Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Moose and the 44?

Anyone here got a set for sale? Where would a guy look for such?

Dober the 250 gr. Keiths would work just fine...its all I shot and the penetration was super...never felt the need for a 300 grainer..
Shot 2 elk, a couple cords of deer and three bears with that boolit..recovered one....from a lengthwise shot on a deer I went "Hogan's Alley"on..
Ingwe

aside from the hard cast stuff , it would be well to also look at the 270 gr Speer or the 300 gr Hornaday xtp . I am sure either one would do the job.........

I've got some old steel jacketed Normas that I would use. Way back when Bob Peterson of Guns & Ammo fame went to Alaska, he used those on both a Brown Bear and a big alaskan moose. The 240 gr. bullet penetrated the moose almost all of the way lenthwise !
Any of the heavier jacket bullets that work well in the .444 should work. Even the 240 gr. stuff.
The 270 gr. Speer ? That's what I have to replace the Norma bullets.
Keep in mind that if you go to a different bullet, the gun's zero may well be quite different. E

I'm with Ingwe. They're not bullet proof.

I just posted in Classifieds my hope to find a grip from a 500 or 460 S&W. Or other aftermarket grip that covers the back of the grip frame. MARK

I might, after reading above, go down to a 250gr bullet from this gun. Hardcast flatnose at full speed.

That 270 Speer is a good bullet. If more is needed than this bullet in a 44 mag, then it is time to go with a bigger "hammer".

Mark,
I have put quite a few 1300-1600 pound cows down with the 44 mag.
The Speer 270 gr. gold dot is very impressive with a forehead shot going deep down into the neck and breaking it as well. FWIW.

I have no moose experience, but have quite a bit of experience killing game with .44 and .45 caliber revolvers. I think my first choice would be one of the 300-grain bullets with a good, wide nose. I wouldn't feel terrible using a 250 Keith either.

I would want an alloy that was fairly hard, but would not shatter. My understanding is that some amount of tin helps with this. I would also shoot for bone and NOT expect it to go down right away, but would keep shooting until I had four feet in the air.

Yep.....my 300gr. WFNHCGC bullets are made by Beartooth Bullets. I get 1,250 fps and I think that they would do a fine job, if I do mine.

I've a feelin' that it would pulzerize every bone it came in contact with while still leaving a heck of a blood trail as it exited....still weighing 290+ grs.

Magnumb, my experience is they will do exactly what you say, but as with any hard cast bullet, I expect the animal to run about 3 or 4 times as far as if they were hit with a rifle (say a .30-06, .270, .300, etc.). I have seen two large wild boars drag their front legs for a couple of hundred yards with 3 or 4 WFNs through their shoulders. And, having shot or witnessed the shooting of 30 or so animals with hard cast bullets through .44 Magnums, hot-loaded .45 colts and .454s, I would say somewhere between 100-200 yards is an average run if hit through the lungs or shoulders.

While I still like shooting and hunting with handguns, my experience is modern Rifles do more damage and put them down quicker.

As with the solid coppers, one of the big advantages of hard cast bullets is that they will generally plow through whatever is beyond the "lethal portion" which is being targeted. That means you can take out big bones on the way out. A moose hit in the big bones will not get far.

http://www.rimrockbullets.net/catalog/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=79

You could just call these guys and have them stuff as man as possible into a flat-rate box (because they will) They cast all the stuff that Buffalo Bore uses in their ammo. I've only sent about 3 cylider fulls of the 305's down range over 23 grains of WW296. They clocked a healthy velocity, killed on one end, and maimed on the other... I'd use them on moose. If you follow my advice, you'd also better order a Redding Profile Crimp die and make full use out of the squre crimping groove on the said pill...

I've been shooting their gas checked 255 Keiths in my 44 Special for a couple years, they work really good on schitt at 1100 FPS. Can't imagine what a 305 at 1250 would do to critters...

I've only killed deer with .44 mag revolvers, always with Hornady XTP's. I've never recovered one. Wound channels seem to indicate rapid but limited expansion. They are very accurate in my revolvers. I would probably go 300 grains for moose.

I'd use the 250 grain Partition. I have never tried the handgun Partitions, but my experiences with them in quite a few rifle chamberings has me holding them in high regard.

I sure wouldn't argue with your contention.....rifles with proper placement and bullets rarely play second fiddle to the more common hand cannons.

I load the 300gr. Beartooth WFNHCGC in my .44 for a specific reason......bear protection. My thinking, and perhaps only my own, is that I want to penetrate, pulzerize and cause as much devastation as quickly as possible. An expanding, conventional bullet may cause and leave a larger wound channel, but I'm most interested in trying to stop one's approach as quickly as possible. My feelin' is that my choice of bullet, for those purposes, has a better chance of doing that, in a shorter amount of time. I don't know that my choice is the definitive answer nor the best, but after bouncin' multiple bullet choices off of many here and from guides that I've had occasion to discuss this stuff with, it seems, at worst, a good choice.

Placement is always the key, but when under a bit of a time constraint (say...being attacked!!!...), placement can be less than desired. A well put together HC just might give you an edge under those circumstances......YMMV.

A friend/guide who I initially met during a hunt 2 years ago in the Bob Marshall showed me 3 perfectly mushroomed XTP's out of his .41 Taurus. These were recovered from a blackie that his hunter had only wounded and that he then had to dispatch at 10 yards to eventually arms length away. He hit it four times as it quickly closed the distance on the both of them. The 3 perfectly mushroomed XTP's were the first of 4 shots fired, all being eventually recovered just beneath the NEAR side hide. The fourth, launched at arms length as the bear veered left directly in front of this guide towards the frozen hunter, was placed on hair directly behind the bears ear. This ended the adventure.

I must admit, the 3 XTP's Dennis showed me, with 3 other guides in attendance, were picture book perfect. No bullet manufacturers advertisement could have been more convincing. He kept them to show others their performance, or lack thereof, depending. I am sold on their performance on thin skinned animals and 2 legged vermin, but when thicker hide comes into play, I'll pass. So will he, as he now carries only HC pills and has moved on up to a .44, which to my way of thinkin', especially in "the Bob", isn't a bad idea.

Good luck this upcoming season...........

Good info on the 500 grips... may have to see if brownells sells them as parts... my 329 isn't horrible with 300 cast, but its really close to horrible.

We are loading 270 hard cast GC right now so it doesn't beat the gun up quite as bad.

If not that I'd go barnes of course, but moose seem to not take a lot of killing... Me, I'd grab my 329 and our 270 cast or the mentioned 300 cast, put the first one in the crease through both lungs low, and the second in the shoulders and be done with it.

I do know our 329 is very easy accurate enough for 50 yards though the sights leave a bit to be desired when I'm shooting paper at 100 with it.

I load Speer 300gr Uni-core in my .44's for bear protection. The Uni-core are supposed to limit expansion and act more like a cast. I have a magna-ported Taurus so I don't shoot cast bullets. I'm also playing with some 240gr silhouette bullets to see if they work any better out of my 2" tracker than the Uni-core, I'll post my penetration results soon since both loads over penetrated my last test of a sand bag and two 2x8's .

My 629 wears those grips and has since my first range trip with the stock grips....... They do wonders for one's confidence and truly do soften the blow a bunch.

As to where to get them.....I tried several different sites (a few years back) and the only place that I found to make such a purchase was directly from S&W. That might have now changed, but I remember them being of reasonable cost, which surprised me a bit (being directly from the manufacturer and all).

Good hunting............

Well since all I use is cast slugs I'll have to say.........use a cast slug, there's no bad angle's with cast, just make sure you are lined up on the vitals on the other end. I like 2 holes, one in & one out & I've had that for 45 years of using cast on big game, I've never recovered a bullet, ever! I used a Ruger 480 & a 370 gr cast slug on my moose, he went about 15 yds, I've taken many elk, bears, deer, antelope, mountain lion & african game, I don't understand all the running, I've never, not once had an animal run 100 yds when shot with a cast slug. I did have one run a long ways once when I used a 270 gr Speer Gold Dot on a cow elk but it wasn't the bullets fault it was mine, another elk bumped into her just as I made the shot & it hit her to far back, she ran maybe half a mile, laid down 3-4 times & I finished it. A bullet thats 1/2" in diameter at 1000-1200 fps thats put in the right place is unbeatable. I took 11 animals last year with revolvers, hogs, 3 deer, a bear & an elk, all with cast, none ran 10 yds, most didn't run at all!
Use that 44 with confidence on that moose.

Bear, 6' 9", Ruger 44 magnum 250 gr Keith



cow elk, Ruger 45, 260 gr Keith



Record book warthog, FA 475, 370 gr. LBT



Forkhorn muley, Ruger 357 maxi, 173 gr Keith



Mountain Lion, S&W 357, 173 gr Keith



I take it back, one animal did run 40 yds, this Wyoming buck, shot him with my Bisley 41 magnum & 230 gr cast, thats the entry hole, he was facing me. Also took 2 whitetails in Montana with the 41 & 230 gr Keith, then there were 6 hogs in Texas, all with a 41 blackhawk & 230 gr cast, you get the idea, most died in their tracks.



Dick

Dick