.41 Mag may be the most under rated round ever. It's a great round, and I really like it. Bullet selection, gun selection, all limit it. 45 Colt is a fantastic cartridge, and it's a real hoot to load for. In the right gun, you can load it as hot, with as much energy, as 44 Mag. My son's first deer rifle was a Winchester 94E in 45 Colt, which he handily took an elk with. But alas, bullet selection is not there either. 44 Mag...if you own a 44 Mag, you also own a 44 SPL. You can load from rounds that barely ring a steel target.......to a round that will put a hole in a steel target. Probably the most versatile handgun cartridge out there, huge bullet selection. Also the widest availability of guns...from lever action carbines, to the desert eagle, to BFR's. My daughter's first deer rifle was a Ruger Deer Stalker semi-auto carbine in 44 mag. She used that gun to take a buffalo for her 13th birthday.