Pistol caliber Question

Tjv787

Tjv787

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I'm curious which handgun Calibers are equivalent to the rifle calibers of .243? Is there a handgun caliber that is equivalent to anything between a .243 And .270?
Thx
 
A .454 Casull with the right ammo in a 7.5" barrelled revolver has about 1900 ft.-lbs. of energy...of course it wouldn't have the range of a .243 shot from a rifle. As already mentioned, there's also the T/C Contender that you can get in a rifle calibre. The biggest and "baddest" revolver, the Smith & Wesson .500 has about 3000 ft.-lbs. of energy at the muzzle with the right ammo, about even with the .270 Winchester. The .243 with good 100 grain ammo from a 22" barrel sits about 2150 ft.-lbs. at the muzzle, and is generally recognized as being a good deer round out to 200 yards or a bit over.
 
The short answer is no there isn't. At least not unless you can find one of the old bolt action "short rifle" sort of handguns chambered in the round you're asking about. Like a Remington XP100 or the Contender suggested above.

There isn't a regular handgun around (other than those odd "short rifle" sort of bolt guns) that is sending out the bullets at anything like a rifle speed. At best the mass x speed value will match at some point in the trajectory. But a handgun is doing it with a big heavy bullet loafing along compared to the small light rifle bullet that is zipping along at double or more the speed. So while you can find a match for the bullet energy at the muzzle the way you arrive at that value is wildly different from a rifle round.

Ballistics of handgun bullets are not a match for spitzer or even longer "normal" style rifle bullets. The BC of handgun bullets is way lower than rifle bullets. So handgun bullets slow down a lot sooner and drop like rocks compared to the long and skinny rifle bullets with BC values that are often three or more times better.
 
skokie said:
What about the five-seven? It's chambered in a pistol and has pretty good ballistics for a handgun. The questions is still somewhat ambiguous.
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still not as fast as a 243, and much lighter bullets.But probably the closest in ballistics Yes, the OP needs to be more specific as to what he's looking for.
 
Just to clarify, the OP is looking for a carbine, not a handgun.
We exchanged a couple of PM's and he was curious about hunting deer with a pistol caliber carbine, the JRC in particular.
The WMU is restricted to .243 minimum, I think.
 
So probably a .40 s&w or a .45 acp would fit the bill for deer in a carbine length barrel. 10 mm would be better if you can get it, or go for a lever action carbine in pistol caliber, I know that's not the desired firearm though. What wmu is it?
 
I usually just answer the question, but in this case the answer is another question: "What are you trying to achieve?"
 
I'm asking because I'm wondering if a JR carbine( which only comes in handgun calibers) could be a coyote/ deer gun ....and it needs to be inbetween the calibers of a .243 and a .270. The JR carbine seems like an affordable Rifle and I want a black non restricted semi auto for potential hunting applications.
I was thinking a 45 acp but figured it doesn't hurt to learn from more Experienced and better looking people then myself ;)
 
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I think you will just need to accept the fact that buying lot's of guns is OK.
:)

JR as a fun target plinker and something else for hunting coyote's where you live.
 
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When you say " in between the calibers of .243 and .270" I assume you are talking about the caliber restriction of .275 cal south of Hwy 89 for hunting small game, wolves and coyote? If that's the case then you are SOL for two reasons. Firstly, you would not be able to use any firearm other than a shotgun or muzzleloader for the deer hunt. Also, you are not going to find a sub-.275 caliber centrefire pistol cartridge that will fit in the action of the JR Carbine and have the knockdown power you would need for coyote at any reasonable distance, let alone deer.
 
What I mean is I want the ability to use it for coyotes but also maybe for big game. So big game u need at least .243 and small game can't be larger then .275. Unless I'm totally off :s this will be up north around Sudbury in Ontario

If bullet placement is correct are u sure a handgun caliber won't be effective for coyotes, wolves and deer.
 
.44 mag. Hot .45 Long Colts. Proper 10mm (not factory crap). These come to mind.

But you'll have to reload for most of them to see which one the (specific) carbine you pick up likes best.
 
Tjv787 said:
What I mean is I want the ability to use it for coyotes but also maybe for big game. So big game u need at least .243 and small game can't be larger then .275. Unless I'm totally off :s this will be up north around Sudbury in Ontario

If bullet placement is correct are u sure a handgun caliber won't be effective for coyotes, wolves and deer.
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Start with getting a hunting license and maybe finding out the regulations in your area.
Some range time with a .22lr and your .308 would be a smart first move.
The Cool Black Carbine can go on the back burner while you spend money on ammo and time learning how to shoot.
 
Tjv787 said:
What I mean is I want the ability to use it for coyotes but also maybe for big game. So big game u need at least .243 and small game can't be larger then .275. Unless I'm totally off :s this will be up north around Sudbury in Ontario

If bullet placement is correct are u sure a handgun caliber won't be effective for coyotes, wolves and deer.
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If you're up north the regs allow you to use calibers over .275 for small game. In that case I go back to saying .40 s&w, .45 acp or 10 mm. I personally prefer a cast bullet for small game and a jsp or jhp for big game. The caliber restriction only applies in that area if you're hunting small game during a big game season and don't have a big game licence for that season. Even a 9mm with the right bullet is good enough for deer, and if you don't reload it's cheaper than the others. I hope that helps.
 
I have my hunting licence and yes I do have a 308 and yes I need lots of practice and I look forward to it.
But I'm just thinking what I may want in the future. Restricted rifle isn't practical because I can't use it besides going to a range and that doesn't interest me really. A hand gun I might get if I think I will be pursuing trapping as secondary income or prospecting ( id apply for ATC, so I can actually carry it and use it). But I think besides that I'm missing a rifle that is good for small game like coyote and wolves but I'd still want the ability to take large game with it and I'd like to have an AR looking rifle, but I want it to have a practical hunting purpose.
So here I am figuring out ( out of boredom and interest) if the JR carbine could work as the tool I may desire for the hunting I may want to do in the future.
 
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