I used to own a Browning M92 in 44 mag, and I killed several deer and 2 antelope with it. I used a 225 grain HP on one antelope and the other I used the same bullet as I did on all the deer, a Hornady 265 grain. All went down quickly but not a lot faster then those I killed with my 30-30 and 170grain bullets.
Now the rest of my 44 kills have all been with handguns. A 7.5" Ruger Super Blackhawk, , two 4 inch M29s, one 6.5" M29 and one 8-3/8' M29 and also 3 kills with a 7.5" Redhawk, one of which was a bear.
From my SBH I have killed mule deer with 240 grain HPS, one with a 240 gr soft point, and all the rest with 250 grain Keith SWCs. Most of those were killed in the 70s. All were one shot kills and all seems to fall about as fast as those I killed with 30-30s.
From my long 8-3/8" S&W M29 I used the same Keith bullet as I used in the SBH, and also I made one kill with an LBT 320 grain bullet. The other deer, elk, and antelope and also one other bear were killed with the same LBT WFN GC, and those bullets seem to drop game faster then any 30-30 I have used. All the kills I made from my 2 4 inch 29s and all I made from my 6-1/2 M29 were with LBT bullets.
One thing that is of note......ALL the 320 grain LBTS I have ever shot game with have exited the animals. 100% with no exceptions at all. I killed 2 elk with my 4" M29 and the M.V. from the short barrel is only about 1175 FPS, but the bullets still go clear through, even on an angled shot, and one hit the upper leg bone and cut it off, yet still went clear through about 28" of elk and exited.
Bullet holes kill, not bullet.
I look at the hole through the vitals of antelope and deer from a 30-30 with a 170 gr, and from a 44 Mag with an LBT bullet and the permanent hole (not just the blood-shot ) from the 44s are just about the same diameter as they are from a 30-30, but deer and antelope are not very big. When you get to elk size and even moose, you really start to see a difference ,and the reason I believe is simply the 44 is making a similar diameter hole ,but far deeper if there is enough body to make a difference, so on large deer elk, bear, and (even though you didn't care about them) horses and cattle, the 44 mag, even from a handgun, drops the animals faster then the 30-30.
The 44s with the LBT bullets go a LOT deeper (if there is enough "deeper to go") and leave a hole about the same diameter, so the wound is going to drop the blood pressure a lot faster. That and the fact that a LBT hard cast 44 doesn't turn off course much (if at all) when it hits a big bone,and a 30-30 often will.
So in the case of most deer size game I would say the 2 are fairly similar, but the 44 may have an advantage you can see over a run of kills from both the 30-30 and the 44 and having a few dozen to compair. But on animals over about 300 pounds the 44 is noticeably more effective.
Reminds me of reading Elmer Keith, he knew what he was talking about also
