44 Mag. Whitetail Bullet Chioces

[Bowhunter57]

Everyone that I've talked with that has a 44 Mag. uses a 240gr. bullet of various configurations, for whitetails.

I have yet to shoot a large game animal with a handgun, but have a great deal of varmint kill experience. My bullet choices have always been light weight jacketed hollow points and the kills have been impressive.

My thinking is... A 180gr. JHP bullet traveling much faster than a 240gr. bullet would do as much or more damage, for a good kill. There should be more than enough kinetic energy with the 180gr. bullet weight for good penetration. I'm using a Ruger Super Redhawk with a 9 1/2" barrel.

Why doesn't anyone use a 180gr. JHP bullet for whitetails?

Thank you, Bowhunter57

 

[newfalguy101]

I don't know about anybody else, but, the one and only time I used a hollowpoint, I did NOT get full penetration. Now, to be fair, the bullet destroyed the onside shoulder, a number of ribs and broke the offside shoulder, however, the deer did not lose not one single drop of blood outside of the chest cavity ( that I ever found ) till I cut it open and the blood poured out.

Oh and also, I ended up having to "walk the deer up" and ended up killing it with my SKS and a headshot.

In my experience, though limited to only a handful of deer with the 44 , a 240 Hardcast goes through and through and leaves a bloodtrail

I was running a 6 in S&W 29

 

[DM~]

I've used 180's in my Ruger carbine and they killed deer just fine, never shot a deer or anything else with one, out of one of my handguns though.

I just looked tonight and i have 6 boxes of sierra 180's that my dad gave me, AND as i just bought an older Marlin 1894 in 44 mag., i'm thinking of trying them out in the Marlin and see how it likes them.

DM

 

[27hand]

240 gr

I have used Speer #4457 240 gr jacketed soft points for close to 30 years. I believe they are referred to as "magnum soft points" in the Speer #10 manual. They expand to about 3/4" shooting into water ( for whatever that's worth )

Using a max load of 24.7 gr. of 296, the MV is listed at 1380 in Speer manual #10 from 82 or so. No 180gr listed.
The #14 manual has no listing either.

I've only shot one deer with the 7 1/2" Ruger Redhawk. I was lying on my back and one handed a shot at about 40yds. Deer went maybe 20 to 30 yds.

I'll stick with this. Not sure what advantage going to 180 does. How much faster? Seems like quite a few people talk about going the other way with 270's or 300's.

I wouldn't hesitate to shoot 75 yds with my open sighted Redhawk. Scoped, I might go another 50 although I've never made a shot with anything over 100 on 40+ deer and mostly inside of 75.

Good luck

 

[S&Wfan]

I've handgun hunted for deer for a couple of decades now, and gave up on the 240gn hollowpoints years and years ago after losing deer. What finally frosted me was shooting a deer at TEN FEET with a Hornaday 240gn. XTP.

That deer died TWO WEEKS LATER . . . after another hunter on the club dropped it in a food plot with a .30-06. Skinning the deer . . . my expanded XTP bullet fell out. It penetrated the HIDE and stopped at the shoulder bone! Freakish I know . . . but a heavy, hard cast bullet WILL be exiting the animal . . . after doing a lot of damage.

Ever since I've used 300gn., flatnose hard-cast lead bullets with extraordinary results.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

A heavy JSP bullet or a heavy Hard Cast bullet will be best.

If you're thinking about a hard cast bullet take a good hard look at Cast Performance bullets. they are the bullets used in Grizzly Cartridges ammo and they are very good bullets. they have a very wide meplat and if you want they have some with gas checks too. They cost some but after all, they are hunting bullets, not plinking bullets.
http://www.grizzlycartridge.com/store/index.php?app=ecom&ns=catshow&ref=cp44cal

I have used their 180gr .357" bullets in my Marlin 1894C and they are extremely accurate and hit like a hammer!

 

[StrawHat]

A 240 grain cast SWC over a good dose of 2400 was my standard load for a long time until I switched calibers and went with the 45 long Colt and blackpowder. The soft cast SWC always exited and gave good perfromance.

I do not like hard cast bullets, preferring to tailor the alloy to my needs. That said, I usually end up with something in the area of 20/1 lead/tin.

 

[Drail]

Read some of Elmer Keith's books. In. 44 Mag. mass beats velocity every time. High velocity loads are for .357 and down.

 

[Steve in PA]

Nothing wrong with the XTP bullets. I normally use 240gr XTP's for deer and 300gr XTP's for black bear.

This doe was taken at about 75 yards and she took about 3-5 steps after being hit. I've taken several other deer with the XTP bullets. They work for me.

 

[hipoint]

personally, I'd go with a keith style bullet. Big wide meplat for some smackdown. Not too much need to expand when it's already a .44 hole. Deer are funny critters, sometimes they can be superbeasts that take a huge licking and other times a little .22 is all it takes.

I've shot ALOT of deer on the farm, never been much for bullets that expand too much, best case you end up wasting more meat or making it a mess to clean, worst case you might not get the penetration. I'm not doubting the fellas story above about the non-penetration on a deer, but would like to know a little more about the load if the information is available so I don't use the same type in my .41

that said, there are many more stories and folks who swear by only using expanding bullets...

A jacketed soft point would probably be the bees knees though, haven't tried it yet, but would probably be the best of both worlds. The one bit of advice I can give (from a youngster, but with a freezer full of meat) is don't overthink it, get something that works well out of your gun and make a good shot, save those shoulders as they're good eatin and when you're cleaning the critter don't open the gutsack till AFTER you have already removed all the meat you can. Learned those simple things the hard way, now we haven't bought beef in almost 3 years.

 

[rklessdriver]

I have shot a number of white tails with my Super Blackhawk using the factory Remington 240gr SJHP's (R44MG3 in the green and yellow box of 25 rnds) and never had a problem. Nice exit wounds and a couple were DRT... Just kneeled down and fell over.

I have also used the factory Hornady 300gr XTP on white tails and black bear with the same pistol and had similar results.

All my pistol shots have been carefully placed, behind the shoulder, as close to perfect broadside as I could get. Trying to break a shoulder with a handgun, using expanding bullets wouldn't be the greatest idea IMO.
Will

 

[Arkansas Paul]

240 grain lead SWC all day every day.

 

[LeonCarr]

Hornady 240 Grain XTP

4-5 inch groups at 100 yards from two different Redhawks and a Super Redhawk, one deer at 35 yards, softball sized exit hole. Two hogs, a 200 pound boar and a 250 pound sow, exit holes on both on shoulder shots, both DRT.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

 

[huntsman]

My thinking is... A 180gr. JHP bullet traveling much faster than a 240gr. bullet would do as much or more damage, for a good kill. There should be more than enough kinetic energy with the 180gr. bullet weight for good penetration.

are you planning to eat that deer?

BB sells a HP they call a deer grenade but I went with a cast 325gr for my .45C, I'll let you know if it's overkill this season

 

[farm23]

I have hunted deer exclusively with a 44 handgun for 30+ years. Either 44 spl or 44 mag but always with 240 gr. I have used various types of bullets but mostly JHP and most of the time one shot kills. I try to keep the distance under 50 yards but have gone longer with good results. In a handgun I am not sure the velocity will be what you expect in the lighter load. I would suggest decide on a weight and stay with it so your sights do have to change.

 

[geo57]

A 180 gr. JHP kept at modest velocity will kill even large deer quickly if the hunter will wait for and limit himself to a near broadside shot and avoid heavy bone. Years ago I used a bulk 180 gr. JHP out of my Ruger SBH .44 mag over just enough Blue Dot to run them to about 1275 FPS. One evening from a tree stand I took a whitetail buck broadside from about 12 yards. He wheeled at the shot going to one knee and ran about 50 yards leaving a blood trail you'd had to have seen to believe. The bullet hit him about half way up and about 6 inches inches back from the shoulder, exited the far side, and left golf ball sized holes in the chest cavity. The key is to not push 180 JHP's so fast that they blow up and have the patience & dedication to wait for a shot that will avoid shoulders.

 

[dickydalton]

245 Keith semi-wadcutter and 21 grains of 2400 and a 300 XTP hollow point with ? grains of the same powder. 85 yards on the first one and he dropped right there. 187 yards on the second, straight through the heart, and it ran 20 yards. Both with a scoped 629 6" barrel and the second one was witnessed.

Also, my grandson is using my old Ruger auto with 22 grains of 2400 and 210 grain Remington hollow point, but didn't get a shot last year.

 

[spectralman]

For deer, I shoot 240 gr XTP's over 24.0 gr H110 out of either my M29-2 if walking or Model 94 Trapper if sitting. It's real brushy where I am (northern WI), so a long shot would be under 100 yds. The last deer I shot was with the rifle at about 40 yds. broadside through the lungs. Blew right through it. The deer, a medium doe, went about 30 yds. before it dropped.

 

[osteodoc08]

For hunting Ive always used heavy for caliber lead in a Keith style. It's worked and Ive stuck with it.

 

[Bowhunter57]

I appreciate all of the replies, pics and information.

The heavier bullet wins hands down, over the lighter weight choices. I've been shooting a hard cast 240gr. SWC, but would like to find a better powder and/or load for this bullet. I'm currently using 19.5gr. of Accurate #9 and getting 3" groups at 50 yards.

Our gun season isn't until after Turkey Day, so I've got plenty of time to work up a good load between now and then. The coyotes and groundhogs will get to test the ballistics for me.

Bowhunter57

 

[buck460XVR]

A nearly to slightly compressed charge of IMR4227 and a 240gr JSP. Most accurate load outta my .44s, revolvers and carbines, and makes a hole on both sides.

 

[the Black Spot]

A varmint is not a deer. Using the varmint philosophy on deer is the wrong direction. Most times varmints such as coyotes and bobcats are shot for their fur so you want a bullet that goes in and stays in. Not so with deer, need a good pass through bullet for easy blood trail. That's why I use 310 gr cast bullet. Now i wil say this also, its not what you shoot its where you shoot(had a brother in law that showed up for a hunt with a 7mm-08 with 120 hps, i told him they only work for head shots, and those bullets will blow up real quick on the body and you will just wound them. Since he paid good money for the hunt he switched to another back up rifle). If a person is always of the mind frame that when shooting deer you have to shoot through the shoulder, i would stay away from hollow points. IMHO

 

[geo57]

The Black Spot,

A. Most fur hunters do not use JHP bullets if they intend to make $ or a decent pelt. Also, unless driven at very low speeds, no .44 mag bullet will stay in the body of any bobcat or coyote.

B. Why in most applications a deer hunter purposely aims for a shoulder if he has other options and ruins front quarter venison has always baffled me .

I do agree with you that two holes are desired and a very good thing esp. if hunting in cover. Everything being the same these days I opt for heavy for cartridge projectiles in the weapons I use for deer. 30-06, 7.62x54r, 45-70 Govt.