Thanks again to all who have contributed (even you Pecos ). Pecos, the rifle isn't for Judy, she doesn't need a < 7 pound rifle. Pecos, if you read my first post, I think it should have been clear I have reservations about the ability of the 44 Rem Mag for elk (the part about HUMANE kills). That is one MAJOR reason I asked the question. Personally, I would opt for a Savage 110 (111, etc) and rebarrel to 358 Win. I am not sure if this particular shooter will be able to handle the recoil though.

ASS_CLOWN

Anyone have any experience with the effectiveness of the 44 magnum on elk? In my case it would be a rifle, but I am open to handgun experience as well.

Anyway, is it suitable/humane? Load recommendations were also be appreciated. The rifle would not be for myself, but for a smaller/weaker hunter who benefits from both the lighter weight and lower recoil.

Thanks!

ASS_CLOWN

How ya doing Ass-Clown.

As long as you are at a close range, a .44 mag. will do the trick. But the hunter who is going to use the rifle must under stand the he/she should only attemp it at a range know more then 50yds., 75 yds. max this way there is enough energy to do the job at hand cleanly. I'm not saying that shooting farther isn't any good, just I personally wouldn't want to risk it. If it was me using this caliber, I would use my Ruger .44 mag. carbine. This way if need be I can give it a quick follow up shot. As for ammo, I would check around & find the largest load & reload it yourself, & then check it to see if your gun can keep the shot acurite.

Use a heavy, tough bullet and you'll have no trouble with the .44 Mag at short to modest ranges.

The .44 Mag does have some recoil even in a rifle, depending on the weight of the gun. I had an ultra-light bolt action stainless/synthetic in .44 Mag and believe it or not both my buddy and I agreed in a side by side comparison the recoil was about the same as my 7.5 lbs .450 Marlin Guide Gun with factory 350's! So it's not a pussycat to shoot necessarily, but it's a hardhitting round out of a compact carbine.

This is NOT a good idea at all and sounds like a perfect prescription for wounding a magnificant animal. What you are really proposing is sending a very "IFY" hunter out armed with a very "IFY" rifle. Dumb idea.

As for the Ruger 77/44. I had one for a year, shot it with everything, cast and jacketed and then got the hell rid of it. They look good, feel good, shoot mediocre and with all the bullets being BLUNT they quite often don't feed very well, i.e. jam...especially if you're in a hurry.

You would be better served with a 308 or even a 30/30. Put a hell of a recoil pad on them and shoot reduced loads for a bit. I wouldn't dick around with silly pistol bullets. You can shoot the plinkers or 110 gr bullets in 308. They don't kick much. Then go to the real bullet for the hunt. Never let them shoot it off a bench and they will skip 2/3 or the recoil.

Beat it into their head that they HAVE TO GET CLOSE. Better yet, hunt with them and MAKE them get close or don't shoot.

Gentlemen,

Thank you for the insight. Would a 308 Win kick less you think? I was looking at the Ruger M77/44, which is claimed to weigh ~ 5.5 lbs (which seems pretty accurate from the ones I have handled in stores). If I went the 308 (or maybe 358 Win route as I could load it with 9mm Parabellum bullets for light practice loads) the rifle would weigh in around 6.75 lbs. Regardless, the shooter in question doesn't like scopes, believe it or not, so irons are the order of the day and ranges would be less than 100 yards for sure.

Again thanks for sharing.

ASS_CLOWN

My uncle uses a ruger 77/44 for deer. He has to shoot right handed but must use his left eye to sight with. He uses high scope rings and plants his cheek firmly on the stock to see through the scope. Even with 300 gr. loads recoil is not a problem for him. He had a 30/06 set up the same way but the recoil would "modify" his glasses at each shot. He likes the Ruger better than his custom .308 Rem. 742 he had built with a cross over stock. I've shot his 77/44 and find its recoil to be much less than my /06.

458Ruger#1

Your right about some felt recoil. Believe it or not, I feel more recoil out of my ruger carbine then I do from my T/C Contender pistol, with super 14" bbl. & scoped out. I use a D type stock/grip that I built outta laminated wood on it. Amazing at how much of the recoil is absorbed in this pistol

445 supermag.

I have to agree with ya on this. It's isn't wrong that others don't agree about the .44 mags. It is just that they may be unformiliar with such weapons for hunting. Fact is, if a person is unformiliar with a certant weapon, it is better that they don't use them.This in it self will be the cause of only wounding an animal.
The.44 mag. is a great round not only for elk, but has even taken several bear in the past as well. The reason I mentioned earlier in this thread about re-loading you round for this animal, is because you can increase the load for your needs & still fall under the max load.

I am going to have a major bone to pick here. Well really I will have to stick up for us handgun hunters. The 44 mag with a good 300 gr hardcast bullet with a nice big meplat launched at 1350fps from a handgun will cleanly blow through any elk shoulders and kill extremely well up to 100 yards and a bit more. When the 44 mag is in the rifle its just more of a good thing. We can extend the range a bit with higher velocities. Some of these guys need to hang out in handgun hunting forums and see what us handgun hunters can really do.

Nothing is out of our reach (as regarding animals) with using handguns. I am especially fond of revolvers and my 445 supermag Dan Wesson.

Yup I am biased about this, very biased to say the least.

Brian

AC, I definitely would not use a .44 Mag on elk. I know of several people that in the past have used them for deer in Maine(big deer) and they won't rliably kill a 250 lb+ deer!!! Those gentlemen have switched to .338 Mags, both of them. I also have another friend that traded in his Ruger carbine, too iffy even on small Connecticut deer. I think to get the magic 1000 ft lb of energy figure, you need to be around fifty yards. For elk, you need about twice as much enrgy to reliably kill them. That pretty much totally leaves out a 44 mag that can't even generate that much energy at the muzzle. Now my .454 Casull lever action, that's a different story!! Only problem is, it kicks much, much more than my .338 mag, .300 Ultra, ...you get the picture.

bowhuntr

Pecos,

Point duly noted. Thanks again. Actually, I am really leaning toward the 308 Win.

ASS_CLOWN