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Handi 44mag bullet choice?

2K views 12 replies 13 participants last post by  quickdtoo 
#1 ·
I have a Handi rifle in 44mag and need a bullet choice ASAP. Gun season opens week after Thanksgiving and apparently my XTP bullets are bad for whitetail from a rifle due to fragmentation. I am currently looking at .430 Winchester JSP and Hi tek coated lead but not sure how a coated lead bullet will perform.
 
#2 ·
I used Speer Deep Curl 240gr soft points (not hollow points) in my muzzle loader. Velocity is around 1800fps and the front quartering shot I took on a deer last year the bullet travel about 24” and didn’t come apart. The year before my son shot a deer broadside and the bullet exited with about a quarter size hole. My shot was 10 yards and my son’s was about 40 yards.
 
#4 ·
I have access to lots of degradation tags where I live plus have hunted deer in Northern Missouri for years. I have filled 50 of those degradation tags in the last 10 years using Hornady XTP bullets. Either in in a CVA Scout 44 mag, Marlin 1894 44 mag but most with a CVA muzzleloader using XTPs in a sabot. Regardless of the gun used they are all running 18-2000 fps. I have never lost a deer shot with an XTP. I killed a 12 point bruiser in Missouri at 85 yards with the 1894. The XTP hit him in the high lung area where I measured him to be 18 inches thick. He had a quarter sized entry wound and a 2 inch exit wound. His get away attempt lasted for 25 short yards.

I don't know who says that they are too frangible but I disagree wholeheartedly. I will only take a broadside shot and that plays into my success. I will turn down a Texas heart shot(up the butt) every time.

If you shoot them like they should be shot in a broadside boiler room only proposition then the XTP is perfect!
 
#6 · (Edited)
.
I used XTP 240 gr in both NEF and CVA rifles, and they did the job well. Before that also used 240 gr JSPs in both WW and Rem..and they worked well also.

In my experience, within it's range, the .44 mag is very capable deer round using almost any reasonable load.

.
 
#8 ·
I had used the 240 XTP to good effect, but preferred the Gold Dot/Deep Curl in 270 grain. I had the XTP's shed a jacket or two, but the chunk of lead kept on trucking. The 270 grain Deep Curl is in a world of its own for penetration no matter what reasonable angle you are inserting the lead. I would recommend anything but a Texas heart shot, but the Deep Curl might handle that just as well.
 
#9 ·
If you have any intrest in shooting factory ammo,give the Atomic 240 grain HP a try...killed a 350 pound boar hog last year with a severely quartering away shot at 40 yards... Bullet entered just in front of the left ham and came to rest aginst the right jaw bone... 4 feet or so of penetration through a big,tough animal... Not sure what bullet Atomic loads in thier factory rounds,but it really preformed...
 
#11 ·
I'm with tom, I have a pair of .44mag's and a .444marlin. If I wanted something big, nasty scary really dead the .444 is going to get the job. Its a confidence thing.



But all 3 also shoot 200 gr and 220 grain cast equally as well. Just the difference bettween getting hit by a full sized dodge truck or one of those little ford rangers. Either one is going to take you out. Dodge is going to hit ya a lot harder. I love that 300 gr gas checked boolit. It likes to cloverleaf in the .444marlin out to 100 as long as I don't screw up.


The .45colt handi rifle with 230 gr cast Truncated Cone below 6.5 grains of Red Dot was another high confidence stack em up where ya want em.


I tell my wife if something ever happens shoot for eyes. Even if you miss chances are they are going to have other things on their mind afterwords. And my wife don't miss much. Now on a deer with that long neck heads can be a tougher shot. So I aim for the heart/lungs.


But anything planning to chew/claw and otherwise ruin my day eyes are fair targets. I've heard of a guy stopping a big brown in his tracks with 3 shots up the nose with a 9mm. No major bone to break through leads the bullet right up to the brain. Just takes cool head and hands.
 
#12 ·
if you look in my "gun cabinet" pictures, that deer was
killed with a 44 mag handi firing a 240 grain speer
deep curl hollow point against popular advice.
the jackets and cores on deep curls are chemically bonded
and won't fall apart. this deer was nearly too heavy for me to move
by myself, and the bullet didn't have any problem making
a through and through hole in the pump house, which is
the shot you should always strive for. ( again, against
popular opinion ) needless to say, the bullet was long
gone and not recovered and didn't fragment.
i don't care for any "blow up" shots on animals that make the
meat look like road kill and pretty much unusable.

IMO the 44 magnum handis are one of the better inexpensive
rifle choices for hunters
 
#13 ·
I don't recollect how well .430" plated cast bullets do in 44 mag rifle barrels, but be aware that .429"-.430" cast bullets the are accurate in 44 mag pistol barrels won't likely be accurate in rifle barrels due to the larger SAAMI spec for 44 mag rifle barrels, generally cast bullets best suited for the rifle run at least .432" with .434" being a better choice.

Tim
 

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