Folks, I just got access to a honey hole for whitetail. It's a 12 acre thicket adjoining a State Park, and hasn't been hunted in 2 years.
Shot's are going to be in bow range,so I think I'll just take the Model 29 with me. I found 100 rounds of UMC Remington 44 Remington Magnum 180 Grain Jacketed Soft Point ammo cheaper than I could buy the brass. It's pushing the 180 gr JSP just over 1000 fps. The bullet is acutally a Truncated Cone, with the lead forming the flat point of the bullet, and the rest of the bullet is jacketed.

The pistol loves the round,but I'm not 100% sure on shot placement on a deer. Every 44mag handgun bullet I have pulled out of a deer mushroomed to prefection.

My question is, should I take a vital area shot, or the normal shoulder shot. I'm not sure that 180grs at 1000 fps will have enough punch to break a shoulder.

Have any of you tried this ammo?

I think you should be OK. The velocity is not great enough to over expand the bullet. I for one, do not like light bullets in the .44. I use hard cast 320 and 330 gr boolits with a large meplat. I shot several deer with the Hornady 240 XTP and even though they did a great job, I had no exit holes. I want 2 holes with revolvers in case I have to track one. A good blood trail is very important even if you watch almost every deer fall. Sometime one will run out of sight. I consider the revolver like an arrow, a large hole on both sides and lots of blood on the ground.

Ditto.......

I know folks will say that deer aren't that hard to kill, but I consider the 240 grainer light......penetration from any and every angle is my desire -- heavy cast LFNs or WFNs.......

Maybe I've got a different type of UMC 180gr load, but Remington lists that load at @1,610fps from a 4" barrel. I know that out of my Mountain Gun it's quite destructive on gallon jugs full of water, but the bullet is usually shredded!

Remington .44 Mag ballistics

I'll usually use a 240gr or 320gr lswc for deer.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sonny Burnett:

"...should I take a vital area shot, or the normal shoulder shot..."

Sorry Im newbie, where is the differences in a vital area or a normal shoulder shot in a Deer ?

I was really convinced that a vital area is a baseball size circle on the chest cavity that include both shoulder, lungs, arteries and the heart in the low end (upon the sternum bone), other vital areas the more difficults are NCS shots (Head,Neck and Spine) Share Please !!!Thanks

I would limit my shot to the heart/lung shot which covers roughly a pie plate directly behind the shoulder. I always try to "tuck" the bullet into the armpit right behind the shoulder bone as to not hit it and I get a good pass through from my shots. Also the 180 will work but I would bump up to a 210 grain bullet or the standard 240 grain load for a 44 mag. I know of some that hunt with 44 special loads using the 210 and they are quite successful. Find online the anatomy of a deer and go for the lung/heart shot. Esox357.

I would expect that load to do just great on a deer. Regardless of bullet used I always go for the heart lung area preferablely missing bones.

good info people. I don't rembember where I got that 1031 FPS info. I'm used to shooting 200gr or 230gr Hornady XTP, and those 180gr loads feel every bit as stout as my 240 gr handloads, using 16.7 grs of Blue Dot.

I have pretty much moved on from the XTP. I had just the opposite results, they punched right through every deer I every shot. I was shooting XTP handgun bullets with a sabot in a black powder rifle. I started with a Thompson Hawkin, and with 80 grs of Pydrodex, I double lunged an ancient buck that mainly used the river, because of all his old battle scars. He was 225 live weight, unheard of around here. They guessed at least 8 years old. I shot him in the river bottom, he went up the other bank, a good 10 feet high, went another 100 yards, then circled back to the river before he piled up. He had to have went 200 yards after he was shot. I moved up to a Wolverine, using 100 grs of pellets, with the same results.

I even moved up to a Knight inline, using 45cal sabot XTP's, pushed by 150 grs of pyrodex. I lost a wonderful 8 point. I shot him in the lungs, dropped him in his tracks, and before I could reload he was up and gone. We tracked him for 6 hours, still finding blood. It rained 2" that night. So much for that deer.

The last couple of deer I shot with that gun were shoulder shots. It completely dislocated both shoulders,and the deer was in no danger of death. I used the old NA 22mag to dispatch her.

I have no clue why i got no expansion. I always loaded in the middle of the recommended fps that comes in each box of XTPs.

I doubt I ever use that Knight Disk rifle again.
Even with a mussle brake, I had to put on a Simms recoil pad & a Leupold shotgun scope to keep from getting a broken nose. If I do start shooting it again, I'll play around with the Knight Red Hots, Noslers, and other bullets made to expand.

quote:

Originally posted by Guillermo Amestoy:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sonny Burnett:

"...should I take a vital area shot, or the normal shoulder shot..."

Sorry Im newbie, where is the differences in a vital area or a normal shoulder shot in a Deer ?

I was really convinced that a vital area is a baseball size circle on the chest cavity that include both shoulder, lungs, arteries and the heart in the low end (upon the sternum bone), other vital areas the more difficults are NCS shots (Head,Neck and Spine) Share Please !!!Thanks

The normal vital shot follows the line of the front leg up the deers body until your halfway between his spine & belly. That should take both lungs out, and with todays premier ammo,the violent expansion releases the energy inside of the deer. Ballitic Tips, etc normally jelly the lungs and if the bullet misses the heart, odds are the engergy will stop the heart.

I think most people grew up with bullets like the CoreLoct, that combines less expansion but retain more bullet weight. They shoulder shot is highly effective with that type ammo. It will break at least one shoulder, and probably both, anchoring the deer. They might not die quite as instantly, but they are not going to go anywhere.

The neck shot normally drops a deer in it's tracks If it hits the spine, or even close to it, the energy normally snaps the neck, kind of like being hung.

All hunters have their favorite kill shot. Until you are 100% sure you can hit the neck, I would avoid that.

If your using Core Loct or similar, I would take the shoulder shot.

If you using the highly frangible bullets, VMAX, SST, Nosler Ballistic Tip or Accubond bullets, I would take the double lung shot.

My favorite rifle through the years is a 7remmag, handloaded with 150 gr Nodler Ballistic Tips. That round is so destructive, a shoulder shot will yield you 2 shoulders worth of jerky. My go to shot is the upper rear section of the lungs. That shot usually destroys both lungs, the liver, takes out a couple vertabrae, and stops the heart. It his dropped every deer in their tracks.

Since your new, I would settle on the double lung shot. It gives you room for error. The best thing you can do is practice every possible chance you get. If your confident in your equipment and most importantly your ability, you just might get the chance to safely drop a deer that just on't give you a broadside shot. Just learn to shoot so the bullet EXITS in the kill zone.

heres an article that might ne more helpful than I am.

http://www.camo-store.com/whitetail_deer_shot_placement.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Sonny Burnett:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Guillermo Amestoy:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sonny Burnett:
]

Thanks for your advice, All my life I hunted with rifle (from wildboard, Red Stag, Bisont, Asiatic Bufalo to a lot plain games in Africa) and every time I used heavy Hi-tech bullets 180 grs and up) and never worry about enougth energy to pass the shoulder or elbow (So, that is why I asked the diferences between vital zone and shoulder shot) is a good tip regarding handgun hunting.Regards; Guillermo.