What is the effective range of a .44 mag?

Question

This would be shot from a lever-action cowboy rifle. I think this is mainly a pistol round, and I was wondering what its range was on a rifle? I heard that some individuals can hit targets hundreds of yards away even with a pistol is this true?

Answer 1

I seem to recall an Elmer Kieth story of his finishing a wounded mule deer at about 600 yards with a revolver.
For us mere mortals, shooting unwounded game, the range is somewhat less. When I was a youth, I killed a few deer with a rebarreled 92 Winchester in the range of 75 to 100 yards, and being not a great pistol shot I try to keep my handgun shots to about half that.

Answer 2

The range can be fairly long, say hundreds of yards, however, the maximum effective range is within 150 yards. This is how far away you can reasonably expect to harvest game with it. For the revolver I would say it is under 100 yards max.

Addendum for William B's benefit:

If you hold a .44 Mag (revolver, carbine or rifle) at a 45 degree angle and fire it, you can 'lob' the round a good distance, say several hundred yards. Can you kill anything at that distance? Who knows? I wouldn't want to be standing at ground zero when the bullet makes ground fall. A 240 grain .44 Magnum round at 200 yards is still exceeding a velocity of 1,000 fps with more than 600 ft./lbs. of energy. Consider that both the 9mm & .38 Special kill at slower velocity & much lower energy than this. The deer you said just flinched after being shot with a .44 Mag at fifty yards, you should have looked for it. It probably dropped dead just out of sight.

Best.

H

Answer 3

I shoot at an outdoor gun range all the time. I sometimes use my Henry 44 mag. At 50, 100 or 200 yards it's great. Any further like the 300 it's bad. Aiming 4 feet above a target and it wouldn't even come close because of the drop in the bullet. Shot a hog last year with it using a 180 grain bullet and blew a hole clean thru it at about 60 yards. Anything further than 150 yds. and I would switch to a bigger gun.

Answer 4

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RE:
What is the effective range of a .44 mag?
This would be shot from a lever-action cowboy rifle. I think this is mainly a pistol round, and I was wondering what its range was on a rifle? I heard that some individuals can hit targets hundreds of yards away even with a pistol is this true?

Answer 5

Effective range means two things. In use one can not exceed the other. First is how far the caliber will effectively humanely harvest game. The second is how far you are effective with firearm accurately.

About 100 yrds for the rifle in 44 mag is the humane effective range on deer size game. If your effective accurate range is only 75 yrds then that is the effective range.

The least distance for either is the farthest distance.

Answer 6

Try shooting paper and see how far you can hit a 8" paper plate. That would be the maximum range. If you shoot decent, I would assume about 100 yds. If you are a great shot and have ammo that is great for your particular handgun, I would guess about 150 yds or so. Each firearm is different as to how particular ammo performs in it. You can have two identical firearms and one might like a particular ammo and the other not shoot well with it. I would use what ever ammo you are currently using and put a paper plate at a distance and shoot at it. I would start at about 30 yds. If you hit it every shot, move it out to 50 yds. Repeat until you miss the plate. The would be your maximum distance. If you don't think it is far enough, practice some more or try a different brand/weight/bullet design and see if it works any better.

Answer 7

With a pistol, I'm not so sure, but I'm not going to say it's impossible. From a lever-gun, you probably could reach out and hit something to about 500 yards, but it'd take a scope with a good deal of elevation adjustment, or a taller tang peep sight. It's probably not going to be sub minute of angle, and depending on the rifle and it's condition, it might not be close to that. At that range you're not going to have a lot of energy left, and might not be able to ethically take a deer even if you could get a good hit.

Your best bet is to take it to the range, and work your way out to see how far you're comfortable shooting with it, and still being able to put down effective shots.

Answer 8

44 Magnum Range

Answer 9

The rifle will give it more velocity, but the effective range in the way of power is still about 75-100 yds .

Answer 10

I have a Ruger Super Redhawk in .44mag 7.5" barrel, with a 2 power scope that consistently shoots 4-6" groups at 100 yds. Plenty accurate and powerful enough to put whitetails down. It is sighted in at 1" high at 75. I have a friend that has the same set up and has put down deer at125yds more than once. It depends on your ability.