RE: .44 mag for bear.
445 Supermag,,,,Critter Gitter,,,,,Okay, no that statement wasn't a joke. But don't take my word for it. You guys don't know me. But, you can take Craig Boddington's word for it. I'll refer back to his book in more detail on what his professional opinion is. He says the following on page 149:
<font color=red>"...240-grain pistol load...produces about 1,760 fps in a 20-inch (rifle) carbine.</font id=red> (He's refering to energy at the muzzle!). <font color=red>Muzzle energy is about 1,650 foot/pounds, but due to the terrible sectional density of pistol bullets, velocity and energy drop very quickly. In rifles, you can play with heavier bullets and you can get a bit more velocity- but there's darn near nothing you can do to get a .44 mag to deliver 1,000 foot/pounds beyond 100 yards."
"At best, the, this is a very short-range cartridge-short for rifles and evern shorter in handguns...with hard-cast or soft point bullets...the .44mag is an adequate deer cartridge to 100 yards...at very short range can do the job on black bear and wild boar..."</font id=red>
He goes on to say: <font color=red>"...Handloading is essential to get any range out of the .44 mag, and equally essential if the cartridge is to be used on game larger than deer or smallish black bears."</font id=red>
This statement alone points me back to the original question by Normercy that a .44mag used as a "charge stopping knock 'em dead gun" isn't really such a great gun for that particular purpose. Especially if the bear is say over 200lbs!
He goes on to say: <font color=red>"...you can even get the .44 barely up into elk country, at very short range. But it's no dragonslayer, and must never be considered such. It is a very fine little cartridge-but even at its very best, it is not the equal of the .30-30 Winchester. Users of it, whether in rifle or pistol, simply must keep that in mind."</font id=red>
This is what he says about the .30-30 on pages 102-105:
<font color=red>"...170-grain bullet delivering 2,200 fps and 1,827 foot/pounds...energy figures fall below 1,000 foot/pounds before you reach 200 yards..."</font id=red>
That point alone is better than a .44mag which falls under 1000 ft/lbs under 100 yards! He compares the .44mag at 100 yards with the .30-30 at a 100 yards by saying:
<font color=red>Within 100 yards-the distance most game is taken with this caliber</font id=red> (30-30) <font color=red> it will offer up to 1,500 foot/pounds of energy, which is more than enough.</font id=red>
I must add that his opinion is that any cartridge used for big game must have a minimum of 1000 foot pounds of energy at 100 yards to cleanly kill the game. Obviously the 30-30 beats the .44mag in this spectrum.
He adds on page 104: <font color=red>"...The very nature of the .30-30 bullet is also important...only extremely blunt round-nose bullets or, better, flat-points, are suitable...but I think it's a partial explanation of why the .30-30 seems to hit very hard on game despite unimpressive energy and velocity."</font id=red>
He does say, <font color=red>"It's also a bit underpowered for the LARGEST of black bears..."</font id=red>
He does explain that the .30-30 has a slight advantange over the .44mag due to velocity and almost double the ft/lbs of energy at over 100 yards when compared to a .44mag.
I think Boddington knows what he's talking about.
ths 78....Without going into another long chapter,,,I think a 30-06 blows any .44mag out of the water PERIOD. I'll take a handloaded 220grain 30-06 bullet or even a 180grain Swift A-frame or Nosler partition over any of the best .44mag bullets bar-none! No comparison between the two when it comes to energy, velocity, penetration, hydrostatic shock capabilities and documented incidents on large and/or dangerous game and all around performance etc...
Edited by - Hk45USP on 03/04/2002 16:03:12