Hunting with the .44 Rem Mag?

[finnman]

I am looking at setting up some hunting trips this year around using the .44 Mag.
We will be doing some deer scouting and black bear hunting in September in NE WA. Then back in the area in November for late WT.
I have 2 - .44 Remington Mag in Ruger M77/44. I have 270 grain Buffalo Bore soft points and HSM 300 grain soft points. Should be plenty for bear and a bit of over kill on deer.
Does anyone have any performance experience on black bear or deer using the .44 mag? What ammo do you like?

Thanks!

[carpsniperg2]

I have shot a few critters hogs and deer with 44 mag. Most of them have been with Barnes solid copper hollow points. All reasonably close. 50 and under and the 44 is more than good enough to take bear and deer at reasonable distances.

[buckfvr]

August will be your huckleberry for bear.

[finnman]

August will be your huckleberry for bear.

I like what you did there!
We will be up in the Selkirk area. I will have to see what date the bear hunting opens. We will also have the grouse guns handy!

[Remnar]

I know someone who hunts blacktail (no intentions of bear) . They just use Federal 240 grain softpoints , deer dont go anywhere . All shots are 125 yards ish or under .

 This person knows ballistics well. But we were B.S. ing and I said what about trying XYZ copper, hardcast etc.

Why? was the answer I got  . I have to agree for that application.
 Last deer I personally seen the after effects with this combination was (estimated  live# 150 blacktail) quartering to point of shoulder shot . Pass through with a 2" exit at about 60 yards .

Short story long I think you will love a load like the one you described at reasonable distances for both deer and bear . Wish I would have bought one of those rifles years ago .

[boneaddict]

Not the answer to your question per say, but Idabooner often hunted with his .41 mag and it worked fine on both deer and bear.   He used all handloads and I am sure they were hot.  He was very meticulous about working up loads.   Probably similar characteristics down range. 

[Caseknife]

Killed a spike bull with my Super Redhawk 44 mag years ago.  That was the years that the regs said you needed 1000ft/lbs at 100 yds so I was using handloaded 300 XTP at 1300fps.  It did the job quite well.  Would have no doubt that it would take care of deer and bear quite easily.  I think loaded with the Barnes 225 would be great medicine.  Be aware that to hunt bear in NE WA, you need to carry around the 8x11 sheet of paper that you can identify bear species, total crock.

[Brushcrawler]

You can shrink that 8x11 sheet down to wallet size on your printer and it’s still easily legible.

[finnman]

Not the answer to your question per say, but Idabooner often hunted with his .41 mag and it worked fine on both deer and bear.   He used all handloads and I am sure they were hot.  He was very meticulous about working up loads.   Probably similar characteristics down range. 

I really like the .41 mag. But the price of those revolvers has really blown up.

[metlhead]

My hunting handgun was a 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk .44 with a 4X Leupold EER on top. Cast loads easily smacked cinder blocks at 100yds. This was in the mid 90's and my 2 loads were 180gr Federal Supreme HPs and leftover Black Talons. Only deer shot was a Colorado mulie doe that took exactly 0 steps after a high shoulder shot with the Black Talon. Gun ended up stolen from my apartment.

[bustedoldman]

My goal this year is to hunt everything with the S&W XVR460.....We'll see how it pans out!

[bearpaw]

I am looking at setting up some hunting trips this year around using the .44 Mag.
We will be doing some deer scouting and black bear hunting in September in NE WA. Then back in the area in November for late WT.
I have 2 - .44 Remington Mag in Ruger M77/44. I have 270 grain Buffalo Bore soft points and HSM 300 grain soft points. Should be plenty for bear and a bit of over kill on deer.
Does anyone have any performance experience on black bear or deer using the .44 mag? What ammo do you like?

Thanks!

I've seen numerous bear and a few cougar killed with 44 mag pistols and lever action rifles, the kills were all closer than 50 yards, bullets ranging from 180 to 240 were used, the .44 with any of those bullets was very effective at those close range shots. I don't think I would recommend pistols for over 50 yards or rifles for much more than 100 yards.

This article explains in great detail the ballistics and tendencies for various bullet weights in the .44: https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.44+Remington+Magnum.html

[bearpaw]

Not the answer to your question per say, but Idabooner often hunted with his .41 mag and it worked fine on both deer and bear.   He used all handloads and I am sure they were hot.  He was very meticulous about working up loads.   Probably similar characteristics down range. 

I really like the .41 mag. But the price of those revolvers has really blown up.

I've seen a few bear killed with .41's, also all closer than 50 yards, in pistols the recoil is definitely less, making them a little more enjoyable to shoot for anyone who is concerned about recoil.

[bearpaw]

I am looking at setting up some hunting trips this year around using the .44 Mag.
We will be doing some deer scouting and black bear hunting in September in NE WA. Then back in the area in November for late WT.
I have 2 - .44 Remington Mag in Ruger M77/44. I have 270 grain Buffalo Bore soft points and HSM 300 grain soft points. Should be plenty for bear and a bit of over kill on deer.
Does anyone have any performance experience on black bear or deer using the .44 mag? What ammo do you like?

Thanks!

I've seen numerous bear and a few cougar killed with 44 mag pistols and lever action rifles, the kills were all closer than 50 yards, bullets ranging from 180 to 240 were used, the .44 with any of those bullets was very effective at those close range shots. I don't think I would recommend pistols for over 50 yards or rifles for much more than 100 yards.

This article explains in great detail the ballistics and tendencies for various bullet weights in the .44: https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/.44+Remington+Magnum.html

Wanted to add one more thought: Have you considered the .444 marlin, same caliber, higher velocity, just as effective for a little longer shots, so probably a better choice as a hunting rifle?

[boneaddict]

That’s a good one for digging wounded bears out of the brush.