44 mag underestimated

[bighorn300wsm]

first off i would like to say that i think everybody is underestimating the 44 mag.i have several deer taken at 200 yards with my fathers ruger deerfield.we shoot hornady 265gr flat points with 22gr W296 through his deerfeild and my marlin 1894.at 200 yards these loads are still penetrating and exiting the opposite side......yea it drops more than a 308 or 30-06 but not that much.......after all it only takes a lil practice to get use to it.....so is it safe to say the 44mag is a good rifle cartridge out 200 or maybe even 250 yards?

[Redhawk1]

I was not going to reply to this but I could not resist. To say a 44 Mag is a 200 to 250 yards round is just pushing it a little.
The trajectory at 200 and 250 yards is -18.1 -37.4

.44 Remington Magnum (rifle)

For several years after the .44 Magnum was introduced in 1956, a number of gunsmiths paid their bills by converting Model 92 Winchesters for Remington's big revolver cartridge. Some were re-barreled, others were re-bored and re-chambered. A few years later the Ruger autoloading carbine, Winchester Model 94, Marlin Model 336, Marlin Model 94, Remington Model 788 and several foreign made rifles in .44 Magnum came on the scene. The extra barrel length boosted muzzle velocity by about 300 fps, which didn't exactly transform the .44 Magnum into a rifle cartridge but it did make it an excellent choice for the woods hunter looking for a quick handling rifle for use on Whitetails, Black Bear, and wild boar.

Whereas, a good portion of the effectiveness of many cartridges on big game comes from high velocity, the .44 Magnum simply punches a big hole through whatever it encounters. This can be quite important to the fellow who loves to sit down  to a venison dinner since, as the old saying goes, "you can eat right up to the bullet hole." If the .44 Magnum has a strike against it as a deer cartridge it is its rainbow like trajectory beyond 100 yards. But, at woods ranges it is about as effective as the .30-30 and the .35 Remington.

A few handloaders have tried to transform the .44 Magnum into something it will never be by loading it with lightweight bullets at relatively high chamber pressures. Such bullets with their low sectional densities work fine on broadside shots into the lung area, but for quartering shots they are a poor choice. The 240 grain bullet at about 1800 fps is tough to beat in this cartridge but for deer, hog, and Black Bear load that seldom fails to punch on through and leave a blood trail, no other bullet comes close to the Hornady 265 grain round nose.

Excellent powders for the .44 Magnum are H110, H4227, IMR-4227, Alliant 2400, and W-296.

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Range
The .44 Magnum is a splendid short-range big game cartridge in a various short, handy rifles, especially in heavy brush or timber, out to about 150 meters. Past that, the trajectory is too steep for easy hits on game, as the short, fat bullets have poor aerodynamic shape.

Still, many shooters like it as they can thus have a rifle and a handgun in the same cartridge, making logistics easier. It is popular in rifles within these limitations for big game. It will also work well for coyotes and animals in that class, though it is rather expensive for that purpose versus lesser cartridges.

Many handloaders will load lighter than factory loadings for other purposes and for target shooting.

http://www.fishandhunttexas.com/44_remington_magnum.htm

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[Lloyd Smale]

id have to put 200 yards as a max and at that range you better know your gun and load. At two hundred your getting to the point that most levers dont have enough accuracy to reliably hit game animals. The load still has plenty of power to punch through a deer but you and your gun have to be capable of placing a bullet in the boileroom every time! To my old tired eyes 200 is a long ways with open sights. I hate scopes on lever guns but that new nikon muzzleloader scope would probably be slick on a 44 levergun if you wanted to play with long range with one.

[T.R.]

This 44 MAG has a 2.5X scope.  I've never taken an animal with 44 MAG further than about 85 yards or so.  None got away.  For 250 yards you need a .243 or 25-06.
TR

[black-tail]

I use a Rossi M92 in 44.  The proper bullet  is paramont to the rifle.  I had VERY POOR luck with a Winchester Softpoint factory load, I then switched to 265gr Hornadys and 21gr H110 shout real well performed good on game.  This year I switched to 240gr XTP and 24.5gr H110 may not shoot quite as well bullet tends to hold up on good when recovered from a hard dirt bank at 50 yards, just real flat and  the core jacket did not seperate.  Did not get a chance to get a deer wiht it this year.