44 Rem Mag
 

Just recently bought an H&R 44 Rem Mag handi rifle. Anyone else have this caliber or have shot this caliber? I have read that this gun is accurate up to 100 to 130 yards, depending on what cartridge you use and what grain. Just wondering what cartridge would best suit this caliber?

Accuracy is going to be up to you. Killing power on whitetails is all in, just gotta get it on target. Will anchor elk as well, assuming appropriate bullet selection. 100-130yrds is the tip of the iceberg with the 44mag.

The trajectory of slow flying bullets with poor aerodynamics (BC's in the low 0.2's) is what makes the 44mag and its kin difficult to manage at moderate ranges. Getting much downrange past 150yrds with the 44mag puts a lot of air under your bullet.

It's difficult to make load recommendations, since not all firearms like the same loads, but I've had pretty good luck on the cheap end of factory ammo with Winchester White Box 240grn JSP's and PMC Bronze TCSP's. Hornady 240grn XTP's do well, as do the 225grn Leverevolution FTX's. For a reloader, a Hornady 240 XTP seated in the cannelure over top 23.5grn H110/W296 has shot well in every firearm I've ever tested with it (over a hundred of them).

I also use W296 (22 grs as I recall) under a 240 gr Hornady XTP. This load shoots well out of my S&W 29 and my Rossi Puma rifle. Its a bit stout and unpleasant to shoot however in my Taurus Tracker even with the porting.
But on game (deer) its devastating. I've shot 4 deer with this load and I don't recall any of them taking a single step. But these were all 50 yards and closer.

I used the Winchester 94 .44 mag for 10 years. I felt it was a 125 yard gun.

Dead on with the H110/Win296!!!! I don't believe that I have loaded for a 44 yet including the 4 I have that don't like it at one point or another!!!! I currently load for 9 44Mags and 99% of them all are with H110/Win296 and either Horn XTP's or FlexTips.
I do load some with some hand cast 300grn for some hog smackers but not very many and those are loaded with 2400 or Lil Gun. When I start getting into the lead loads I lean towards the 2400, Blue Dot or Lil Gun to keep the leading down. And if I am going to be loading a bunch up for someone, I try to go gascheck just to stay on top of the leading issues with associated with them.

That's one thing I liked about this caliber. There are many cartridge options to choose from. I shoot Hornady SST's with my .270 win and have never been disappointed with them. But like you say, not all firearms like the same loads so Hornadys might not shoot well with the 44 mag. I'm not familiar with the 44 mag, but needed a rifle that I could use during MS' primitive weapon season. From what I've read, the recoil is not as bad as the other popular primitive weapons people use around here (45-70, .444 Marlin) and I didn't want to purchase a gun that I was going to dread to shoot.

I bought this gun new, so hopefully the problem has been fixed with the barrels. With my luck, who knows lol

The 44mag will recoil less than the larger case punkin' chunkers, but you might be surprised how much a Handi-Rifle or 1894 in .44mag will recoil compared to a standard sporting rifle. It's been years since I ran the numbers, but I recall my 300grn load out of my 1894 has a greater Free Recoil Energy than my 150grn load out of my .30-06!

It's all manageable - recoil pad on the rifle, or a recoil pad on the shoulder, you won't have any issue.

That said, I do have to plug this - the .45-70 and 444m really aren't as bad as folks might think. The throw big bullets, so the recoil is stiff, but it's very different than a bottleneck magnum.

More of a hard push than a kick. I own 3 .444m and 4 .45-70's. According to the loads, they really aren't all that bad to shoot. Actually with the .444, unless I'm loading it really heavy in bullet weight and powder, it's a fairly mild recoiling rifle. All my .45-70's are fairly heavy so that takes up a good bit of recoil energy. 2 of them are original Sharps so I don't load heavy charges in them. The other 2 are Modern repros and have very beefy action and chambers to withstand VERY heavy charges and I sometimes take them to the limits. THOSE loads dang well let you know you are shooting!

I agree NoMercy, I shoot leverevolution 325 grn ammo in my 45-70 and I don't feel excessive recoil from the bench and I don't notice it when shooting at an animal, they do, but I don't.:D

What grain would you guys recommend shooting in this caliber?

240 always worked for me.

In .44mag, I prefer 300grn XTP's for most of my work these days, but not all rifles like them. A close second place is the 240grn XTP. As I mentioned above, 240grn Win JSP's and PMC 240grn TCSP's kill well also. I'm not as big of fan of them as I once was, simply due to their dishonest marketing (lower BC's than other bullets in their class), but the 225grn FTX Leverevolution bullets do well on game also - huge expansion, so I don't push them too fast in hand loads. I never have found 180grn bullets of any flavor to shoot as well as the 240's, nor kill as well.

You have to figure that out for your self. These are great guns but they are not all the same gun. I've had one for years, know a few other guys who have them and I studied Graybeards H&R and NEF forums for several years and those guys go in to minutia details on them.

All that said with the right shooter and the right gun with compatible ammo those are 100 yard guns pretty easy but I'm not calling that pie plate stuff a deer gun. Tennis ball groups on the range is a maximum shot in the field far as I'm concerned.

This was mine when it was new.


Same gun probably 15 years later.


Killed a lot of deer and a few beavers to with that gun shooting my own 240 grain, cast wheel weight bullets w/gas checks, 1600 fps with Blue Dot. The load is in the Hornady manual. Never had a deer take another step after I pulled the trigger on that gun. Shot one right in the eye with one shot.

I never lost an ounce of meat off this guy.

LOL didn't even hurt the cheek meat!!!

That buck didn't even have time to know he had a headache.
-Jake

just got a cva hunter in the 44 mag & have put a banner 1x4 scope on it & i'm either going to try the hornady ftx or the winchester 225 platnium. i think the hornady willperform better in longer yardage due to the areodynamics

You would think that he should have seen it coming on!!!!!:eek:

Sorry boys, been in the woods since Thursday! Thanks for the replies. Think I'm going to try out the 240 grain first and see how that shoots. As of which cartridge brand to use, I'm still undecided. I'm leaning towards Hornady because of the success I've had with them with my .270. Dropped a 6 point about 120 yards out Friday with 130 grain SST's. Boy I was pumped!

I thought so, he was keeping an eye out for me.

Hornady makes good bullets and ammunition. You probably won't be disappointed with the 240 grain XTPs.

I agree. I shoot 130 grain SSTs in my .270 win. Some deer have dropped and some have ran 100 yards, either way the job gets done!

I just recently picked up a Henry 44 mag haven't killed anything with it yet... But as far as accuracy... My reloads are putting 3 in a 1.5" group at 100 yards

What type of scope you using? 3-9X40?

I opted for the leupold vxii 1-4x20

I've got a VX2 on one of my rifles. I love it, however, I'll be using this gun during our primitive weapon season; which is only 3 to 3.5 weeks. Since I wont be using this rifle much, I don't want to buy that expensive of a scope. I'm thinking a 3-9x40 Nikon. I just don't know how much of a drop there is at 200 yards and is there even any point in shooting this rifle that far at game? Would a BDC scope be worth purchasing?

Brushy, 150 yards is actually pushing the limits of the .44mag to the extremes. 200 yards is really out of the question. If I were you, I'd look into a 2-7x Nikon Prostaff. Around 150 bucks and a great little scope for the money. It has the Nikoplex RET rather than all that BDC jazz. http://www.opticsplanet.com/nikon-pr...x-reticle.html

Thanks SH! I'll look into that one! I'm already liking it by the price you said it was! Got any idea how much it will drop from 150 yards?

What is your load? Barrel length? I have a scope on my Redhawk that's zeroed at 50 yards and to nail a deer or hog at 100 I hold about 3". If I remember correctly, the MPBR of the rifle configuration is right at 150 yards. So zero at 100 and from 0-150 yards you should be inside of the vitals with 150 being on the low side of the lungs. At 150, I'd try my best to stay off shoulder though and go for a clean lung shot. As I said earlier, at 150 it's starting to seriously run outta gas. The leverevolution bullet would still be going OKAY but I'd still stay off the shoulder. But from 0-around 130 the little .44mag rifles are some really good deer smackers. From 0-100 the pistols hold their own as well :D

I wouldn't say the .44mag is out of steam at 200yrds - the 300grn load I run is trucking harder at 200yrds than a standard .45colt or 357mag at the muzzle!

300grn XTP still just over 1,000fps at 200yrds. It's 13MOA of correction compared to my 100yrd zero, so that's a bit much to deal with, and of course, I have to stay well practiced to keep it under 4MOA at 200yrds, but a 6-8" group will kill deer. Granted, that's firing a scoped revolver from a tripod and pistol rest, which is a little different than shooting a scoped rifle, but the power is there - it's just a matter of keeping it on target.

I'd also point out, the Leverevolution FTX actually has a poor BC compared to its field. The 200grn XTP has a shorter bearing surface, meaning a guy can push it harder without creating pressure issues, and it's a shorter bullet, meaning I can seat it out farther, also creating less pressure, let alone feed it from a longer case <-- less pressure still, AND lighter weight, so greater speed... Oh, and it also has a slightly better BC than the 225 FTX, so the stubby 200 XTP keeps that speed just as well as the pointy FTX. As does the 240 and 300grn XTP. The 180 XTP is the only bullet Hornady makes with a worse BC than the 225 FTX. The FTX is a great bullet, very good expansion, reliable, accurate, and relatively cheap, but it's not actually an improvement in ballistics.

Not many folks should be taking 200yrd shots with 44mags, even in a levergun, but it's really just about trajectory management and precision (or lack thereof), as the bullet will have plenty of punch to kill.

We'll have to agree to disagree there Mercy. Ballistic calculators and such are wonderful tools and can give you a relative idea, but not to much trumps actual experience at range. And I've seen several attempts at ranges beyond 150 yards with .44mag and the penetration just wasn't there. Granted they were with 240gr and 265gr not the newer fangled FTX's and other tipped bullets but I have to base my opinions on actual viewed end processes and the few times I've seen connection at ranges beyond 150 yards resulted in poor penetration that required a distant tracking job and a followup to put them down. A couple of these were from handguns and there were 2 times with .44mag rifles. 3 hogs and 1 whitetail with the whitetail being the only one there was even enough penetration to take out the shot side lung.

In essence, I agree whole heartedly about trajectory management being an issue but until I see the penetration on an animal at ranges beyond 150, I have to stick with what I have personally seen and not what some program SAYS it will do. And I doubt one such as yourself would have attempted to range out past 150 with a .44mag on anything other than maybe a pot shot at a yote because you would also have some doubts yourself. You don't seem the type to me to chance injuring an animal when you know you should just get closer to MAKE SURE you are well within effective terminal ballistics ranges.

I believe the barrel length is 20 inches and I haven't made up my mind on what load I'm going to use. Still trying to figure it all out. I'm leaning towards Hornady, just don't know what grain yet.

While I value the ballistic calculators, I don't base my opinion only on paper results.
I've killed over a dozen deer with 44mags past 150, half of those with a revolver.

Ballistic calculators help get me on steel with it at 250-300yrds, but the drop isn't really manageable anymore for field shooting at that range, so if I'm off by 3yrds on live game, it's the difference in a miss and a hit. So while I don't hunt the 44mag THAT far, connecting on game at 150yrds is manageable, and the power is there. A non-expanding hard cast does it deeper than the XTP's or Gold Dot Hunting (now the Deep Curl), but I've been happy to get quarter sized exits with massive tissue damage on the way through. Hard casts punch through and kill, but they make my legs tired.

Taking deer past 150 with 44mag is not for everyone (kinda like killing deer with a 30-06 past 600yrds), but the 44mag will do the work if you can put it where it needs to go (kinda like the 30-06 past 600yrds). Hard to argue with 300grns, at any speed.

If shooting Hornady bullets, start with the 240's. You'll likely not have to look any farther. I prefer the 300 XTP's, but in general, the 240grn is more likely to shoot straight.

Since you're reloading, a 240 XTP seated to the cannelure over 23.5grn H110/W296 should shoot well. I've used this as my "test load" for over a hundred 44mags, if it doesn't shoot well, usually there's something wrong with the firearm, not the load.

Lmao@ "they make my legs tired"..That's why when I use my casts in my .45's I ALWAYS go for breaking the shoulders down or high shoulder shot..Legs don't get tired from tracking that way :D I try to base a lot of my penetration opinions on Hogs. If it penetrates well on a good sized hog, it will penetrate pretty much anything else short of a Moose. That cartilage shield aint bullet proof but it sure displaces a hell of a lot of energy.

I try the 240 XTP's then! Gonna shoot it when I purchase a scope for it, so will prolly be around February before I get around to shooting it. I'll let you know how those XTP's perform!

The more we talk about this caliber the more I've decided to aim for the shoulder! lol I hate losing meat, but it beats tracking a deer a mile or 2 in the woods!

Absolutely agree there - I don't shoot cast much any more, so when I do, I even put an orange target paster on the inside of my scope cap to remind me! Take that shoulder shot and knock a wheel off. When I'm shooting jacketed expanders, I stay off of the shoulder to ensure I punch through the far side. With the XTP's, in the 50yrd ballpark where my gas tank is still full, I'm not adverse to the shoulder shot, but any time things get farther out, I want two holes.

With most shots and MOST bullet grains from the .44mag Brushy, you won't lose much meat at all from a shoulder shot. Big and slow bullets don't create that blood shot mess that the faster velocity bullets do. I load 265gr Interlocks in my .44mag as well as in my .444Marlin and can USUALLY eat right up to the hole unless I was right on top of the animal when shooting. Pretty much the same thing with the 240gr CoreLocts out of the MAG but the .444MAR would mess up some meat until around 40 yards out with them.

Yup - way less bloodshot meat with low velocity pills. I've ruined a lot more meat with a 243win than ever with a 44mag/454C/475L/45-70/other punkin chunker.