What are the regulations on the size caliber hand gun you may carry or hunt with during deer gun season?
To be legal for deer hunting, a handgun must shoot centerfire cartridges of .22 caliber or larger and have a 5 1/2 inch minimum barrel length, measured from the firing pin to the muzzle with the action closed. When did the law changed? It used to be a matter of foot pounds generated. It came out to be a .357 magnum load was the smallest caliber allowed. The law was changed about 5 or 6 years ago (~ 1999 / 2000). In the days when handgun hunting began in Wisconsin the calibers that most people used were the .357 mag, .41 mag, and .44 mag. There simply were not many others that were popular. Since that time however, technology surpassed what our original law intended to accomplish. The Thompson Center and Thompson Contender, along with Remington XP 100’s and the like all added to the confusion among our public. As ammunition manufacturers created new loads for their handguns many became legal since a single load in a caliber met the legal standards (1,000 ft lbs of energy at the muzzle)
