Don, you are correct, the 6.8 SPC is illegal because it fires too small of a projectile and uses a 6.8mm diameter bullet, the minimum diameter for hunting would be 9mm, which is equivalent to .357".
6.8x43 IS NOT legal for deer in indiana.
The Hunting Guide has caliber information on page 18 of the PDF (16 of the guide).
Edit: Re-reading that, it is talking about handgun cartridges in rifles. I thought that was where I read about rifle hunting... Hmm.
I've heard an outlandish rumor that a whitetail deer can actually be harvested with a 12ga and slugs. But that's just crazy talk.
I do not see such a loophole. The different publications that I have seen have listed the same cartridge requirements. I believe the regulations were written specifically to prevent the use of sub-357 caliber ammunition so traditional loads like the 30-30 and other common deer rounds are not legal.I think there still is a loop hole for typical high power rifle cartridges less than .357" in a handgun form.
That is correct. And since the 50 Beowulf headspaces on the rim if you trimmed the case back to legal length you may not have reliable primer strikes. The 450 Bushmaster is also eliminated as a cartridge because of the same reasons. The 458 Socom, however, fits into the criteria.So the beowolf is out by .025 eh?
From what I understand this past year so this season will be the first to allow pistol caliber rifle hunting.Oh yeah, when did these regulations change?
I could SWEAR that my my step-dad's brother used to hunt deer (legally) with a T/C pistol chambered in .30-30...
Maybe I'm dreaming...
-J-
You can use those centerfire rifle calibers for deer in Indiana in handguns, but you can't in long guns. Long guns are slug or certain pistol calibers only.
Can you please sight the law/regulation that allows that. I am under the impression (and would love to be corrected) that your statement is incorrect. The wording from the DNR seems to be very clear, there are case length minimums and maximums and the bullet itself has size restrictions with nothing under 357 diameter. A 30-30 or similar round would lose out on caliber (being only a .308/.309 diameter bullet) but it would also lose out because the case length is greater than 1.625" long (a 30-30 is 2.039" long).
Much of the wording regarding the cartridge limitations seems to be directed toward RIFLE hunting, and I am not a PISTOL hunter so I am not sure if the same restrictions apply.