Re: Another day, another mass shooting
 

What he actually said was

I hate to point out the obvious but who would use a handgun for hunting?

Re: Another day, another mass shooting
 

Actually, in the US there are a lot of people that use handguns for hunting. Many states have established a hunting season specifically for handguns.

For some hunters, part of the sport is stalking the prey to get as close as possible. There is, from a practical standpoint, very little difference between hunting with a handgun and hunting with a bow and arrow.

Re: Another day, another mass shooting
 

My son does he calls it his finishing off pistol, it's used in cases where you don't get a kill shot .


Not on people just to be clear.

Re: Another day, another mass shooting
 

I thought hunting handguns were specialised, so different from ordinary handguns (not so useful for self-defence), in that they often have extended barrels and scopes fitted, and are often single-shot?

Re: Another day, another mass shooting
 

They generally do have longer barrels and some people use scopes but single shot isn't usually part of the equation.

Thompson Center makes some of the better hunting pistols and they are single shot but Thompson's claim to fame is in quality and the fact that many of their models can be reconfigured to fire an assortment of cartridges (including some rifle cartridges). Aside from that, most hunters will pick their firearm based on what they plan to hunt and the most appropriate cartridge for that game. The Browning Buckmark, for example, is a popular choice in .22lr which is appropriate for small game such as rabbits. The Buckmark is a semi-auto.

Larger game, obviously, requires a larger, heavier hitting round and revolvers are often the choice for hunting medium and larger game. Cartridges from .357 Magnum to .454 Casull tend to be popular. Revolvers such as the Ruger Super Redhawk and the S&W Model 629 would commonly be used for deer and even bear.