Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Shooting distance with a 44.mag

I have coming to me a Ruger Super Redhawk 44. mag worked up by Magnaport with a 9.5 inch barrel, Leo scope 2.5 x 8 x 33, and the works done to it..
With practice of course, how far should I be able to shoot this accurately,
100 Yards????Two Hundred Yard????
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks,
W:)

I have the very same rig with a fixed Leupold 2x and no Magnaporting. I can ring steel at 200 yards fairly well (12" square targets) but I personally would never attempt a shot at a deer at more than 100 yards. My 100 yard groups from a sandbag rest are normally around 4 inches.

I have only killed a couple of deer with it, and neither was farther away than 50 yards. From a hunting position vs a rest, 100 yards seems awfully far away.

For inanimate targets the range is as far away as you want, but for hunting it is the distance at which you can hit a paper plate EVERY time.

I have a scoped Super Redhawk with a 9.5 inch barrel in .44 magnum. I've killed 4 bucks with it over the years. All things considered, for hunting, I feel best if I can get to within 75 yards of the animal. And I like it better if I can get even closer.

Ditto what "antlers" said with my Ruger Bisley Blackhawk.

I hunt rather regularly with a 10" barrel 44 mag revolver and have found little problem with making shots out to about 125-150 yards with iron sights,from a steady sitting position, into a 2 lb coffee can size target, but I rarely shoot game at ranges past 80 yards, and I rarely need too as handgun hunts are generally a thick cover close range affair, at under 100 yards a hard cast 300 grain bullet regularly shoots thru a deers chest and at times thru hogs.
a short 20-60 yard run after bullet impact happens in many cases but a single hits fatal

As a kid, my buds and I would shoot clay birds and pie plates up against a clay bank at 100 yds. with our .44's. We used irons and shot off hand. We hit a bunch and weren't far off when we missed.

A 240 gr. .44 Mag bullet will start dropping past 100 yds and for long shots, you'll have to know how to do an "Elmer Keith" with your front sight. Ole Elmer had gold cross bands on his front sight to use as LR references.

That type practice is good. I recently was shooting at rocks in a Red River oxbow with a good bud. He had a long barreled S&W M-29 with a scope and I was shooting a 7 1/2" Redhawk that I had slicked up, both guns .44 Mag. He was using a rest and I was shooting off hand.

I hit more rocks than he did, and when I missed, it was by only a few inches.

Lots of fun.

DF

Trajectory will be a real problem past about 125 yards. I'd agree with everything said so far, though, and I think 100 yards is pushing it with iron sights, they are a bit coarse for such things.

The paper plate criterian isn't bad, either. Keeping a cylinderful on a paper plate is good criteria for whitetails. If you can't do that, move closer until you can.

Mine is a Redhawk Hunter with 2x LEU. Like noted above, I prefer getting within about 75 yards when shooting game, but I practice on bowling pins and such from hunting field positions out to around 125 yards or so. It's very accurate from field positions out to that distance, so I keep a little drop/wind chart on the scope marked in 25yd increments which makes it fairly simple to range a target and accurately place a shot. I horse around out to 200yds every now and then, but prefer to concentrate my practice under 125 yards for hunting. The hardest part using the scope is passing up long shots as I have plenty of confidence I'll accurately place the bullet, but I don't feel comfortable and think it risky shooting big game animals that far with a 44mag pistol. Mine is adjusted to shoot flat with about a 1.5� drop at 75yds, 5� under at 100yds, and about 10� under at 125yds. A five mile per hour wind will walk the bullet no more than around an inch at 75yds and around 2 � inch at 125yds. Unlike the big boomers, the 44 is very easy to shoot well.

Best

50-60 yards and everyone will still be proud of your kill shot!

DMc

Some of the best I have seen are the metallic silouhette shooters taking the rams at 200m. I used to watch a friend with a factory Ruger SBH hit them routinely. His only mod was to disconnect one of the hammer springs.

He has also won plenty of money in bars by hitting a half sheet of plywood at 500 yards. Not hunting accuracy, but fun to watch.

My neighbor shoots an Anaconda on his days off. He is very comfortable at 200 yards also. I think the .44 mag is a large and predictable bullet something like the .45/70. With practice doping the wind and understanding the hold needed at long range is entirely possible.

Bars in Nevada are for more liberal about firearms usage than in Tennessee, I reckon...

We have loose gun laws in Nevada, but there are two places you are not supposed to carry firearms- a bank or a bar.

Your ability to place your shots in the vitals will tell you how far. Ability to hit accurately varies greatly from shooter to shooter

200 meters is nothing for the .44. I have clanged steel rams at 500 meters (547 yards.) Just need to know where to aim. Boolits head for the moon on the way to the targets!
Hunting is different and I shoot deer from off hand to a max of 120 yards, out there they run farther so I much prefer 10 to 20 yards. I consider the revolver as an extension of an arrow.
My heavy hunting boolit drops 35" at 200 yards with a 75 yard setting but aim right and you can hit a beer can---leave animals alone!
Here are three shots off hand at 100 yards with my SBH.
Then a drop test at 200 yards.
Then at the Ihmsa range, 200 meters. I was shooting my single shot and had two shots left for the .44. I shot these two from Creedmore with open sights.

Go to a range and find out what range you can reliably put your shots in an 8" diameter circle. That is the max range you shooting deer.

Woodsie: I am not much of a long range pistolero but didn't the late Elmer Keith kill a Mule Deer out at 600 yards with his 44 Magnum pistol!?
I saw a friend of mine kill a Whitetail at 200 yards with his Ruger 44 Magnum semi-auto Rifle.
The Deer went down quickly and was a one shot deal.
Myself I would not shoot at a Deer anywhere past 100 yards with a 44 Magnum pistol.
Shooting silhouettes or metal gongs is another thing - it would be fun to try and bonk a gong (12"x12" gong) out at 400 yards.
I am guessing I could hit said gong once out of six times using a long barreled revolving 44 Magnum fitted with a Leupold 2.5x8 scope.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

bfr,
Surely you can do better than the targets shown with practice.

HEE, HEE, not me! It is not the shooter so much or the gun. It is understanding the revolver and what to shoot out of it. It has taken me many, many years of testing and I have posted thousands of times to help everyone. Just plain old work out of the box.
I will tell the truth, come here and shoot and you will do the same.
Really guys, it is at your loading bench.
I have the 45-70 BFR and here are typical 50 yard groups on paper and two shots on the can at 100 yards with the BFR .475. I shoot eight different boolits from the 45-70, from 300 to 448 gr and they will all do the same.

A few will show a group now and then but have they ever told you anything? I pay them little attention unless they go out of their way to help, most just want to brag.
Research my posts.
By the way, the groups I showed were shot with a 4 minute Ultra Dot, not a scope. Need the dot for hunting with my old eyes. I used to do the same with open sights. The gremlin has stolen my sights!
Once you understand we are equal and you can do it too with a little help, then you will understand me. I don't get along with anyone with a swollen head for his own praise.
Follow along. Sit and hold a round, turn it and stare at it. Will it go to the sights? Does it hit to the sights even if you miss? I don't CARE if you miss, it is just you, you are human. That one round is important, made with care, you need only the one. You don't need 5000 pounded out on a Dillon.