Heavy/Hot .44 Mag Loads - Any Cheaper Commercial Alternatives?

I'm not sure what you need a hot 44 mag load for. the available loads now are hot enough for anything that needs to be shot with a 44 mag

define "Hot"

big/heavy/fast?

Light/fast/loud/big flash?

Georgia Arms makes some hotter & heavier stuff: http://georgia-arms.com/44remmag.aspx

Dont underestimate the Winchester white box JHP and JSP. Pretty tough and proven, just seems they lost they're "cool" to the more expensive/newer brands out there.

Plenty for hogs IMO.....never shot one though, so take that with a grain of salt.

http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/Bro...1&categoryId=680&categoryString=9315***731***

In the meantime, the 270gr Speer Gold Dot is an excellent bullet for hogs. It will expand slightly and exit on most critters. Jacketed bullets have gotten so much better in the last several years, no reason to rely on the generic 240gr "white box" stuff.

You don't need the 340gr stuff for hogs.

Mike just buy the run of the mill 240gr SP or swc ammo. Thats fine for black bear and hogs. Just not did to be something for griz or moose. If the 240gr winny sp are in your market use them. I have killed some nice hogs up to 350lb with a 357 180gr hc and they work wonderfull.

I've always gotten good performance from the .44 Magnum Hornady 240 gr. and 300 gr. XTP JHPs.

Very, very tough bullets and capable of finer accuracy than I'll ever be capable of.

I have used the 240 gr. XTP on black bear before with exceptional results (staggered less than 20 feet and fell) and several deer. I always get a pass-through and the internals are absolutely destroyed.

You just do need to spend the money for a super duper ammo that is not needed for hogs and black bear. Just a waist of money AND haveing to deal with the extra recoil IF you need a fast up close second or third shot one handed. You did ask for advise and if not needed then but your BB or DT and forget Grizzy ammo brand for real serious stuff.

Just tried two new-to-me .44 Mag rounds at the range today. Fired in 5.5" Redhawk:

1. PRVI Partizan 240gr JHP, $32.99 per 50 from Midway. Strong loads, accurate enough. A good candidate for woods hiking; nothing in the eastern US a CNS hit from these wouldn't stop.
2. Sillman 240gr FMJ (new maker in North Carolina) retailed in Virginia Beach, so not sure if you can obtain them. $35.49 per 50. Really stout loads, accurate enough. If these were JHPs they could easily become my woods carry round.

Both of these bang as loudly and kick as hard as anything I'd want to shoot. They'll do what I bought a .44 Magnum to do, no questions asked! I'll reload 240gr JHPs, but only for $ savings. There are hotter commercial loads, such as the Buffalo Bore, but I see no need for anything hotter than what I shot today.

Just about anything in 44 mag is more than enough for Texas Feral Hogs.. . The standard 240 gr HP and SP rounds by WW and Rem, Hornady, Speer are plenty bad enough..Stout enough to drop just about anything on the North American Continent.. Have you ever experienced a 300Gr + bullet loaded to max in a 44? That is a pretty stout load for most people to handle.. It is pretty punishing on BOTH ends... My observations are that anything shot with a 240 Gr 44 bullet is pretty much out of the game and DRT... (Dead Right There!) I have seen one shot stops on 375lbs Hogs with them out of a 4" Tube, and the shot placement was not ideal... Most Texas Feral Hogs are not that big... 200-250 is generally considered large.. however there was one taken near my place north of Nacogdoches a couple of years ago that was about 465... only one.. and everyone called it a freak deal.. He was taken with a rifle, I think they said a 30-30..

Georgia Arms 300 Grain stuff I have heard good things about, it's just more than I need.. Maybe when/if I go after cape Buffalo I'll try it...

OCD? Nah.

When it comes to savin' their own hide, everyone wants the best and ther's nothin' wrong with that.

Heck, a standard pressure .44 cal 300 gr. LFN (as driven from 5.5 inch barrel) to 900 fps will give you plenty of soft tissue penetration (~45") against hogs and the unexpected black bear and crush through heavy bone without a problem.

I never saw the sense in beating oneself and one's gun to death trying to push a 300 gr. bullet to 1300+ fps when a 300 gr. HCSWC/LFN at 900 fps will do the job against most any imaginable threat.

In the end, I think that most people tend to pursue raw power in such instances while forgetting that they may need a more manageable load for a second or third (or fourth? ) shot should the need arise.

Since you aren't asking what 9mm ammo is the best option for bear defense :banghead:, I'd say that you have probably got a reasonable perspective to begin with.

Put it this way, I hunt deer and hogs with a 240gr commercial SWC over 10.0gr Unique for 1050-1100fps in sixguns and 1450fps from a 20" rifle. It's plenty potent, pleasant to shoot and I never recover a bullet.

The heavyweights are fun to play with but really have limited application. It's just not necessary for deer and hogs. I'd use the 250gr Keith or 270gr Gold Dot for anything up to elk and wouldn't go to a 300gr unless moose hunting.

CraigC said:

Put it this way, I hunt deer and hogs with a 240gr commercial SWC over 10.0gr Unique for 1050-1100fps in sixguns...

Click to expand...

That sounds like a very pleasant and controllable load indeed. Still offers in excess of 40 inches of penetration, too. Nice balance.

Craigman said:

Dont underestimate the Winchester white box JHP and JSP. Pretty tough and proven, just seems they lost they're "cool" to the more expensive/newer brands out there.

Plenty for hogs IMO.....never shot one though, so take that with a grain of salt.

Click to expand...

I have done a bit of testing with the Winchester 240 grain White Box JSP. The bullet is tough and for the price is a very good choice.

The lowest cost heavyweight loads I have seen are the HSM 305 grain hardcast in 44 Magnum. They also load a 300 grain Speer Unicore bullet in 44 Magnum. I saw them at The Sportmans Warehouse. I see them available on line at The Hunting Shack. I have never shot the HSM loads but next time I see them at a good price I may test some out.

For hogs and black bear you really don't wany hard cast bullets . There not that tough and animal and this HC bullet just bore a small hole through. Use some thing that will expand and most any heavier mild hp or mild weight sp load works great and most likely my still pass through with way more tissue damage.

Remember that a 230 gr. .451" bullet does not have the sectional density of a 240 gr. .429" bullet. (Shorter, fatter -vs.- longer, thinner) Not a whole lot of difference, but some, which increases penetration. Combine that with a couple hundred fps velocity boost, and the .44 is a better performing hunting round.

Really, though, everything is relative. A 230 gr. .45ACP +P is at the very top of its range.

At a 240 gr. bullet at 1,100, a .44 Mag is rather at the bottom of its range.

Under hunting conditions, "too much overkill" is sort of a non-issue. (Not worrying about over-penetration in a neighborhood or whatever.) Hunting a semi-aggressive, close-range animal like a hog, you might want to make sure you can handle quick follow-up shots, but with practice, even the big boomers aren't exactly hard to shoot fast.

We run "magnum" side matches sometimes and I shoot my 300 gr. 1,250 fps handloads out of my 4" 629. "Bill drills," weak-hand-only, etc. are a handful, but there's nothing horrible about them -- just use good technique and expect a minor decrease in split times.

Pick a solid load (lots of good recommendations here) and practice with it until you know you can make hits quickly, and repeated hits quickly, under real conditions.

Here's something...

Haven't shot any of these yet, but they look to be priced right. I do have some in 45 and 454 on order. Take a look.

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ItemListing.aspx?mfgid=4483&catid=684