Thread: 44 mag bush rifle

Originally Posted by Friwi

I had mixed experience on the few animals I shot, notably one deer shot at 15m , unspooked ( so no stress or adrenaline ) , 2 first rounds in the boiler room did not put It down, i had to stalk it again to finish it with two more rounds. It was shot with 240 gr factory xtp from a ruger 77/44.
As to the writings of Elmer keith regarding the 44 mags and its performances at long range, deer were not always dropping at the first shot and i suspect quite a few were escaping with non mortal wounds. When you see the banana trajectory of a 44 mag bullet at 250 yrds, he was still a great shot with a handgun nevertheless .

Fair call. at least you've tried. Big slowish bullets make a big hole but not that massive trauma that a new fast jobby would do. Bit like the old FMJ 303's. neat hole in and out. Did you find the projectiles at all and if so did they mushroom much?