What caliber pistol

[ilchaf]

I have a 45 ACP, but wondered if a 357 mag or 44 mag is needed for hunting mountain lions. We have a few lions that are to close to home. My neighbors called the DOW who trapped and killed a lion after it started killing their livestock.

[silentnight]

I have seen quite a few taken with a .22 mag, that being said I'm sure anyone of the ones you listed will indeed "put one down" ..

[jcutler]

Would use a rifle over a pistol if you can

[ilchaf]

I have carried a rifle before, but I live in rough country and would like to just have a firearm in a holster. Looking into a 44 mag

[Mike Leonard]

45 ACP will work well provided you stay away from FMJ hardball ammo. Use a light hollowpoint, and thump him in the heart lung area and that is that. That being said make sure you can place that bullet precisely at the range you are expecting to shoot. A 22 Long rifle hollow point in the right spot is much better than a 44 Magnum in the fringe.

[Cowboyvon]

I'm sure a lot of calibers placed correctly will make them dead... just don't use what ever it is Benny G used... lord ah mighty my hounds couldn't hear for a week and I still have partial loss of hearing in my left ear lol

[Mike Leonard]

That's Ole Bennie's famous 41 Mangle-em!!!! LOL!!!

[R Severe]

I like the 22 mag. I have a double action revolver and a little lever action rifle that I use. Some states require a center fire so check before using the rimfire.
I like the lung shot, very quick.

The big calibers are good if you don't tie dogs back but you need to soak your clothes in cold water after pack out.

[Mike Leonard]

Jay Bruce famous California lion hunter and Author of the book (Cougar Killer) became a strong advocate for the 22 LR Semi-Auto Colt Pistol for lions. In his early years he carried a Colt single Action 38-40 which plunked a .357 caliber hole this was a slow load out of a thumbbuster and not to whippy even out of a longer barrelled 92 Winchester rifle. It socked them lions pretty good and knocked a hole thru them and they would usually leave the tree hightailing with the screaming pack in hot pursuit. More than a few times old ropetail still had enough pizzazz left in him when they caught him to mark them up pretty good. Jay switched over to his famous Colt Woodsman 22 for about the last 3-400 hides he gathered and his vet bills went down. He would just let them get good and settled, and then pop them right behind the shoulder towards the ticker, and just wait. Generally they will flinch maybe move around a little and then the back end
Dale Lee aslo used a Colt Woodsman as did Merrell Vann another well known California/Nevada lion man. Old Dale lost his Woodsmen on a wild horse ride thru the brush and never found it. Clell lent him a Ruger Single Six 22 and Dale couldn't hit the broad side of the barn with it and lost a big lion up on Black River because of it. The Ruger though a fine sixgun didn't have that light almost target trigger that the old smooth Woodsmen came out with.
Russell Annabell famous Outdoor Writer and sourdough of the frozen north country also carried a Colt Woodsmen in a fancy beaded belt holtser and it accounted for critters a lot nasty that lion with it. Read his account of doing battle with a cabin trashing wolverine, and it will really make you appreciate the light and ever ready 22 on your hip.

My wife and I seldon swing a leg over a horse and leave the place without our trusty Woodsmen 22's comfortably riding in El Paso Saddelry full flap holsters on our hip.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

As usual good bit of info Mike.
In Canada we can't hunt with hand guns, and even if we could I would tell my clients to bring a rifle. I have seen piss poor shooting with rifles I couldn't imagine the quality of shooters with hand guns.
22 lr is a very lethal round put in the right spot.

[Mike Leonard]

I understand excactly CH what you are talking about. Over our years of guiding big game hunters it never ceases to amaze me how poorly so many people shoot under actual field conditions. They will likely show up with a fantastic rifle with superior optics and custom grade high dollar ammo. They announce that their set up can cleanly kill deer and elk at extreme ranges, and they are correct if they can hit it properly. Then the moment of truth comes in the brush and the sight of flashing hide and antlers sends aTexas sized shot of adrenalin into their systems and the wheels come off the cart. This is excactly why we train and keep a blood trailing dog to recover game that is wounded.

So add to that the challenge of a handgun and making a clean shot and it can be pretty risky business, so like you we encourage lion hunters to pack a compact carbine or rifle and learn to hit a golf ball routingly at 25 yards and the problems are reduced dramaticly.

We always feel pretty good when we have a client show up with a well worn model 70 or 700 that shows honest use and in a reliable time proven caliber such like a 270-30-06 or 308. Even if this hunter has never taken an elk but has spent many falls in the whitetail woods were generally see good things. There is an old saying ( beware of the man with one gun because he most likley is very familiar with it.)

Had a very nice fellow show up last year and he anounced he had been a Marine Sniper and he wasn't bragging because 2 other guys that came with him said this guy is telling you the honest truth. He had not been hunting in many years so he borrowed a 300 magnum from a friend who gave him 2 boxes of old ammo and told him that gun was always dead on the mark. He showed up early in the morning so we didn't have time to do our usual test sight in but he said the gun was deadly so we took his word for it. After 2 days of hunting and 4-5 misses at elk I said we have to shoot that gun it has to be way off. So we went to a make shift range and oddly enough when I shot the gun was fairly close not perfect but good enough to poke an elk out to 150 yards.I told him to set down and take a shot and I intentionaly slipped the live round out of the chamber. He got down sighted and jerked the trigger closing his eyes and flinching big time.Click! He looked at me and I said Dave that 300 magnum has your number. He said I know I hate the way this thing kicks! I asked him ,what did you shoot mostly when you were active? He said 7.62 NATO or the good old 308. I went to my truck brought back my wife's little Savage 308 and said try this. He did flinching on the first shot, then I told him dry fire it a couple times and then hit that bullseye. Just like clockwork he did. Just before dark that evening he used it to put down a super nice elk with one shot and the elk was running and he anounced before he shot , neck shot right next to the head. Boom! 125 yards and a very dead elk.

Know your gun!!

A note: I mentioned Russell Annabel earlier when we were discussing 22 hanguns. He wrote about this in his book ( THE EARLY YEARS) . He was a great story teller and captivated the reader. He was however in truth much like the African writer Peter Hathaway Capstick. A great deal of fiction our placing himslef into the accounts he had heard about others. Still good reading, but he was no Dale Lee. LOL!