Hunting with the .44 magnum handgun
Pat Cascio 06.26.13
Finally, there’s a 340-gr LFN gas checked round that moves along at 1,478 FPS with a muzzle energy of 1,699 foot pounds of knock-down power. This is a +P+ load, again, and it’s only for steel guns and certain handguns, like the Ruger Redhawk — check the Buffalo Bore website for a list of guns that this round can be used in. I’ve shot it through a Ruger Redhawk, and I’m here to tell you, it will wake you up — you know you have some serious power in your hands.
I’ve tested this particular load over and over again, firing it into numerous lined-up water-filled one gallon milk jugs — it just shoots clear through them. I’ve yet to recover one of these heavy bullets. I’ve fired this round into the dirt and dug and dug and never recovered one of these bullets. This is “the” load you want for large/dangerous game, where penetration is key. You don’t have to depend on expansion with this load, because it is meant for deep, deep penetration on dangerous/big game.
Ultimately, for most medium-sized game, I’d have no problem with either of the Black Hills .44 Mag loads. But for bigger and more dangerous game, I’d have to consider the game, and then match the load to the game, and this is where Buffalo Bore’s wide selection of .44 Mag loads comes in. I wouldn’t choose the Buffalo Bore “Deer Grenade” if I were going after black or the big brown bears, nor would I choose the Black Hills 240-gr JHP or their 300-gr JHP loads — while they will expand, they aren’t going to give you the deep penetration you need to anchor dangerous and big game animals.
If I loaded-up a .44 Mag for self-defense, against two-legged critters, I wouldn’t pick the Buffalo Bore 340-gr LFN gas checked round – it penetrates too much, when you need a lighter bullet, a JHP bullet, that expands more, rather than penetrating deeply. You have to match the load to the game or the job you expect it to do.
We won’t even touch on the outstanding .44 Special loads – that are great for self-defense and some hunting applications — again, you have to match the ammo to the intended purpose, and once again, my deer friend, John Taffin, comes to the rescue, with his book “The Book Of The .44.” If anyone knows more about the .44s I’d like to know who is it. In my opinion, Taffin has written the book to own if you are into the .44 Mag and .44 Special.
Choosing your handgun
In the past, I’ve hunted with a 4″ or 6″ barrel S&W Model 29 revolver. This .44 Mag pistol is a good gun, but for shooting heavy loads I prefer my Ruger new model, stainless steel, Blackhawk single-action revolver. I like the trigger pull, and I know the gun can stand-up to a lot of very heavy .44 Mag loads through it without coming loose. I can be found carrying it in a custom-made Western-style holster that my friend John Taffin made. The barrel on this gun is 4.62″ long, and that’s a good compromise between a 4″ barrel and a long 6″ barrel. I know a lot of handgun hunters use much longer barreled handguns for hunting, but I don’t.
I also like handgun hunting with the Ruger Redhawk, because it can handle the aforementioned 340-gr LFN gas check round. Many .44 Mag handguns won’t handle that round, nor will it even chamber in those guns; this round is for very serious big game hunting. I’m told this round can easily shoot through a large elk, going north to south, and shoot clean through it. If I were using a .44 Mag for hunting the big brown bears, this is the load I would have loaded in my handgun.
The Black Hills Ammunition 240-gr JHP and 300-gr JHP loads are a joy to shoot in just about any .44 Mag handgun, and as I mentioned, I wouldn’t hesitate to take medium-sized deer with either one of these loads. I’ve fired them in the Taurus Ultra-Lite .44 Mag revolvers, and even in that light-weight handgun, they weren’t bad in the recoil department. I’ve fired a few of the Buffalo Bore loads in the Ultra-Lite, and they were not fun — recoil was heavy! I’ve also fired thousands of the Black Hills .44 Mag loads through various S&W Model 29 revolvers and have had no problems at all; the Model 29 seems to really like these loads a lot — very accurate!
In the past, I used to say if I were limited to only one handgun for the rest of my life — for survival, hunting or self-defense, it would be the .357 Mag revolver with a 4″ barrel and an all-stainless steel gun. While still a great choice, for a one and only handgun, these days, I’ll go with a .44 Mag revolver with a 4″ barrel, and preferably made out of stainless steel. While I like the Ruger New Model Blackhawk, it wouldn’t be my first choice as a self-defense handgun because it is single-action only. I like the Taurus Ultra-Lite, but it is a very large-framed handgun — hard to conceal. I’d probably go with a S&W Model 629 as my one and only handgun, although I hope it never comes down to having to make a choice of owning only one handgun for the rest of my life.
Conclusions
If you don’t remember anything else from this article, at least remember this one point: just because your handgun fires the .44 Magnum round, that doesn’t mean you can stuff it with just any ol’ .44 Mag loads. You need to do some research and test different rounds to see what works best for your hunting needs.
Handgun hunting is a lot of fun with the .44 Mag — so get out there, pick your load for the game you intend to hunt, and practice, practice, practice. And, don’t be sold on the bullet’s velocity alone — there are many things to consider when picking a .44 Mag round for handgun hunting, like penetration and expansion, and you want a bullet that stays together, too. I don’t claim to be any sort of expert when it comes to handgun hunting, but I enjoy hunting with a .44 Mag revolver when the bug bites me.
