Author Topic: What load for a .44Mag? (Read 1148 times)

henry1 · « **on:** November 27, 2004, 04:48:34 PM »

I am planning on shooting my mule deer doe with my Vaquero .44mag. I have 240gr lasercast Round Nose bullets loaded to the max. charge with Tightgroup. I have heard that this will not be that good of a load to use to hunt deer with, Instead a jacketed hollowpoint would do more damage. My other question is will it still pass through if its a hp? and why would'nt the rn lsrcst bullets be a good hunting choice? is it because they only penetrate and dont mushroom enough? thanks for all your knowlege or thoughts that you guys share with me here. i dont know what i would do with out this sight. Thanks in advance guys. Hank.

crawfish · « **Reply #1 on:** November 27, 2004, 06:49:20 PM »

Change that RN to a HARD CAST LFN or WFN and you will be good to go. Better yet jump it up to a 260-280 and it will be even better. A good 280 XBT or Nosler will get the job done also if you must shoot jacketed stuff.

Graybeard · « **Reply #2 on:** November 27, 2004, 09:29:29 PM »

A round nose bullet that doesn't expand just kinda slips thru with minimal tissue damage. Not a good killer. As mentioned any cast bullet with a wide flat meplat will be a good killer. As long as it's 240 grains or more it will most likely exit after doing a lot of damage along the way.

Personally tho for deer I prefer a JHP. I use both the Hornady 240 XTP and the Nosler 240 JHP pretty much interchangably on deer. Can't really see a lot of difference to pick one over the other. The Nosler HGPT is also an excellent choice in jacketed bullets. I've shot a lot of deer with the .44 magnum using the 240 JHPs and have yet to find one in the deer. They always seem to exit and have on average dropped the deer closer to where it was hit than even centerfire rifles for me.

Lone Star · « **Reply #3 on:** November 28, 2004, 03:10:53 AM »

Quote

Personally tho for deer I prefer a JHP....and have yet to find one in the deer. They always seem to exit and have on average dropped the deer closer to where it was hit than even centerfire rifles for me.

This pretty much mirrors my own experiences; cast bullets just aren't the best for deer - IMO of course. JHP bullets penetrate plenty and do more damage along the way than cast. If the bullet exits, who cares if it's solid lead or jacketed, it can't penetrate any more. Note that while I do live in Texas, I eschew the famous "Texas Heart Shot".

I had one jacketed bullet "failure" in a deer, the old Speer .452" 200HP fired out of my 4-5/8" BH at about 10 yards into the buck's neck. He went down like he was pole-axed and I dressed him out immediately. That afternoon I was boning out the neck when I found the bullet; the lead looked like a quarter with the jacket separated but was 1/4" away. The bullet had penetrated about 3" of neck muscle and mushroomed on the skull - poor penetration but it had cracked the skull. That bullet was designed as an anti-personnel projectile for the .45ACP - I pushed it 'way faster than it was designed to go, it impacted at about 1300 fps. Like anything else, you have to choose the right tool for the job. Fired into the lungs that 200 would have worked much better, but it was too fragile to penetrate soild muscle well. While I call this a bullet failure, I harvested the deer, so was it really a failure?

Catfish · « **Reply #4 on:** November 28, 2004, 02:07:48 PM »

I`ve taken several deer over the years with a .44 mag. and have loaded for several friends that deer hunt with my loads. The best load I`ve ever found, and it seem to shoot real good in every gun shot in, is a max. load of Win-296 behind a 240 grn. Serria JHC bullet. I shot the Hornady XTP bullets and they are as accurate as the Serrias, but they do noe expand like the Serrias. I have recovered 1 Serria bullet from a deer. It was from a 10 point buck shot at 135 yrds. while quarting away from me. I hit him in the left rear quater and recovered the bullet just under the skin of the right frount shoulder. There are alot of new powders that I have not tried as I have been useing this load since the 70`s.

henry1 · « **Reply #5 on:** November 28, 2004, 04:42:57 PM »

Thanks for all of your advice. Its gona be put to good use. was out today and seen some at 100yds but i didnt feel like taking that long of shot with the irons on the vaquero. Was nice to get out and hike around in the snow though. Thanks again guys hank.

slilk 1 · « **Reply #6 on:** November 30, 2004, 03:31:38 PM »

Hello everyone: Haven't been around in quite some time. I really like a 240 xtp hornady.24.0 gr of h110. This is a max load out of my super blackhawk hunter. It is an awesome whitetail round. CONSIDER THIS A MAX LOAD AND START BACK AT LEAST 2 GRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Slik 1

Graybeard · « **Reply #7 on:** November 30, 2004, 04:03:37 PM »

Hey Slik 1, where you been hiding? Been a month of Sunday's since you dropped in.

Your old name is still there waiting for you. If you've forgotten your password let me know and I can assign you a new one. Just PM or e-mail me if you want to get back to using your old name.

stuffit · « **Reply #8 on:** December 07, 2004, 04:19:56 AM »

The Hornady XTP over 23 grs H110 is what I load up for my wife to use in her scoped Desert Eagle. My personal choice for my OMBH Ruger (this year) is 20.5 grs of Lil'Gun behind the 260 gr Lyman Devastator cast from wheel weights sweetened with a little tin. No deer for either of us this year yet, but good reports on both loads from other hunters around the country in the online forums. Good luck to you in getting freezer filler this year.

stuffit

Ron T. · « **Reply #9 on:** December 07, 2004, 07:10:49 AM »

IMPORTANT NOTE CONCERNING HODGDON'S H-110 POWDER

Hodgdon, the manufacturer's of H-110 powder and other gun powders, STRONGLY advises that H-110 loads NOT BE REDUCED more than 3% from the maximum listed loads. For information, see Hodgdon's Basic Reloaders Manual-2003, page 12, left side of the page.

Therefore, a MINIMUM load of H-110 in a .44 magnum is 23.28 grains (24 grains minus 3% or .72 grains = 23.28 grains).

According to Hodgdon's warning, "H-110, if reduced too much, will cause inconsistent ignition. In some cases it will lodge a bullet in the barrel, causing a hazardous situation (Barrel Obstruction). This may cause severe personal injurty or death to users or bystanders. DO NOT REDUCED H110 LOADS BY MORE THAN 3%."

Strength & Honor...

Ron T.

stuffit · « **Reply #10 on:** December 07, 2004, 08:22:11 AM »

Ron T.

You're on the money in regard to H110. The same, of course is true of Win 296 (actually the same powder). I know of one instance of a shooter who refused to use either of them ever again, after some .44 mag loads that didn't function as they should as you so kindly mention in you post. H110 likes to be just a little cramped for space or even compressed some for good ignition, preferrably with a good strong crimp. I still use it for max loads in my .454's and, as I posted, it does good in the Desert Eagle (which is kinda finaky about what it likes anyway). I went to Lil'Gun for my Ruger OMBH for this very reason. I get good velocity and for some reason with equal velocity, the Lil'Gun loads seem to have a less shap recoil.
It's good to hear from another old timer on the forum. I've been around close to 66 yrs, and it's never too late to learn something new. Happy trails.

stuffit