lightest calib weapon!

[ken]

What is the lightest Calib weapon people have used for lion and bobs??

[larry]

Have a friend that has dispatched a couple lions with a .17. Personally I like the .223, but is a pain to carry, as any rifle is. Would love to find a pistol that I could shoot accurately enough to get the job done, but never have been impressed with the killing power of conventional pistol calibers when lions are concerned, or my ability to shoot them A scoped pistol in .218 BEE or .221 fireball would probably be the direction I would go if I was planning on shooting alot, but I generally just forget about the rifle, throw the glock in my pack(just in case of a bad deal) and take off with the dogs.

[TomJr]

22 CB is plenty for bobcats if they are in a tree you can easly place the shot. I usualy shoot them in the head between the eyes about 1/2 inch above the eyes, drops them dead.

For lions I have killed them with a 30 30 shooting for the heart/lung area. Likly could go with a lighter gun, even a 22 long rifle, but a lion is alot bigger than a bobcat so you would want to know its going to be dead when it hits the ground.

[LIONHOUND1963]

My daughter killed a nice tom with a 22 mag. It was a Ruger 77/22 with a six power scope on it. She made a nice shot to the heart area (one shot one kill) did a nice job. She was real comfortable with this little gun, and that was the main reason I had her use it. Seen some others killed with 30-30s, 357s, and larger rifles and pistols.

Not much damage with 22 mag!!!!

[kdrchuck]

I don't know much about cat hunting but...i saw a military round on discovery that is 4.7 mm. Looked like a wicked little round. they were shotting it about of somthing the size of a sub-machinegun.

[ken]

My Father was saying he likes 22 mags.. can reach out to prarie dogs at about 200 200+.

[Mike Leonard]

I have killed them both with lots of things but here is what I recommend and I have never seen it fail

Bobcats in the tree as most have said are rather soft and easy to kill. However in tall trees they are not all that easy to see or hit properly. If you choose a handgun make sure you can hit somehting the size of an orange at 25 yards. I use a Colt 22 Lr. Woodsman and have for years, but I routinely head shoot cottontails with this gun and can shoot it.Most folks that don't know their handgun as well I recommend an accurate scope sighted 22 Lr. or 22 Magum. the 17 Rim fire Hornaday would also be fine. Forget head shots unless the heart lung area is obscured. A shot with a hollowpoint in the heart lung area will drop a bob stone dead in a second.

Lions: Most stated that classify them as big game require the use of a centerfire cartridge. A 22 magum hollowpoint will work well mopst of the time especially at the velocity a rifle barrel sends it. I have used the 30-30 a lot and probably more lions in the southwest have been taken with it that all other calbers combined. I have probably killed more with my Model 66 Stainless Smith and Wesson 357 Magnum shooting 125-158 gr. Jacketed hollowpoint bullets. Smack them in the heart lung area, and they are toast. Again you have to hit them right. I usually carry a model 92 rossi Puma 357 Magnum lever action carbine. I can hit a golf ball with it at 50 yards, and if I get a lion on a ledge or in a place where he has to be taken at some range this will do. any light , accurate carbine works fine if you can pack it easy and it can take the pounding of lion hunting crashing thru the brush, clattering thru the ledges and being dropped in the dirt and snow. I shudder when I see guys coming along packing a big old 44- magnum or bigger pistol that will pull their hips out of joint and scares the crap out of them every time they pull the trigger. I love the 44-magnum but it is more than you need for lions. If you can really shoot it is ok with me. 22 Hornet- 2l8 Bee-221 fireball--222-223 Rem. all good if you have a portable gun in that calber. Single shots, are ok just watch them in the ice and cold. I have had TC Contenders freeze up and not function while a tom lion was shreeding some good hounds on the ground.

[coonbobbearhound]

I LOVE USING THE 17HMR FOR THE BOBS IN A TREE AND AS WELL I USE IT FOR TRAPPING ALSO IT LEAVES A VERY SMALL HOLE AND GETS THE JOB DONE THEY ARE VERY ACCRUATE. ALSO LOVE THE 22LR MARLIN MAKES THE BARREL UNSCREWS AND IT PAKS NICE ITS OWN CASE VERY NICE FOR THE SNOWMOBILE.

[bobtail]

22lr works well for me used a shotgun a couple of times on bobs and lions did the job

[uncle Brisco]

bobs,were i live they will tree 60ft pu a lodge pole in the brush,and i love my 17 but it just is so light that it don't punch brush like a 22 mag,but thats here,now i treed my share of lions but have not shot one to date,well there was the snow ball insident of last year, but my first lion hunt we treed up and were a bunch of green horn cooners,with a meat head with a tag,we just get to the tree and don't even have a dog leashed and meathead lets the 44mag buck and rolls that cat right out,gasping and shreding and cutting and than it finaly died,i grabbed his gun and whipped it down the hill in the snow,finaly when i was calm enough to talk too i decided that never again would that happen so when i shoot my lion it will be with the lightest leagle bullet and realy back the load off if i have too,man that was the longest 6 seconds of my poor dogs life,and when i shoot,i don't want to bast him right out,i just kinda want too let the air out real slow,i want it dead when it tips over,i don't ever want to have to wade in on a ground battle to save dogs again,heck the guy behind me more than likely aint as dumb as me,he might not save me,lol

[larry]

when i shoot my lion it will be with the lightest leagle bullet and realy back the load off if i have too,man that was the longest 6 seconds of my poor dogs life,and when i shoot,i don't want to bast him right out,i just kinda want too let the air out real slow

Can't say that I have ever seen that be realistic, all the lions I have seen shot out generally don't hold still long enough for the air to come out, good luck with that theory

[Hunt 365]

Hmmmmmm, don't you think you should kill the lion as fast as possible and make its last seconds as short as possible?

[Tim Cook]

O.K. I'm one of those people that's going to make Mr. Leonard shutter I carry a 44mag when I have a cliant, alot of times you explain in detail where you want them to shoot the cat and they still make a bad shot so you end up with a cat and dogs on the ground and you need to get in there and take care of the situation, BUT to have good control of the pistol and not have it roll completely out of my hand I load it with 44specials , don't tell Most of the time I just carry a 22mag ruger single six, I shoot this gun alot and have killed cats with it 80 feet up a tree. 9 times out of 10 they'll hit the ground stone dead.

[Mike Leonard]

Tim,

As long as you can shoot it I don't have a problem with the 44 mag. As I said I love them. I shot five model 29's complety to pieces back in my silloutte competition days. With my 8 3/8" model 29 and 22 gr. of 2400 and a 250 gr. Keith Type Semi Wadcutter I could keep a coffee can rolling every shot a 100 yards back in the day. Of course I shot about 500 rounds a week back . That is why my usual answer to a question these days is, Huh? LOL!

[R Severe]

My favorite is the 22 mag with the federal 50 gr hollow point. I have a ruger lever action carbine and a tarus 8 shot pistol.
I had a biologist time it and a big tom shot thru the lungs was dead on the ground in 19 seconds.
A ADC hunter said he thought the small calibers ( low noise) rounds don't scare the cats as bad and they stay in the tree and fall out dead.
So far that has been the case, just make sure the pill gets both lungs.

The ADC guy uses a colt woodsman.