The heavier bullet will give better results in many ways, especially if penetration is a consideration.
CDOC
|
   
   
|
|
The heavier bullet will give better results in many ways, especially if penetration is a consideration.
CDOC
Though I don't have a 44 Mag I agree with those that have chimed in go with the 240 gr as it seems to be the bullet for the 44! I shoot 45LC myself an the sweet spot for my 45LC Rifle seems to be the Lee 255gr! An it can be pushed to 1600-1700fps but I don't as it doesn't need to too do the work on most critters. At 1500 fps it will shoot clean through most anything I want to shoot!
I worry about a hard boolit going too fast. They produced the worst for me.
It is why I hate ME figures, a FMJ can have a tremendous ME but is a sharp stick on game.
From what I have seen a WFN driven very fast will move tissue out of the way from the pressure wave off the meplat. A lot of book energy but no transmission into the animal.
Now that might work in an elephant or buf and a .50 BMG should be reckoned with. But notice most solids for big game are RN. The BMG has so much velocity and energy it explodes.
The ideal velocity from my .44 revolvers has been at 1300 fps or a touch more, with hard boolits.
A hard .45 boolit of 320 to 335 gr at 1160 fps has never lost a deer either. It kills faster then the same weights from a 45-70 at 1630 fps.
The quest for more velocity and energy can bite your butt. There is no substitute for a proper bullet/boolit for what you shoot.Too many animals have been killed for hundreds of years with very small guns and ML's with RB's with sad book energy figures.
If a boolit is too fast, it needs only a little expansion so it will slow going through and transmit energy. I have come to believe in the DWELL time idea. Actually a slower boolit will benefit from some expansion. Just don't get too much. Best is always 2 holes and any energy lost is moot.
I wish the powers that be hunted instead of sitting at a table, reading books.
Unfortunately, they don't know what end poops.
I often wonder if they just don't want to stop you from hunting and owning a gun.
I can only say a .44 mag revolver will kill anything so don't think more velocity will improve it. IT IS YOUR BOOLIT.
Nothing I have done testing has shown what a boolit does in an animal except the animal itself.
Interesting 44man,
Your .45 is going to have a hard time killing a deer faster then the bang/flop I typically see with my 465gr Wide Flat Nose bullet fired at 1650fps from my 45/70. This I got to see.
My one experience with a WFN at a higher velocity, 2300fps muzzle, was something I don't want to repeat due to the huge wound channel it left. Pressure wave, ya probably, but it simply pushed the tissue and bone out the back side, not mushed just gone, leaving a huge wound channel.
Once was enough, the 465gr at 1650fps is just sooooooooooo much better!
Hope to take a deer this Fall with the .44 rifle and a 275gr WFN cast at 1600 - 1700fps.
Will see how that goes.
If my son ever gets enough time from work to hunt with his .444 and that same bullet, we will see how the higher velocity preforms. That will be interesting. I hope that the slightly smaller meplat with the .431 - .44 bullet gives a lesser wound channel then the .459 - 355gr WFN did at 2300fps.
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
I have no experience with super high speeds and hard lead but even air cooled WW metal will expand. I water drop to 20-22 BHN. But have no idea what real fast and hard will do.
Chances are you have some expansion but you did not mention the alloy.
I have smoked deer with a softer alloy and lost meat with my 45-70, it was too much. The hard part is a fast kill without smoking them.
Keep me informed.
Thanks for all the advice and discussion folks. So, of a roughly 200gr mould what would people recommend?
Also, need to pick a rifle!
Do you still have mastodons on some the estates there?
Amendments
The Second there to protect the First!
Too strange to figure! We have shotgun states that now allow certain calibers but put restrictions on the case, hoping to not have a boolit go too far, then the added rule for expanding bullets. If they knew how far a .44 can travel, they would outlaw it too.
Powers that be can't tie their shoes. To allow a caliber, then want more energy then it can do does not compute. They just don't know what it takes to kill an animal.
One time on a public hunting area I was shooting at rocks on a RR bank at 500 yards with my BH, .44. I over shot once and guys came to tell me I cut a branch way above them where they were camped. It was over 800 yards. Now there was no camping allowed there so there should have been nobody for miles, signs all over-NO CAMPING. It was scary! Yes the little .44 is something else.
Mastadons would be fun to hunt for I feel. I've just waiting for global warming to bring the hippo, crocs and bufalo back personally....
I'm confused. MV or ME restrictions? I did a spreadsheet that does PF (momentum) E vs fps & grains to find peak performance. Does factory 44mag meet the requirements?
Whatever!
In England and Wales, we have an ME requirement.Originally Posted by popper
In Scotland, they have a different ME requirement but there are also stipulations on MV.
(***** or SNAFU: You decide....)
Some factory 44 Mag will do it.
Ruger 77/44 bolt action is formidable weapon when loaded with a 310 grain GC RF from Lee. Loaded over 17.5 grains will yeild you 1300 FPS.
A 240 grain SWC CG Keith style will get you close to 1800 with 24.0 grains WW 296 .
Both the above loads if cast to a Lyman #2 alloy will kill up to and including Grizzly Bear and Moose. The above loads will drive through both shoulders of wild pig with live weight of 400 lbs.
Another gun suggestion would be a TC Encore Rifle with custom Barrel that you can get a faster rate of twist so you can run heavy weight bullets at medium speeds with accuracy. The Over all length on the TC rifles with a longer barrel can be shorter than a standard actioned rifle.
A good place to Shop for the assecories and the barrels is http://http://www.eabco.net/EABCO-Ac...ls_c_2893.html
Last edited by Ramjet-SS; 07-27-2016 at 10:16 PM.
The 214gr LEE SWC would be a decent choice. I think it would perform better than their 200gr RNFP for hunting, and it's quite accurate to boot. Your going to have to push those bullets pretty hard to get to 1800 ft-lbs of energy though. For the 214gr, your going to have to push it to 1950 FPS. Your goal might be easier with 240gr bullets.
Whatever you pick, I would get something with at least a 20" barrel since muzzle energy is a concern. 24" would be even better, but they're not as handy to use to me as the 20". Can you own a lever action? It's hard to beat a Marlin 1894.
Just out today to do some testing with the 77/44. Haven't gone through all the info as yet, but this is what I saw from a 310gr Wide Flat Nose from an Lead Bullet Technology (LBT) mold.
I wish this bullet would function through the 77/44 magazine, but it is too long.
I used it in my RUGER RedHawk and got 1300fps from the 5.5" barrel. Today, from the longer RUGER 77/44 barrel a 5 shot average was 1516.6fps.
Same load as I'd used in the handgun, 19gr of AA#9
I needed to hand feed the rounds one at a time, but wanted to see how it grouped and what kind of velocity it reached.
The bulk of my tests today was with a 275 - 280gr Wide Flat Nose (WFN) bullet from an Accurate Mold. This bullet is made for the .444, but feeds and functions just fine in the RUGER.
The lighter bullet was in the 1700fps +/- range.
Didn't group as well as I'd like, but it would put the hurt on 100yd deer for sure.
Crusty Deary Ol'Coot
The Lee 310gr FNGC will work in the 77/44 - works a treat in my 96/44.
20gr of ADI 2205 / H110 = 1500fps over the chrono.
??????????????? What ?????????????????????
Cdoc
Did not fit the one I shot either. Bad point with the Ruger magazine.
My "??? WHAT ????" referred to a post that must have been deleted.
It was just a long list of letters and numbers all run together.
CDOC
mystery
I deleted my reply loaded with a pack of number…. funny thing I never subscribe to the thread or did any reply mmmmmmm who knows…..
Posting Permissions
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |
Reply With Quote