Rethinking .44 Mag loads

[crabo]

As I am reading a lot of posts on reloading and studying the cast bullet perforemance issues, and I am beginning to think I may have been looking at it all wrong.

I used to think, light loads, cast bullets and for hunting loads, use max charges with jacketed bullets.  It seems like a better way to go, would be to get my pistols to shoot cast bullets well and forget about jacketed bullets all together. 

It seems like a lot of you guys who have had a lot of experience hunting are recommending a very good cast bullet design,(like one of Veral's designs), in 300 grains  or so, and it isn't necessary to load it to max for hogs and deer.  I am getting the feeling that a better bullet design, with a little less velocity, which should translate into better shot placement and gun control, could be quite beneficial.

Am I looking at this right?  I am wanting to have 2 loads for my 44.  One for light weight plinking and one for hunting.  I have been using a 240 cast with 10 grains of Unique that I use as my plinker, and 240 jacketed XTP's for my hot load.  Should I change to a better cast bullet for my hot loads?

What do you think?  Is this the way to go, or have I missed it?

Anyone have any recommendations for bullets weights, designs.....?

Thanks,

Crabo

[Lloyd Smale]

your 10 grain of unique load will take care of any dear on earth and probably any pig or black bear in the woods too.  Ive personaly shot  deer and pigs with that same load and bear with very simualar loads.  You probably dont have to step up to 300 grain loads until your hunting animals that are over 500 lbs. Personaly i think if I was hunting bear and knew there was going to be big ones id step the 250 up to many 1200 fps. Absolutely nothing wrong with using 300s on smaller animals but if recoil is a consideration its not necessary

[Graybeard]

There is really nothing wrong with either thought process.

I am still a strong proponent of 240 jacketed bullets for deer. I really do like and even prefer them over cast for deer. Specifically I like the Hornady 240 XTP and the Nosler 240 JHP but in some guns the Sierra 240 JHC seems a bit more accurate. I've not yet shot one with it but I'm sure will.

I've yet to have anything bad go wrong while using the 240 JHPs on deer, not that I have while using cast either on deer mine you.

Now when I move beyond deer to bigger and/or heavier game or more dangerous game the jacketed bullets stay home and only hard cast go with me. Like Lloyd mentioned I'm not sure you need to move all the way to 300s for most hunting chores. A 240/250 grain will do nicely for most all needs. I guess for really large hogs or bear I'd personally want a bit more but the 265-280 grain range seems about enough for my needs for the most part. Nothing wrong with a bit heavier if it makes you happy but it's a bit more than really necessary I think. Velocity is not a magic pill as some seem to believe. Anything over 1000 fps is plenty and more is not really gonna do anything but slightly flatten trajectory and really it's not going to gain you any extra range because at 1000 fps you're able to kill as far as you can hit anyway.

[Lone Star]

Back when we had a very active IHMSA silhouette club in Anchorage, quite a few of us were handgun hunters too.  We often discussed the loads we used and how they performed.  Those with more than a few years of Alaskan hunting experience usually preferred jacketed bullets to cast for game smaller than moose.  We had all tried cast bullets, and many of us used them in our silhouette loads so we had good accurate, powerful loads available.  But it was my observation that kills were quicker with decent jacketed bullets in my .45 LCs, and the .44 and .357 Maxi shooters agreed.  Shoot medium to heavy weight bullets for the cartridge and performance was great.  Not that cast didn't kill well, just not generally as quickly as jacketed.  Either works, and that's what really matters.

.

[Grumulkin]

your 10 grain of unique load will take care of any dear on earth

It will take care of any deer as well.

[Dusty Miller]

Hey Grum, maybe his spelling was intentional?!!