Favorite jacketed 44 mag bullet for deer

R

Roger London

New member
With the smell of fall in the air and November being here before you know it, my brain turns toward deer season. For those of you experienced handgun hunters, what is your favorite jacketed deer bullet for a 44 mag revolver.I really want to try Barnes XPBs, but at nearly a dollar a shot, it makes practicing with them nearly impossible to afford.
 
It is hard to beat the Hornady 300g XTP or Speer 300g psp. I've killed a couple deer with the XTP bullets in the .44 mag and one hog with a Speer 300g psp from my .45 colt, Bisley Ruger. They are very afordable also. The shoot great also. I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot at 100y. I think the Speer bullets are tougher than the XTP's.

Mike
PS. The Speer gold dots/deep curl are different from the psp's, both are electro-plated to the lead core.
 
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Deer aint that tough an animal. I would go for a 240 grain Sierra JHC with a hefty charge of H110 or Lil Gun. If you are going to keep your shots less than 100 yards then the 180 grain Sierra JHC at 1700 FPS will sure do the job.
 
I like the 240 gr Hornady XTP and the 270 gr Speer Deepcurl. The Speer's are all I use now in my super blackhawk. The 240 gr Sierra HP worked pretty good too.
 
I've shot them with 180 to 240 XTP's in the 44 handgun & Henry rifle and the Savage smokeless and they performed flawlessly!

Steve
 
I surely do like sierra anything, I may have to track down a box to try. I shot a deer last year with a zero bullet company 240 gr jsp and I hit a little low through the chest. I clipped the bottom of the heart. I found the deer, but he made it quite a long ways in thick cover and I had not one drop of blood to go by. We only found him by doing a grid search. The entrance hole and exit looked to be pretty much the same size. I can't help but feel that a bullet with a little more expansion MAY have shortened that trailing job, but you never know for sure. I could shoot the next deer in the exact same spot and it tip right over. I do like using the best bullet for the game though, and I'm not sure a 150 lb deer requires the kind of penetration at the cost of expansion the jsp gave me. Locally, the 240 gr XTPs are by far the easiest to get, and generally are reasonably priced if I can't find some Sierras. Do the 270 gr Deep Curls expand any?
 
The 270 Deepcurl is easily my favorite. As stated, it is a tougher bullet than the XTP. Drives deeper, retains more weight. Large wound channels to boot.

They even work amazingly well at 444 Marlin velocities. I have taken deer and black bear with them.

This one took out a 300 lb. blackie in da U.P. and still retains 92% of it's weight........
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Here is a pic of the 300g psp. The deep curl is just a lighter version. The 300g bullet can be loaded to two different lengths.
With the 300g .45 cal version, I shot through the shoulder and neck of a 180'ish lb hog. The bullet wint in the left shoulder and out behind the right ear. He went all stiff leg and fell over! The shot was about 45-50 yards.

Mike

P9100081_zps2a41b801.jpg
 
Do the 270 Deep Curls offer decent expansion at handgun velocities? I am going to have to track some down.

Edit: Looks like there are no 270 Deep Curls to be had anywhere. Oh well, maybe next year this component shortage will be over and I will be able to find some.
 
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I only ran the speer/hornady 240g JSP bullets in my 44 mags in the 70-80s and there was no other bullet needed. Still think that way today.
 
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