44 Magnum ammo for Rifle???

[xcutter]

Here in Indiana we are legal to hunt with the 44 magnum round in a rifle or handgun. Does anyone have a recommendation for ammo? I have only used the Walmart ammo. So Winchester soft lead point 220 grain, American Eagle, and Hornady 240 grain hand gun ammo. My gun is a H&R single shot handi rifle.

Seems like the Hornady shoots the best for me but is also the most expensive.

Thanks in advance for everyone's comments.

 

[Bearlodge10]

Xcutter,
First I only have a 44 mag in a revolver so I am limited in the round in a rifle platform... Anyway

If you don't hand load you might have found the best, especially if they shoot well out of your gun. For what its worth, I have tried the Fusion's (240) out of my Ruger Super Redhawk and they did pretty well. I have a buddy who tried the Hornady Flex tips (225 Gr???) in his levergun and they had a lot more muzzle blast and that they didn't perform as well as the jacketed soft points on the deer and antelope he shot. When I was first shooting mine I bought winchester white box and they were the dirtiest things I have ever shot, the American eagle aren't much better. The Fusions seemed to be cleaner and also grouped better. Since then I have been reloading and found a sweet spot with 2400 powder and the Hornady 200 grain bullets.
If you have a chance I would suggest looking for a little lighter bullet to try, Say a 180 grain federal or remington. Idea here would be to see if your rifle grouped these any better. They might give you a little more range, but you will give up a little energy as well. Could go heavier too, but unless you are in bear country I think the sweet spot is 200-240 grains for the .44
just my .02
Bearlodge

 

[mtluckydan]

I've shot quite a few deer with 44 mag rounds out of a muzzleloader with sabots. The soft points work way better than hollow points. With the low velocity rounds, you usually get two holes with soft points rather than one hole and poor performance with hollow points. I have also seen many deer shot with 44 mag rifles - both rugers and winchesters. Again, the soft points work better. The round tends to follow bones rather than break bones so shot angle is more important than with a high velocity round. I would try to find loads that use the nosler 240 grain bullet - someone has to be loading this round. I have used them on many deer and they perform very well.

 

[oldgoat]

https://www.impactguns.com/winchest...-grain-hollow-point-s44pthp-020892213821.aspx
check these out from Winchester, much higher velocity than most of there other offerings. Probably expensive, but it's a hunting round not a plinking round! The page I linked says 1250fps but the Winchester sight says it's north of 1800fps if I read it right!

 

[MLN02]

check out buffalo bore ammo