Hi,
I once had an early TC in .44mag with the short octagon barrell (length about six inches or so). That dang thing killed at BOTH ENDS. A .44 mag doesn't kick too bad in most guns but that light, short little gun would nearly tear your thumb off.
My first and only season hunting with the gun, I had a big doe walk DIRECTLY in front of my little 10' metal ladder stand . . . and I mean RIGHT in front (two feet in front of the ladder).
I shot it with a Hornady 240 grain XTP factory load, and my extended hand couldn't have been more than six feet from the deer. At the shot, the deer took off. I never found it. NO BLOOD, no hair, NOTHING.
I searched for three hours. Nothing.
Two weeks later, another hunter in our club harvested a big doe eating leisurely in a food plot. When he skinned the deer, my 240 grain XTP bullet fell out onto the ground. It had deflected on a bone, rattled around inside the deer without doing serious damage. SOMETIMES STRANGE THINGS HAPPEN WHEN HUNTING.
Needless to say, I don't use XTPs anymore!!! Frankly, my .44 mag XTP bullet didn't have much time to build up speed within that five feet or so after leaving the very short barrel. Probably at 30 feet it would have done the job.
TODAY . . . AND FOREVER . . .
I now use the commercial Federal Castcore 300 grain ammo in a 6" barrelled S&W M29. IMHO, you don't need a hollow point to expand when the caliber is already .429 in diameter already . . . and the big, flat nose BLOWS through the deer with devastating results.
Also, it doesn't usually damage as much meat nearby.
Rare is a deer that runs at all now . . . and none go far if they do bolt. This round is effective at ANY range, including real close!
Hope this helps. I'm done with hollowpoints in .44 mag. This Federal load has never let me down . . . in about eight seasons now. Twice I've dropped three deer in rapid succession with this rig.