I've been a hunter for many years, but quite honestly I don't know a thing about hunting with a handgun. However, I thought it would be fun to hunt deer and smaller game in Texas with a revolver. I'm considering the Raging Bull in 44 Magnum and have several questions. If you do your own handloading, what do you find to be a great practice round and deer round? How often do the casings need to be trimmed due to shooting? Any books or video on learning how to use or reload for large revolvers would be much appreciated.
Thanks again.

Bill

Hi - it's a fun hobby!

.44 mag is a good choice. Don't know that I've ever trimmed any .44 mag brass, though.

I use the Beartooth 280gr. WFNGC, start at about 20 grains of 296 or H110 and work up to about 1300fps or whenever you hand gives up :) You can normally go up a couple grains from the starting 20gr. Use magnum pistol primers, or Winchester.

Practice - found by chance that a 'normal' (ie gun show el cheapo special) 240gr. SWC at about 1,000fps hits the same point of impact at 25 yards. This was with about 7.5gr. of AA#2 and a standard primer, some other fast-buring powder ought to give pretty much the same performance.

Oh and that was in a 7.5" barrel - you may need to adjust slightly with different guns & barrel lengths.

Shot one deer so far with that load. Impressive tissue destruction, caught one shoulder, lung, and almost split the liver in two. Ran a few yards and tipped over dead :D

I have no doubt that load with put the hurt on a big ol' ugly hog as well.

Good luck!

I trim all my brass once; for exact crimping purpose. then they can be reloaded alot. I got some mybe w/10 reloads on them. No signs of weakness or seperations or splits. Don`t load max.

I wouldn't necessarily say that you need a special book for reloading for big revolvers. Pretty much anything that is stated in the Lyman or Speer handbooks should do.

I have had positive experiences with Taurus' revolvers, although mine are all snub nose defense weapons. However, I strongly suggest you look at the Ruger Super Blackhawk. I don't know if you're interested in single action, but I sold my Super Redhawk .44 after shooting one. I've never regretted it. I've taken one deer and one hog with my SBH. Both dropped where they stood.

For reloading, I like shooting .44specials for plinking everybit as much as the full-house magnum loads. Some favorite loads are:

250gr Keith and 6.9gr Unique (.44sp)
180XTP and 6.5gr Bullseye (.44sp)
265gr RFNGC and 23gr H110 (.44mag)
240gr Nosler JFP and 24gr H110 (.44mag)

Also, it would be well worth the additional $15 to get a Wolff spring kit for whatever revolver you wind up with. The action and trigger are greatly improved with these kits!

I've often wondered if the 44 Special ammo could be used in a 44 Magnum and I've read different things. It sounds like ti would be great to practice with.
I appreciate the help.

Bill

Bill,

On a side note, be sure to clean the chambers out real good when switching from .44Special to the Mags (same for .38Special to .357Mag or .45Colt to .454Casull) since the buildup at the end of the chamber (where the shorter cartrage ends) can be sufficiant to cause a pressure spike when the case mouth cannot open fully under ignition.

I have enjoyed hunting with my handguns alot, even though I will sometimes m-m-mm-mmiiss.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob85.html
tread this article see if it helps.

thank you for taking tthe time to notify me. dan

i have a 44 mag in ruger bisley, i use 180 gr.sieras for deer, 240 for elk,bear. i suggest you practice with what you are going to hunt with. i don't mess with the 44sp, i load them for my wife to shoot. have not had any need to trim cases, i don't load max in anything 270wsm. 340wby, start low work up. enjoy, be safe.

Somewhere between 8.0 and 10.0 grains of Unique will give a good practice 44 mag load with a 240/250 grain cast bullet in mag cases. Probably any full speed 44 mag load with hunting bullets should work for deer.

ruger super redhawk,240gr xtp 24grs h110
shoots pretty good out of the srh.
had some some decent patterns with 296 and lil gun yesterday. good cast 15-16 grs. b lue dot
240 cast.

I hunted deer with a 44 mag hand gun. I use cast 320g bullets at moderate velocities. Great results.

We also took a lot of deer with 240g jsp out of a Marlin 1894, and a few with 300g jacketed out of the hand gun.

If you reload you can load back to special velocities using the mag brass so no need for special brass. That way you don't have the special ring in the cylinder.

I have hunted deer with my SBH but never killed one. I am sorry to say I have wounded two. Not something I like to talk about. I have shot a rabbit at aout 25 yds. Used a fun load I like with the 220 gr FPJ sierra.