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).

This. I've killed a pile of deer with 44 revolvers and one with a 20" lever gun. Revolver loads pick up about 300 fps in a 20" barrel. A lead SWC or LFN will usually hold together better than the kind of JHP you find in most factory revolver loads.

To answer the original question, a 44 rifle is a good choice for deer out to 100 yards or a bit more.


Okie John

I too have used the 44 magnum out of a handgun to kill whitetail deer. Handgun has been a 7.5” Redhawk, and a 6” S&W 629 and the cartridge worked well. It should be even better out of a long gun.

It works

They did, prior to the re-introduction of the 1894. Winchester made some 94s too.

I killed a doe with a 629, but spined her, so not a learning experience. Shot another with a 77/44 at less than 50 yards and the internal damage from the 240gr HP was comparable to any other deer shot with a CF rifle. She dropped and rolled down a steep bank.

Yes


Very

Yes. For a few years

I don't recall how far out he may have shot, but my father did just fine on deer with a 10" barreled Contender pistol. I'm pretty sure he used a 240 grain Sierra JHC and 24 grains of H110.

I see a couple of others already answered that Marlin did make a 336 in 44 magnum. Sorry I was late. Mine is an accurate rifle like most Marlins and much smoother than the Model 94s I've tried. Wish they hadn't gotten so high priced, I'd get another....

Great results here. Anywhere from 5 yards to maybe 50 yards.

Single shot Handi-rifle and CVA Hunter.

You can kill elephant with a 44 handgun, but in a rifle it's iffy for coyote.

I have an affinity for 44’s and besides revolvers I have a 788 & a 336 in 44. Where I shoot white-tails 75% of the time a 44 rifle would be perfect. I’m not sure about the 300 yard shots tho.
I think I’d try to limit shots to 200 yards.
They come with pre-expanded bullets. I’d likely stay with Keith or Thompson style cast.
A deer won’t likely stop a 44 250 grain bullet and if it did the bullet was likely traveling lengthwise.

There was a time when railroad cars worth of deer were taken with the .44/40. The .44 Magnum is not less capable.

They work


Though I usually just use a handgun:

Killed an average sized 5x5 Bull Elk at a shade past a hundred yards with a 310 grain SWC. One shot behind the shoulder seemed to do the trick.




Shoot right through those tough shoulders on piggies too:

Used late FIL’s Henry in that caliber to whack a few, mostly high shoulder with 240 JSP, all bang flop. Under 100 it is good medicine. Can be for another 50 or more if you know your gun and load. Big enough a heavy hard cast will do the job at fairly low velocities.

I'd skip the HPs, too.

I shot a few deer with a Ruger 96/44. The first couple were with the 240gr XTP HP, and while effective, they made a mess and I got a lot of shrapnel in my meat. Switched to jacketed FN 240s, still had dead deer, but without biting into bits of bullet later.

Never had any bang/flops, but none of them ran much over 100 yards, either.

I had a brief fling with a Ruger Model 44 shooting Hornady 240 grain XTP's. I managed to plug a buck at about 100 yards, and he piled up within a reasonable distance.

Story and pics here:

Bob's Model 44 and the Buck

My conclusions out of this exercise were that 44 Mag out of a carbine was plenty good for a whitetail at 100 yards-- not stellar, but quite adequate. I could find no fault except that. . . well, there is nothing bad about overkill. I've hunted with 30-06, 308, and even 35 Whelen. I won't say anything bad about 44 Mag except that it is not a 30-06. After this exercise, I finally gave up on the idea of short-range deer rifles and cartridges. My next "short-range" rifle purchase was a 7mm-08. My buck this year was taken with a 308 WIN at 80 yards.

If I wanted a chambering for the PCR states like Ohio, I would seriously consider a 44 Mag, but I'm not itching for another one.

I’ve killed quite a few with my Winchester 94 Trapper in .44 Mag, using the Hornady 240 XTP and H110. They usually run 40-50 yards with boiler room shots and leave good blood trails, with good exit wounds. That XTP is an excellent bullet, and I use it in my muzzleloader at similar speeds. It never disappoints.

It certainly killed them, but with this particular rifle, I limit my shots to 50-75 yards, even though I know it’s effective beyond that range.

I don’t use it much anymore, but keep it for its handiness and as a good self defense rifle.

Same here, 44 Ruger International and whatever brand of 240 grain JHP or JSP were on hand has always done the job.

Within reasonable range I would think it would be very effective. If you are worried about hollow points use soft points.

Works very well. 77/44 , Handi rifle with 270 gr hard cast or a 240 gr XTP .

My dad took another with a 77/44 yesterday. He really likes that little rifle and he's taken a fair amount of deer with it over the last couple of years.