Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .44 mag carbines and big deer?

I've done some Moose hunting with a Winchester 94 Trapper in 44 mag with 300 grain Hot-Cors. Never got a Moose with that gun though.

Just bought a Rossi .44 model 92 for the same purpose of OP. Also looking for ammo factory ammo suggestions.

You can kill all the deer you want with American Eagle or Winchester white box 240's.

I killed a lot of things including a raft of northern MO corn fed deer with a lever 45 Colt for years. 255 cast swc over 4.5 gr. of red dot. Worked like a charm from rabbits on up. Small stuff got head shot. Cheap load for the only rifle I had. Killed one doe with the Cimmaron Peacemaker in the same caliber. Only two guns I owned, and I kept the rifle loads to pistol level so as not to mix up rounds and ruin my revolver.

I did later acquire a Winchester Trapper in .44. It was a killer as well. If a 255 swc over 4.5 gr. of Red Dot can do it all, your .44 magnum won’t even break a sweat.

Im hoping to find out this year in Ohio. I been hunting up there with a .444 Marlin. But this year I am planning on using my Ruger .44 mag carbine.
240 gr. Fastens nicely to my pack for the walk up the hill the the big timber. Shots there are 20-40 yards. We call a 75 yard shot a hail mary.
Im not crazy for lever guns so this might be the ticket for that hunt. Im not worried the least about it on any sized deer at those ranges.

Have killed several deer with the .44mag in both rifle & handgun. I used 300 grain soft point in the handgun because of outstanding accuracy. They do not appear to expand very much but they penetrate easily through deer. My rifle load is the 240 grain soft point & they expand and also penetrate easily through deer. I have never recovered a bullet, just the deer. At rifle velocities the .44 mag is a great deer cartridge.

Most of my 44 magnum kills were made with revolvers. But I did own a Browning M92 years ago and I killed deer, bear and antelope with it. It did just fine. The 92 would not feed the very wide bullets like the LBT 300 and 320 grain WFNs, nor would it work with the Keith SWCs because the cartridge length was too long. So I ended up using an LBT 265 grain WFN gas-check bullet, and a Hornady 265 grain jacketed for that carbine.

I can tell you from experience that the 44 mag with proper bullets is ok for big deer because I have personally killed them with 4 inch, 6.5 inch, 7.5 inch, and 8-3/8" barrels on revolvers.

I have used 44 magnum revolvers to kill 3 bears, several elk, about 2 dozen deer, 4 antelope, one bison, and several horses as well as about 3 dozen cattle. With hard cast bullets of 240 to 320 grains I have never seen a single problem killing any big game or domestic animal with a 44 magnum.

I had a stainless marlin about 18 years ago, whenever they first came out. It was a 38 twist but it seemed to shoot 300s. I used the speer 270 goldl dot sp in it a lot and it shot well enough.

It got stolen when the house was robbed and later recovered in the possession of a meth dealing illegal alien or undocumented immigrants or whatever they call them these days. The guy had it and a bunch of meth but they let him go. I got the gun back but it was a bit beat up and always reminded me of the burglary so I sold it. I bought a 16" rossi stainless 92 to replace it. I haven't shot the 92 much. Guess I just haven't learned to like it yet.

I also picked up a stainless plastic 77/44 on a half price sale but I haven't shot it yet. I'm excited about it because it points like a 10/22 and has the same sights. I grew up with 10/22s.

For factory ammo the 240 sp American eagle does good in a rifle and isn't too expensive.

Bb

I have 3 ruger 44 carbines and a marlin 336 in 44. Since Iowa went to straight wall I have been using the 44 in the big river bottom lands. 125 yards and in is the shot you get. 240 xtp hammers them the rifles I have are handy light and accurate

I'd go ahead and buy the gun you want. There is a bullet out there that will do what you want it to do. There is no certainty that the 300s will not stabilize in a 1-38" twist. I had a Winchester 94 trapper that handled them just fine. In those days I preferred the now-discontinued Speer, but it shot the Hornady very well, too. If your gun won't handle them .. and you won't know for sure 'til you try .. then try Speer's 270 grain flat point. I think Hornady's 265 grain flat point interlock will seat to an OAL that will fit through a marlin but I'd check on that before buying. Hell for stout bullet and a good choice if it will.

There is nothing wrong with a 240 for deer. My preference would be one of the flat points instead of a hollow point. Might also consider Barnes X bullets in the lever action.

We don’t have huge deer in Florida, but we do have some big hogs. Marlin 1894 .44 magnum kills them pretty dead. I load the Speer 270 grain SP Gold Dot bullet over a stiff amount of H110. The 1:38 twist and MicroGroove barrel give excellent accuracy. Most hunting here is short range.

All helpful info. Perhaps this should be the topic of another thread, but could someone school me on the differences between the Ballard and the Micro groove rifling, and which is ‘better’ or more desireable; if one is something I should seek out in one 1894 over another?

Microgroove is 12 shallow grooves and Ballard is around 6 deeper grooves. Some cast bullets don't work well in Micro groove. Ballard really has no downside and MG is mostly a gimmick but it does work great with jacketed.

Heard. Perfect. Thank you.

For a factory load I can speak to the Speer 270gr Gold Dot/Deep Curl. We've used it, or handloads, on 1 pig and several whitetails. Pig was the biggest and my wife shot it in TN on a ladies hunt. Around 300 lbs and it went down with one shoulder shot from a Ruger Deerfield. Biggest buck I shot with it was 150lb ish. Shooting down thru the right scapula thru the rib cage and found it under the skin at the rear bottom of the left rib cage. He made it about 20 yds.

The question isn't would a .44 Magnum kill a big deer, it would be can I hit a big deer with a .44 Magnum? You can kill a close deer with a rifle that shoots far, but you can't kill a far deer with a rifle that shoots close. One year my buddy showed up with a Ruger .44 carbine and I still remember the look on his face when I suggest that he post overlooking an expanse hundreds of yards long while I drove out the adjoining woods. The next year he showed up with a .300 WSM. I shoot close deer too, but they do show up far away now and again and having a 7mm-08 seems a better choice.

On another hunting forum I asked the question once, "What centerfire cartridge kills a deer out of proportion to what the paper ballistics say it should?" There was a tie for top honors between the .44 Magnum and the .257 Roberts. I once asked a guy at the range how the Ruger .44 carbine he was sighting in worked on deer and he said that the one the year before just fell over like a rabbit. Pretty effective within its range limitations I'd say. I just don't like its limitations.

szihn: Marshall Stanton of Beartooth Bullets has an article on his web page about how to modify the cartridge carrier to feed a little longer bullet. It is easy to do. Taking apart a lever action not so much.

I haven't found out yet, hoping to see it for myself this fall.

I tested several factory loads in my B92 and one thing I found going under 200 grain was that the bullets became wildly inaccurate. The 225g Lever Revolution stuff shot great and I used it on some pigs and a very close shot on an axis deer but I never got quick kills. I gave them up and went to the 240 grain XTP. Have yet to nail anything with it but fully expect more agreeable results.

Your statement about difference s in groove depth between Marlin's micro-groove and ballard rifling is not correct, as I understand it. The GROOVE DEPTH of BOTH rifling systems on a Marlin are the SAME, which is 0.0025" or so. The LANDS are wider on ballard-rifled Marlins, the only difference.

A key detrimental accuracy issue on Marlin 1894 44 mag carbines is the groove diameter, which is ~0 .4315". Most 44 mag jacketed bullets are .429"-.430", which is too small, and a major reason for poor accuracy. SAAMI has different groove diameter specs for 44 mag pistols (.429"), and rifles (.431+"). Pretty stupid if you ask me. People complain about the slow 1-38" rifling twist of Marlin 1894 44 mag barrels for poor accuracy, but the biggest contributor to lousy accuracy in 1894 Marlin 44 mags is large groove diameter, and small bullet diameter. Both large groove diameter and small bullet diameter together, hurt accuracy.

I wish Marlin would correct these issues, and make a 44 mag barrel with 0.429" groove diameter, a 1-24" rifling twist, AND groove depth of 0.004". If they would do that, they would sell a bunch of them.

Fwiw, I own a JM-stamped, Ballard-rifled 1-38" twist Marlin 1894 44 mag. Its groove diameter is about 0.4313". My best accuracy is with a 240 grain jacketed bullet by Zero Bullets, 0.431" diameter ( from Roze Distribution). McGowen barrels will make a 0.429" groove, 1-20 to 1-24" twist barrel for the Marlin. May go that route and rebarrel my Marlin.