I have a MGM 20" barrel on my Contender. I have been using Winchester 240 gr Jacketed soft point bullets. This combination is amazing at shooting paper they shoot a ragged hole at 100 yards. Not as effective on deer. All the deer that I have shot have ran 150 to 250 yards with little to No blood trail. Any suggestions ???
IIRC, all of the deer that I've shot with a 44 Magnum have died, but not as promptly/dramatically as when shot with high velocity bullets. My 44 Magnum is an old Ruger 44 International that gets fed whatever brand of 240 grain JSP/JHP factory ammo is available, FED/REM/WIN seem to work equally well. If you aim to break the shoulder(s) they might not run so far after impact.
I have a MGM 20" barrel on my Contender. I have been using Winchester 240 gr Jacketed soft point bullets. This combination is amazing at shooting paper they shoot a ragged hole at 100 yards. Not as effective on deer. All the deer that I have shot have ran 150 to 250 yards with little to No blood trail. Any suggestions ???
Ive used a 300 grain LEE or LYMAN cast bullet over 21 grains of h110 for decades and I can,t remember a single deer making it more than about 70 yards after bullet impact, and darn few made it 30 yards, many fell on bullet impact. most bullets exit and there's usually a noticeable blood trail if your having deer run 150-250 yards your hitting them in the wrong place, try this
IIRC, all of the deer that I've shot with a 44 Magnum have died, but not as promptly/dramatically as when shot with high velocity bullets. My 44 Magnum is an old Ruger 44 International that gets fed whatever brand of 240 grain JSP/JHP factory ammo is available, FED/REM/WIN seem to work equally well. If you aim to break the shoulder(s) they might not run so far after impact.
Jeff
I've had some rough tracking jobs when I have shot bucks with a JHP.
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IIRC, all of the deer that I've shot with a 44 Magnum have died, but not as promptly/dramatically as when shot with high velocity bullets. My 44 Magnum is an old Ruger 44 International that gets fed whatever brand of 240 grain JSP/JHP factory ammo is available, FED/REM/WIN seem to work equally well. If you aim to break the shoulder(s) they might not run so far after impact.
Jeff
I've had some rough tracking jobs when I have shot bucks with a JHP.
Have you used the XTP's? I shot one with a SuperBlackhawk last year using an XTP, and two this year with the H&R Handi, so not a huge sample, but there was more than enough blood to very easily track the two that ran a little bit.
I had been considering trying my JSP "practice" bullets (240 grain, same charge of W296 powder, just a lot cheaper bullet than the XTP) on a deer, but this thread has me thinking I won't.
No. It's been years since I shot a buck in the piney woods with the little Ruger carbine, Goalie.
OK, thanks for the reply. I really like how short and handy the H&R is, and I don't mind dragging it up into a tree on a rope. I also don't want to start having issues with deer not going down rather quickly with a good shot through the boiler room.
I guess I'll just shoot some more with the XTP until I run into problems. The area I hunt, a "long" shot would be about 100 yards, so I shouldn't run into too many problems...... (famous last words)
Out of a handgun I prefer a hard-cast Keith style bullet of 250-260 grains. At 1200-1300 fps it kills well and penetrates from any angle.
In a rifle (Ruger Carbine) I prefer a bullet of at least 240 grains (265 is even better). Since lead bullets and the gas ports in a Ruger don't get along well, these are jacketed soft-points. I have used jacketed hollowpoints, but at the added velocity from a rifle, these sometimes have tended to over-expand and limit penetration. Not often, but enough to make me prefer the softpoints.
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