stuckinthereeds

I was blessed to have a 44 magnum handed down to me from my Grandfather. What is the maximum distance you would use a .44 on a deer?

oldsmellhound

Depends on how good you can shoot it. Seriously, with good bullets a .44 mag can take deer out to 80 or 100 yards. However, most people can't shoot well enough at 100 yards with a revolver to consistently take deer, especially with open sights. I know I can't shoot that well. You should practice and see how far out you can consistenly hit an 8" circle. An 8" circle will give you a good idea how far out you can consistently hit a deer in the vitals. Most people with some practice can do well out to 50 yards, some people may be able to hit out to 100, especially if you have a scope.

skybuster20ga

you didnt say whether or not it was a rifle or a hand gun.....about 100yds if its chambered in a rifle. and a handgun depends on yor ability ide guess. i can only shoot about 30 yds and hit anyhting w/ a handgun cuz i suck. im sure you can do much better then that though

TimberCreek

The question should not bemaximum distance. The question should be at whatdistance does the projectile still have enough energy to ethically take an animal.
At the muzzle the 44energy is around 1600 and at 100 yrds it drops to around 1000. Compared to a rifle cartridge letssay a 300 win mag at muzzle 3500 and 100 yrds 3000.

With excellentshot placement I would say no more then 40 yrds!

skybuster20ga

energy doesnt kill deer, tissue damage kills deer. if you go w/ your theory then the 222 rem the 223 the 250 savage the 257 roberts the 22-250 and the 30-30 win and several others are all 50 yd guns huh?

like i said before, out to about 100yds you will have good success

Gimphunter

<energy doesnt kill deer, tissue damage kills deer>

Not sure I agree with such a defined statement. I've had deer shot with my 7 mag go until they bleed out. Every single deer I've shot with my .222 has gone down like sacks of cement. I know there was more tissue damage with the 7 mag. But a deer that runs into a solid wall goes down faster. Same with hitting them with a wall of energy from my .222. My .222 literally explodes and unloads it's considerable energy in the first couple of inches before it stops.

I hunt Northern CA so my deer aren't the biggest in the country. My .222 took many, from forks to 4X4 or what is sometimes referred to as a 10 point. A cheap old beater but it was my favorite until I had to give up on guns.

skybuster20ga

ide say get a better bullet for your 7 mag

bigbulls

Of course you have to have energy in order of effectively kill something. You also have to have a bulletthat perfeorms in such a manner as to transfer this energy to the animal properly and cause enough damage to the surrounding tissue when it impacts the animal.

A deer isn't all that tough an animal to kill. But how far a 44 mag is good for depends on the load you are using, whether it is being fired out of a hand gun or rifle and how good the shooter is.

I will assume it is fired out of a rifle. For most deer, even big deer,500 - 600 foot pounds of energy is plenty enough to effectively kill deer provided the right bullet is being used. Most of your better 44 mag hunting loads will have at least 500 foot pounds of KE at 300 yards and will be loaded withheavier bulletsthat penetrate deep, break bones easily, do not fragmant, and transfer their energy to the animal very well.

Whether or not you should be shooting at deer that far with a 44 mag is something different entirely. Only you can answer that question but with the right loads the 44 mag can handle a 300 yard deer.

And before someone comes on here talking about 500 pounds of KE isn't good and ethical and that I should never recomend suchand that if we use those numbers we could all be out there making 300 yard shots with 204 Rugers..... bla bla bla.Don't read that much into it. A 44 caliber, 300 grain, WFNGC, hard cast bullet (or other similar bullet)is an entirely different beast than a 30 gran high velocity varmint bullet. Even with only 500 pounds of KE you would likely get a through and through would in a deer even breaking the shoulder.

rybohunter

bigbulls said it well.

The bullet can kill much farther than most people can accurately place it.

wild_willie

Stuck,
As mentioned before, it largely depends on whether it's a rifle or pistol. In the past few years, I have taken several deer at ranges between 100 and 150 yards with my scoped (Bushnell 3200 1.5-4.5x32 Firefly) Ruger 77/44. I was using a 240 gr XTP handload with a muzzle velocity of around 1,700 fps (1,500 ft/lbs of energy) out of my 18 inch barrel. All shots were pass-throughs with fairly good expansion and great blood trails (most of them short). I have shot this rifle a good bit and know how it shoots out to 150 yards. That being said, anything much over 150 yards is stretching it, at least for me