monkr

Would Bazer 44 mag 240 gr jhp be okay for deer hunting. It will be use in a NMSBH 7 1/2 barrel. Most likely at 75 yards max. Appreciate any help on which round to use. Thanks alot.

White Falcon

More than enough. Cowboy loads will take any Deer.

terry_p

If that is the most accurate otherwise I would go with accuracy over ft lbs if you have to.

monkr

I like shooting the winchester cowboy 240 grain specials. I am really accurate at 25 yards or so. Be nice if you could shoot deer with this ammo, recoil is really mild. The Blazer 240 grain jhp has a real good kick to it.
What would be the best factory ammo for hunt with minimum recoil?

White Falcon

Will try Leverrevolutions this seasonin .44 Mag.

monkr

Got a box of rem 180 grain jsp today. Talk about muzzle bast. These are loud and lite the range like a Christmas tree. Does anyone use these to hunt with if so what do you hunt.

Marc S

I purchased my 4 5/8 SBH in 44 mag last month. So until I get enough brass, I have been buying off the shelf Ammo. In 3 weeks have put 300 rounds from various suppliers through the gun. I have had the best results with Magtech 240 SJSP. I put a deer in my freezer last weekend with this round at 40 yds. The deer thought about running but then decided to die.

shoot44

The first deer I took with my 44 SBHH was with an aluminum cased Blazer 240 grainer. Heart shot at around 25 yards, and he went about 25 before he dropped. I now use a hotter load, handloaded; 200 grain SJHP over H-110, at 1500 fps. Doesn't go 'through and through' like the blazer did, but does much more internal damage.

Re the 180 grainers mentioned: yeah, the Rem UMC and PMC 180 factory stuff is THE highest ME factory rounds I have ever found. Right around 1700 fps! And even from the 7.5" barrel, the 'display' is impressive. That is the first ammo I bought for my SBHH, thinking that a light bullet would be more 'docile'. Boy was I wrong! My son videotaped our first outing with that gun. I shot a gallon milk jug full of water with one of those 180's, and the explosion nearly blew a cardboard box standing near it (that we used to mount targets), right over. No lie. What a round! He now shoots 180 grainers handloaded over H-110 in his 629. What a blast; literally!

P.S. If you think the blazers have kick, better not try the 180's!!! As mentioned, almost any round you can stuff into that BH will take a deer. Choose the most accurate. My 200 grain load shoots TIGHT groups! That's why I stay with it.

terry_p

Not trying to be critical but 25 yard blood trail with a heart shot deer is real good. I have seen them go a hundred just on sheer adrenaline. If that load worked that well I'd probably stick with it.

My thoughts are always use whatever load gives the best accuracy as bullet placement is king.

shoot44

Well, sure, Terry, it worked, so why change. I see your point. But the ONLY reason that it worked is because I was able to cut his heart in half. Another small buck that I shot the next year was standing in a less perfect position that caused me to just miss the heart. In this case, the small amount of internal damage that would have been done by that Blazer might have meant a lost animal. This time I was shooting my handload, and even though I did not hit the heart, the huge internal damage done by that expanding hollow point at the higher velocity put him on the ground in just about the same distance. As someone else has said here, a 22 will kill a deer if placed correctly. I just prefer a load that gives me a bit of 'insurance', in case I do NOT hit him either directly in the heart, or in the brain, spine, or etc.
I don't disagree with you; just look at it from a slightly different viewpoint, I guess.

During a hog hunt, my son drilled the first one through the heart and, as you said, he went nearly a hundred yards, just on adrenaline. But a later shot did not hit the heart, went clear through, (it was a 240 gr JSP at around 1400 fps), and we spent hours and hours trying to find him. Since we hunt only small 'meat' hogs, penetration is not a problem, but internal damage IS. We will never hunt hogs with a 'penetrating' load like that again. BTW, that later one cut the femoral artery, (it was getting pretty dark, and not a good shot), and yet there was almost NO blood trail. When we opened him up, it was all inside of him!

razadp

Yup - through and through does kill the animal pretty well, but not fast enough if there is a lot of brush or getting dark. I used 240 Magtech JSPs on a meat pig, and he did not die till I had 4 holes through his chest and a knife in his heart. Each hole clean through, no expansion, no bloodshot meat. A more expansive bullet would have made me happier.

Tracer

The .44 mag with 240 grain bullets coming out the barrel under a 100 yards are a match for any deer on the face of the earth bar-none!
My wife shot the biggest buck in the county one year with her little Ruger Carbine in the .44 magnum and 240 grain bullet. Those were actually pistol bullets in that carbine that day.

counterfitter

i took my ruger hunter 44 mag out this year , but my hunting buddy got the buck maybe next year

Tracer

I have used a lot of Blazer ammo for target shooting in various calibers but not for deer hunting. Mostly use hardcast bullets with a large "metplate" in my .444 Marlin, which is a lot more gun but still your .44 magnum with that Hornady Leverevolution ammo will really make a good wound channel.

shoot44

Can't argue with that at all. BUT... Remember that that same 'pistol bullet' comes out of a carbine MUCH faster than from a sixgun! IIRC, my Marlin 1894 44 levergun (with a 20" barrel), shoots my 200 grain HP handloads right around 500 fps FASTER than my 7.5" barreled BH Hunter! That is a tremendous difference in muzzle energy! (About 2300 ft-lbs, as compared to 1000 ft-lbs from the handgun!)