Would someone help me pick a handgun?

I need a handgun heavy enough for deer hunting and with cheap enough ammo for a lot of target shooting. accuracy, ammo price, and small enough to be comfortable shooting without a lot of kicking or an exorbitant amount of noise are my main requirements Any wisdom or suggestions would greatly appreciated.

.357 Magnum maybe? Then for plinking you can pick up some cheaper on sale .38 special rounds to shoot through it. I use a .41 Mag Ruger Blackhawk and keep the ammo costs down by reloading for it.

Try a Thompson Contender. You can get it in pretty much any caliber you want, that includes your normal rifle rounds too. Or if you don't want a single shot try a Ruger Blackhawk in .41 Mag. I always enjoy using it for whitetail and is reliable out to 100 yards.

A T/C Contender with two 10 inch iron-sighted barrels - one in 22 long rifle rimfire, the other in 357 magnum, ought to do, if your deer are of average size and you are willing to use premium hunting ammunition and keep your shots under 50 yards. If you are intent on chasing monster bucks then I recommend a Ruger Bisley Blackhawk in 44 magnum or 45 Colt and a Dillon Square Deal B with which to create pleasant and affordable practice ammo in the quantities needed to become a serious game shot. Good hunting!

A .357 Magnum might be allright if you are going to be hunting in woods or other terrain where shots would be close. But the .357 is the BARE MINIMUM for deer hunting. A .41 or .44 magnum would definately be better from a purely hunting standpoint, but both offer more recoil then the .357 and ammo is slightly more expensive. A .44 mag revolver is nice because you can shoot .44 special ammo for practice and save the magnum ammo for sighting in and hunting.

I would go with a 44mag. If you reload or know someone then ammo is cheap if not factory loads aren't much more then 357. Buy a Ruger so you can install a scope on it. Good out to 75 to 100 yard at the max.

I was going to recommend a .41 Mag as well, until I got to the part about ammo being cheap. 41 Mag ammo is not easy to find nor cheap when you do, so plinking and routine practice would probably be out unless he got into reloading.

But by the same token, I'm not impressed with a .357 Mag as a hunting round. But, it would fit the bill, being a hunting legal handgun in most states, as well as having plentiful, cheap ammo and mild

Handguns are a different breed...completely different than shooting a rifle. With a rifle, you can usually coach a new shooter so they are getting good results in an afternoon. An individual might need thousands of rounds and months of practice to be accurate at 50 yards with a handgun.

Handgun ammunition for .357, .41 or .44 Magnums are not inexpensive. These are basically the only cartridges you should be considering. You are more than likely going to have to start reloading...I got my first hunting handgun in 1984 and the first day I shot it I knew I wasn't going to be able to afford $20 for 20 rounds of ammunition more than once a month.

I enjoy shooting single action handguns...I'd recommend you look for a Ruger BlackHawk or Super BlackHawk.

I am not that knowledgeable on handguns, but I have a couple of friends that I think are up on the subject. They swear by the .41 mag as their handgun of choice for black bear and deer. They say it is a lot tamer to shoot than the .44 mag, but far superior to the .357 ballistically. On the down side, it is not available in as many models as the .44 or .357, and ammo is scarce too, unless you load it yourself.