44-40 cast VS JSP

[walks with gun]

I've got a old Rossi m92 I picked up back in the late 80's and very happy with the accuracy of this gun, but have never seriously hunted deer with it, I've used it to put down deer I've tracked for people and have always used 200gr. cat bullets with if I remember correctly 8grs. of Unique. If I wanted to use it for larger deer 150-200lbs. or protection against black bear, would I be better off with a JSP bullet instead of cast. I've been told many JHP bullets when fired from a carbine, expand to fast and pretty much blow up so I was thinking about ordering some Remington 200gr. soft points for this, or should I just stay with the cast bullets. Either way, I'l probably increase my powder charge but thought with a jacketed bullet, it would be easier to keep them separate from general plinking, small game loads. Would appreciate your thoughts.

[KirkD]

I've shot a couple of Whitetail deer of around 200 pounds live weight, with a 44-40, both with cast bullets. I don't see any need for JSP. I cast my own from pure clip on wheel weights. You can expect your 200 grain bullet to go right through, side-to-side on a 200 pounds deer.

[AJMD429]

A good hard-cast bullet will go through a critter, even bone, better than many jacketed bullets.

The 'premium' performance jacketed bullets can do as well, or better yet, expand a bit and still go all the way through, but most ordinary jacketed bullets seem to have softer lead so don't do that well if they hit anything substantial.

A solid brass bullet might penetrate better than a hard-cast, but I'd count on a hard-cast for anything on this continent, if backed up with the right powder charge.

[ollogger]

with my 44-40 I get way more penetration with a 200 cast vs a 200 Hornady h.p. bullet
both are max charges of Unique or 2400, but I found I really like the 240 gr. cast bullet in
Keith style with a max charge of RL7 for around 1300 fps, have not shot any game with that
bullet but some day I will, that separates the plinker loads with the 200 gr nicely


Brad

[Grizz]

Brad's load with the 240 grain bullet is right there at 44 mag performance. I think that or the 200s are very good hunting loads. I tend toward hard cast so that bone doesn't deform the bullet, but that's a me-thing.

I never use hollow points on meat.

[M. M. Wright]

I've used both and dead is just dead on whitetail. For Mister Bear I'd want the cast bullet for sure penetration. I recovered a 200 grain XTP from about a 180 pound live weight buck that I shot quartering away from me. Went in about the flank and hung under the hide on the off front shoulder. Perfect mushroom. This was from a 92 in 44-40 that I loaded with 296, won't say how much but I am very careful to keep them out of my Colt SAAs. Yeah, it was a mess to clean.

[buckeyeshooter]

I have used 10 grains of unique and a 200 grain xtp to take deer in 44-40. I would not shoot this load in my uberti 1866 but it works great in my japchester 92 Winchester.

[GunnyMack]

I recently spoke with Nosler,Sierra and Hornady.
Load I worked up for my 41 out of my Big Boy has 210's at about 1800. Both Nosler and Sierra say that velocity range is kosher, Hornady says thats too fast. so the XTPs are for my Blackhawk.