I need help choosing a new toy.  Im planning on deer hunting in Indiana.  Indiana is one of those goofey states that dont allow traditional rifles.  As I understand it you can use a muzzleloader, a shotgun, a handgun, or a rifle in handgun calibers.  So you can use a rifle but it has to have a pistol caliber.  So help me choose. I thougt about goin with the 458 SOCOM...but its pretty expensive to keep in ammo and its probably overkill for a whitetail.  What say you?  What would you go with...given these parameters?
This is the parametes
"Shotguns
Shotguns must be 10, 12, 16, or 20-gauge or .410 bore loaded with slugs or saboted bullets.
Rifled slug barrels are permitted.
Combination rifle-shotguns are not allowed.
Handguns
Handguns, other than muzzleloading, must have a barrel at least 4 inches long and must fire a bullet of .243-inch diameter or larger. The handgun cartridge case, without the bullet, must be at least 1.16 inches long.
Full metal-jacketed bullets are not permitted.
Some types of handgun cartridges legal for deer hunting include:
.357 Magnum,.41 Magnum,.44 Magnum,.44 Special,.45 Colt,.45 Long Colt,.45 Winchester Magnum,.35 Remington,.357 Herrett.
Some illegal handgun cartridges for deer hunting are 38 Special, 38 Smith and Wesson, 38 Colt New Police, 38/200, 38 Long Colt, 38 Super, 38 ACP, 38 Colt Auto, 45 ACP, 45 Automatic and 45 Auto Rim. All 25/20, 32/20 and 30 carbine ammunition is prohibited also.
Rifles with pistol cartridges
Rifles must fire a cartridge with a bullet of .357-inch diameter or larger; have a minimum case length of 1.16 inches; and have a maximum case length of 1.625 inches.
Some cartridges that are legal include the following:
.357 Magnum,.38-40 Winchester,.41 Magnum,.41 Special,.44 Magnum,.44 Special,.44-40 Winchester,.45 Colt,.454 Casull,.458 SOCOM,.480 Ruger,.475 Linebaugh,.50 Action Express,.500 S&W
Some illegal rifle cartridges for deer hunting are the .30-30 Winchester, .444 Marlin and .45-70 Govt.
Muzzleloaders

If you want to use a rifle, use 44 mag, 45 Colt, or 357 mag.  There are some nice rifles in those calibers.  Or, you could do like we have done for years and use shotgun slugs.

In a rifle I'd say a .44mag lever-action or one in .45 Colt. I have seen a few people that hunt with .410 lever actions too, seem to work out well for them.

Have you considered a muzzleloader? An in-line will serve the purpose well and also be a good, fun experience. If you like the Thonpson line look at the Encore. You can get a scoped shotgun barrel, muzzle loader barrel, and pistol caliber barrel and swap out as necessary or desired. An option worth considering.

Ive been kicking this around for a while now...the muzzleloader would open up another season both in INDIANA and in NEVADA where I live.  I was thinking the 500 S & W barrel for the rifle option....

Based on everything you have said.

I would say get a TC Encore and buy the seperate barrels.

Can get barrels in numerous pistol calibers, can also get shotgun barrels, and rifle barrels, in case you go somewhere that allows rifle season.



Of course if money is not an issue.

I would say a marlin lever gun in 44 mag. for rifle.

Ruger Super BlackHawk, or RedHawk with 7 1/2" barrel in 44 mag for a pistol.

Maybe look at a dedicated slug gun in 12 gauge or 20 gauge.

I have an NEF 20 gauge Ultra slug gun, and it is a great gun. ( I prefer this to my Winchester 1300 with slug barrel.)

Some types of guns and ammo used by myself or people that I hunt with:

Shotgun:   12 gauge with a rifled barrel and sabots.  (Remington 870 or 1187, 3-9x40 scope, and a 3" lightfield is a good combo)

Handgun:  .44 mag or .500 S&W (both seem to be good rounds on all size of deer)

Rifle with pistol cartridges:  .44 mag, 458 Socom , .500 S&W (lever action .44 with a low power optics is a popular choice here)

Muzzle loaders: just about anything inline (777 and powerbelt are a good set up for bp, Savage 10ml is a good choice if you want to go smokeless)

These are a few suggestions.  On a side note, the Savage 10ml is definitely worth looking at.  If for some reason you get here and want to extend your hunt into the ml season, you would have something to use.

tim

I winchester 94 in 44 mag with a good peep sight is a hell of a good deer rifle in my opinion. The savage muzzle loader which can shoot both black powder and smokeless powder would also be an excelent choice.

Adrock1

Get a marlin 1894 44mag rifle.Great little deer gun.Mine has a leupold 1x4 20mm scope on it.

If 2 guns is possible I would get a nice Marlin 1894 .44mag (I absolutely love lever guns) and an in-line muzzleloader be it TC, Kinights, or the Savage 10ml.

If only 1 was possible it would be a tough decision between the 1894, a muzzleloader, or a TC Encore with as many barrels as you could afford.

TheTC Encore ML with some other barrel is on the short list for my purchases. The muzzleloader is definitely a plus in the fact that it opens up an additional season for you in which to hunt.

Yeah i went and looked at the thompson endever Pro hunter.  I think Im going to go with that.  Muzzleloader and asap get a 500 s & w barrel to try out.  
THanks for all the help

Sounds like a great combo. Make sure to post pics when you get it!

will do

What's the name of the forum again...

You need to build up an ar15.  "But I can't shoot deer in Indiana with a rifle, especially not a .223!"  But you can with a pistol in .243 or bigger.  Hence, they Hoosier Hunter Monstrocity:  16" LMT 6.8 spc flat top upper mated to built up RRA pistol lower with a single point sling and a red dot.  grab a lower, parts kit, pistol buffer tube and sling attachment doohicky.  then pick your flavor of upper: .30 HRT, 7.62x39, 50 beowolf, 458 socom, or 6.8 spc.  if you do the 50 or the 458, you can even use a stock if your barrel is long enough.  

"gee, sounds kind of sketchy, I don't want the alphabet boys banging on my tree stand door"  Read the T/C pistol/rifle rules, then read the indiana handgun hunting statutes (not the blurb in the DNR brouchure).  I had a CO and a state prosecutor look mine over last season, and no complaints.  The former DNR director wrote the regs so that he could use the 458 AR15 rifle.  The 458 is simply a 20gauge sabot slug in a brass cartridge, so you may want to save a few hundred and just buy a used 20g rifled barrel 870.  The 7.62x39 upper is the smart choice for practice ammo cost and availability, and you hopefully won't have problems with a 10rd mag.  the ak pistols would do the trick, but you get no cheek weld like you can on an ar15 pistol.  you still shoot the ar pistol like a rifle, just no buttstock to pull into your shoulder.  

switch out the upper to a rifle lower off season and you have a sweet hitting coyote rifle, but I'd hold off on using the 6.8 for squirrels.  don't ask.

Lucky you, in Indiana they give you that "handgun cartridge in a rifle" loophole...no such luck here in NY.  If it was me, I would use my Ruger .44 mag Deerslayer (my grampa's gun, from the 1960's).  With a 3x9 on top and if you know what you're bullet is gonna do, it'll kill any deer out to "rifled shotgun slug" range.  Also, it's a lighter and handier package.  

If you're going to go the slug gun route, I would second the suggestion of the NEF slug hunter in 20gauge.  I think mine will shoot better than I can at 100 yards (2-3inch groups, with a 4x scope off the bench....I don't think I see well enough to utilize it's accuracy).  I found that the Hornady SST sabot slugs worked the best out of a few different brands, so I bought 10-12 boxes of the same lot of ammo....I should be good for the next few decades.

A picture is worth a thousand words.