Best deer bullet for the Ruger 44 carbine?

Dultimatpredator

Dultimatpredator

Well-known member
Just picked up a near mint 44 carbine and have been doing some reading on bullet choices. I wanted to load up some 225g hornady FTX' s but after hearing mixed results and bad reviews of cup and core separation along with no blood trails and tons of tracking turned me off. From what I understand the Ruger carbines cycle the most reliable with 240g bullets. I wanted to try 240 grain Speer deep curls in either HP or FP but there aren't any to be had. Anyone have any recommendations and experience in what bullet weights fly the most consistent and cycle reliable out of the Ruger carbine and which work best on whitetail?
 
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I've never had any jacket separation with 225grn FTX's.

The 240XTP has fed well and shot well for every rifle I've ever loaded it. Not to mention it's relatively inexpensive, and available pretty much everywhere which sells reloading components.
 
ive got a 44mag carbine and shoot 240gr xtp, 24gr imr 4227 with a good crimp and she shoots 3 shots in a half dollar at 50-75 yards. I shot a deer last year with 300gr ftx in 45-70 and wasn't impressed.
 
+1 as varminterror said. The 240 xtp is a great round and can be found every where and shoots very well
 
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Choose a bullet designed for rifle velocities. Many .44 magnum bullets will be designed for handgun velocity and if pushed to higher velocity from a rifle or muzzleloader they'll fragment and give poor and inadequate penetration. A few years ago I popped a young buck on the shoulder with a standard 250 gr. XTP handgun bullet from a muzzleloader with sabot. The velocity from my load was a bit over 1,800 fps and the range about 90 yards. Buck ran like his tail was on fire and I actually got lucky in that he ran quartering toward me. I finished him with my Glock 10mm and a 200 gr. XTP fired at 1,250 fps at about 30 yards. The muzzleloader wound looked like I shot the buck with a .410 shotgun load of #6's. Shredded muscle tissue, no bone breakage and incomplete penetration into the chest cavity. The 10mm broke ribs and penetrated completely and was impressive. Later research showed the velocity threshold for the .45 caliber standard XTP to be about 1,400 fps on the top end. I was pushing that bullet nearly 450 fps faster than it was designed for. Hornady has a line of XTP Magnum bullets that are better suited to rifle velocity than their standard pistol line up. Rifle and muzzleloader hunters need to research their bullet choice based on velocity thresholds.
 
GC - the 250 XTP you blew up was a 45cal, right?

The 250grn 45cal XTP is designed to expand between 800 and 1600fps, whereas the 240grn 44cal XTP is designed for 800-1800fps. As you experienced, 1600 is pretty generous for this bullet.

XTPVelocities.jpg


It's pretty common to see problems running the handgun-designed 45 XTP's in rifles - AND a driver for why Hornady produces 45cal XTP and XTP-Mag's in 45cal. Same issue you might see running the 44cal 180grn XTP in a rifle (and to a lesser extent the 200grn), but not typically the 240 or 300.
 
When I use my ruger 96/44 it love the blazer 240jhp . It has accounted for a couple dozen deer from 15 yards out to about 100. Most drt. I would not be ashamed to take this combo on a black bear hunt.
 
I have been running 240gn cast SWC at a sluggish 900fps through Rugers with a suppressor. They will go through even the biggest deer "the long way". Haven't had one get away yet.
 
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