Hunting with a .44 mag levergun opinions

[sonny]

Living in NYC it's tough to get out of the city very often to shoot so I am considering purchasing a 44 mag levergun for hunting as well as indoor local paper punching with 44 specials ...no magnums at the indoor ranges here....I'm leaning towards a marlin 1894....the stainless steel one is looking pretty good to me ......anyway who uses the 44 mag for hunting?
I am trying to to kill two birds with one stone obviously and I don't want to shoot myself in the foot with my decision....I supose a "rifle caliber" would be the way to go for deer and black bear but I would like opinions on whether the 44 packs enough punch.

 

[critter]

A lot of deer fall to the .44 mag here in the south where ranges are often not long (<100 yds to 'contact range'). The little Ruger semi is popular as are .44 mag handguns and 'trapper' leverguns.

I think a 'trapper' or short lever gun in .44 mag might just suit your needs really well considering where you are. The .44 might not be an elk or moose gun, but it is a 'thumper' up close.

Your choice is good too. Get what you like in the .44 and I don't think you will be sorry. Good luck, and have fun.

 

[HSMITH]

A 44 rifle is PLENTY of gun for anything in the lower 48 at reasonable ranges with good ammunition, including moose and elk.

Think of all the buffalo that were killed with black powder 45-70's, your carbine 44 mag is packing a lot more punch.

 

[Bigjake]

last i checked the 45-70 was bigger than a .44 mag...???

 

[Preacherman]

To give you an idea of just how good the .44 Magnum is as a hunting round, consider the comparison between this cartridge and the good old .45-70 "Buffalo" round. (The figures below are taken from the Remington center-fire ballistics chart.)

The .45-70 Government, as loaded by Remington, has a 300gr. JHP and a 405gr. SP. The 300gr. JHP has a muzzle velocity of 1,810 fps, and a muzzle energy of 2,182 fpe. The 405gr. SP has a muzzle velocity of 1,330 fps, and a muzzle energy of 1,590 fpe.

The .44 Magnum, as loaded by Remington, has three loads for which rifle data are given. The 240gr. SP has a muzzle velocity of 1,760 fps, and a muzzle energy of 1,650 fpe. The 240gr. SJHP has the same figures. The 275gr. JHP Core-Lokt load (a great hunting load, BTW) has a muzzle velocity of 1,580 fps, and a muzzle energy of 1,524 fpe.

So, comparing the "traditional" .45-70 405gr. bullet weight with the most effective .44 Magnum hunting load that Remington makes (the 275gr. Core-Lokt), you see that the .44 Magnum has an 18% advantage in muzzle velocity, and only 4% less muzzle energy, compared to the .45-70. Given that the latter was considered a superlative round for buffalo and grizzly bear in its heyday, that's a heck of a testament to the effectiveness of .44 Magnum leverguns!

 

[Shooter973]

44 Mag leverguns.

I've shot 3 mule deer with my 44 mags and they have been very effective to say the least! The first one was with the old Rem. lead bullet factory load. The shot went from side to side with out hitting any bone and the deer just turned and looked at me. I thought that I had missed because it thru up dirt on the far side of him. Well when I shot the 2nd shot it was from nearly face on at about 50 yrds and it went clear down to the base of the tail before it stopped. The deer fell into a cedar tree and never moved. The others have both been shot with cast 250 gr SWC's and have penitrated completly from any angle. Great performance! Instant 1 shot kills. You'd have to look really hard to find anything that does any better. I've stopped hunting with a Hi-powered Bolt rifle and scope. It's just not enough of a challange any more.

 

[sonny]

Anyone know a going rate on the marlin 1894?

 

[Preacherman]

Gunbroker has some for sale - here, here and here. You could also order one through Wal-Mart: their retail price is under $400, AFAIK. There's also the stainless steel 1894SS, but I don't know what their price is like at retail. (There's one on Gunbroker, here, for $450.) Finally, there's the 1894 Cowboy, with a 24" heavy octagonal barrel. I've had one of these, and liked it very much, but it's a bit long and heavy for brush-busting...

 

[Atticus]

It's always strikes me as odd, that a lot of people on the net (and in the gun rags) recommend carrying a .44mag revolver as a back up grizzly gun, yet they question the efficacy of the .44 mag rifle as a deer or moose (or gasp...bear) stopper. My best guess is that overkill sells magazines and guns. If you read G&A, you would think that no one was capable of killing large animals prior to the development of the .500 super - ultra- mega- delta- mag. cartridge, loaded with a CNC machined monolithic 800 gn partitioned/ triple- bonded bullet, that has been QC'd with an MRI ....unless of course a $50K hand built H&H .416 Rigby was used.