Need .44 Mag. Loads(Deer/Bear) Which bullet ?

[hylander]

Howd'y: I have a 7.5" SBH.
I'm new to loading for the .44 Mag.
I was thinking the Hornady 240 XTP for deer.
What to use for Bear and Hog, I have heard hard cast, but but what brand and what style ? Semi wad cutter, flat round nose.
Help.

[Redhawk1]

Howd'y: I have a 7.5" SBH.
I'm new to loading for the .44 Mag.
I was thinking the Hornady 240 XTP for deer.
What to use for Bear and Hog, I have heard hard cast, but but what brand and what style ? Semi wad cutter, flat round nose.
Help.

For hogs and bear I use Cast Performance 300 gr. hard cast with gas checks and flat nose.. I use 18.5 gr. of 2400 powder. Heavy load.

[MS Hitman]

From personal experience, the 240 grain XTP is plenty of bullet for whitetail deer.  I have yet to kill a bear, but the 300 grain Cast Performance bullets work well on hogs.  Another option you may want to consider is going with a 250 grain Keith style SWC bullet.  Dry Creek Bullet Works makes a good bullet that weighs around 250 grains.  

That's the big "problem" with reloading; once you get started the possiblities seem almost endless.

[Lloyd Smale]

go with hard cast bullets hitman and redhawk gave you the names of a couple of the best another is mount baldy bullets.

[MS Hitman]

Oh, I can cast up a mean 429421 and 358429.  I'm also well acquainted with Kelly's products.  

I just don't cast much these days because I have very small children about the house and I worry about them being more susecptable to lead poisioning.

[LAH]

Hey Hitman, been awhile.

I have personally shot end through end boar twice using the L-429421 and 21 grs. of 2400. It's really plenty of bullet.

If you want more the DC 44-305-K will fill that bill.

[Rmouleart]

I have always had good success using the Hornady Interlock FP 300gr for the 44mag, bullet will hold up to any hog;) Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

[Mikey]

Rmouleart:  Is the Hornaday Interlock the same as their XTP?  I have been shooting some 295 gn Keith style swcs and some 300 gn XTP hollow-points recently while preparing for a fall hunt for Elk and Boar and noticed that the XTPs suffered major core separation on impact at 25 yds.

Do the interlocks perform better???  Are they a .430 diameter bullet?  Both the cast bullet and the XTP were loaded over 21.5 gns of H110 and were shot from my 4" Model 29.  Accuracy from both was pretty good (considering my old eyeballs) and I was thinking that either load should suffice but when I went to the berm to recover some spent slugs to check for expansion or deformation, I was quite surprised to see that all the Hornadays I could recover had separated from their jackets.

I began thinking I must have picked up the wrong box of bullets as I had thought the XTP hollowpoints would hold together better but now I'm wondering if I should just stick with the cast slugs or try another Hornaday bullet, such as the Interlock you use.   I certainly wouldn't want to whizz off a 400 pound chunk of walking bacon with a shot that didn't penetrate well enough, or have to go chase him into a face to face situation.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.  Mikey.

[TennesseeNuc]

hylander,
Take a look at Hornady's 265g. JSP.  It is designed for the .444, so it has a tough jacket for good penetration and should still expand at .44 speeds.  The Hornady manual gives the 265g bullet the same velocity as the 240 g. XTP with their loading data.
It might just turn out to be a "best all around bullet" for a .44 mag. :grin:
Best,
TnNuc

[340wby]

Ive found these  (lee 300 grain bullets below) to be good choices, keep in mind shot placement and deep penetration are the keys to success and your NOT going to get alot of EXPANSION from a correctly cast bullet but you will get a very deadly load

http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1093873919.3566=/html/catalog/bullmol2.html

BUT I PREFER THESE from NEI


http://www.neihandtools.com/catalog/index.html

seat them out as long as the cylinder can handle and CRIMP THEM FIRMLY and load over a stiff load of H110 powder start with about 21 grains and work up VERY carefully!

IT is EXTREMELY important they are seated out to the max, sized to the cylinder throat dia. lubed heavily, and firmly crimped
BTW I use a 6% tin added to the weight alloy and cast them from wheel weights

[Rmouleart]

The 265/300gr Interlock is not a XTP, it is a semi jacketed type FP, this will not fail, like the JHP's can when hitting something solid, I also use the 350gr .458 FP Interlock for my 450 Guidegun, good for big heavy game, for thin skinned deer like game the Hornady XTP's/ Speer GoldDot GDHP work very well. Aim small hit small RAMbo.

[WEAVE]

Where can the 300 interlocks be purchased from since I don't see
them on the Hornady web site. Just the 265's are listed.

[WEAVE]

Where can the 300 interlocks be purchased from since I don't see
them on the Hornady web site. Just the 265's are listed.

[Rmouleart]

I made a error in bullet selection for the 44mag .430 dia, the 300gr is a XTP and the 265gr is the Interlock,both are good bullets,I think the Interlock seems to be a more hearty bullet for big game hunting, solid construction, this is a FP bullet. Using the 44mag for deer like animals, the 240gr XTP fit the bill as well. Achieved good accuracy with both type bullets. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

[insanelupus]

I realize this is an old post, but I really like the 300 gr. Speer bullets, they don't work well on thin skinned game, such as deer, they punch right through.  But on bigger game they are great bullets.  I load mine over a mid charge load of IMR 4227 and don't even look back.

[SLAVAGE]

has any one tryed the xtps in 180 for deer an bear, i was thinking of going this way with a mid speed again in pa the bears are big but nothen over 200-300 i at least ever seen

[Mikey]

Slavage:  bears can be notoriously tough and hard to anchor, even small ones, and I don't think the 180 gn 44 mag is the load for the job.

JJHACK, a frequent visiter and poster to these forums has authored a number of incredibly informative articles about the use of the 44 magnum and bear.  He advocates a 240 gn bullet.  He states the response from the bear is almost immediate and gives you the opportunity for followups.  The man has incredible field experience and the ability to present it in a very informative manner.  If you are going to hunt bear I would look up his articles.  You can find some of his posts on some of this forum's pages.  

Hylander:  for whitetail the 240 xtp should serve you well, although I would prefer a Keith style 240 or 250 gn hardcast slug for whitetail.  

For bear I would follow the advice to Slavage.  For Hog, I would find a nice 290-300 grain hardcast semi wadcutter and load it over about 20 grains of H110 or the same of 296 and you won't have to worry about hog at all.   However, that being said I distinctly remember a couple of South Carolina boars, one shot end to end and the other through the shoulders and both without bullet recovery using a 245 gn Keith style swc.  I just like the heavier slugs now and the last hog (400 lb boar) I shot received one as a gratuity that so scrambled his ability to think he just lay still.  That was a complete passthrough with major structural damage.  

If you don't relaod there are a number of factory loads that should serve you extra well and that SBH of yours can eat any of them all day long.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Varmint Hunter]

I'll go against all the other opinions (as I often do); shoot the 250gr Nosler Partition or a Swift A-Frame in 250gr, 280gr or 300gr.

On bullet for all occasions - the perfect solution.  :eek:

VH

[SLAVAGE]

so a better round would be the txp in a 300 grain, sounds good to me i never went bear hunting this will be the first year i used 250 winchester golds an loved them but started reloading 240 xtps an wanted to drop down to 180s for lighter loads an such but it wouldent be to hard to work up a load an get a box of 300 grainers
thanks again for the advice ill take it lol
dave