Spohr goes HUNTING

The Spohr revolver came in about two weeks ago and hunting season is just never long enough. I elected to do something new, I headed to Texas to hunt exotics with the Spohr!

I went on my first high fence hunt, a property that I had an invite to. This property was several thousand acres which was primarily managed for whitetail deer but had a few exotics in the mix.

On day one we attempted several stalks on various exotics. I am no stranger to spot and stalking game as that’s exactly how I hunt in Wyoming. All of my initial thoughts of what a high fence hunt would be went right out the window. This large property provided a ton of cover and plenty of room for them to escape.

The morning of day two we spotted a black buck that had a good stalking lane, a dry creek bed. The black buck was crossing on the high bank of the creek bed from right to left. At 88 yards out the buck spotted me and I side stepped a few feet to the left to get a clear shot, or what I thought was a clear shot. I placed the 2moa dot of the Ultradot Gen 2 on the black bucks vitals and pressed the trigger and saw a limb wiggle about 25 yards to my front. The black buck showed signs that he was on the move and I immediately fired a second shot and an impact could be heard. This entire engagement took about 3 seconds. The black buck piled up about 70 yards out. The Cutting Edge 105 357 magnum did its job well and exited the black buck and resulted in a short recovery. This looks to be the first game animal ever taken with a Spohr revolver, and a great animal to break it in with.

Black Buck. About 100lbs live weight.

Later that day after several stalks trying to get onto an axis buck we got an axis doe in the sights. At about 40 yards the Spohr and a 105 Cutting Edge made quick work and put some tasty meat in the cooler. The “shock” to the animal upon impact of the 105 Cutting Edge was evident immediately and the recovery was just a few feet.

Axis doe. 120lbs live weight.

The next morning it was time to seal the deal on an axis buck. The bucks had been extremely difficult to stalk. Heck I haven’t had this much trouble stalking elk in Wyoming. After hunting around most of the morning we finally got one in the sights. After initially spooking the axis buck he froze for just a second at about 50 yards. A quick sitting shot was taken and the 105 Cutting Edge launched out of the Spohr’s 6” barrel made quick work of this almost 200 pound animal as he gave the classic “mule kick” upon impact. The recovery was 25 yards or less.

Axis Buck

We had one more day to pursue game. We decided to give blind hunting a go looking for another trophy. Towards the late morning we were starting to wrap up our sit when an animal that wasn’t supposed to be on this ranch appeared. A Corsican Ram popped out and the guide asked for it to be removed from the ranch. The ram is a quite stocky critter that made excellent bullet testing media. They are broad and thick with a heavy hide, the thickest animal we encountered on this hunt. The ram was at 75 yards quartering slightly away. I placed the 2 moa dot on the animal to make sure the bullets path was behind the opposite shoulder. The shot was taken resting the butt of the Houge Big Butt on my soft gun case. As soon as the 105 Cutting Edge made contact with the ram an immediate reaction could be seen from the animal. The ram made a mad dash into the thick brush. The ram was recovered within 25 yards or less from where it was shot and the 105 Cutting Edge exited the ram without issue.

Corsican Ram approximately 200lbs

I have only had a couple range sessions with the Spohr revolver but on those range sessions it proved itself immediately as an accurate firearm. Since its design is heavily Smith and Wesson influenced it fits my hands perfectly and is easy for me to master. In the short time I have had this Spohr I have fallen in love with the quality of the revolver and the fact that it is entirely machined from barstock. The quality of the gun build makes this firearm a no brainer for the serious handgun hunter.

I spent a career customizing guns as the owner of BCG. If I was to buy a Smith and Wesson Performance Center and then pay someone to tune it up to the level of this Spohr I would exceed the cost of the Spohr in short order; and I still wouldn’t have a revolver that is machined from barstock as close to perfection as possible.

The trigger on the Spohr comes out of the box clean and serviceable. In the long run I’ll probably lighten it a touch more after it breaks in. It should be a simple process of just swapping out the rebound spring. The cylinder alignment is spot on and the cylinder throats are sized appropriately. The Spohr is also optics friendly taking all S&W type optics mounts and L frame grips.

If I could get my wish list I’d love to see this revolver available in a 8 3/8 inch barrel and for Spohr to make their own version of the Hogue Big Butt as a factory option.

My big game season is now a wrap and I plan to start pushing the distance with this revolver and continuing to evaluate it over the coming year. I will also be shooting it in Handgun Hunter’s Competition this June to really see what the gun and I are capable of.

The best way to sum up what I think of the Spohr is…..I just ordered a second one today.