How much am I looking at for a shooter-grade antique handgun?

[drumstyx]

I'm looking for a shooting grade (not fancy, beat up, mostly mechanically sound, etc) antique handgun, but I'm not sure how much I should be spending.

I reload, so caliber is mostly a non-issue, it just needs to be centrefire, but I understand that .41 cal projectiles are hard to come by, so casting may be in my future.

My "PoU" as Nutnfancy would call it, is simply to be able to shoot in the bush. I'd like to be able to take small-medium deer. I live in Ontario, and handgun hunting is legal, of course, provided the handgun is not a restricted or prohibited firearm.

Any advice?

 

[tokguy]

S & W 44 Russian comes to mind. A Reichrevolver would be my suggestion. It's a big tough, simple gun, that is typically affordable.
And nope, I'm not championing the same as have. They just seem like big, powerful (relatively of course) user friendly pistol.
Maybe 1350$.
The french offerings are typically the same price and as good, but more difficult to feed IMO
My 2 cents

 

[Polar_Hunter]

I'm looking for a shooting grade (not fancy, beat up, mostly mechanically sound, etc) antique handgun, but I'm not sure how much I should be spending.

I reload, so caliber is mostly a non-issue, it just needs to be centrefire, but I understand that .41 cal projectiles are hard to come by, so casting may be in my future.

My "PoU" as Nutnfancy would call it, is simply to be able to shoot in the bush. I'd like to be able to take small-medium deer. I live in Ontario, and handgun hunting is legal, of course, provided the handgun is not a restricted or prohibited firearm.

Any advice?

Where did you get the idea that it would be legal to hunt in Ontario with an antique powder burning hand gun???? According to the hunting regulations the only hand gun allowed is a pellet gun that shoots under 500 fps.

 

[tiriaq]

According to ON hunting regulations, a restricted or prohibited firearm may not be used for hunting. An antique handgun is neither.

Right now, I could buy a sound Reichs revolver for $1100. Clean gun, no warts. Hunt deer with it? No way. Wouldn't hunt deer with a rifle that used the same cartridge.

 

[antiqueguy]

hunting deer with a antique handgun lol id hunt small game no problem with a antique handgun but they are not powerful enough in my mind to want to go after deer and that's saying a lot since id use a .22 hornet to take deer

 

[H Wally]

I'm looking for a shooting grade (not fancy, beat up, mostly mechanically sound, etc) antique handgun, but I'm not sure how much I should be spending.

I reload, so caliber is mostly a non-issue, it just needs to be centrefire, but I understand that .41 cal projectiles are hard to come by, so casting may be in my future.

My "PoU" as Nutnfancy would call it, is simply to be able to shoot in the bush. I'd like to be able to take small-medium deer. I live in Ontario, and handgun hunting is legal, of course, provided the handgun is not a restricted or prohibited firearm.

Any advice?

It's Monday and I'm not at my best, but my advice is that's a horrible idea and you need to do a LOT of reading on antiques before going near any of them. Ballistically most antique handguns don't have the power to reliably drop a deer compared to most rifle cartridges. A 30-30 is a far better choice, and 30-30 is an old cartridge and low power by comparison to most cartridges entering the market these days. There are also quite a few threads on what starter antique to buy, what to pay, pros and cons, etc etc.

From your other post it sounds like you've heard about antiques and are excited to have a gun that you can push the boundaries set out by "the Man". I'm maybe taking it the wrong way, but generally that's what we have to deal with so it's what I expect. I would very very very strongly recommend reading ALL of the pages of all of the stickies at the top of the BP forum. There is a lot of info there and you'll begin to get a decent picture of how things work. Long story short, antique owners are responsible for ourselves - we make sure we know the laws, follow them, and politely, respectfully and calmly educate those who don't know with written documentation and as a result, we get to enjoy a great hobby.

For actually owning an antique handgun, you get what you pay for. A cheap antique is going to have problems. If you're willing to spend more, you can get something very nice, which in a way encourages knowledge of the laws because having a $4k investment confiscated is no laughing matter