44 Mag bullet

[Lone Hunter]

I am looking for some input on 44 Mag bullets.  These will be fired out of a 10" Contender.  Use will be for whitetail deer hunting[100-175 lds].    Looking for field experience.   Bullet Manufacture and weight,velocity, hit location and damage done. Distence travled after hit.. Would realy like to try some lighter bullet weights on deer[180-220 gr] ,But need more info.  Thanks for the input.

[myronman3]

with a 44 mag pistol,  i would stick to shots under a hundred yards.   i wouldnt try to shoot much futher than that with my 44 rifle.

[Graycg]

Hard one to answer,
  I concur with gent above, 44 mag is best kept to 100-125 yards, but mostly because of trajectory, it keeps energy fairly well beyond that.  Real issue comes down to what bullet your barrel will shoot accurately.  My experience with Thompson Center barrels is that they won't shoot light bullets all that well, generally mine have liked 240 grains and better (I've had 2, 10 and 14 inch).  The most accurate bullets in either of my barrels have been the 300 grain cast flatnoses with gas checks.  I hope you have luck with your 44 adventure, I have heard of others on this post having success with 180 grain jacketed pill, but I never had an great luck with the accuracy of them in my barrels.  I have a custom VVCG stainless 10 inch 44 on the way, maybe it will shoot the lighter bullets?

regards,
 Graycg

[Tony D]

I've taken 2 deer with the 44 Mag in a 10" Contender.  The first was with a 255 Wide Flat Nose from Cast Performance over about 19 gr AA#9.  Didn't chrony the load, but guess it to be about 1200 fps.  Hit the deer at about 40 yards high and to the rear part of the lungs.  Had a spotty blood trail because of the location of the hit, but found the deer about 60 yards from where it was hit.  

The second was with a 240 gr Hornady XTP over 25.5 gr L'il Gun.  I chronied these at 1500 fps.  Hit the deer again at about 40 yards on the point of the right shoulder.  The bullet took out the spine and was just  under the hide of the left shoulder.  The deer dropped on the spot.

HTH

[Graybeard]

I'm not gonna take the time to go into the detail you think you need on kill data but will offer these comments.

1. Forget the range you "think" it is up to. Trajectory is such that making clean hits at such ranges is tough. Unless you know the trajectory really well and the range precisely it is best held to 100 yards or so.

2. My favorite deer bullet in the round is the Hornady 240 XTP. Next favorite is the Nosler 240 JHP which looks much like the old pre-XTP Hornady I used to use.

3. JHPs won't expand well much beyond 100 yards even from the TC's 10" barrel. If you insisit on using it at longer ranges use a hard cast with wide meplat and the heavier the better. It will go thru end to end even at a few hundred yards and hard cast bullets with wide meplats don't depend on expansion to kill.

4. Forget the light weight bullets. Especially for longer ranges. By 100 yards the 240 is already moving faster and has much more killing power than the lighter ones. Even up close I don't care for the 180s. I killed one deer with one at about 25 yards and it didn't exit. Never used another on deer since. All the rest of my many .44 mag. deer kills have use various 240 grain bullets. Some JHPs, some cast, some XTPs but all in the 240 grain range. The heavier bullets are much better killers than the lighter ones in this round.

GB

[Lone Hunter]

Thanks for the replies everyone.  This will be for woodswalking for deer. A 50 yard shot would be a long one.  I guess I will stay with the 240 gr.

[Gregory]

Spike buck at about 50 yds. 180 gr Sierra hit spine, deer dropped on the spot.  Bullet passed through.

Eight point buck at 66 yds. 200 gr Nosler, quartering away, pass through lung shot, deer ran 50 yds and was dead.

Both out of a 10" TC 44 Mag.