Hunting with a 9mm

[beetlejuicex3]

The 9mm is my favorite handgun caliber to shoot.

I've read some blogs around the net about hunting with the 9mm (handgun) and think it sounds interesting. But scary. One of the posts was a gentlemen hunting Javelina.

I bought some doubletap 147 grain +P that cooks along at 1150 ft/sec while toying with the idea.

Thoughts?

[kyratshooter]

The preasures on that round must be astronomical! Have they elivated 9mm limits to 50,000cpu?

As far as hunting with the 9mm, if all you are looking at is mass x speed what you have is a +p.38= light .357 load.

.357 in full charge is usually considered marginal for big game. Those little pigmy pigs is about the largest thing I would go after with a 9mm.

[hunter63]

IMO,
I guess I would check, first, to see if that load was legal to hunt what ever you looking to hunt.
And I guess you could use the 9mm, but then again you "could" row accross the Atlantic, I wouldn't do it.
I have too much respect for any game to not use the proper tool.

Had a sales guy, I used to buy from, lived in Texas, hunted them spears.

[SARKY]

Just as the 5.56 is barely capable of taking down a human with one shot, the 9mm is similarly in that position. Understand, i've seen moose taken with a .22lr pistol. But I sure as heck wouldn't do it or even attempt it except under dire conditions.
You didn't say what kind of game you plan on hunting with your 9mm.
As most of my big game hunting was done with handguns, I have to say that .357 power is the min. I would go with. My normal caliber for handgun hunting is .41Mag.

[lucznik]

In my neck of the woods...

9mm kills small game just fine, though sometimes with too much damage to the meat on such small critters to be useful. For this reason, the .22 LR usually is a better choice.

9mm is absolutely illegal for large game. Handguns have to be able to produce 500 ft lbs @ 100 yds to be legal. No way the 9mm could ever come close. This threshold can be met with the .357 magnum, but only just barely and not with any current, factory-made ammunition choices.

I killed an antelope last year with my 4" .357 Mag @ 75 yds. using iron sights. I was shooting a 180 gr. Hornady XTP over a stiff load of 2400. It worked just fine and I plan on repeating that again this year, though this time with a 180 gr. Nosler Partition.

Even if it could be legally done, I'm not sure many (if any) of the "service grade" 9mm autos sold today would be capable of the accuracy needed to make such a shot.

[rwc1969]

I wouldn't use one for any game for the reasons already stated.

[klickitat]

I have taken an elk cow at 80 yards with my CZ75 using HST +P 124 grain bullet. The round clipped a rib on the way in, punched her liver and clipped a rib on the way out before lodging behind the shoulder blade. It passed clean through her at 80 yards.
She only went 30 yards before bleeding out.

I have also taken 3 black tail bucks at 20 and 25 yards.

[lucznik]

I have taken an elk cow at 80 yards with my CZ75 using HST +P 124 grain bullet. The round clipped a rib on the way in, punched her liver and clipped a rib on the way out before lodging behind the shoulder blade. It passed clean through her at 80 yards.
She only went 30 yards before bleeding out.

That's some pretty fair shootin'. If it's legal where you live and it works for you, then have at it.

[klickitat]

That's some pretty fair shootin'. If it's legal where you live and it works for you, then have at it.

Yeah, a few years back they made it legal to hunt big game with any center fire .30 or bigger in a handgun.

[sgtdraino]

Not to get too far off the topic, but what do you guys think of 9mm versus .40 S&W for hunting? Is one any better/adequate than the other?

[lucznik]

Not to get too far off the topic, but what do you guys think of 9mm versus .40 S&W for hunting? Is one any better/adequate than the other?

Again, where I live the .40 would be equally illegal as the 9mm for big game hunting and it would also tend to produce the same, (if not more,) non-desirable meat destruction as the 9mm on small game so; it would not be a very ideal choice. It really is hard to beat an accurate .22LR as a small game gun.

I would think that as far as it's actual killing potential, it would not prove to be significantly superior (nor inferior) to the 9mm. I know a few cops who don't like their .40s because they claim it is a poor penetrator. Then again, I know a few others who think the .40 is as close to perfect as you can get.

I also, and with all due deference to klickitat and his CZ75, still don't believe there are very many service autos that are accurate enough to be reasonable hunting guns. The standard 4"@25yds that I always read about in the gun rags as being "on par for this type of gun" and "more than sufficient for the purposes the gun is intended for" and that I see guys bragging about at the gun range are just not good enough for hunting. In my opinion, a handgun needs to produce consistent groups of absolutely no more than 2" @ 25 yds. to be considered accurate enough for hunting - and even that may be a bit marginal, depending on the animal you are planning to hunt and the distance from which you are willing to take a shot.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

It is unethical to use a 9MM for hunting. I won't dispute the claims made but clean kills over 20 feet would be beyond my capabilities and from what I have seen, most peoples. A big part is the weapons that fire 9 MM. Short barreled hand guns are hard to shoot accurately. There are a few that can but anyone asking such a question would not likely be one of them. Hunters should be encouraged to use proper weapons for clean kills.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

Lucznic, I guess we were typing at the same time. Velocity is a bigger factor to meat damage than caliber and the critical speed seems to be subsonic vs super sonic speeds. This is apparent with my 44 magnum vs my 44 specials. One the specials have vertually no bullet expansion and secondly do not deliver the hydraulic shock the 44 magnum does. With my specials I can eat right up to the bullet hole. Range would be critical factor with 9MM. At close range could do some mangling but not much before it slowed. I never used 9MM to kill anything but used 38 a lot (mostly killing Halibut) and there is not much damage.

[Rick]

.357 magnum is legal for white tail here but not 9mm.

[lucznik]

Lucznic, I guess we were typing at the same time. Velocity is a bigger factor to meat damage than caliber and the critical speed seems to be subsonic vs super sonic speeds. This is apparent with my 44 magnum vs my 44 specials. One the specials have vertually no bullet expansion and secondly do not deliver the hydraulic shock the 44 magnum does. With my specials I can eat right up to the bullet hole. Range would be critical factor with 9MM. At close range could do some mangling but not much before it slowed. I never used 9MM to kill anything but used 38 a lot (mostly killing Halibut) and there is not much damage.

I agree with you completely about the effects of extra velocity.

However, my train of thought was that, when talking about small game, the 9mm (or .40S&W, or whatever) is inherently going to damage more meat on say a squirrel or a cottontail than the .22LR simply due to the basic physical size of the bullet. Even if you can eat right up to the hole, that hole is bigger, hence more meat is lost.

Now, some will say, "I only head shoot small game" - which is great if you have the skills necessary and a gun capable of doing such. But, of course, that brings us back around to my problem with service-grade autos and the inherent superiority of the .22LR.

Now as for taking big game with proper, big bore handguns, I'm in total agreement with you. However, I will point out that, in such cases, I generally don't care much about a little meat damage. I like extra velocity as it helps me keep my bullets where they belong at extended ranges and I'll take a quick kill that leaves me little or no tracking to do at the cost of a little bit of meat loss any day.

[hunter63]

I consider my 9mm's as a "retreat round", so like the double stack mags.

When all else fail's, you can turn tail, haul butte, spraying and praying behind you as your heading out.
But that is just me.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I like having enough velocity to get the job done myself. Even with brain shots it is good to build enough pressure inside skull to damage all the brain. If a portion of the brain is removed it only looses the ability of the part removed, i.e. eyesight, hearing or whatever that portion of the brain governs but the rest continues to work. Brain shots have never failed to put an animal down for me but using slower rounds (like 45 acp) they will often have convulsions till another round is used. I love the 1911 but I wish it shot a hotter round. A brainshot with my 44 and it hits the ground dead.

[klickitat]

I really don't know what to say. There's not much good that could come from defending my position.

So I will shrug my shoulders and let it be.

[Alaskan Survivalist]

I really don't know what to say. There's not much good that could come from defending my position.

So I will shrug my shoulders and let it be.

Oh it can be done, just not by most of us. I hunt with handguns but they are long barreled and suitable calibers.

[2dumb2kwit]

The 9mm is my favorite handgun caliber to shoot.

I've read some blogs around the net about hunting with the 9mm (handgun) and think it sounds interesting. But scary. One of the posts was a gentlemen hunting Javelina.

I bought some doubletap 147 grain +P that cooks along at 1150 ft/sec while toying with the idea.

Thoughts?

It's like a fat girl wearing spandex.(Or Rick wearing a thong.) Yeah, you could do it.....but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea. LOL