Hi all. Ohio has just passed a reg allowing for pistol caliber rifles to be used for deer hunting. I've used my 44 revolvers the past few years and have worked up some good loads for these. Now I've had a few 44 rifles for a while just mostly as a novelty and for fun. Does anyone have any advice or tips for hand loading that will help with rifle work. I did load some test rounds out of the rifle section of the Hornady manual and am waiting for some trigger work to be done on a Ruger 77/44 before I get serious about testing. Any good stories about 44 rifles would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I have hunted with 44 mag rifles for many years prior to getting into handguns,No real tricks, just standard loading practices.

I will say bullet construction is paramount, since you are pushing the bullets at higher velocity. I prefer the 270 gr. range in standard lead core bullets in my rifle, I find most of the 240 class bullets do not hold together at the these velocities but there are exceptions. In my rifle I am limited to jacketed bullets and my personal load is a a Speer 270 deep curl over a max charge or 296. I find it accurate and to be an extremely tough bullet at upper end.
To me the best option for hunting is the Cutting Edge Raptors,they are the most devastation expanding Bullet on the market and act bigger then the class they are in.

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=HGHP_44_200

I have shot or witnessed a wide array of 44 bullets and their performance out of these rifles, and I have my views toward certain bullets. I have seen great placment and bullets pushed beyond there capabilties and lost deer due to bullet construction. These are fantastic rifle and a lot of fun to hunt with and shoot.

As for trigger work, JRH Gunsmithing,530-268-6877, it is a no brainer.

Thank you for the info. I was wondering about how bullets would hold up at rifle velocity. I was able to find one box of the 270 gr deep curls, but can't find any more like everything else. Would you be willing to share results of the Hornady 240 XTP since this is the only 44 bullets that can be found. I've used the XTPs on two deer shot from a muzzle loader and they did the job, unfortunately that was before I became more concerned with consistent bullet performance and didn't pay attention when skinning them.

Some good info here:
http://ballisticsbytheinch.com/44mag.html

Keep in mind that the problem with pistols is that you just don't have time to get heavy loads up to speed without doing a huge bang at the beginning. So, look to the heavy bullets and the slower powders. You won't find load data aimed for 20 inch pipe either.

Even with the higher speeds, this is still a short range gun, and at those ranges, and against deer sized critters, accuracy isn't that big an issue. Kill zone is kill zone. You might see if any of the xtp-mag bullets are sized for a .429 or .430. They are made for higher speeds, you know.

db

accuracy isn't that big an issue db [/quote]

I disagree as sportsman and stewards accuracy should be most important. I agree with seasons44 the heavier bullets preformed better with the faster velocities achieved with longer barrels. I would imagine the xtp mags would hold up fine also.I liked the A frames as they were heavier and held up well. With winchester and marlin and an h&r single shot 3" groups with irons at 100 was not uncommon but took a little tweaking. In my opinion with a little time and experimenting and trigger time you can easily have a 150 yard rifle. And it will more than fill the bill at that distance. The lever guns I have used needed a little more attention than the single shot.

I had a 77/44 you will need to look closely at the OAL of the load. The Ruger will not take many of the longer bullets. One they will not load in the clip and two there is not enough freebore for them to chamber.

Many of the load that worked great in my encore 44 would not even chamber in the Ruger.

BTW my 77/44 shot like crap-- I tried over 15 bullets and multiple load combos with little success. Best it would ever do was about 5" at 100

Cotton, I suspect that you and I might agree, but that I didn't express myself well.
I think hunting range is defined by how far YOU can keep YOUR gun/round in a kill zone. The .44mag, much as I love the round, is not a long range round. So if someone is looking for two inch groups at 200 yards, they aren't going to find it. But if they have the discipline to only take shots that they know they can make, they can have many happy hunting memories with a .44, regardless of barrel length.
I wouldn't say that 3 inch groups were anything to brag about, but they are fine for putting fud in the freezer. Come on, lets face it, if you put all the bullets in one hole, it does no good, right?

db

The range issue for a 44 being say up to 150 yards is still better than a shotgun shooting a slug. And also more than I would be willing to go with my scoped revolver. I had a Savage 220 F and for all the hoopla it was no better than most of the other slug guns I've had over 25 years. One thing a 44 rifle will allow me to do is practice. Decent rifled slugs are 3-5$ per shot. Versus what I can reload 44s for at about .50 cents or so. That's why no one practices with these new slug guns. I'm fortunate that I can shoot out to about 100 yds at my house and can easily get to a range to shoot farther to figure out the max I want to go.
Hunting with a slug gun is like carrying a 4x4 around all day. When I sat down the other night and averaged the distance I've killed all my deer between Ohio and WV I figured I was still at 50-75 yards. The only exception was one shot while driving small wood lots surrounded by fields. He was about 150. I can't remember ever shooting one that far with my .308

One thing on the Henrys is the twist is to slow for 300 gr bullets but the Ruger has a faster twist.

I have used a 44 magnum Winchester 94 with a 16" barrel for most of my deer hunting the last dozen years when using a rifle. I have a couple nice rifles in 308 and 30-06 that don't see the woods anymore. The area I hunt is all woods and hills and that little rifle is so easy to carry. I have a Bushnell Banner 1x4 with a circle plex reticle and can pick up anything running through the brush with it set on no magnification.

It is a very accurate rifle. It is a consistent sub 2" 100 yard gun. With Hornady 240xtp's it is closer to
1 1/2" groups. I now only shoot my own cast bullets. Because of the stupid 1-38" twist, it doesn't shoot my 310 grain cast bullets accurate enough for me unless I load them stupid hot.

I shot several with the Nosler 240 solid point. All pass throughs with good damage. I did use a Hornady xtp on one large buck. He was quartering to me and at 20 yards, the bullet entered the front shoulder and exited off side midway back, a little over 24" path. Only recovered bullet was one of my own cast that I hollowpointed with a 1/8" drill. Deer hard angle away and I hit it high, traveling through the back loin, taking out a couple vertebrae, and ending up in the neck by its head. Again over 24" of meat and bone penetration.

In a rifle your looking at velocities in the 1800fps range and it shoots flat enough for 150 yard shots. It's lethal enough for quite a bit further but then you would need to do a lot of practice and really know your ranges because it drops really fast after that.

Though the xtp worked well at close range and my cast hollowpoint also, I only use solid points for hunting now.