Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 44 Magnum for Whitetail Deer?

Please would you state your experiences with the 44 Magnum for Whitetail Deer especially fired from a rifle like Winchester 94/Marlin 1894.
How does it perform, how far will the deer go after being hit by the bullet. What about the destruction of venison?
What bullets do you prefer? Hollow points or just flat point?

I've shot 6 or 7 whitetail with a 44mag handgun, and one so far with my 444Marlin. Your velocities should be in the lower half of somewhere in between.

I've had very good luck with Hornady 240gr XTPs @ 1300-1400fps out of the handgun, but I wouldn't shoot these bullets out of my 444 into a deer. I have loaded a few in 444 cases for straycats and the likes, they are designed for slower speeds and are very explosive at 2300-2400fps.

I use a Hornady 265gr flatpoint in my 444 and have no complaints in it's performance on the single deer I've killed with it. Very minimal meat damage on the deer that was graveyard dead on impact. It traveled 2 feet after hit, straight down. I've heard the 270gr Speer Gold Dot expands a little better than the Horny bullet I've used, but I have yet to use them on anything other than targets.

The XTP is a hollow point. If shot thru a shoulder it can and will do some pretty severe meat damage. I try to stay back a little and have had good experiences there. As with most bullets travel time will vary after impact. Mine have gone from 2 feet to about 150 yards before giving up the ghost.

This one went about 40 yards after hit.


This one about 150.

Have quite a bit of exsperience with the .44 mag. both in a handgun as well as a rifle. In a handgun the .44 is a very effective on whitetail.....normally kills quickly with the deer running less than 50 yards before giving up the ghost.

In a rifle.....the .44 is simply amazing. It's one of those rounds that seems to perform all out of perportion to their paper ballistics. Although the .44's energy is listed in the same range as other short range "brush" guns such as the .30-30 or .35 Rem......in the "real" world it is much more. I have seldom used any cartridge which gave as reliable a killing performance as the .44. It simply "slaps" the stuffing out of anything it hits. Even if the animal doesn't drop in it's tracks (and that happens much more often than one would think)there is seldom a time when there is not some visible reaction to the shot (staggering, stumbling, ect). The blood trail is most often great and it is rare that any deer is able to travel more than 25 - 30 yards before going down if the shot was properly placed.

The rifle I have used most was an older Ruger 44 carbine but the various lever action rifles should give the same or possibly better performance since they have a barrel some 2" longer. I have found that 240-265 grain soft points work quite well at the velosity level of the .44, but hollow points, while effective, seem to sometimes cause a little too much meat damage.

The .44 is not a long range weapon and performs best at 50-75 yards. If a deer is much over 150, you might as well throw the gun at him because you are just as likely to hit him that way as you would by trying to lob a bullet at that range. However, when I know I will be hunting in the thick stuff and shots might be quick and close......the little Ruger carbine is the first rifle I reach for.

I shot my third largest whitetail buck with a ruger 77/44 about 75 yard loaded with 240gr sierra jhp loaded with 24.5gr of H110 he didn't go more than 50 yards.

I've killed deer with 44 Magnum revolvers and lever guns. Both are deadly and I agree that the real issue is range. For me, that's 40m with a revolver and 100m with a rifle. I can hit fastest with a scoped bolt action, so I use a 308 if the law allows.

The key to the 44 is a proper bullet. I once shot a deer at 30m using factory ammo loaded with handgun bullets. One shot killed it but there was not much edible meat left. Now I use cast bullets at 1,200 fps if I have to use a 44.


Okie John

My wife's uncle has made a nice hunting career out of harvesting deer with his old Ruger .44 mag carbine. The gun looks like crap-all beat up, and very little blueing left anywhere on it. All it does is drop deer like they've been pole axed. Most of the places we hunted together range was never an issue. It is at it's best when used at less than 100 yards. It's very rare that we had to do any tracking. Lots of bang flops.

Shot a couple with my Ruger Bisley. One hit between the eyes with a Sierra 300 JSP from 30 yards. Blew her mind.
_

First "deer rifle" I ever bought was a Ruger .44 carbine back in 1968 while home on leave from the Navy. It's old enough to have a four digit serial number. I've shot a number of deer with it over the years, a couple of nephews shot their first few deer with it. I have also shot a number of deer with .44 magnum handguns. I long ago settled on a 240 grain Hornady XTP over 23.3 grains of H-110. Works really well, rifle or handgun. It's also a favored load for a buddy who uses a Ruger 77/44. Like most any caliber with a proper bullet, hit the CNS you get a bang-flop, hit the heart/lungs they run a little ways and drop. Hit em bad, you got problems.

What kinda of grouping/range do you get with those 240 gr. hornady xt hp ? I shoot a TC contender pistol in the 44 rem mag. Haven't tried Hornadys yet, no one seems to carry them here : (Thanks for any info..........

"What kinda of grouping/range do you get with those 240 gr. hornady xt hp ?"

Normally I can hit clay birds at 75yds, probably 4 or 5 out of 6. I practice out to 100, but it's more like 2 out of 6 from there. I really like the XTP at handgun speeds.

The top deer was shot at just under 75yds, the bottom was a touch over 90.

muleshoe,

Just wanted to comment on how nice those bucks look! I really like that second one!

Muleshoe, those are some very nice deer.

I kill elk with my Model 94 Marlin 44 mag, so I am pretty sure it would kill deer. I use Speer, 240 gr semi jacketed flat nose, H110 powder, heavy crimp. 1 1/2 -2" groups at 100 yds is common with my rifle

Ive used a marlin 44 mag lever action loaded with 300 grain hard cast, gas check bullets over 21 grains of H110 for many years
USUALLY with this N.E.I bullet

it shoots nice tight 1.2"-1.5" hundred yard groups off the bench, or the LEE design

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000690858

some deer drop, most run a very short distance, its a really nice , light and effective gun,one I generally prefer over most of my more powerful choices when I know the ranges will almost never exceed 130 yards...WHERE you place the bullet has a huge effect on your results, hit the arteries above the heart and they seldom get far, those hard cast zip thru and exit generally leaving a short blood trail anyone should be able to follow easily, not a few drops but an easily followed short path

http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html

http://www.kerrlake.com/deer/white2.htm

I shot one deer with a handgun it was a 44 it killed it DEAD

Never killed a deer with one. Saw a buddy SMACK a wild hog with a 44 Lever Action though. The 240 grain Hard Cast Slug Broke the shoulder (hog was quartering towards us). The Hog went DOWN. He was head down, rooting when his shoulder was broken.

Then he got up, struggled around a little, and fell over dead before my buddy could get a second shot off. The hard cast slug sailed though, did very little meat damage but did put a hole in the heart and one lung.

Range was 120 yards Velocity was about 1800 fps. (about max velocity and range for the little carbine).

BMT

I have been killing deer and hogs with a Marlin 1894S in .44 Mag since 1994.
I have never had to trail a deer or piggy. Most drop fairly quick, none have traveled over 50 yards.
I use a handloaded Speer 270 grain GDSP, in Starline brass, and 21 grains of H110 powder. The last whitetail I shot with this rifle was a smallish 6 point. The bullet entered through the little white patch in the throat, and traveled through the heart , took out several ribs, and exited just behind the rib cage. The deer was a 'bang/flop'.
Most of my hunting is either in a swamp, or along the feeder/drainage creeks associated with a swamp. Shooting is quick, and the distance is always short.
Velocity of this load in my rifle is a pretty consistant 1575 fps, and the accuracy is less than 2 inches at 100 yards. At 50 yards, it cuts cloverleaf groups.
The longest distance I have killed anything with this rifle is right at 75 yards.
Right now, I have an old El Paso V4.5 Weaver 20mm scope mounted.

I shoot the Hornady 240 XTP's out of my Ruger Super Redhawk and I REALLY like them. I have taken 3 deer here in Ohio with them.

Good bullet, and a good one in the 444 also.

Within 100+/- yards, I have never had a problem killing whitetails with Remington 240 grain factory ammo from my Ruger 44 International carbine. The little mannlicher stocked Ruger has proven to be an excellent choice for stalking whitetails in heavy cover.

Jeff