44-40 hunting load specification?

I have shot one deer with the 44-40 at 900fps chronographed muzzle velocity. It was a close shot mind you, 50 feet, however, the deer died instantly with one entry and two exit holes. I have shot black bear, again close, within 50 yards, with a 200grain bullet at 1350fps, again, the result was a dead animal, and it went one way, down. A couple more deer within a hundred yards also died quickly. It's where you put the bullet that counts.
People now days are way too convinced that paper ballistics tell the whole story.

BTW I have shot the 1892 with loads approaching 1800fps, but they are inaccurate as hell.
 
One time a northern Saskatchewan trapper bought a 44-40 and with his trapping partner friend, put a blaze on a green, frozen solid spruce tree, for a target. The gun owner took a shot at it, to check the sighting. His friend went up to look at it and started to laugh. Gun owner says, "Did I miss it?"
Friend says, "No, but the bullet bounced out!"
 
I just loaded up some 200gr medium cast sitting on top 8.6grs of Unique. Book says just over 1200fps, how do you guys feel about that for deer or black bears under 75 yards? I have no plans as of yet for this load but am curious how it would preform on bear.
 
Find a old (like '50's or '60's) Lyman loading manual and you'll find some good rifle loads for 44/40. I use some in my rebarrelled Win 94. I use 200gr. XTP's and 210gr. LEE cast lead and drive them hard. Works great! Dropped a nice Whitetail buck in his tracks from 75 yards and killed perhaps 5 bears with it. Fired honestly thousands of rounds through it. The brass is actually the limiting factor in a good gun. It's thin and weak compared to 44 or 357. I have a nice Rossi in 357 magnum that I also shoot a lot. For hunting I'll pick the 44/40 every time and you should too, if you have choice.
 
Jestersage, given your desires and not wanting to reload any time soon I'd stick with the .357Mag or go with .44Mag. .44-40 ammo off the shelf is generally going to be pretty soft since the primary market is antique guns and cowboy action use. So if you can't locate any "boutique ammo" such as Buffalo Bore or the like you're not going to be happy with this caliber for hunting unless you do get into reloading.
 
A great deal depends on the rifle in which it will be shot.

Most load data defers to the great many relatively weakly constructed handguns chambered in 44-40 (Max pressure of 12K psi), yet there are also relatively strong actions such as the M92 (Winchester, Rossi, etc.) that are chambered in 44 Mag (38K CUP) and in some cases 454 Casull (50K CUP).

The 44-40 and 44 Mag have very similar case capacities and bore diameters. In one of those strong actions, it's no mean feat to load the 44-40 with 44 Mag loads start loads (~25K CUP) and get a 200 gr bullet over 1500 fps. The brass can take it - at least the Starline brass that I use.

It's a bummer if you don't handload however.
 
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