12 inch 44 Magnum Encore with CCI 240 Blazer ammo Deer

[Fishingted]

Have some Blazer 240 Grain Ammo that I am thinking about using for Deer hunting. Supposed to go 1200 fps in standard barrel. I figure my 12 inch barrel should pick that up to at least 1400-1500 fps which I believe would improve expansion and penetration enough to be a Good Deer Killing Load. Bullets are JHP. Just wondered what the Sages here Think about That. Thanks for any Help and impute. Ted

 

[N555]

It depends.
Most factory 44mag ammo appears to be optimized for hand gun length barrels like 6 inches and less.
If I remember correctly the winchester 240gr white box did 1,450 out of a 8 inch revolver, then subtracting the flash gap and adding 10 more inches of barrel was only good for like 300fps more.
My hand loads are made to take advantage of longer barrels, a 180gr bullet over the max charge and then some of H110, lit up by a non magnum primer. The revolver does 1,800fps and the rifle does 2,400fps.

 

[Fishingted]

It depends.
Most factory 44mag ammo appears to be optimized for hand gun length barrels like 6 inches and less.
If I remember correctly the winchester 240gr white box did 1,450 out of a 8 inch revolver, then subtracting the flash gap and adding 10 more inches of barrel was only good for like 300fps more.
My hand loads are made to take advantage of longer barrels, a 180gr bullet over the max charge and then some of H110, lit up by a non magnum primer. The revolver does 1,800fps and the rifle does 2,400fps.

Thanks for that info. I am not handloading for the Caliber as yet. Will have to see how they run.

 

[derek45]

I have killed lots of big midwestern deer with 240gr speer and XTP JHP's at about 1400fps.

these are H110/win296 magnum handloads.

Blazer is low budget ammo, probably loaded with a fast burning, lower velocity powder similar to bullseye or win231.

It may not give you much higher velocities with a longer barrel.

For real magnum performance, you need H110/win296, or 2400 magnum powder.

My advice is to save your brass, and buy a book on handloading

 

[Fyrstyk]

In a 10" contender, I shoot Hornady 210grain JHP bullets over a hefty dose of WW296 for 1650 FPS. I have yet to recover a bullet from a shot deer, and the expansion is devastating, leaving a golf ball sized hole on the far side. Deer hit generally drop in place or only go about 20-30 yards from where hit.

 

[Barbaroja]

I would sight in and go hunting!

 

[N555]

Thanks for that info. I am not handloading for the Caliber as yet. Will have to see how they run.

44 mag as has always been a very expensive to buy and fairly cheap to reload.
Reloading vs buying factory loaded handgun ammo unlocks 44mags full potential.
Especially if you have a TC then standard COAL means nothing to you and you can use "TC only load data" that exceeds SAMMI length but stays at normal 44mags pressures. Basically what happens is you load the round like 0.1 inches longer than factory ammo and that allows you to put that much more slower burning handgun powder like H110 in there.
Speer13 has super Redhawk and TC only 44mag load data.