I'm seriously considering purchasing a Ruger Super Blackhawk with the 10.5" bbl. With copious amounts of practice (since I love shooting), what is considered the maximum effective range with open sights for deer? Probably shooting factory ammo for a while.

Even with a rifle I dont like to shoot 100 yards with irons if I can avoid it.... I can shoot farther and there are people who have killed larger game farther with a 357 however far you know you can cleanly take an animal would be your maximum range and that varies person to person and based on conditions the best thing to do is shoot and whatever range you can score 100% on an 8 inch paper plate or gong is a good starting place

The max effective range outside of terminal ballistics, is shooter dependent.

You have several things to consider:
Your eyesight being a good start.
How well can you shoot?
I shoot ICORE Revolver Match's every month, so I do shoot open sights quite a bit. Off hand I shoot well enough to make a 50 yard shot, and possibly a little further in good light.
Light is another consideration. Early and Late in the woods the sights can be hard to see. Consider a Fiber Optic Front Sight that you can see in low light.
How do you Hunt? Walking in the woods, Tree Stand, Ground Blind?
Do you plan on using sand bags from a rest, or Sticks or a Mono Pod from a blind or when stalking? I have a Staff with a forked antler on the top that makes a good standing field support.

Myself I would like you to pretty much be able to keep your shots on a paper desert Plate (7"). The Acceptable Accuracy Standard has been keeping all shots on a Paper Plate (10"). To me the 10" Circle is a hair generous for a Deer Size Target.

If you are hunting from a Stand or Blind you might Pre-Mark your maximum range using marker tape.

My brother hit a buck four out of four shots at a lasered 135 yards a couple years ago using a 44 Super RedHawk with an UltraDot sight. He was shooting from a Tree Stand with a bag rest. That was with a 310 grain Cast Bullet. That was what I would consider to be Past his Maximum Range with his equipment. He pulled this off with lots of practice during the two months before season shooting the Super RedHawk, and he shoots ICORE Revolver Match's all year burning off thousands of rounds yearly.

Ultimately you will be the one to decide just how far you can make the shot under ideal conditions. I have passed up shots inside of the range I practice at. I did not feel comfortable making the shot on that day, under those lighting conditions.

Several years ago my brother and I went to the range with a massive amount (probably 100 rounds each) of 7x30 Waters ammo to fire form. We had removed the Burris scopes from both Contenders to cut down on wear and tear on them. We were shooting across the Weaver Scope Base. We were shooting at a rock on the 250 yard Berm that started out about the size of a shoe box. The largest chunk was more like softball size when we were done. Were we hitting it every shot? NO But we were not doing bad at all for off hand without a real sight.
My point bringing this up is that with enough practice, a steady hand, and Great Eye Sight, that 10.5 inch Ruger is capable of making some pretty impressive shots at distance. Reducing a Shoe Box size rock to rubble at 150-200 yards is very possible with some sight adjustment and trigger time. However that is probably not an ethical distance to shoot at a deer. As Clint Eastwood would say "You Have to Know Your Limitations". That is where practice comes in.

Bob

"If you have to ask...". Frankly, no one here can give you a correct answer. Game animals aren't found standing broadside in the open, in good light, without trees or brush as obstructions, and patiently waiting for you to shoot. A .44 Mag. perfectly zeroed at 25 yds. will be a couple inches high at 50, and about 6" low at 100. Of course, the object isn't to hit the animal, as it would be in metallic silhouette shooting; the object is to kill the animal with one shot.
Buy the gun. Learn to shoot it from a rest and from offhand, properly zeroed. Be prepared for this to require thousands of rounds. Buying factory ammo in this quantity will drive you to want to reload.
The .44 Magnum has the power to kill deer beyond 100 yards. Very very few handgunners have that ability with iron sights on a .44 revolver, and I know some of the best. An honest 50 yds. or so in the woods will challenge good shooters. That's the "why" for scopes.

I CONSIDER AN OPEN SIGHT REVOLVER, OFF HAND, TO BE A 50 YARD GUN, BEYOND THAT YOU ARE PUSHING IT. WITH A GOOD REST MAYBE LONGER, BUT 100 YARDS, EVEN WITH A REST, REALLY GETS IFFY. THE OBJECT IS TO KILL THEM AND NOT JUST HIT THEM. DO NOT KNOW THE MOA OF OPEN SIGHTS BUT I SUSPECT IT IS A HIGH NUMBER.

IA,
Ditto to the posters.
You have had really good responses.

Even with a optic, as Zee said, "The max effective range outside of terminal ballistics, is shooter dependent."

All good replies. Shooting at targets in an open area is so much different than shooting at an live animal in a field, brush, tree's, shade, etc. Just no way to compare target accuracy to real hunting accuracy. Plus when hunting you usually have to take a quicker shot & many times an angling or uphill or downhill shot. Lots of different factors. The classic broadside shot at 50 yds is out there but I've seldom encountered it in all my years.

Dick

With my eyes, maybe 50 yards. Put an optic on that 44 and easily double that.

Well said!

Whats been said. That said a deer will easily fall to a 44 mag bullet at 300 yards but it is truly shooter dependent. My son can easily hit an 8" gong everytime with a scoped 460 or his iron sighted 454 at 200 yards offhand. I cannot and thus his range is much firther than mine deapite the cartridge carrying enough pop to kill deer at 500 yards.

I consider my Super BlackHawk Hunter in .44 with an Ultradot a 50 yard gun ... My Encore in .44 with Weaver 2.5-8X a 100 yard gun. Those are my personal limits and I stick to them. Our property offers very few shots over those ranges, and any set I hunt I know the max distance for all possible shots on game ... I take the appropriate iron.

As stated above, it's all based on the shooter.

Just spent the weekend Banging away at targets w/open sighted 10 1/2'' revolvers

in Lincolnton Ga.. Twas 2017 GA IHMSA Big Bore Championships....

357s, 41s, and 44s knocking over steel from 50 to 200 meters...

Freedom Arms, Smith&Wessons, Dan Wesson too having FUN.. All

these can and DID perform. Some were better than others.. Only

difference being the Trigger Man... l have been doing this since 1979.

Still room for lots of lmprovement

BESIDES AGING EYES, THE MAIN REASON I GAVE UP IHMSA WAS IT WAS MAKING A GUT SHOOTER OUT OF ME. IN IHMSA YOU AIMED CENTER OF MASS, AND WHEN I WAS HUNTING INSTINCTS AND REPETITION TOOK OVER AND I WOULD AIM CENTER OF MASS ON THE QUICK SHOTS. I KEPT MY RAM AND PIG TARGETS AND WOULD PRACTICE LINING UP ON THE FRONT LEG AND COMING UP TO THE LOWER 1/3RD OF THE SHOULDER, AND NOW I INSTINCTIVELY DO THAT IN THE FIELD.

You're right, hard to break old habits! So easy to swing those sights into the middle in the heat of battle!

Dick