THE GAME YOU USE THEM ON. SOME HAVE TWO FEET, SOME HAVE FOUR, SOME HAVE NONE AT ALL
Deer are fairly easy creatures to harvest. I am always amazed when gun writers extol the virtues of the 357 for defense, and police work..but cringe at the idea of hunting deer with the caliber. Some of the 200+ lb violent felons I have come up against in three decades of law enforcement....were a heck of a lot tougher then some poor soft bodied deer. So if the 357 is good enough for them...and it is...it certainly is good enough for deer. Many folks, wax elegantly against the 357 for such work because the muzzle energy is just too low....the penetration isn't sufficient enough...and the ballistics drop off at deer hunting handgun ranges...HORSEHOCKEY...
Yes the forty calibers are better for hunting medium to large game....but that doesn't make the 357 a poor cousin. As I have written before...when the 357 is loaded to original pressures...the pressures it was designed for...it will kill deer and quite effectively. As for penetration, I have had the 173 grain Keith cast bullet completely blow through Virginia whitetails. If I had to choose one jacketed bullet today for hunting, it would be the 180 grain XTP loaded at 1400 plus feet per second in Ruger SAs or stronger handguns. This bullet is designed for the 38 special...so pushed from the 357, even out to 60 or 70 yards and more, it expands very well.
Deer is the general name for a class of animals that can be quite different. Mule deer are usually fairly substantial animals in size....some whitetails can be very small. When I hunted whitetails in Texas for example, if some of the does went 100 lbs...they were fair sized....a good sized buck whitetail in Virginia in our area would run 150 lbs....in Northern New York, where I hunted as a kid....200 lb whitetails were the norm. A mule deer in this area of AZ, at 200 lbs is not considered anything but common.....250 lbs is certainly not rare.
It is slightly true that a larger caliber with more power will make up for bad shooting. Obviously a 475 caliber 440 grain bullet at 1300 fps is going to make a greater energy dump even with a bad hit then a 180 grain 357 at 1400 fps. So if there is a marginal hit with both, the 475 is going to do more damage....and mayhaps make up for some of the sloppy shooting. But that is a lousy reason at best to use larger calibers. Practice with the handgun and load we are going to use is essential to successful hunting and honorable sportsmanship. That is right, the hunter that doesn't practice until he is better than adequate with his gun and load, out to the furthest distance he will attempt to take game....is not an honorable hunter....
Too many things can go wrong when handgun hunting, the lack of practice should never be one of them...that's dishonorable to the game hunted and the sport................
All land animals really live in the upper or forward third of their bodies, place a substantial bullet anywhere in that 1/3 and it is a mortal wound. Braking shoulders certainly helps bring the game to ground, heart shots kill well, spine and brain shots are excellent but difficult. The point here is that it doesn't take a lot of long intensive and expensive practice to put a bullet into the upper third of a game animal's body. Shoulders, hearts, spine and such are good to practice for...but at a minimum, we must put in the time to be able to place our shoots into the size of a deer's chest out to the furthest range we will shoot at.
I like leveraction rifles. Obviously, or I wouldn't have written the premier book out there, on them. And the 357 from a carbine or rifle is a whole different power base then it is from a handgun....for me it extends the range out to 150 yards or more. The point is either the handgun in 35 caliber under 100 yards or the rifle in 35 caliber over 100 yards, with a chest shot is death to the animal. I have no idea how many deer I've taken in this country but it is a substantial number. During the 1970s in Virginia, deer were a pest animal in our area. And the state rules allowed you to take any animal that destroyed property. Farmers and crop growing cattle producers were constantly having problems with deer. We also had a number of families in our area, that were poor and didn't hunt. Myself and a friend, enjoyed hunting, and the folks in the area knew if deer were destroying crops and such, to call us....because the meat wouldn't go to waste. Families that needed it, got it. That is what God put deer and such on the earth for in the first place. But I bet I harvested 20 or more deer a year, every year, while living in that wilderness area for over five years.
I've taken them with all kinds of calibers and bullets and loads....but with the 357 I have always tended toward a 180 grain jacketed bullet at the highest velocity attainable for the handgun used. When I couldn't use the 180 jacketed...I would use the Keith 173 grain Keith cast with my alloy. I take 20 pounds of magnum shotgun shot (mag0 shot contains 6% antimony, plain shot less then 3%...antimony is essential to hardening of lead with tin) and one pound of 95% plumbers tin....get the lead pot very warm. I like frosted bullets...it means less voids, holds lube better, and when dropped into water tempers hard and consistently, bullet after bullet. With this alloy and tempering, these bullets don't really foul but yet they do expand.....for just general shooting, and fun stuff I used what ever is cheapest...usually wheel weights tempered. But if I am going hunting, or just going to carry cast loads while woods loafing in the hunting seasons...it's my special alloy in the magnums...or the 180 grainers in the 357.
The 180 grain XTP bullet seems to put deer down faster than the 173 grain cast bullet....even when the cast bullet expands. The various 125 grain hollow points are good for deer at close ranges. Basically the 125 grain bullets were designed for close range defense work. But when a deer is hit right, and close, the 125 grain is a killer. It is not in any way my bullet of choice for anything living of decent size, at beyond across the room ranges...but in its limited nitch it is excellent. The Speer 146 grain Keith shaped, half jacketed hollow point, is a good in between bullet. The velocity can be pushed too very high levels and it will harvest deer well at short range. But if the range is going to be past 50 yards, I personally would rather go for the 180 XTP. The heavier bullet is going to penetrate better at long range. Except for the Speer 160 half jacket Keith designed bullet I am not enamored with the whole line of 158 to 160 grain bullets....they are not fish nor foul. They of course will take deer, but there are better bullets.
Here's where we separate out the bullets and their real abilities. If all deer stood broad side to us...and we all had long aiming time....light bullets would most likely do well. But in the real world, deer refused to cooperate. I have hit a number of small Virginia whitetails in the butt going over fences, bushes, around trees, and thru brush....the 180 grain jacketed and the cast 173 grain bullets at 1400 or more velocity will go long ways into the front vitals of a deer. The various 158 grainers don't always make it, and the 125s and such never make it.
The last deer I shot was here in AZ, I was on my way home from work. I had my S&W Mountain 357 seven shot with me. Loaded with 180 grain XTPs over H2400 to 1200 fps out of the four inch barrel. AT 25 yards or so, I hit her (doe) in the shoulders and the bullet went clean through. The exit was very good sized, near three inches, considering the lower velocity. We got about 60 to 70 pounds of meat from her. So she was small. But the point is, don't hesitate when a good opportunity is presented to you...just because you only have a 357.....
I read a national gunwriter's story of a bear hunt he had. He was black bear hunting, and was carrying a Dan Wesson 357. To make a long story short he shot the bear a few times with the 357 and the bear didn't fall over dead. He felt that the 357 wasn't enough for black bear.
I wouldn't go hunting for black bear with a 357. I would pick a 40 caliber loaded warm. Black bear are aggressive and very dangerous when wounded and not stopped. But I have never turned down a decent shot at a black bear because I only had a 357 with me. Because unlike the author of that story, I load my 357s to 357 magnum levels, not 38 load levels. A 158 grain bullet doing 1100 fps is a warm 38.
Even small black bears are tough animals. We had a black bear on a mountain here in Tucson not too long ago attack a girl in a tent in a camping area. A young man came to her rescue and shot the bear twice with a 44 magnum handgun. The bear escaped into the trees and brush, and the Sheriffs deputies had to finish it with shotguns. Of course the lad was excited and didn't hit the bear at all well. I have killed black bear out of trees with 357s often in Virginia. You just have to be sure you hit them right...and hard. Because when they hit the ground, they better be dead. You could get a very valuable dog or even yourself torn up if they are not finished. You don't even want ten seconds of life left in them. I have had 180 grain jacketed soft nose, hollow points, go right through the back and exit the chest area on them. Absolutely wreck the lungs and everything in between...and still have them run for hundreds of yards.
One of the deadliest loads I have ever used out of any magnum handgun on black bear has been the 170/180 grain hollow pointed 41 magnum bullets, loaded over 20 grains of Accurate #9 or 15/800X for well over 1700 fps with either load. This is also the darndest deer killing load I have ever used. You get the quick expansion of the 125 grain 357 magnum class bullets but with the deeper penetration of a heavier bullet and the larger starting caliber of the 41, coupled with expansion that goes to 70 caliber or more. I have never lost an animal shot with a 41 magnum. I had one stolen from me. I heart shot a deer once...it ran blindly like they do, went over a fence and piled up on a country road. A jeep rolled up before I could get to it, two slob hunters picked it up and took off with it.
The 220 grain Keith cast Lyman bullet over 20 grains of H2400 will kill anything in the lower 48 states...and 90% of what Canada and Alaska have to offer. Of course Canada won't let you in with a handgun. It might corrupt their children....of course Canada is also about 30 years deeper into socialism then we are...
Bison are very large animals...but even Bison would fall to the 41 magnum and the right bullet. I would use a 240 grain cast Keith design and 19 grains of H2400. If I lived in Alaska and needed a good light carry gun for everything, the 41 magnum could easily fit that prescription. I would take a 3 screw Ruger SA Flattop, if I could find one, and send it to Ham Bowen and ask him to turn it into a premier 41 mag. That Ruger with a steel grip frame, and I'd have Hamilton put a steel ejector rod housing on it also. Set the barrel back to a minimum, square it and zero the cylinder face, and hone the chamber mouths to all the same size. A Taylor throat in the barrel, all the internal parts polished and special springs with the trigger pull set to 2 ½ to 3 lbs. It would be one of the ultimate small but powerful carry guns.
I don't know if this will be published before my article on the 41 Special. But I once did a trick that set a number of gunnies back a few years...I took a Uberti Colt clone in 357 magnum...punched the chambers out to 41 magnum, and fitted a piece if 41 magnum barrel to it. That gun fired thousands of commercial and reloads to commercial pressures levels, without as much as a hiccup. Colt once made up six 41 magnums on their Single Action format. But Colt stated through Dick Metcalf, that they had to do all kinds of special heat treating.....etc...etc. Metcalf states he owns one of the guns. Well maybe Colt did all that heat treating stuff to build a 41 mag on the SA...but it was a waist of time. My Uberti SA was just a plain jane 357 built in the early eighties...itís lack of special heat treating never seemed to make a difference when it became a 41 magnum. But it was a pleasure to carry....I put my special front sight arrangement on it. That's a short and small rifle dove tail base, and then I use different sight inserts for different bullet weights, and of course you have windage adjustments with front dovetail. The 240 grain bullet at 1300 fps was a standard hunting load, it was a bit of a bear to shoot in that gun if you weren't used to 40 caliber magnum loads....but it was easy getting used to in the hunting field.
The three old timer rifle loads from the 1800s were the 32-20, the 38-40, and the 44- 40. These were black powder loads, but were nothing to sneeze at....out of the 1873 and 1892 model rifles and carbines, that Winchester produced, they were deadly rounds. They would all do from 1300 to 1500 fps with their respective bullet weights. About what commercial magnum ammo will do in handguns today. There was no rifle for the 45 Colt because it was a proprietary cartridge....so the 44-40 was developed....Colt of course chambered their Single Action for that and the other two.
The two large calibers, 38-40 and 44-40 in rifles were about 150 yard deer killers. Mayhaps stretchable to 200 or so yards with a good shooter. These don't have the potential of being magnumized today...but because of the thin brass and very large bases the handguns chambered for them....even in modern steel...must be kept out of those pressure ranges. But the 41 magnum takes the place of the 38-40 (which is a .401 caliber) and the 44 magnum takes the place of the 44-40. And in rifles these two magnum calibers...the 41 and the 44...are sterling performers. Using a Marlin 41 magnum levergun, I killed a Pronghorn at 250 yards with relative ease. The 210 grain cast Keith at a muzzle velocity of 2000 fps has a 20 inch drop with a two inch 100 zero and is still traveling at around 1200 fps out at 250. Admittedly I was pushing it a bit...but the Marlin had a small scope and the shot presented was right...
Both the 44-40 with the 200 grain bullet and the 38-40 with the 180 grain bullet at around 900 to 1000 fps are 50 yard deer and smaller game takers. I have to admit that my 44- 40 has a bore of 428 and I use a 44 special cylinder in it. Actually I have two Uberties in 44-40 with the extra cylinders. Keith called for 18.5 grains of 2400 under a 250 grain Keith bullet in 44 Special balloon headed cases....in the solid cases he recommenced 17 grains. I go with 18 grains in modern brass...and that gives a true 1200 fps plus velocity and 800 lbs of muzzle energy, in 4 and 3/4 inch barrels. Deer, black bear, small elk, and all kinds of lesser sized game will fall well to these loads when we do our part. Brian Pierce shot a small elk last year or the year before with such a load and it completely transversed the animal....if I correctly remember, what he said about it.
I have no problem with powerful handguns...the new developments in revolver cartridges that give us the power levels of some rifles are wonderful....(and you notice these developments were done mostly by custom gun makers not the big boys)....but my problem with these and the new power loads for the old cartridges is simple. There is a new generation of shooters coming up that want to get into handgun hunting. And I'm afraid they are getting the idea that to take game animals like deer with handguns....we need top power loads...the heaviest bullets....the biggest bores....etc. We do them a mis-service if we don't also emphasize that medium game hunting can be done with medium loadings....I had one young man tell me he really wanted to hunt with a handgun but he couldn't handle the big magnums...he was going back to rifles. We had a long chat, I took him out and called up a pair of ratbite ugly coyotes (summer molted fur...). He knocked over one of them, with a warm 38 load in a mid-frame 357...I am happy to say near a year later, he is now practicing with a 44 magnum and 44 warm special loadings...working up. Taught him to reload also.
Ruger did it right and then dropped the ball. Elgin Gates had developed a number of fine cartridges for the iron ram game. One of them was a elongated 357 magnum (3/8ths inch longer) and Ruger picked it up, called it the 357 Maximum, and chambered a new single action for it. It was a wonderful development for both silhouette shooters and handgun hunters. Pushing a 180 grain bullet at 1700 to 1800 fps from a fine SA. But then a national gunwriter started screaming about the top strap cutting on the gun and Ruger did a foolish thing...they dropped the gun and the cartridge. And the handgun hunters lost one of the finest developments this century. Incidentally it was the same writer that failed to kill a black bear with a sub357 magnum load.
As for the top strap cutting...hay I have three standard 357 magnums that have the same cutting...my 41 magnum and a 44 magnum are showing it too. That is nothing new, it only goes so far and stops! The steel gets flame hardened, and the cut allows the gas to vent and the cutting stops, besides using non ball powder slows down even that kind of cutting and erosion. Ruger engineers should have known that. I think the real reason is the cutting was an excuse...the gun was probably not selling as well as they though it should...so they dropped it. I took a Ruger SA 357 stainless and cut the chambers a little over an 1/8 of an inch longer and use cut down 357 Maxi brass. With two to three grains of powder more and about 150 fps higher velocity and pressures beyond the original 357 pressures of 45,000 psi. One would think the cutting would be bad in this gun, based on all the squawking back then...no such problem. I figure my great grand children will be shooting it in the year 2050, just the way I do today. Of course they may be doing it on another planet where there is no gun control.
The 44 magnum is still the king of the hunting handguns. And for very good reasons. There are other calibers now gnawing at its heels...but it is still numero uno, and will stay that way for a long time. The big four-four has taken every game animal in the world. Hunters like Larry Kelly and others have dropped the big bears in Alaska. And the largest of the large, the worldís largest land animal...elephants in Africa....and all the big and mean in between. I am sure that the 454s, 475s, and 500s and such will start the take over in this kind of hunting. But it won't diminish the fact that the 44 magnum can, and did, do it all. And for the rest of the hunting for smaller animals from moose on down, the big 44 will still do the largest share of game harvesting.
Keith's famous load of 22 grains of H2400 under a 250 grain cast bullet is still hard to beat. That load is over 40 years old...like the 44 magnum cartridge...but is still used extensively.
And now that there are a number of heavy cast bullet molds on the market for the 44, up to 300 and 320 grains...the 44 takes on a whole new hunting ability. I like heavy weight bullets at around 1200 fps for general purpose, and for woods loafing and fun shooting...but0 higher velocity loads for serious big game. SSK's cast bullet design in 320 grains for the 44 magnum is hard to beat. Also Lyman has a 325 grain Keith shaped design on the market. I like both these bullets for heavy loads...at 1200 fps either will take elk sized animals on down very well. Both 4227s (H and IMR) at around 20 grains will give this velocity...and 18 to 19 grains of 2400 will also. Iíd have no problem smacking a medium sized bear with this loading level...it has a good deal of penetration thru bones and tough flesh and anything else that gets in the way.
My personal best is the 45 Colt. It is a premier revolver round. It is a deer harvesting machine in modern guns. In a Colt SA (or clone) in modern steel, a pressure rate of 20,000 psi is nothing. I know these guns will take it. A little unknown fact is at the turn of the century the U.S. Army had the 45 Colt round with the 255 grain bullet, loaded over 6 to 7 grains of Bullseye! These loadings were used in the older black powder guns that came out of the 1880s and 90s. That means they were running pressures around 17,000 to 18,000 psi...I'm not recommending the these old black powder guns use these loads today...I'm mentioning a factual occurrence at the turn of the century.
Certainly with today's steels, better brass, powders, and primers, the 45 Colt round has been revitalized. In strong guns like the Ruger SA....it has become a whole new cartridge. Some like to say that we shouldn't heavy load the 45 Colt...that if we want magnum performance we should go to the 44 magnum. They are missing the whole point...in strong handguns the 45 Colt round will give more power than the 44 magnum at less pressure!
But in SA Colt/Clones the 45 Colt loaded heavy is an excellent mid power handgun. It has the ability to dump it's muzzle energy very efficiently...at 20,000 to 24,000 psi or so we are talking an excellent game getter. I have killed a number of deer over 125 lbs with the 255/260 grain Keith cast bullet over 18 grains of H2400 for around 1200 plus fps. Most of the time the slug didn't stay in these animals.....The tank of the animal world is the pig. Whether it is feral or Russian or a mix of the two....they are big, they are tough, and they take some killing. I found this 45 Colt load will do wonders on them. Any time you can get several hundred pounds of tasty wild pork in the freezer..bring enough gun to the party. The 45 Colt long and this load is enough...without wrist snapping bad habits.
Jim Taylor and I for about a 10 year continuous basis together carried clone SAs in 45 Colt. My load was 18/2400/260 for most of those ten years...I know Jim liked the 300 grain Gould bullet over 2400...not sure how much...but certainly both of us were pushing 24,000 psi plus for thousands of loads...My old SA is still going strong, even after I blew it up in an accident with a 454 load in 45 brass, and it was rebuilt....the owner who has it now is still using my old load. I'm not sure about Jim's old gun......
How accurate is the 45 compared to other calibers like the 44s. That's a question I get often on the net...along with pressure questions....accuracy is a product of the fit and tuning of the gun involved first, and then the load. With all things being equal, the 45 is as accurate as any other caliber.....I saw Jim Taylor sit on his butt, lean his back against the tire of the truck, in Oracle AZ in 1986, and place five 45 Colt rounds into less than 4 inches at 200 yards from a Ruger SA. Four of the shots went into two inches....the fifth opened the group. I still think it was incredible because it was with open sights. How accurate is the 45 Colt long? Probably more than we can shot it.
The 45 caliber was made for bear hunting as far as I'm concerned. The 45 ACP and the 45 Colt long for black bears...the 454s for the big bears....I know personally of one of the largest elephants killed in the 1990s with a 454 head shot....not only a big elephant, but this dude had a big head! Lynn Thompson dumped him with the 454 FA. Certainly then it will kill even big bears. I consider the big bears of the Americas the premier dangerous animal of the world, but not as hard to kill as an elephant because of the less body mass. And I still think the 454 is up to harvesting him.
Yes and no. If you want to learn long range hunting, or at least accuracy for that kind of hunting, then Silhouette is the name of the game for you. These steel animals are hard to hit without practice, so as you practice and get better, your ability to hunt successfully with a handgun goes up experientially. When you are shooting at 40 lb rams at 200 meters, even though they are not moving you get the idea, that going after real live animals with a handgun is not as easy as it is sometimes made to sound in the gun press. Silhouette will show you what guns and loads you are best with, and what guns and loads are best for you to use....those two are not always the same thing. But practice brings them together....as you become skilled. And that's the start. Then you need to get the set distances of the target range out of your system, by shooting over unknown ranges.
My friends and fellow Shootist are tired of hearing me say this....though they ascribe to it diligently. Not because I say it, but because itís fun and so worth while.
"anytime you have a new handgun or load, take one shot for each yard you might shoot at game, out to the furthest range you might take a shot..all over unknown ranges.....minimum!"
And that is a minimum number of practice rounds for the accurate shooter. If your outside maximum distance you will shoot at game, with a handgun and load is 200 yards....or even 150 yards but if a neat set shot presents itself at 200 and you know you will take it..then 200 shots, at unknown ranges all the way out to 200 yards, over the ground your going to hunt if possible. That is a minimum. That is Paco's Rule.
At my age now, 100 yards is my maximum range...older eyes and such...but I know I would try a 150 yard set shot, if offered. So with a new gun or load I would use, or plan to use in a hunt, it is 150 rounds at unknown ranges out to 150.....three or four sessions of this and you really start to get good at it. Jim Taylor and I used to put plywood squares out with easy to see painted targets on them. We would walk away from them, then shoot from all ranges and angles...always checking accuracy...always repatching the holes...always redoing it.
Jim had an old steel tire hung from a tree at about four hundred yards, that we used to shoot at...surprisingly we used to ring it's bell often. It gets to be real fun after awhile, and you start to make some amazing shots...you then realize that Keith's story of shooting at a 600 yard mule deer with a handgun, and hitting it, is entirely possible. He shot that mule deer by the way, with a handgun at that crazy range, because it was wounded badly with a rifle, and getting away. He brought it down with a 44 magnum. Keith was a master at long range shooting.....
My E-Mail sometimes brings some interesting questions.."Paco I don't believe you really said you would hunt deer with a 32-20!"
What I said was, when I was younger I hunted very small deer with a very heavy loaded
32-20 Colt. And today if I were just woods loafing armed with a heavy loaded 32-20 (or 30 carbine Ruger) and a set shot on a broad side deer presented itself out to around 50 yards. We would have winter's meat, because I wouldn't pass it up. But I wouldn't deliberately go hunting deer or larger with that caliber handgun. My very minimum today is a heavy loaded 357, with the right hunting bullet. Even then I would rather have a 170 grain JHP 41 magnum load at 1700 fps.
But it is possible, even Keith admitted to hunting and killing at least three big deer and one elk, with the 32-20. He even stated he wore out a number of 32-20 barrels. So he did a lot of shooting with the caliber. In his 1930s book "SIXGUN CARTRIDGES AND LOADS" page 20 Keith states................
"Although most authorities condemn this 32-20 for use in revolvers, I found it a very fine little cartridge when properly handloaded. It served me well, and altogether I still have a lot of respect for it.......It is a handloading proposition, pure and simple, for best results. Owing to the extreme thickness of the cylinder of the .32-20 in the S.A. Colt gun, it can be easily and safely handloaded to at least 1500 feet with 2400 Hercules powder."
Now Keith is very clear he looked at the 32-20 as a small game caliber. But what he is also saying is it is a powerful small game caliber when loaded correctly in strong handguns. Do you want a strong handgun chambered in .32-20. Do what I did, buy a Ruger 30 Carbine and have the chambers punched out to 32-20. It's the strongest handgun I have bar none! I had a new cylinder in 30 carbine fitted, so I have both chamberings for the gun now. But I use the 32-20 most. Thin brass was a problem until nickel R-P stuff came on the market, MidwayUSA sells it cheaply. And then a gift from heaven....Starline is now manufacturing thick 32-20 brass and it is just that. Modern, thick, strong and lasts a goodly amount of reloads. Even with my Mega-Loads of pushing a 125/130 grain cast Keith (Lee mold) bullet at well over 1600 fps, and the 30 caliber Plinker ½ jacket round soft nose at near 1800 fps. These load approach 53,000 psi plus and can only be used in the Ruger SAs. But in the smaller Colt clones in 32-20...1500 fps with the Plinker or one of the 110 grain jacketed 32 bullets...or 1600 with a 100 grain cast bullet is more then possible. I have a S&W 32 H&R magnum on the K-Frame with the heavy underlug six inch barrel...I rechambered that to 32-20. And that is a sweet gun.
The last doe I shot with the 32-20 was at a strong 60 plus yards, the 100 grain Plinker was placed right in her rib cage going forward...I was behind her and to the side. It made a 1 and ½ inch hole going in thru a rib, disintegrating her left lung. She ran about 20 yards and lay down. But if the distance would have been any longer, or the shot was at all obscured in some way, I wouldn't have taken it. She came into a mid range coyote call, and that is not unusual around here. Usually though it's the bucks that come in...I'm not sure why. I have heard a lot of great sounding reasons but I'm not sure they are correct. I used the S&W with the Plinker 100 grain bullet at around 1400 fps. Remember this K-Frame is chambered normally in 357 and 35,000 psi loads is its pressure level. So with less steel removed for the 32-20 chambering these pressure levels are normal and give outstanding power to an old black powder round.
By far the most hunted animal with this cartridge for me is the wily coyote. It is flat shooting and he is far ranging...he is not that big of animal and the 32-20's fairly powerful for his size body mass, he can flat out run and put distance between you and him even wounded, but heavy loaded the 32-20 kills with great authority. Again as Keith states when handloaded correctly.
This cartridge can be handloaded down with cast bullets for very small game. I have loaded the 85 grain XTP bullet so fast it is like a varmint rifle load. And it will flat disintegrate small vermin like rats and such. I once hit a good sized mud turtle with the load, and the top shell just completely disappeared. The turtle never moved...instant demise. A 90 grain Hornady 32 caliber bulk swaged SWC bullet, over four grains of Bullseye0 (or some other fast pistol powder) will give around 1100 fps. It is an accurate load and mild load, but has some real snap on small animals like rabbits and squirrels.
So handgun hunting is using the right caliber, bullet and load, for the animal hunted, with practice...at all kinds of ranges until we are proficient. And that makes it successful, satisfying, and worthwhile.