44 mag for deer hunting, what round?

[osu007]

240 gr XTP in the lever gun and black powder.
I ended up with some of dads reloads that I wasn’t sure what the load is but dad never played around with ‘top end’ stuff. I ran it through my marlin with open sites. It clover leafed at 100. I just labeled that box ‘hunting’. I asked dad if he could remember the load but he couldn’t. It was probably loaded 30 years ago.
This thread has me wanting to take a deer with the 44 this year.

Could he remember the powder? Measure OAL of one of his reloads, Carefully pull a bullet. Weigh the charge. That should give a good starting point. I’ve got a few recipes I can give you. Check them against A PUBLISHED SOURCE, if you like for safety comparisons. Maybe you can duplicate. Let me know, and I will find my recipes and share if you like. It may be a couple of days as I’m really busy. Also I got my loads(starting point) from the Lee manual. It has 2 sections for 44 mag. One section for lever guns and one for handguns and other weaker actions.

 

[turkeyrun]

I have taken deer with lever gun and revolver in .44Mag

240gr Nosler JHP
240gr Hornady SJHP
180gr Hornady SJHP
240gr Hornady LSWC

Handloads with different powders.

Factory loads from Federal and Winchester in 240gr and 185gr.

None have failed. None required more than one shot. None were any deader than dead. Shots were between 10 and 110 yards. Majority were 35 to 75 yards.