Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns .44 Special for deer...

I've hunted with full power .44 Mag loads in my SBH for years now, but I had a tumble off my mountain bike a few years back and messed my right wrist up pretty bad.It healed fine, but lately shooting my .44 more than a couple times leaves me in decent pain.I'm only 29, and I'm afraid of what my wrist will be like in 20 more years if I keep doing this.

So, have any of you used .44 Special loads, factory or handloads, on deer?Adequate or pushing it?Not really interested in the hot rod Special loads, just decent hunting loads.

Shane

9gr of Unique under a 250gr Keith bullet, gives about 900fps and will take deer cleanly; Brian Pearce has written of taking an Elk cow with this load in Handloader.

No flys on the 44 Special, it won't bounce off the animal.

I have killed sever deer with the .44 Special. I have a Taurus 441T target pistol with a 4X Redfiled on it that shoots 1.5" groups with 255gr CPBs over 8grs of Uneveral clays. I have killed a doe at a lazer measured 112 yards. Complete penetration and great wound channel. I also have 3 Charter Target bulldogs that I carry to my bow stands during rifle season. I load them with a 240gr SWC and 6.8grs of uneveral clays. Out to 40 yards they are very deadly. reflex264

Ruger#1,

You don't need a 44 Special, just load your 44 mag appropriately. I have a similar story. I rode bucking horses for my college (bareback) and have broken my wrist numerous times.

I dont shoot the heavy loads any more than I have to. Use 8.5 grains Unique with a 240 cast SWC for lighter target/plinking loads and 10 grains Unique with the same bullet for hunting stuff.

They are easy to shoot loads and don't leave my wrist throbbing. I still shoot the heavy 300 and 320 cast loads, but usually only enough to tune up for elk/big game season. The rest of the time, I leave them alone.

The .44 mag is so easy to load for, just find your comfort level and go for it.

It all depends on what you want. Obviously some of the folks here feel that the .429" bullet of around 240 grains is adequate for thin-skinned, medium-sized game at 900 fps or so. I would go along with that but add that I feel it is barely adequate. As was said, you can load your .44 Mag. down to those levels if you reload and still have the option of full-power loads if your wrist is feelin' pert on a certain day. The downside is that you have to reload because as far as I'm aware, there aren't any light loaded Magnums readily available. Maybe somebody knows of some cowboy-type loads. Also, most of the published data ends at what I would call mid-range in the Magnum. They are still saltier than most factory Specials. You'd have to work up a load perhaps, and it can be tricky as dangerous conditions can arise from too little powder in a case. Bullseye is particularly known for this and ironically, well-suited to your proposition. You could always shoot Specials in your Magnum, although then you have to deal with the rings in the chamber, which can be a little troublesome.

If you're going that way, you might want a 45 Colt. The advantage would be slightly easier to obtain factory loads. 250 grains of .451 bullet at 800-900 fps is real close to what you're wanting. A 44-40 in some cowboy-type gun would work too, but would be harder yet to find ammo for. Some of the cowboy loads in the latter caliber are pretty wimpy too.

The .44 Special can do whatever the .44 Magnum can do, just not so far away, i.e., the only thing that needs modification is the maximum range within which you are willing to use it on game. The factor responsible for this is mainly trajectory, but also impact energy.

As for downloading the .44 Mag a 250 Keith bullet over 8.5grs Unique works quite well and I will still shoot deer with it. reflex264

Does your state have regulations on what cartridge you can use?

MN does and the 44 special is one you cannot use do to percieved power, or lack there of. If your state has the same thing (You would know not me) then it would be easier to just load the 44 down as has been suggested.

In the same vein, some states go as far as having minimum velocities and energy levels. Some just have approved calibers.

Ohio is any straight wall caliber .357 and up.I do handload and had planned on using Mag brass at Special speeds.

Everyone seems to be using cast bullets at these speeds.No expanding bullets, due to penetration concerns I assume?

Can't speak for anybody else, but IMO the reason most use cast bullets is the inheritance of Keith and others. For some reason, I know Ross Seyfried felt the need to reinvent the wheel and do a bunch of heat treatment with cast bullets when modern jacketed bullets would do the same or better. OTOH, I've had cast bullets expand almost perfectly. Bottom-line is, I can't see a premium jacketed bullet, designed for adequate penetration given the mission, being inferior in any way, to a cast bullet.

Ruger,

I have shot a few head of deer sized game with the 250 K at 1,000-1,100 fps. and have never recovered one (no surprise).
A friend also uses the 250 LFN out of a 45 Colt for deer at under 1,000 fps. with complete penetration on broadside shots, decent damage and short trails.

The reason why so many use cast bullets is expense in shooting. Cast loads for handguns drive down the cost so you practice more and hit where you want to, which is pretty much all that matters unless your selling concepts.

The very best jacketed bullets are certainly works of art, but the cost is generally like buying rifle bullets: boxes of 50 for over 30 dollars. Hard to practice that much with those great bullets, then you realize the cheap loads you have become so accustomed to will do the same amount of killing without trying to get the bullet to open up with more speed or breaking the bank.

At handgun speeds, jacketed bullets are just not needed IMO.

I would recheck my figures for 9 grs of Unique giving 900 fps in a 44 special, perhaps you meant in a magnum case. My 44 Lipseys runs about 925 fps using the "Skeeter" load of 7.5 grs of Unique & the 250 Keith.
There has never been or ever will be a jacketed slug that will go where Ross Seyfried was taking those heat treated cast slugs.
Took this Montana whitetail last month using the 44 special & the above load, hit her twice as she ran past me at about 25 yds, both shots exited, one through the front shoulders & the other through the lungs, she ran maybe 30 yds. You can see both hits.



Dick

Running shots w/a SA revolver, cool! Good job there.

When I was in college, having read alot of Keith, I used 22/2400/240 in an M29 4", but the blast, recoil, fireball in evenings were all atrocious.

Years into my 44 stint, I realized 10.5 gr of Unique was all I needed, 1050 fps cut thru a deer like hot butter.

Later, used 9 - 9.5 of Universal Clays for similar performance, but better metering and cleaner bbl.

Can't ask much more than enough speed to put a hole in and out of an animal, 900-1100mv is plenty w/o side effects you get loading to the hilt.

Shane I would happily hunt deer w/a load in the 950-1050 range for easy on the wrist shooting. My 1050 load was entirely comfortable in all regards.

Gentlemen,

Listen to what Idaho1945 says.

There is not a single person on these boards with more practical handgunning/handgun hunting experience than Dick.

He still needs to compile all the short stories into a book.

HINT, HINT.

MackaySagebrush.

The Belt Mountain punch is about the only jacketed handgun bullet (if it could be called that) that would beat a hardcast in the fearless bullet category.

Hawk, That statement is ambiguous at best. I trust you meant to say you have never recovered one of those bullets. As written, it might be thought you lost all the deer!

I did.....

How's that for ambiguity!


True, never found the bullets, the hogs were all recovered.

Do note for safety sake, my 44 loads above were/are for 44 MAGNUM cases/guns, would not apply to 44 sp cases/guns, though speeds are possible in certain modern revolvers safely IMHO but load would need to be dropped. Just don't want to cause any confusion for handloaders.