I have 3 "Old" Vacqueros, two in 45 Colt and one in 44 Mag. One 45 is a Bisley and the 44Mag is also a Bisley.
I went on a search for a Buffalo killer with these three shooters and used 300g slugs in each application and found the 45 reaching an over pressure mode earlier than the 44 Mag. All loads were with H110 powder and the 44Mag peaked out at 1377 fps and the 45s at 1213 fps. So for a comparison of just horsepower, in MY GUNS, the 44Mag was the velocity king.
In an accuracy comparison, IN MY GUNS, the 44 Mag was able to produce the best results.
So IN MY GUNS, my choice for Buffalo or Bear hunting would be the 44 Mag.
Every gun comes off the line with slightly different specs and either one of these would do the job efficiently I just went with the 44 Mag for the accuracy comparison. As "they" say your mileage..........
