357Mag or 44Special for whitetails?

[hans g./UpS]

A friend has a Dan Wesson 6"in 357Mag and a Virginian Dragoon 7.5"in 44Mag.
He has damaged wrists,so shooting the 357Mag is OK,shooting the  44Mag ISN'T.
Would a moderate 44Special load be an adequate deer killer[cast or jacketed]?
I wonder what would be the better choice[357Mag or 44Special]?
We can use my loading gear to tailor a specific load.
Thanks.

[WD45]

Well,
Has your buddy fired any loads in the 357 mag hot enough for hunting ?
He may actually find down loaded 44 mag better or at least equal to the hot 357 which also depends on what gun you are shooting them from.
The 44 special laoded warm enough to hunt is in the lower 44 mag end so I would download to a manageable recoil and see if the load is adequate for hunting. If the load is pushing a 250 grn kieth at 1100 FPS or above you have a load that will kill deer no problem. I would suggest not using any bullet less than 250 grn. Our problem is .. we dont know what kind of loads he is shooting now that he cant take. It may help other people give a better response than mine if we have that for a starting point to compare with. I would also suggest trying some different guns / grips which also recoil a bit differently.

[Graybeard]

I'd much rather be using a .44 Special than a .357 Mag. for hunting myself. Chose a 240-250 grain cast bullet and push it 1000 fps. Recoil should be mild and it will fully penetrate a deer with ease. Good choice.

GB

[hans g./UpS]

Thank you all for the response.The only handguns my friend has= the Dan Wesson[double action] 6" 357Mag and the Virginian Dragoon[single action] 7.5" 44Mag. He isn't going to go out and purchase another handgun.
I observed that he didn't like[really can't take-damaged wrists] full house 240-250gr loads in my 5.5" Redhawks[44Mag or 45Colt]despite being  equiped with Hogue rubber grips.
I'd welcome some suggested load data for woods use within 50 yards.

[Graybeard]

Try 17.0 grains of H2400 with a 240 grain cast bullet. This is a mild load for a .44 mag and shouldn't be going much if any over 1000 fps I don't think. Never really clocked them but have fired many thousands of them. My shooting partner and best friend (now deceased) has gone as low as 12.5 grains of H2400 under our Lyman 429244 bullets with no bad results. I've personally gone as low as 15.0 grains but the 17.0 grain low is generally as light as I go in a .44 Mag.

GB

[Jim n Iowa]

I really don't like light loads in the mag as to heavy loads in the sp. Bad exp. with light loads in 357 in cold weather. We have a lot of luck useing short barrel (4-6) " with 44 sp 240 grn hard cast with 2400 near max and we are good to go, shooting 60 yds max.
Jim

[Gregory]

A word of caution on new vs "old" 2400.  I worked up a load with some 2400 and a Lyman 429421 250 gr Kieth bullet using 16.0 gr of an old canister of 2400, I ran out of powder and 14.5 gr of "new" 2400 gives me the same 1090 fps out of my 6 1/2" barreled S&W 624.  

I have a coworker who missed out on the general firearm season tags here in IL.  I told her I'd loan her my 624 for the January antlerless season so she applied for a tag.  I let her try out the Smith the other day, her first time ever shooting a handgun. After a few shots with a 22LR she was game to try the 44Special and did well on a deer target at 30 yds.  I'm going to load up some ammo for her to get used to the gun well before the season.  I wouldn't hesitate to use the 44 Special on deer out to about 75 yds.

That being said, I have taken one small doe with a 357 Mag throwing a 170 cast Kieth SWC at 1200 fps.  It worked fine at 40 yds.

[MS Hitman]

Loading 9.0 grains of WW231 behind a 240-250 cast bullet will give just over 1100 fps out of my Bisley.  This load has very mild recoil and should give all the penetration your friend would need on a deer.  I have not had any trouble igniting the 231 charges regardless of temperature.  This is in a magnum case.  The Unique load I use in my Specials is 7.0 with a 240 SWC of various manufacturers.  Using the Valiant bullet last February at the Linebaugh seminar in New Braunfels, I got 21" of penetration in soaked newsprint from my 3" bbl 624.  This load has a muzzle velocity of 750 fps as best I can remember.

I have shot several deer with both .357s and .44 Spls.  Using the 173 Keith style Lyman bullet over 11.0 to 12.0 grains of old 2400 gives a fairly mild load.

[Lloyd Smale]

John linebaugh has killed alot of deer and antlelope with a .45 colt with a 250 kieth at about 900 fps and says it kills and penetrates great so if its good enough for him it sure is for me. Any cast bullet around 250 grain with a good flat metpat at 850-1000 will take any deer walking

[Van/TX]

If your friend will be shooting factory loads I'd go with the .357 Mag vs the .44 Special.  But either will do at close range.  The deer will probably not notice the difference   .....Van