Greetings and Happy Thanksgiving,

Has anyone hunted deer or pigs with 200gr Silvertip's in 44 Special? I'm thinking they would work on pigs between 100-150lb.

Gunblast has an article showing the Silvertip's traveling at 784fps out of a 3" barrel and penetrating 7" of wet newspaper. I would think that out of my Flattop with a 51/2" barrel they would get at least 800fps. Plus 7" of penetration seems plenty for smaller hogs. What do all think?

Thanks in advance for your input.

Unless you hit a heavy bone, it would work fine, as would a .22 lr. The problem comes only when you hit heavy bone, in which case you'd be better served by something like a hard cast lead Kieth style semi-wadcutter, weighing 255 grains or more.

While the small animals you describe don't have a lot of heavy bone, you don't want to be forced to let a giant get away because you don't have confidence in you ability to penetrate heavy bone.

As TRH stated already, the 200 Silvertip may work, assuming an ideal shot presentation on a smaller hog. Why limit yourself though? If you don't reload, take a look HERE.

That load will make the most out of your sweet little .44 Flattop. A great revolver deserves great memories (not lost/passed up game). A 255 Keith at 1000-1100fps will help make that happen.

Go with the Buffalo Bore .44 Special and don't look back. Except for Gators which I know nothing about, I would say the Buffalo Bore should meet all your .44 Special hunting needs.

The ideal velocity for 99% of all the game we hunt in the US is about 950 to 1200FPS using a large bore heavy for the caliber (230 to 250 grains) bullet.

www.youtube.com is a great source for finding what works and what does work for handgun hunting.

IMHO Silvertips are good SD bullets but I much prefer solids in handguns for game. I have killed numerous hogs down here with 158 hardcast RNFP .357's out of a '92 saddle ring carbine as well as a couple of smaller Gators in the 5-6 foot range that were threatening stock.

Handguns I carry for SD and don't hunt with them.

Keith type.

Thanks all for your input. No doubt hard cast is the way to go but I'm not willing to pay $70 for Buffalo Bore.

Double Tap has a Kieth style bullet/ammo and it's a little cheaper - anyone ever use it?

You get what you pay for in Buffalo Bore, but any hard cast Kieth style bullet of significant weight will be many times better than Silver Tips on big game.

The Silver tip is a dud pure and simple and I would not feel good about only 7" of penetration in wet news prints as being adequate on hogs especialy a boar with a grisssel plate

Here is a 41 mag 210 grain Silver tip from wet pack and it is under whelming to say the least



I was testing personal defense loads and the Silver Tip was a dog compared to other loads in the 41 mag

..if that is the case why is the .41 Silvertip rated one of the best .41 defensive rounds going... Light recoil, 1225 fps from a 4", 1300 fps from a 6" and expand just about every time...

Would I use them on heavy game, no there are much better, but this round was made for two legged vermin not four...

As to the original question on .44 Special for shooting deer...I would not. Either hit them with a good expanding bullet at a velocity where there will be some shock value to the expanding bullet or use a hardcast at 1000-1200 and punch a good size hole through...the 200 Silvertip will not expand well nor penetrate well as slow as it's going...

Bob

Also noticed that the 158 grain 357 Gold Dot expanded not at all

I have no Idea who rated the 210 grain Silver as a top defensive, but I've shot enough of them to know that they are a dog

I use the WW Silvertip as a my summer carry load in my 44 Bulldog, but I switch to a cast SWC for winter because I'm concerned about the Silvertip's possible lack of penetration through heavy winter clothes.

As mentioned, the Silvertip handgun bullet was designed for defensive use, not for hunting. The folks at Winchester describe it as an "old school" design, and while they still recommend it for defensive use in the .44 Special, that's probably because they haven't come out with their bonded PDX1 bullet in that chambering...yet.

For hunting, I'd personally not use anything but a cast flat-nosed bullet at 900-1000 fps. Jacketed expanding bullets work some of the time - even MOST of the time. But a cast bullet works ALL of the time.

A total lack of expansion from the ST that I posted a picture of. Not a good bullet in my experience YMV

I'm convinced - stick with hard cast bullets. Thanks all for your input.

44 Special is not well supported by ammo companies these days. Consider buying an inexpensive loading setup and rolling your own.

Although I am sure some company out there loads them...or should, I don't see anything available off the shelf with the best 300gr LBT bullet design.

That's what I would recommend.

And, from what I am seeing, considering the high cost for factory loads, the loading equipment would pay for itself within 100 rounds.

Anyway...just a thought.

TC