Well this year will be my first Indiana deer hunt with a handgun. Leaving rifle in truck. Now practice

That oughta giterdun.

Very nice! What load will you be using?

Good lookin rig. Best of luck with it.

Leave rifle at HOME.

Nice looking rig, best of luck to you.

Thanks I am looking at 300 XTP and either 4227 or 296 any recommendation ? Don't know about leaving rifle at home.

I use H110, which is very similar to 296. It prefers to be loaded close to the maximum for consistency.

I don't blame you for not leaving the rifle at home. I still bring my 270 with me, along with my 460. It'd be my luck that a coyote or buck of a lifetime would walk out just outside of handgun range.

Leave the rifle at home. Then you will be committed to hunting with the revolver, no options, no excuses.

As for load advise, a full charge of H110/Win296 (they are exactly the same powder) is just what the doctor ordered. I would guess that would put you somewhere in the 1300fps range which will be more than enough snot to put down any whitetail.

As mentioned, H110 likes to be run close to or at maximum loading. While it is a fantastic magnum powder, it can not be downloaded more than about 3%. In many cases the difference between a starting and maximum load will be 1.0 grain or less. It also prefers to be set off with magnum primers. My go-to primers for 44mag loads are the Winchester LPP.

If this is your first foray into the big bore world, that 300gr/case-o-H110 combo will be a serious wake up call. The recoil, while certainly manageable will be about as stout as you can get in a 44mag and still be safe.

Go forth....reload....practice and kill a monster with your SRH this fall.

EDIT: Saw in your other post your SRH is a 454. I don't own one so take the previous load advice with a grain of salt and a dash of reloading manual data, I thought you had a 44 mag.

Here's another vote for leaving the rifle at home. That way you will not be tempted to carry it on the hunt. That is what makes taking game with a handgun so rewarding, it's limitations.

I completely agree. Got to commit to it and the first step is leaving the long gun at home.

Yeah, I know. Kind of hard to leave the Weatherby at home though. That rifle's accompanied me through some truly memorable hunts. But, I suppose I'll forge new memories with the Model 460.

Getting off topic, sorry. Mad Dog, that's a sweet looking rig. Can't wait to hear about how she shoots.