[Bezoar]

Thats my self imposed question, how do i choose between the revolvers sold by Taurus? I want one for self defense and for hunting deer at 50 yards max.

By caliber i would be needing at least a 32 for serious defense, but for hunting at least a 357. But other then that, and handling how does one choose?

 

[Bull Snake]

Bezoar,
Ultimately you pick what works best for you within certain reasonable parameters of caliber and size. My carry gun is a .38 Special 3" Detective Special, I hunt with a .44 Mag and up, including a Raging bull .454. For someone to tell you what you should buy is like letting someone tell you who to marry. Plenty of opinions, but you have to live with the result. Borrow guns, rent guns, try many till you find one you like. Just like women, comparison shop.

 

[NativeTexan]

No gun for hunting should have less than a 4" barrel. I'm thinkin' 4" .41 mag tracker or .357 for such a compromise gun. A titanium tracker is light enough to be easy to carry and you can carry a 4" medium frame gun IWB or OWB concealed in the right clothing. Eventually, I think you're going to want to carry something smaller, though.

 

[Bezoar]

The titanium revolvers look nice and sound nice, but when you get down to it, what offers better long term usefulness, the steel or the titanium alloy? And what is going to be better to handle recoil wise?

Ive read a normal 38 special revolver recoil is 8-9 pounds, thats a jug of milk, but how much does it change by going from a steel gun to a titanium gun?

 

[Steelheart]

I don't know if you can find a gun that will be a good fit for both things (defense and hunting). I should state now that I'm assuming carry vs home defense. If you're thinking home defense and not carry, picking a suitable load and you'll be off to a good start.

If you are thinking carry and hunting, you will end up compromising somewhere. There are larger carry guns (3-4" magnum revolvers) that would work for hunting but the barrel length is on the short side. On the flip side, if you stretch out the barrel length it becomes better for hunting but at the same time, it becomes more difficult to conceal.

Off hand, I'd take a serious look at the 4" 44 magnums. Yes, its on the large side for carry but you have the power to make it work for hunting. And you have the option of using 44 specials for carry.

Another idea might be to get two guns in the same or similar calibers. You could get a 6+" 357 for hunting and a 2" for carry (605 or 617?).

Steelheart

 

[shep854]

The minimum for hunting should be a 6" .357 mag. This will also work for a house gun. With heavy .357 loads (158-180gr bullets, loaded hot) you can hunt up to deer, and milder loads, including .38Spl will do for defense. Concealed carry is challenging, but doable. Check you local laws!

Concerning recoil, the lighter the gun, the worse the kick. The mass of the gun itself soaks up a lot of the recoil. When you get to the really light ones, shooting gets downright painful, especially with good defense loads. I can't imagine shooting .357 out of the airweight/titanium snubbies. For a .357, the smallest I will go is a Ruger SP101, and it stings with even with light .357s.

 

[NativeTexan]

Well, since it's a compromise, I figure the titanium .41 or .357 4" for ease of carry IWB. Yeah, I'd prefer a 6" or better for hunting and for the recoil shy, titanium might not be the answer (I can handle pretty heafty recoil), but of course such a revolver would not be ideal for either use. I've wanted a titanium (not sure it's still offered in titanium) .41 Tracker 4" for an outdoor general use gun, but wouldn't hunt with it. I might carry it occasionally, though, IWB.

But, I think hunting and CCW are enough specific as to application that they give you a perfect excuse to buy two guns. Why get one when you can have two more specialized weapons? Personally, I like optics on my hunting handgun and hunt with a scoped 12" contender usually and carry a M85UL .38 revolver which more suits CCW duties. You can't easily conceal a 12" contender and a 2" .38 ain't exactly a hunting weapon. These two weapons are ideal for their intended uses, so you can see a compromise is REALLY a compromise for a gun to do both.