geoman458

Question for all you experienced handgun hunters. Having recently purchased an SBH in 44 mag with a 7 1/2" barrel, I'd like to know what is the maximum effective range I can plan on for hunting whitetail deer. I am trying to interperit the balistic report from Remington Shoot software and from what I am seeing with a 240 jhp, Muz Vel is 1760 fps and energy is 1651 ft-lbs. At 150 yds it's 1252 fps and 835 ft-lbs. One thing I am not sure of is if this figures are for a handgun or rifle, the software does not distinguish. So any input is very welcome.

razadp

That muzzle velocity looks like rifle data.
From your revolver most likely 1350-1400 fps.

A lot of people with scoped revolvers have kills to 150 yards with .44 mag. The limit is what you can hit reliably. For me with open sights revolver thats 50 yards.

Aaronhome27

If I remember right the Minimum energy needed to humanely take a whitetail is 900 ft-lbs of energy at impact. You should set your maximum range for the cartridge to that then practice working yourself up to that. I use a 454 casull that has a range much further than I can consistently shoot. I can consistently shoot 100 yards with it but over that I am not confident that I can consistently make a good shot. The cartridge is capable of over 2X that for effective killing range. A good calculator for energy to determine the effective range of the cartridge you are using can be found on the link below. Good luck and happy hunting.

Handloads.Com Ballistic Calculator

geoman458

Thanks guys for all your replys.

Aaron that is exactly what I was looking for.

Razadp when I looked in my Hornady reloading manual I found tables for the 44 mag, 1 table was for a Ruger Redhawk with a 7 1/2" bbl and the other was for a TC Contender with a 14" bbl. The Redhawk values were what you stated, the Contender had the same values that the balistics software produced.

Tracer

I loaded my Smith & Wesson model 29 with 8 inch barrel at a velocity of 1000fps with hardcast bullets and jackedted bullets went along at 1300fps. I killed a couple of doe's at just under 100 yards with this pistol and an 8 pointer at 60 yards. This pistol with jacketed bullets shot very flat out to 100 yards with a 240 grain hollow cavity bullet by Sierra.

Aaronhome27

I stand corrected ....... the correct minimum was 900 ft-lbs of energy per the recommendation of the Pennsylvania DNR. In my situation my bullet falls to 900 ft/lbs of energy once it reaches about 275 yards. I can only manage a proper shot at 100 yards so although my bullet is capable of 275 yards with the proper energy I am only good for 100 yards.