Deer are running from place to place but this one stopped up behind me in the thick stuff. She was about 50 yards, I had to twist way to my right and lean out to clear a tree. I knew she was hit hard when she ran off because her tail was wagging hard. She made about 25 yards.
I used the .44 with my 330 gr WLN cast of water dropped WW metal, Felix lube, Fed 150 primer and 21 gr of 296.
The hole in her chest is the exit.

Nice one. And I know you can shoot much farther, but in my world a one shot kill at 50 yds with any handgun is always something to be proud of.

Nice work, bfrshooter!!

beautiful and nice shooting

good shooting special on that doe it makes me feel better bout the little one i shot

nice work ,i loved hunting deer in pennsylvania in 2004 .Ilove handgun hunting but here hogs are the most prolific big game.

quote:

Posted 07 December 2010 01:22 Hide Post
good shooting special on that doe it makes me feel better bout the little one i shot jumping

We shoot anything! I still see some very big doe but they are in front yards, etc, not where we can shoot.
Many larger ones are shot off too.
I prefer cutting up smaller deer too and they taste better. Lamb chops are better then mutton.

Amen to that!

Good job on the deer. A lot more need to be thinned out. Things sure have changed since I was born in Shepherdstown. The first deer season in Jefferson County was the 1956 season. Eleven bucks were killed. Now those rats are everywhere.

I shot no. 5 this afternoon with the .44, small doe. I was sitting on a cushion under a tree for about 1 minute when she ran up and looked at me. There were a lot of weeds in the way but she is now hanging.

Question for bfrshooter - if you were not handloading for that .44 and had to use factory loads, what would be your top several (three maybe) picks for the type of deer hunting you usually do? That's deer, not the bigger stuff..

I would use the Hornady 300 gr XTP loads.
I have never shot any of the others. Since I shoot only cast I have no idea what the other bullets do.
Even though deer are smaller don't go light, fast or quick opening.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
I would use the Hornady 300 gr XTP loads.
I have never shot any of the others. Since I shoot only cast I have no idea what the other bullets do.
Even though deer are smaller don't go light, fast or quick opening.

Congrats on deer number five, bfrshooter!

Yeah that 300 grain Hornady load is a good one. It proved very accurate out of the revolvers we tested it in.

Do you have some reasons for preferring the 300 XTP over the 240 for deer only? That is, why not faster opening on a lightly built target (we've got some pretty small deer)?

In Hornady off-the-shelf factory loads the 240 runs at 1350, which is the lower end of what I call warm factory loadings. I've used them with success on deer. One shot kills. Complete two side penetration. But granted, they were neck, sideways or quartering rib shots rather than shoulder shots. I avoid shoulders for meat damage reasons.

The one you have pictured is in size right about half way between the last two I took with the factory 240 XTP. They were in the same morning. One was a little smaller, the other a bit larger. Both were classic "bang flop" with that particular ready-to-run setup.

Btw, this is totally aside, but I strongly suspect there would be fewer incidents of lack of two side penetration and cases of deer running aways before dropping if in factory loads more hunters would get the hotter, higher velocity loadings. For instance, the standard deal for most in a 240 factory is 1180 fps. That's way below what the Hornady, Speer and Cor-Bon perform at.

Personally I'm just not a fan of light bullets. I have seen too many fail to produce a second hole in game, and I like two holes.

quote:

Originally posted by Whitworth:
Personally I'm just not a fan of light bullets. I have seen too many fail to produce a second hole in game, and I like two holes.

Do you mean an exit, or do you shoot them twice?

Well, if I shoot them twice, that would make for FOUR holes -- afterall, I use hardcast, flat-nosed bullets.

BFRshooter, Congrats to your 4th and 5th deer this year...

Make it six, I shot a large doe this afternoon at almost 100 yards. Last day of doe season.
I can quit now, I have two in the freezer and everyone else has meat.

Here she is.

Dang, another! Congratulations!

guess i was hunting in wrong location next year might have to go south i only got the 1 little doe all gun season hopefully muzzleloading season goes better