be the bees kneez. That little round is potent !!


I have a single six 22 convertible 5.5"  that is smooth as butter and shoots well.  I know functional it will do anything I would do with the 32.  But with the 32 I could cast, load, and carry my own ammo and that would add to the experience for me.


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## John Cooper (Aug 4, 2019)

The .32 out of a pistol would be about like the little .32 smoke pole I squirrel and rabbit hunt with. It would also carry 6 instead of 1 ....... Dang you Bobby ?


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## lampern (Aug 4, 2019)

No pistol restrictions in NC for small game except turkey, grouse and quail may not be taken 

None for SC either except no turkeys may be taken 

Local laws may vary


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## rosewood (Aug 4, 2019)

Bobby Linton said:


> I know that it hasn't been illegal since I took hunter safety in the 80's.  Just was trying to see if there was a reason.  Is it typical of other states laws?  And with the current liberalization of the weapons rules, aka air guns and such, can we get it changed?



Gotcha.

I have no idea.  Been the law as long as I have been huntin.


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## SASS249 (Aug 5, 2019)

I seem to remember that it goes back to when handguns became legal for deer. There was a good deal of controversy about that and initially some pretty strong requirements on what pistols could be used. I think they removed allowing centerfire pistols from squirrel hunting so that anyone carrying one would be considered deer hunting and dealt with accordingly. Of course this was well before the advent of the georgia weapons license and the right to carry movement.


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## rosewood (Aug 5, 2019)

Maybe grab a 36 caliber BP revolver and use BP209 in it, smokes much less.


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## Bobby Linton (Aug 5, 2019)

In 89 a pistol had to produce 500lbs of energy at 100 yards to be a legal deer weapon.  Now you can legally deer hunt with a 380 acp, but you cant shoot a squirrel.


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## rosewood (Aug 6, 2019)

Bobby Linton said:


> In 89 a pistol had to produce 500lbs of energy at 100 yards to be a legal deer weapon.  Now you can legally deer hunt with a 380 acp, but you cant shoot a squirrel.


Yep, makes a lot of since doesn't it?

Most lawmakers do not have a clue about firearms or hunting.  They pass laws based on the arguments of those for or against the laws and which ones are the most believable, or that explain it the way the lawmaker already thinks they know it.

Rosewood


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## Throwback (Aug 7, 2019)

It’s been illegal as long as I can remember in Georgia to use a centerfire for small game. 

It’s that way because it doesn’t make a lot of sense to shoot a squirrel with a 30/06 to the average person 

Laws once written stay that way unless people contact their legislator. They don’t just magically change. Instead of blaming your legislator (who probably wasn’t the one that wrote the law) why not contact them and express your desire to have it changed? That’s the way the laws get changed

When the 17HMR came out it was illegal to use for small game. The law said .22 rimfire was legal for small game in addition to archery, shotguns with 2 shot or smaller and muzzleloaders.  It wasn’t that way because “legislators are stupid” it was illegal because the round wasn’t in existence when the law was written the legislators changed it after a couple of years when people contacted them about this and other things and they rewrote the law to accommodate this change in technology

Why was bait legalized for deer? Because people contacted Their legislator and wanted this changed because  baiting deer isn’t seen as negatively as it was when the law was originally written

The reason the “500 foot pound law” for handguns was changed was because the enforcement of that was was basically impossible with the advent of new calibers, handloading etc. there was no way for the game warden to prove the foot pounds of the round you had already shot at a deer

Same with foot pounds of pull in a bow. When the only bows used were recurves and longbows the minimum pull was probably necessary but with the new technology it wasn’t as much off big deal. Plus the game warden would have to have a way to certify the foot pound pull and that’s just not practical in the Woods

Crossbows were once seen as a magic “poacher weapon”. Then when enough people asked for it to be changed it was 

The same with scopes on muzzleloaders. It was seen as “unsporting” by a few and written into law. It was (thankfully) changed when people realized it was out of date with the new technology.

It used to be illegal to use a suppressor to hunt. People contacted their Legislators and got it changed


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## Tom W. (Aug 11, 2019)

The last time I looked here in Alabama any centerfire  mushrooming cartridge was legal for deer. Soooo... A .25 acp with one of those little BB's in the nose that Winchester used to sell technically is legal. Not the best choice however......


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## Throwback (Aug 21, 2019)

Tom W. said:


> The last time I looked here in Alabama any centerfire  mushrooming cartridge was legal for deer. Soooo... A .25 acp with one of those little BB's in the nose that Winchester used to sell technically is legal. Not the best choice however......



Same would be legal in Georgia 
Law was changed to read .22 centerfire with expanding bullet to just simplify it and be done with it.  Realistically no one is going to hunt with a 25 automatic.


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## rosewood (Aug 22, 2019)

Throwback said:


> Realistically no one is going to hunt with a 25 automatic.


We hope...


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## Throwback (Aug 22, 2019)

rosewood said:


> We hope...


There will be more wounded and lost deer this year with a 300 win mag than there will be with 25 acp


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## rosewood (Aug 22, 2019)

Throwback said:


> There will be more wounded and lost deer this year with a 300 win mag than there will be with 25 acp


No doubt!


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