Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .44 Rem Mag on deer???

Has anyone here hunted here hunted deer with a 44 mag chambered in a rifle?

If so.....how effective is it?

A guy in our camp does. Not many shots longer than 100 yards, but very effective.

Shot a couple of 150 poundish bucks with a Ruger Deerfield. First was at about 15 yds. Shot down thru the right shoulder blade, under the spine and was under the skin at rear of left ribs. Ran & stumbled maybe 20 yds. 270 grain Speer factory load. Shot another buck same size, same load across top of the heart at about 30 yds. Ran maybe 60-70 yds. Big doe neck shot at around 70-80 yds but most anything works there. Wife went on a women’s hunt at Caryonah Lodge in TN and shot a pig that was probably close to 300 lbs. Same load shoulder shot and dropped on the spot. They definitely work.

I've shot a few deer with a 77/44, loaded with 300 grain Beartooth WFNs at just under 1600 fps. Probably not the bestest bullet for drt deer, but they penetrate, and bear were also on the menu, so.....

The deer I shot were all lung shot, full penetration, and about a 30 yard average run. Pretty typical.

I probably would have gotten more reaction/less run with a lighter, faster jacketed bullet, but max penetration is what I had in mind. Plus, the heavier bullets were more accurate.

I consider the .44 mag rifle an excellent woods cartridge

With 240 grain HPs , deer should be dead from 1-150 yards

I've only used mine on shots that were under 100 yards, but it has worked great. My rifle is a Marlin 336 that I've had since 1967. I've killed 6 or 7 deer and a couple of hogs with it. The bullets penetrated the deer completely and left good blood trails that were short. As with any cartridge shot placement is important, but the 44 Magnum from a rifle works very well.

You mean Marlin made a 336 in .44 mag.??

Not a rifle or dear but killed a few black bears with a 5" Redhawk from 25 to 45 yards. Full penetrating with 250 grain hard cast flat nose.
Rifle should be effective on most with 4 legs...

A 44 magnum rifle works just fine for game animals.
I've killed a good many deer and swine with 357's
and 44 magnum from rifles . No, they don't hit an
invisible force field at 100 yards and plow down into
the dirt. Yes, Marlin made a 44 magnum 336 rifle
some years ago. A friend has a pristine example he's
used successfully on bunches of deer. No, it doesn't jam
every other round like people often say ( usually those
who've never seen or used one)

Yes... I have a couple of Ruger Carbines that are hell on deer and hogs... HP or soft tips it matters not. They both shoot great out of the little guns.

Our .357 mags work just fine. I'm sure the 44 would just be more so.

Ruger 77/44 with 300 grain paper patched lead. Deer & hogs; boom-flop.

I've taken a few with the 44 mag out of a revolver and it worked very well

I shot a whitetail with my Ruger 77/44, at 60 yds. a shot just below the spine produced a bang flop. Actually I was shooting my BIL's rifle and the round was a Winchester white box 240 gr., I shoot handloads in my 77/44 using Hornady 200 gr. XTP's over a max. load of WW 296. With good shot placement they usually don't make it 60 yds. from where they were shot.

I have a Ruger 44 Carbine and inside 100 it works well. I never tried outside of 100 but then again where I was hunting 100 was a long shot. Most were inside 50 yards.

I killed a few elk with one.Should work on deer

Neighbor boy did when i was a kid, he had a Ruger semi-auto, i remember the massive amount of lead exposed on the nose of those Remington hollow point bullets when i was over with he and his dad shooting one day, also walked over with his dad when the kid shot a small buck, it was lying there dead with one hole in the shoulder and a chit-ton of blood on the ground when we began to drag it off.

The kid turned into a pot smoker and tried to sell me that Ruger for 50 bucks several years later, i didnt like it because it was ugly................STUPID me!

My first centerfire deer rifle 30 years ago was a Rossi 92 chambered for .44 Mag. Killed deer dead. No fuss. No muss. My dad appropriated it when I moved back to KY. He loved it and killed several deer with it. When I started letting the grand kids pick their "inheritance early" to thin the herd, it was the first rifle chosen. Only used factory ammo. Zero issues with feed, fire, eject.

My wife hunts with a Marlin 1894 in .44. Inside 125 yards os so it hits like the hammer of Thor. Hand loaded 240 gr. XTP .

The most useful information I can add is to be wary of using HP's from a rifle at close range. I've seen poor penetration with 240 grain HP's at close range with rifle velocities, (1,750-1,800 fps).