.44 Magnum for Mule Deer?

[Dirty Tiger]

Has anyone here used a .44 mag carbine to hunt Mule Deer?

I'm thinking of a Marlin 1894.....I need to justify it as a Deer rifle

[Johm D M]

Are most of your shots under 100 yards? It works well as a timber gun.

[S.S.]

Within reasonable range it should do fine.
a .44 mag from a rifle actually has some decent ballistic figures.

[Lloyd Smale]

shoot your gun. I MEAN REALLY SHOOT YOUR GUN and learn where it hits at differnt ranges and what your capabilities are. Personaly i wouldnt be a bit afraid to hunt muleys out to 200 yards with a gun and load that i knew intimently. A 250 cast bullet is easily started at 1500-1700 fps out of a carbine and has plenty of power at 200 yards to punch through any deer.

[jd45]

I'd go for a 24" barrel, if available, & push it as fast as I could, provided it would maintain tight groups, but back down if the groups open up, the reason being that extra barrel length will allow the longer shots, should you get the opportunity. Make sense? JD45

[handirifle]

I'm not sure how much you can squeeze from the fairly short (for rifle standards) 44 Mag case.  I have a Win 94 trapper with a 16" barrel and the Win white box 240gr JSP rounds give me a solid 1800fps, 5' from the muzzle.  I had a variance of only 25 FPS for 10 rounds.

I really doubt you will get much more than that, except longer sight radius.

[wcf3030]

In the 44mag anything over 16in is a wast of metal for vel.
Faster burning powder used in pistol rounds are for the shorter barrels.

[gunpilot]

wcf 3030:   How do you tell if factory 44 mag cartridges are designed for pistol or rifle use?    Also what rifle round would be best for black bear - 240 gr jfp or jhp or 270 gr or other?

[Seabreeze133]

In my IHMSA shooting days, I took a mule deer at 155 yards w/a 10" Super Blackhawk, iron sights and a 429244 GC bullet over 24 gr IMR 4227.

It can be done, but ya gotta shoot a LOT and be able to judge distance. Since I am now 25 years older no way I could do it again.

Don

[Anduril]

gunpilot - all 44 mag factory ammo is loaded to (or close to) the same SAAMI specs. having one box for handguns and another for rifles would be too confusing for us nimrods that don't read all of the fine print.  use the heavier boolits for bear.

Don - you too, huh?  I used to see / shoot a lot better 25 years ago too.  Maybe those 2 or 3 or 4 thousand rounds we would shoot in practice every year helped, you think?  Course getting old is a lot better than the alternative.

dirty tiger - a 44 is plenty for mule deer, or any other kind of deer for that matter.