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Deer Hunting with the .44 WCF
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February 22, 2018 - 4:51 pm
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Oldgrayguns said
This is at topic near and “deer” to my heart. I have killed many deer and antelope with 44 and 38 1892s. Current factory stuff is pretty wimpy. I did kill an antelope with black hills factory 44/40 factory lead. Bullet went in and out of the chest cavity on a broad side shot at 80 yards. It traveled about 100 yards before falling dead.

After that i loaded black powder useing fff swiss. Big difference. Better velocity and hit much harder. Killed 2 antelope and one whitetail with this ammo.  All three were at just over 100 yards and fell within a few yards.

I now shoot handloads using horady xtp jacketed bullets.  Have killed 4 deer and 6 antelope with these loads. They are very effective and accurate.  They are loaded to moderate pressure still generate good velocity without having to worry about hurting a nice old 92.  Pressure is low enough that brass lasts a long long time.

I suspect that dominion brass is seperating due to pressure rather than poor quality.  

Micheal,

Yes you have my 92s in you survey.  Do you have a survey going on 61s? if so I have a couple to add.

You are correct regarding dumping the BH and sticking to Remington or Winchester for Factory.

I do feel the next step and it is a pretty big next step is a good quality handload that is safe for the gun is good to try.  

From my experience keeping distances on the short side and good shot placement make the 44s and the 38s pretty effective deer guns.  Penetration has never been a problem and breaking at least one shoulder sure helps.

Dominc 

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February 22, 2018 - 5:14 pm
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My feeling is that if I can kill deer and hogs with my bow and arrows it should be a piece of cake with a 38 or 44 WCF round traveling at 1200fps.  YES!!!  The key is shot placement.  For either choice.  This is a very cool “one in a million” game camera photo from my ranch.  I was walking in to hunt late one afternoon and as  I was creeping along the trail I noticed a hog under the bucket feeder.   I had to stop and knock and arrow into the bow and then find a hole in the brush that I could shoot through.  If you enlarge the image and look just above the right ear of the boar you can see me standing with the bow at full draw just before I released the arrow.  40 yards later he fell over!  Timing and shot placement is everything!

Michael

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February 22, 2018 - 6:11 pm
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Oldgrayguns said

Micheal,

Yes you have my 92s in you survey.  Do you have a survey going on 61s? if so I have a couple to add.

You are correct regarding dumping the BH and sticking to Remington or Winchester for Factory.

I do feel the next step and it is a pretty big next step is a good quality handload that is safe for the gun is good to try.  

From my experience keeping distances on the short side and good shot placement make the 44s and the 38s pretty effective deer guns.  Penetration has never been a problem and breaking at least one shoulder sure helps.

Dominc   

Dominic,

Yes I am most certainly working on the 61’s still.  If you want shoot me an email with the info.  [email protected]

Michael

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March 11, 2018 - 4:00 am
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Today I was able to shoot Buffalo Bore’s 44-40-200-HC factory load. For comparison, I also shot Winchester’s Super-X and Magtech’s advertised 1,180fps 44-40A Sporting loads as well as my handloads.

ALL 100 YARDS. Temp 45deg, cloudy and humid, no wind.

Rifle, 24″ Marlin 1894CB with a scope, bench rest

Here are the results
WARNING: My handloads are for information purposes only

#177 – Magtech Box 44-40A, Avg. 975fps with 3 1/2″ Group, ES 77
#178 – Winchester Super-X, Avg. 1,055fps with 4 1/8″ Group, ES 41
#179 – Winchester 200gr JSP/27.5gr RL-7, Avg. 1,436fps, ES 48, 1/34′ to 3 3/4″ Group….est pressure 16,754psi CIP
#180 – Laser Cast 200gr Hard Cast/28gr RL-7, Avg. 1,500fps, ES 45, 2″ Group….est pressure 19,000psi CIP….approx 14,000psi SAAMI
#181 – Buffalo Bore’s 44-40-200-HC Factory Ammo, Avg. 1,336fps, ES 29, 1 1/4″ to 2 1/4″ Group….pressure claims to be below 11,000psi SAAMI
#182 – Sierra 210gr JSHP/26gr RL-7, Avg. 1,382fps, ES 53, 1 3/4″ Group…..est pressure 18,000psi CIP…approx 13,000PSI SAAMI

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44-40 Range Report, 10 March 2018

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March 11, 2018 - 3:28 pm
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That Buffalo Bore ammo looks pretty outstanding. I know they use good components but apparently they know how to put them together as well. Any suspicions about what powder they’re using?

 

Mike

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March 11, 2018 - 4:03 pm
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TXGunNut said
That Buffalo Bore ammo looks pretty outstanding. I know they use good components but apparently they know how to put them together as well. Any suspicions about what powder they’re using?

 

Mike  

I did dissect one and they use about 10.3-10.5gr of a pistol powder. They claim the trick was to use a hard cast bullet that slides down the bore with less resistance than a jacketed bullet or even a soft lead bullet. Soft lead will expand and create more pressure as well as jacketed bullets have more resistance and cause an increase in pressure that may push the pressures over SAAMI max. They also note that using these in barrels with smaller bores, smaller than I think .429, may cause resistance and increase pressures.

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December 1, 2019 - 2:33 pm
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hey fellas, if interested the website link in my signature has been updated. There is a new sight, still with tons of information of the 44-40.

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December 1, 2019 - 4:57 pm
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I have not taken any game with the .44-40, but I did take a 9 1/2′ brown bear with my model 71 in .348. He took 7 rounds at 25 paces. Each one knocked him down but he bounced right back up. (well except for the last one)  The 71 only holds 5 so you might try to visualize a tactical reload going on. It was quite exciting.

Shoot low boys. They're riding Shetland Ponies.

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December 1, 2019 - 10:20 pm
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Old Logger said
I have not taken any game with the .44-40, but I did take a 9 1/2′ brown bear with my model 71 in .348. He took 7 rounds at 25 paces. Each one knocked him down but he bounced right back up. (well except for the last one)  The 71 only holds 5 so you might try to visualize a tactical reload going on. It was quite exciting.  

I’ll bet it was at 25 yds, but not too great an endorsement for the .348.

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December 1, 2019 - 11:11 pm
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This one got 44-40’d a couple years ago. Soft lead 200 grain cast out of an old Winchester mold, pushed by IMR 4227. Double lunged and went about 60 yards. The really nice thing with these low velocity shells is no blood shot meat, you can eat right up to the hole!  That old 92 in the pic. made the trip across the pond and back. British proofed.  That same spot right now has 2 feet of *&%^*#$ snow on it. Pic was taken 11/22/17

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Erin

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February 4, 2021 - 3:15 am
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Yes, but that Black Hills brass is BEAUTIFUL!

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February 5, 2021 - 7:34 am
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Kirk Durston said

FromTheWoods said

Five Blacktails that I can remember without going to my notes have been taken with a .38 WCF 1873 with factory loads

There were High Velocity factory loads and then the normal factory loads. Do you recall what yours were?  

I didn’t notice this had gone unanswered….

 

The factory loads were Normal.  The rifle was manufactured in 1885, so the High Velocity would not have been appropriate to shoot…pressure dangers.

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February 10, 2021 - 11:53 pm
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Old Logger said
I have not taken any game with the .44-40, but I did take a 9 1/2′ brown bear with my model 71 in .348. He took 7 rounds at 25 paces. Each one knocked him down but he bounced right back up. (well except for the last one)  The 71 only holds 5 so you might try to visualize a tactical reload going on. It was quite exciting.  

Now that does sound exciting.  Thanks for sharing.  

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