10" 44mag accuracy?

[ebonitekid767]

Looking at getting a contender to hunt deer with at ranges of 150 yards and under. I was thinking about a .44mag but was curious as to the accuracy you guys get with yours. i still cant decide if i want a red dot or low mag scope. or maybe im going about this all wrong and should try a different caliber?

[Lone Star]

Depending on the load and your ability, 2-3 moa should be achievable with a decent T/C barrel and a scope.  IME 150 yards is pretty darn far for a red dot sight without magnification.  I recommend a good quality 4X scope if you may have to shoot that far at game animals.  My hunting Contenders all wear Leupold 4XEER scopes, I have shot game from under 3 yards to over 200 yards and did not feel handicaped.  I used a 2X for several years but found it little better than iron sights.  I use the 2X for target use now.

Are you wedded to the .44 Mag?  It is a great caliber, but for over 100 yards there are better choices.  The biggest problem with the .44 over 100 yards is that the bulelts really start to drop and range estimation to insure a hit becomes more challenging.  I shot one in IHMSA silhouette competition for awhile and had no trouble hitting the steel at 220 yards....but I knew the exact range and made sight adjustments.






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[Grumulkin]

I have a 12 inch Contender 44 Mag. barrel in stainless steel by SSK Industries.  After quite a bit of load fiddling, I finally got 3 shot groups in the 1.5 inch range at 100 yards off the bench.  If in compliance with your State's hunting regulations, I would pick a different cartridge.  In the Contender, I would probably go with a 30/30 Winchester barrel for deer.

If you haven't committed yourself to the Contender, Consider the Encore.  In the Encore, I would pick the 7mm/08 Remington or the 308 Winchester.  The only advantage to the Contender over the Encore is that it's a bit lighter and its means of using rimfire cartridges is better in my opinion.

As for scopes; I go Leupold and, since the warranty is good even if you aren't the original owner, I generally go with used ones.  My favorite is the 2.5-8X model.  I've also used the 2X fixed power Leupold handgun scopes and they also work well.  I had a bad warranty experience with Bushnell so don't use that company's scopes anymore.