Opinions on factory loaded .44 Mag deer rounds?

L

Legionnaire

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Nimrods,

What are your recommendations on factory loaded .44 Mag cartridges for whitetail deer? I'm leaning toward 240gr JSPs. What do you think? Would you recommend something different for a lever action carbine versus a 9.5 inch revolver, or would the same ammo be the ticket? Any favorite brands? Thanks.
 
I use JSPs in my rifle. No impact data, but I am leery of driving the JHPs too fast through the Marlin. The chrono indicates some pretty impressive gains with the longer barrel.

Never shot a deer with a handgun, but would use the Federal 300 grain SWC.

How big are your deer? Here their pretty small. My hunting buddy killed several with the Eldorado Starfires and was pleased. Not sure how a 200 pound cornfed critter would react..

Giz
 
I just got my December 2000 copy of Guns & Ammo and there is a large article in there about Marlin Lever guns.

On page 98 there is a small article about the 1894P in .44 Magnum!

According to the author Payton Miller the Garrett 310 Grain round will function in this gun!

The Barrel is 16 1/4 inches and the following muzzle velocity results are listed:

Federal Premium 240 Grain JHP 1,637 FPS

Hornady 300 Grain JHP 1,413 FPS

Garrett 310 Grain Hard Cast 1,496 FPS

The only problem with the Garrett round mentioned was that it shot way high.

Also there is a Thread about this subject in The Art Of The Rifle area.
 
Legionaire,
I like the Speer 270 gr. Gold Dot Soft Point. It holds together much better than the hollow-points I've tried in the past. Leaves my 629 DX at about 1170 fps. Should work real well in a carbine.

Nimrods?
 
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