bullethead
Of the hard cast variety
The older 250gr Barnes might have been too well constructed for deer.
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.44 Magnum Deer Loads?
- Thread starter frankwright
- Start date
rosewood
Senior Member
...and .454 and .460 Mag.
frankwright
Senior Member
My friend tracked the deer 500 yards. Unfortunately the coyotes found it first. Entrance hole in shoulder, no visible exit.
Almost no bullets available to buy for reloading.
Almost no bullets available to buy for reloading.
SakoL61R
Senior Member
Adding to the string.
Had my “pistol only” phase for a few years with two .44 mags a long time ago.
One a Ruger SRH 9.5 in. and the other a DE with the 14 inch barrel.
GA and SC as a single man. Shoot-reload-hunt, repeat was about all I did.
Killed multiple deer and hogs over the years, a few out to 75 yds, most less than 40.
Loaded / shot multiple bullet types/weights to see what worked best.
Did not like any of the 200 gr bullets. They came apart and had erratic wound channels.
Did not like the terminals on any of the XTPs, either 200 or 240. Didn’t open up as much as I wanted.
Speer 240 SPs and the Sierra /Nosler 240 JHPs pictured worked well at max loads with low lung/heart shots. All pass throughs on the deer, good exits and good blood.
One deer with the 250 gr Keith outta the SRH. High shoulder-DRT. Good hog bullet!
Will say from experience the lower you hit them in the chest (or with a low exit from high angle) the better for blood trail.
With high lung shots, they’re dead, but the cavity fills with blood after the lungs collapse, and very little if any comes out until the last few steps. About impossible to track-I was lucky, watched the two I hit high in the lungs fall after a good run.
YRMV
Had my “pistol only” phase for a few years with two .44 mags a long time ago.
One a Ruger SRH 9.5 in. and the other a DE with the 14 inch barrel.
GA and SC as a single man. Shoot-reload-hunt, repeat was about all I did.
Killed multiple deer and hogs over the years, a few out to 75 yds, most less than 40.
Loaded / shot multiple bullet types/weights to see what worked best.
Did not like any of the 200 gr bullets. They came apart and had erratic wound channels.
Did not like the terminals on any of the XTPs, either 200 or 240. Didn’t open up as much as I wanted.
Speer 240 SPs and the Sierra /Nosler 240 JHPs pictured worked well at max loads with low lung/heart shots. All pass throughs on the deer, good exits and good blood.
One deer with the 250 gr Keith outta the SRH. High shoulder-DRT. Good hog bullet!
Will say from experience the lower you hit them in the chest (or with a low exit from high angle) the better for blood trail.
With high lung shots, they’re dead, but the cavity fills with blood after the lungs collapse, and very little if any comes out until the last few steps. About impossible to track-I was lucky, watched the two I hit high in the lungs fall after a good run.
YRMV
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ryanh487
Senior Member
I just use the cheap magtech blue box 240 grain soft points. went through and through a 70 lb doe with a quarter sized exit, but didn't matter because she was DRT at 50 yards.
rosewood
Senior Member
Maybe that the 240 XTP just expands too much when shooting out of a rifle at 2-400fps faster than standard pistol velocities. The bullet may then have expanded too much to penetrate thru.
I have always been kind of partial to soft points myself, but the traditional semi-jacketed soft points are hard to find these days.
I have a 240 SJSP loaded with H110 that chronographed at 1837FPS out of my 22" CVA. I think that same load exits the 6" revolver around 1250 FPS.
That was just for testing to see what it would do. I plan on using my 308 cast boolit for critters. It was clocking in right at 1500 FPS.
Rosewood
I have always been kind of partial to soft points myself, but the traditional semi-jacketed soft points are hard to find these days.
I have a 240 SJSP loaded with H110 that chronographed at 1837FPS out of my 22" CVA. I think that same load exits the 6" revolver around 1250 FPS.
That was just for testing to see what it would do. I plan on using my 308 cast boolit for critters. It was clocking in right at 1500 FPS.
Rosewood
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GregoryB.
Senior Member
I use those Hornady 240gr in my muzzle loader . Killed several deer with them without any issues.
Darkhorse
Senior Member
I killed our first deer, a 7 point, with the Ruger carbine and Hornady 225 gr. bullets. The deer didn't make it 50 yards even though the bullet broke into multiple parts. A friend of mine who used only the Ruger carbine told me he never hunts with HP's anymore only the softpoints. I took his advice and we never lost another.
At one time we had 3 Ruger carbines and my 7.5" SBH. Each member of our family had a .44 and we killed a slew of deer and hogs using only my handloaded soft points.
A number of years ago Hornady did not recommend using the XTP for hunting. Now they do. Go figure.
For at least 10 years I've hunted exclusively with the Speer Gold Dot deep curl bullets. Unfortunately the supply is limited and the Speer site shows them as currently unavailable. Too bad as they worked great in both the carbine and SBH.
I read long ago that Bill Ruger designed the auto carbine to shoot 240 grain bullets at around 1600 or so fps, so 240's are all I shoot and never needed anything else as the soft points have always worked great.
I agree that a deer hit with a bullet that's carving a .429 hole should leave some blood. However funny things happen sometime. And since I wasn't there that's all I will say about that.
You would think that a hollow point would be the best bullet for a handgun but if you shoot a few with the gold dot it might just change your mind.
I hope Speer continues to make these bullets. If not I'll just have to find another soft point that suits me.
At one time we had 3 Ruger carbines and my 7.5" SBH. Each member of our family had a .44 and we killed a slew of deer and hogs using only my handloaded soft points.
A number of years ago Hornady did not recommend using the XTP for hunting. Now they do. Go figure.
For at least 10 years I've hunted exclusively with the Speer Gold Dot deep curl bullets. Unfortunately the supply is limited and the Speer site shows them as currently unavailable. Too bad as they worked great in both the carbine and SBH.
I read long ago that Bill Ruger designed the auto carbine to shoot 240 grain bullets at around 1600 or so fps, so 240's are all I shoot and never needed anything else as the soft points have always worked great.
I agree that a deer hit with a bullet that's carving a .429 hole should leave some blood. However funny things happen sometime. And since I wasn't there that's all I will say about that.
You would think that a hollow point would be the best bullet for a handgun but if you shoot a few with the gold dot it might just change your mind.
I hope Speer continues to make these bullets. If not I'll just have to find another soft point that suits me.
bullethead
Of the hard cast variety
I have a 96/44 that shoots the 240 Gold Dot well. I have not shot any deer with them yet. Bottom hole was sight in shot, adjusted and next two on top. Moved it 2 clicks left and have not fired it since, lololol.
tcward
Senior Member
Love them Gold Dots!
transfixer
Senior Member
For my purposes I've never thought the 44mag was a very good deer cartridge, and I used to own a couple of .44mag rifles, and a couple revolvers, killed deer with both rifles, one was a Marlin 1894 and the other a Ruger carbine, I'm not sure I ever had a bullet go completely through any of them, now granted, back then I was shooting shoulder shots, before I learned where to put the bullet to put them down, lol ,, I do remember the Remington .240gr hp would not go completely through, even when double lung shooting one. I got rid of the Ruger carbine, ( although I regret it because of what they sell for now ) because for me it was a lousy deer cartridge, fun to shoot, but unless you got lucky and hit the spine on a shoulder shot, the deer was not going to drop, it was going to run, just depends on how far .
I prefer mine to drop in their tracks,
I prefer mine to drop in their tracks,
Darkhorse
Senior Member
I've killed a lot of deer with the .44 magnum. And I've been in on the kill of a lot more due to my family shooting so many.
And what I'm leading up to is that I agree with what Transfixer says.
I prefer cartridges that deliver more shock and at longer ranges than the .44 magnum.
That is why I've hunted so much with the 7mm magnum, the .300 Win. magnum, and lately the .308 winchester.
For my money the best one for general whitetail deer is the 7 mm magnum. With the 154 grain spire point it kills both does and bucks equally and quickly.
I've killed my biggest buck at over 400 yards with the .300 mag. And a 5X5 bull elk from even farther. But some of those thin does will run for a couple of hundred yards shot right behind the shoulder. I think there is not enough mass for the bullet fully expand.
Can't say yet about the .308 because I haven't killed near the numbers as the 2 magnums. Even though a few have been spectacular fast kills.
But I can count on the .44 within 100 yards if the shot is accurate. That big bullet just plows right through doing a lot of tissue damage on it's way. I love it out of my pistol.
jglenn
Senior Member
As i stated earlier the 44 works just fine with lung shots and soft nose bullets like the above sierras and noslers. The older Winchester ammunition worked well too. Bullet placement as always is the key
Nimrod71
Senior Member
Shot placement and range has a lot to do with using a 44 mag for deer hunting. I will say within its range and with the right ammo the 44 mag is as good as any rifle in my opinion. I have killed deer with my 375 H & H Mag and they were just as dead as the ones I shot with the 44 Mag.
TarponStalker
Senior Member
I just recently acquired a Ruger .44 mag carbine. It came with several boxes of 225 grn Lever revolution cartridges. I’m still not sure about them. They’re accurate but I shot several hogs and one deer this year. The buck was running towards me at 40 yards. I hit him in frontal chest. He went about 30 yards. Some hogs only went 15-20 yards but others ran 100 yards with no blood trail.
TarponStalker
Senior Member
I shot another deer at 35 yards. I’m afraid I shot low so not the fault of the bullet. I found hair but no blood. The deer jumped and kicked as if heart shot but he ran off as if he wasn’t hit. I tracked him over 100 yards. Never found one drop of blood. I was really upset and I hope I just made a bad shot and he survived.
GregoryB.
Senior Member
Anyone tried the 300gr XTP ? I have some loaded for my CVA Scout. They are accurate in my gun just never got to try them on a deer.
My bother have shot 4 deer with the 300 XTP but under 100 yards. He has a Rossi Lever Action and I have a Ruger 77/44 bolt action. All dropped in their tracks. The 300 XTP were the most accurate in my Ruger shooting under 1.25" groups. Better accuracy than the Buffalo Bore Deer Grenade and 305 gr hardcast or some other 240 grain factory loads to my disappointment. I would have no problem using the 300 gr XTP on deer to up to 150 yards. Accuracy is the key in my opinion and the drop is an issue for me.
I was wondering if hunters on this forum would be comfortable shooting a bull elk at 100 yards or less with a 44 magnum asuming a double lung shot. I assume the 300 XTP would not be a suitable bullet but wondering if the 340 grain or 305 grain hardcast Buffalo bore load would be sufficient.
I was wondering if hunters on this forum would be comfortable shooting a bull elk at 100 yards or less with a 44 magnum asuming a double lung shot. I assume the 300 XTP would not be a suitable bullet but wondering if the 340 grain or 305 grain hardcast Buffalo bore load would be sufficient.
