Killed one with a 225gr Speer HP out of a 6" 629, and one with a Federal factory 240gr HP, the one with the post, from a 77/44. The first was spined, but the second was chest-shot, and you'd be hard-pressed to tell the wound cavity from one made with an '06 or .270. Writer Brian Pearce has compared the effects of the .44 from a rifle to a .30/06, and while we're at it, the .357 to a .30/30, within their ranges of course.
Carried my little Low Wall one morning this past season on a doe day, but no luck. It'll go again next season.
Some years ago I was scouting for a place to put a treestand on a local WMA. Found a locust tree with considerable bear claw marks, and right in the midst of them, a jacketed .44 slug stuck in the heavy bark. Don't know if the two were connected, but it makes for interesting speculation.
