Anyone still use a 44mag rifle???? What are you using and what’s your range? What rifle?

Ruger 77/44 shooting 240gtr/ Sierra JHP with a max load of H110. Short, light and has killed everything I have pointed it at.

Ruger 44 International with 240 grain Remington factory loads out to 150+/- yards, but mostly used for still hunting tight cover where shots are mostly under 50 yards.

Marlin 1894. Handloads of 240gr Hornady XTP over H110. Kills everything it touches.

Henry Steel. I haven’t kilt anything with it yet. But when I do it will be with 240 XTPs and 22 grains of 2400 or Winchester white box.

Have 2 Marlin levers. 200gr XTP or Nosler over near max H110. Both bullets shoot the same, so whichever I find. Highly effective on Pa whitetails.

Winchester 94 for hogs. I like 240 gr XTP also. Open sights, it's my short range hog rifle, 100 yds and in.

I had a .44 Magnum Rossi M92 replica, and my stepbrother used it, with my ammo (240XTP/AA#9) to kill three big deer one year, one buck and two big does. He claimed they were all at 150 yards or thereabouts. He said it was like taking candy from a baby, and tried to hide the rifle from me (unsuccessfully). I never got around to using it myself, as it was stolen the next year. (Serial # MO36565) if anyone trips over it. Slick and handy little rifle.

336 marlin in 44. Mag. Cycles flawless 240 xtp factory. 3 ruger carbines. One scoped. One factory peep. One with redot sight. 225 leverlution.

A bud used his Marlin 44 at our place in Delaware County New York, usually only one shot and done, always less than 75 yards, 240 grain bullet.

I use a Marlin 1894P with 240gr Winchester white box for deer. A handload of W296 with a Speer 270gr soft point for hogs. No shot over 100 yards, 75% one shot stops. The rest were marginal shots that needed a follow up... totally my fault. Great round when used out of a rifle.
Have fun! Tom

I used the Marlin 1894 with Remington 240HP ( it just wadded up, no big mushroom, not needed really) Hog and whitetail under 75yds. Fastest handling woods rifle I ever used too!

I just got back from deer camp. My buddy died over last winter, and I managed to obtain his Ruger Model 44 Carbine in 44 Mag.

I tried to hunt with it as much as possible this year, and I was finally successful on Friday night.



More pics and the full story are here:
Bob's 44 Magnum and the buck

This is the first deer I've taken with a 44 Mag rifle. Let me give you my impressions.

First off, my idea of a good whitetail chambering is 30-06. This is not a 30-06. It has very little recoil.
Second, it was more than adequate to take the buck at 80 yards. I had the sights adjusted to be just a hair high at 100 yards, and I did nothing to adjust for elevation. The bullet hit dead-on and took out both lungs and the top of the heart. It did not liquefy everything in the chest cavity like a 30-06 might, but it did do enough damage to drop the deer within 100 yards and provide an adequate blood trail. The exit wound was thumb-sized.

There was nothing more I could have asked of the round. At 80 yards, it was effective without being devastating. I had heard previously that the chambering would work about as well as a 30-30-- close-in a bit better. I would agree. If I'd shot the buck with a 30-30 instead of a 44 Mag, I would have expected about the same results.

Not in a few years but I'm considering a return. Ruger 77/44 or a Marlin 1894.

My last was a Winchester 94 trapper. It work a Weaver K2.5 in Weaver mounts. It would handle ammo a lot longer than a Marlin, Win 92, or the Rugers. Most of the time I shot Speer 300 grain unicore soft points loaded to the rear cannelure over 22.5 grains of Win 296. Later I shot 300 grain XTPs seated to the front cannelure and had to stop at 20.0 grains of Win 296.

The last deer I killed with it was a small-medium 4x4 blacktail. It was chasing a doe. She saw me and ran past trying to rub him off. It worked .. by bullet. His head was stretched out chasing her scent. He was so close that from that position I shot him straight down through the top of the head between the horns. That 300 grain Hornady made a hole that looks drilled. And, of course, he was dead before he hit the ground.

I also shot some 180 .. Remington .. both factory and handloads with 29 grains of Win 296. Shredded a racoon on the porch with it.

Anyway, I would like to pick up either a Ruger 77/44 or a Marlin 1894, waffling between the SBL and Cowboy.

Tom

I shot a deer w my dad's Ruger sporter ('66) but it has a peep and larger front bead.
So that plus the crap trigger make it a 75 yard and in gun running the old 236 gr Norma stuff.
Whenever he turns loose of it I'll slap a 1-4X on top.
Its mint, so that will make it a sunny day stand rifle LOL

Had a Marlin, am not a lever guy.
Dumped it. Shot fine too.

Id like the Ruger #1 if it had a 22" bbl instead of 20". Looks too stubby.

Great read Shaman. Thanks for sharing

My wife's uncle carried a Ruger .44 mag semi auto for decades. Killed every deer he ever pointed it at. Perfect little gun for the heavy brush of Northern Minnesota.

Got a beater 1022 fingergroove to match my dads fingergroove .44. need to restore the .22

Been some years, but took one with a rifle and another with a 6" S&W. I'd not hesitate to try up to 150 yards, given sights I could make the shot with. My current .44 wears irons, so 100-125 in good light would be a prudent limit.

If I were shopping for a .44 rifle, I'd get a Henry SS and scope it, for about the price of a Marlin or 77/44 alone.

RUGER 96 shooting 270 grain Speer Deep Curl bullet. Bushnell scope featuring 1.5 to 4.5X settings. This is a great rifle for taking wild hogs here in Florida!

Sherwood

I'd get the Ruger #1 if it has a 22" bbl.
The 20" looks too stubby.

I’m running a slightly customized Rossi 92 stainless with 16” barrel. I slicked up the action, put a new trigger spring, new magazine follower, and a set of ghost ring sights. Ran a few PRVI 300 grain softs lengthwise through a big 10 point last year. I’d like to go down to some 240 grain rounds for next year but I bought a case of the 300 grain stuff so may just run it until I run out. I can ring a 6” steel plate at 110 yards all day but like to keep shots on game inside 100. Super short and handy little woods bumming rifle.

Thanks for sharing! That was my father's favorite deer rifle.
He took a large # of whitetail with it.
He was our gangs " puncher" so he often got shots of opportunity at other animals when walking. He used his Ruger to pot hundreds of partridge over the years . He would cleanly pop their heads off.
I miss ya Dad!
Great memories, thanks!

Shaman - What are the details of the scope mounted on that .44? Seems to be a bit of an odd design.

Jim

A Remington 788 with a Weaver 4x. 240 gn JSP over a max load of H110. Sighted in at 100 yds but my shots with this gun are usually under that. It doesn't do the damage higher velocity cartridges do but there has always been an exit and good blood trail with a deer at the end of it.

I have 2. A Marlin 1894, and a Ruger 44 Carbine made in 1967. Love shooting both, but haven't shot a deer with either yet.

Ron

I have a Marlin 1894 44mag that I've taken numerous deer with. It always did a great job of dropping them quick. The only problem I had was holding good groups past 75 yards. Found I had to pull the rifle in as tight as I could to my shoulder to be able to have any decent groups past 75 yards. My son has the same gun and had the same problem. I did enjoy carrying and hunting with it. Have since switched to 243 since Indiana legalized it a few years back. Gives me a little more reach if needed. If I were to hunt somewhere where less than 100 yards was max, I'd carry the 1894 with no hesitation.

I have an 1894 Marlin 16", but I rarely ever use the thing to be honest. I will probably go kill some Jacks with it this winter.

Never bother to use it on deer, as I live in country where 300+ yard shots are the norm.

Fun rifle tough.

I had a Ruger .44 mag semiauto carbine in the '70's. Finger groove cherry stock with cheekpiece IIRC and 2 3/4 power Redfield scope. Took my first buck with it in 1978. Head on head shot at 20 yards cartwheeled the buck over backwards landing with all 4 feet sticking straight up. Cannot recall which factory load, but probably a 240 gr bullet.. IIRC the carbine was traded for a duck boat when I realized it was a 4" 100 yard gun at best.

25 years later an elbow problem made toting the 9 lb 30-06 painful and I picked up up a SS Ruger 77/44 with plastic (not boat paddle) stock ......after learning that most Michigan deer are shot inside 75 yards. Kept it as a camp gun until we were allowed to use rifles chambered for straight walled pistol cartridges for southern Michigan deer hunting. With a 2 1/2X Leupold and shooting 240 gr Federal American Eagle loads it is 2 inches high at 50 yards and dead on at 100.....and much more pleasant to shoot than the 12 ga slug gun despite being much lighter.

I took a nice doe with the 77/44 at 60 yards last week. In the rib cage high behind the left shoulder and out the base of the neck on the right side. She dropped a couple of yards from where she was hit.

That's a slick rig.

Sorry I missed this earlier.

That's a first-gen Aimpoint. It's got a 30mm tube and a 2MOA dot. It is not original equipment. I pulled it off the 25-06 Mauser that another now-dead friend sold me. I couldn't get my eye down on the stock properly, so I removed it and had it in the drawer for 5 years. My buddy treated that thing like it was gold-- found out later that it was probably several hundred $'s brand new.

I decided to try it on the Ruger, and it fit me and the rifle perfectly.

There was a thread somewhere on this site saying that bore diameter and mass don't matter anymore. Personally I feel the 44 magnum is an excellent argument for bore diameter and mass.