.44 Magnum for deer
- Thread starter spi
- Start date
- Location
- Hillbilly shack in the boonies
No worries there, the 265 gr HP is just nasty. Would limit to 100 meters or if very confident and practiced 150 meters.
madtrapper143
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Steep Rock Lake NWO
I shoot them with Remington factory 240 gr soft points. It knocks them down. The old .30-30 will give you an extra 50 to 75 yards of range though. I try to keep my .44 shots under 100 yards. In the thick stuff the .44 mag is wonderful.
cheers Darryl
cheers Darryl
Johnn Peterson
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Chemainus B.C.
Wish 'we' could use 'it' in a handgun.
BigUglyMan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Scotland
Would make a nice close woods deer rifle. Even nicer in a Low-Wall.
.44 Mag. is tops!!!
Used the 44 mag. Marlin '94 on a large black bear last year, 1 shot 50 yds....broke both shoulders and found slug bulging hide on the far side...perfect expansion....bear dropped instantly like the rug was pulled out from underneath him.....wouldn't hesitate using the 44 mag. on moose or elk under 100 yds......performance all out of proportion to size of round......one caveat.....no jacketed bullets!!!!! Penetration testing under controlled conditions show that not one jacketed bullet tested could match the big hard cast WFNs or LFNs, a 335 gr. hard cast WFN penetrated, twice as far as 300 gr. Horny XTP, it also showed controlled expansion!!! Some 240 gr. jacketed were reduced to bits of soft lead, and copper!!! The 335 gr. WFN-GC was what hammered the bear. The secret is hardening the cast bullet with tin, sure its exp. but it hardens the bullet yet helps keep it maleable. Most jacketed bullets fail because companies cannot swage hard lead(tin added) as easily as pure lead, and the tin is expensive and effects their bottom line!! Any other way one hardens cast bullets incl. wheel weights makes bullet too brittle!! Test results avail. from M.T.Chambers Supply!! Similar results have been documented by B. Mitchell(45/70 guru) with 480gr. wfn-gc bullets!!
Used the 44 mag. Marlin '94 on a large black bear last year, 1 shot 50 yds....broke both shoulders and found slug bulging hide on the far side...perfect expansion....bear dropped instantly like the rug was pulled out from underneath him.....wouldn't hesitate using the 44 mag. on moose or elk under 100 yds......performance all out of proportion to size of round......one caveat.....no jacketed bullets!!!!! Penetration testing under controlled conditions show that not one jacketed bullet tested could match the big hard cast WFNs or LFNs, a 335 gr. hard cast WFN penetrated, twice as far as 300 gr. Horny XTP, it also showed controlled expansion!!! Some 240 gr. jacketed were reduced to bits of soft lead, and copper!!! The 335 gr. WFN-GC was what hammered the bear. The secret is hardening the cast bullet with tin, sure its exp. but it hardens the bullet yet helps keep it maleable. Most jacketed bullets fail because companies cannot swage hard lead(tin added) as easily as pure lead, and the tin is expensive and effects their bottom line!! Any other way one hardens cast bullets incl. wheel weights makes bullet too brittle!! Test results avail. from M.T.Chambers Supply!! Similar results have been documented by B. Mitchell(45/70 guru) with 480gr. wfn-gc bullets!!
Iwish Rossi was heavily imported or that Ami-Sport made their 1892 clones in .44 mag. Using a modern 92 action would be so much more elegant than a Marlin or Win94 IMHO...
I've toyed with the idea of making a single-shot .44 MAG on a pre-1898 Mosin action because it would be cool and wouldn't need to be registered
Problem is, in the end, it would still be a mosing worth nowheree near to cost to build it
A Long Lee action or a Loewe Mauser 91 is also a possibility, but I doubt I'd trust the metallurgy for max .44 MAG loads. The Mosin is a stronger action for such uses - very robust.
I've toyed with the idea of making a single-shot .44 MAG on a pre-1898 Mosin action because it would be cool and wouldn't need to be registered
Problem is, in the end, it would still be a mosing worth nowheree near to cost to build it
A Long Lee action or a Loewe Mauser 91 is also a possibility, but I doubt I'd trust the metallurgy for max .44 MAG loads. The Mosin is a stronger action for such uses - very robust.
Yep. More or less equivalent to the 30-30 (more towards the 'less' side). As usual, it all comes down to shot placement. Properly placed, a pointy stick will kill a deer, so a .44 should have no problem. Given the relatively low speeds that the 44 operates at, it eliminates a lot of the question marks around bullet performance as well - no need to spend $3 on an all-copper-partitioned-ballistic-tip-bonded-core-super-flux-capacitor thingy with all the bells and whistles for your Ultra mag.
I have done a lot of study on which is more powerful/efficiant the 44mag/45 Colt or the 30-30.
Turns out when you use Taylors Knock Out equation the 44 mag and the 45 Colt when loaded with 240gr up to 330gr bullets has more killing power out too 150 yards than the 30-30....
Beyond that the kigher BC's of the .308 round takes over with far better retained energy and tragectory.
The 44mag is an excellent round for deer hunting if you limit yourself too under 150 yards.
Turns out when you use Taylors Knock Out equation the 44 mag and the 45 Colt when loaded with 240gr up to 330gr bullets has more killing power out too 150 yards than the 30-30....
Beyond that the kigher BC's of the .308 round takes over with far better retained energy and tragectory.
The 44mag is an excellent round for deer hunting if you limit yourself too under 150 yards.
Out of my Browning B92 20" barrel i was getting 1860fps. Zeroed at 150 yards i was only 7" low at 200 yards. Also with 800 ftlbs left. A .30-.30 is a little flatter but not much. I would take the .44 mag out to 175 yards any day over the .30-.30 A .308 cal bullet at 900 ftlbs doesn't compare to a .430" bullet with still 800 ftlbs remaining. The .44 mag when shot out of a 20" carbine rocks.
Pure Energy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- A river runs through it.
Guy at our camp uses a Ruger semi in .44 mag as his dogging bush gun. Downed alot of deer with it too. The heavier bullet is nice in all the scrub brush, less affected by small twigs than a .30 cal gun.
beretta boy
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Orillia, Ontario
Hung a lot of deer (and a bear) on the camp meat pole with the .44 Mag ( a Model '92 Winchester - conversion ) long before I even knew what ballistics tables were. Even a couple with it in it's original .44-40 !
No "long ranger" but very reliable inside of 100.
No "long ranger" but very reliable inside of 100.
