Well, my grandfather was a Dallas Police dectective and carried a S&W 4" model 21 nickel .44 Special Revolver for duty. He also used this gun for deer hunting. I am assuming that he used the standard 246 grain Lead Round Nose since this was his duty load that I read about through an archive of an incident report resulting in him killing a man in a bar that was beating his partner with a hand-held weapon(the report did not specify). The year was 1957. From hearing my uncle, who is older than my dad, my grandfather usually shot his deer at around 24-40yds. Don't know if they ran, dropped instantly, or what, my uncle did not say. But they were killed clean and were shot behind the shoulder in the lungs as this was obtained due to my uncle witnessing the bullet hole from the deer my grandfather brought home. Of course there may be variables in a rifle. I have fired many .44 Mag rounds through a rifle but never a .44 Special. My advice would be to use it a bow ranges, with 40yds or so, if you have enough accuracy. Hope this helps.
