I just bought an S&W .44 that I'd like to use for deer hunting. I've never used that caliber fro deer and need some advice on what loads to use. Hollowpoint or softpoint? The deer in my area rarely exceed 150 lbs. Just looking for the so-called "optimum" bullet for deer hunting.

I love the Speer Gold Dot 270gr bullet. The price isn't bad either.

I'm not sure if they'd be safe to shoot in a S&W, but in my Redhawk i love the oregon trail 310 grain hard cast bullets. I'm not knocking Smith or anything, just from what I've heard and read, the Ruger's are much stronger. THe bullet is an absolute sledgehammer on the whitetails that I've shot with it. I limit myself to about 50 yards with a handgun, and within close range I don't think that hardcast bullets can be beat. I loved the buffalo bore factory rounds before I started reloading for the .44, you may look at them if you don't reload.

As far as little whitetails go that winchester 240 gr sp white box will knock them on their butt. Just something about how light the skin is it just won't hold back those 240's.

Cor-Bon Recently released 2 loads for the .44 Mag using the Barnes X bullet.

Both are standard pressure loads, so they wont cause anymore wear and tear on the 'Smith than any other load.

Some friends and I, ran both loads through Ordnance Gelatin a while back.

I'll be hunting this year with the .44 Mag DPX 200gr load, instead of my almost 20 year tradition of hunting with my own handloads.

Great penetration, early expansion, large/long temporary stretch cavity, and the thing acts the same wether or not 4 layers of denim is used as a barrier(Like fur) to expansion


On medium to large Deer, you should get complete penetration with this load.

If cost comes into serious play, look into the 240gr loads from
Black hills and Cor-Bon.

Both are first rate conventional bullets with a proven track record on Bambi!!

The data for the Cor-bon .44mag and .44SPL loads we tested can be found at www.stoppingpower.net under "Test bed".

Hope this helps!
E4E

P.S.
My favorite handload for Deer uses the 210gr sierra bullet.
It dosn't penetrate or expand as much as the 200gr DPX load!