Reeder Custom Guns - Ok. Some handgun hunting related stuff

As the Labor Day weekend is approaching black bear season is around the corner.

I have been shooting the Ruger Redhawk Hunter that Gary had refurbished and put the gun fighter grip on. Wow is that thing comfortable to shoot.

I am very confident in taking a nice black bear with it.

Now. What is your go to bullet for the 44 magnum?

Right now I have a max load with a 240 grain Speer Deep Curl bullet. I cannot recall off hand what it did over the screens but the load is quite accurate.

I shot some out of my Super 16 Contender the other day. Too bad I can't use it for bear in Massachusetts but I can in other states.

So again what is your go to bullet for the 44 magnum and thank you for all of the replies.

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240 -255 gr. hard cast.

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he shared with me about 6 black bears shot with .44 Magnum, his hardcast SWC over 21 gr. of 2400. All gave complete penetration and all were one-shot kills.

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Black bears here in utah run about 200 to 300 lb. i have dispatched a fair
Number of near 300 lbs bears with the 44 mag 255 gr hard cast gas check
Lyman keith style bullet. I Always cast them hard and run them through my sizer lubricator and set a gas check on them. I never had to load them especially hot just a good load that you can hit accurately with always worked pretty good for me.

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Last Sunday [image] [image] just above my house on the road

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[image]
Last Sunday just above my house on the road

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and my information may be way off, so please correct me if that is the case. But wasn't his "hardcast" alloy something like 16-1? Pretty soft, about 11 bhn as compared to today's hardcast of 18-20+ bhn.

Also after hollow pointing his 429421, didn't he become quite the fan of hp bullets? Thanks.

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but 11 BHN is pretty hard. It will penetrate well unless you are running it quite a bit over 1300- 1400 fps in my experience.

When people started going to really hard bullets 20 BHN and harder, I received reports from Africa of bullets breaking up and shattering from some hunters.

My heavy 45 Colt loads were under 1200 fps and my bullets were 10 to 12 BHN. I have shot them full-length through deer. I never had one stop in a pig.

My guess has always been that the hardness of the bullet should be connected with the velocity it is running, up to a point of course.

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of fat on him and a hollow point fills up with that fat and becomes a FMJ. Pick a good jacketed soft point. I normally use one of the Sierra 250 grain Silhouette bullets for bears, and the 220 grain Silhouette bullet for smaller size animals. But any good JSP bullet will work.

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superhardcast hammerhead rounds. I have found the 310gr rounds will chamber in everything while the 330 grain bullets will work best in a Redhawk or SuperRedHawk or a GNR five shot 44 mag that you let him know that you plan to use the 330 grain bullets in. Either one will do a black bear without any problems as long as you hit it where you should be aiming.

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Ok. Some handgun hunting related stuff

Mine is a

Corresponding with Elmer Keith years ago

Keith style 255 gr

Bears

Bears

Jim, I am no expert on anything EK,

I never talked with him about hollow points ..

Thanks Jim

I wouldn't use a hollow point at all. A bear has a lot

I use Garrett 310 grain or 330 grain

Ditto!