cjsnh

I want to do some reloads for my Ruger carbine 44 Mag. This will be for deer.Two questions: 1.I am a little concerned that the usual pistol bullets may not perform well with the increased speed that the rifle will give.It is the old question of penertration and weight retention.The pistol bullets being designed to open up at lower speeds -- will they open up too fast and fail to penertrate -- just not perform very well .

I think the Nosler Partition and Swift A Frame would be good choices but any ideas on something else that is less exspensive?

2. Second question -- would you go with hollow points or flat nose?

ranger140892

Nosler, Hornady, Swift, etc in hollow ptor flat nosewill work out fine. You're not going to get a huge change in velocity between a carbine and a handgun. Not enough to cause those bullets to break up anyway.

bigcountry

I would go with XTP but use the "mag" versions. I use these in my 460Smith&Wesson going at 2000fps.

If you can afford them, barnes makes some awesome pistol bullets. I shoot partitions out of my 45-70 kicking at almost 2100fps, and they seem to perform great.

Duckbutter48

I have a Ruger Deerfield. Ive had the best luck with bullets from 240grn to 270grn. Ive shot deer withmuch successwith the Hornady 240 grn XTP's(hollow pts)and have had the best accuracy with the Speer 270grn Gold dots(flat nose). I use max load with Win 296 powder and make my OAL aslong as possible and still be able to work the action. The further out Ive seated the bullet the betteraccuracy Ive had.

There's a small window between not having them seated long enough for accuracyand being too long for the gun to cycle correctly. I wouldnt use anything buy jacketed bullets in it.

Im shooting about 1.75" groups at 100yards and am about1.5 inches high at 100 and about 2 low at 150yards with the 270's. The best Ive done with the 240grn xtps is about a 2-2'25" group(all groups with max loads). Make sure you check the screws on the rifle, mine liked to come after shooting and gotlose for awhile until I really got them set.

Make sure you are using at least a slight crimp.


I'll be happy to get exact measurements and load data if you are interested.

TUK101

I am going to try the 240gr rnfp cast bullets this year. I have been practicing with them and they shoot well with around 23gr if powder in them. This is out of my Marlin 1894 44 mag levergun. I figure what the heck, our ancesters used nothing but cast bullets and it put plenty of food on the table for them.

HEAD0001

I cast my own bullets for my 44. If casting just add a bit of tin or linotype, then higher velocities will work just fine without leading. You should be able to get about 1600 fps before worrying about leading.

I have found you can get 300-500 fps more out of a rifle, over the pistol.
Try some slower powders, and go for full case loads.

If shooting a factory load or factory bullet, go with a Hornady XTP. The bullet was designed to be shot at a higher velocity. It was one of the original saboted bullets for ML'ers. It was also designed to open up at a slower velocity. Try the 240's and do not look back. Tom.

ranger140892

HEAD, are you shooting cast bullets in a Ruger semi auto carbine like CJSNH is talking about?
Cast bullets will clogthe gas system really quick.

HEAD0001

To Ranger: No. I am shooting it in an 1894 Marlin. And a couple of S&W 44 Mags. I had 2 Ruger's. One semi-auto and one lever action. I could not get either rifle to shoot with any degree of acceptable accuracy. I did not shoot cast bullets in the semi-auto. I did shoot some cast bullets in the lever.

I tried all types of jacketed bullets and even several factory loads in the Ruger's. I just did not have any luck with them. So I got rid of them. My Marlin will digest about anything I put in it. I do have to stay at 240 grain bullets as my limit. I tried the 300's and had some problems with the elevator. My groups hover around 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards. Always under 2 inches. I do not want to tell you how bad the Ruger groups were.

When the author said Ruger carbine, I was thinking a lever, but you are right, it probably is a semi-auto. I had my Ruger semi-auto a long time ago. I just got rid of my Ruger lever just recently. I guess they brought the semi-auto back out? They discontinued it for a long time. Sorry, my fault. Tom.

Duckbutter48

THe99\44 Carbine has been out for a while, Its alot different then the original 44 semi. Its build to resemble a M-1 action.

cjsnh

Thanks for all the replies and the info.It is of some help. There is not a lot of data out there for rifle loads and bullets.

Sorry -- I did not say in my original post that it was for a Ruger semi -auto carbine