“Have a peaceful day.”

What kind of person says that? The fake kind of person that tells someone to shoot themselves in the face.

Mr. Taylor,

You have no idea how badly I want a subsonic 300 grain hardcast cartridge for my .44 Magnum rifles. Alas, I cannot find any manufacturers who produce such a load and I have no room left in my home** for reloading equipment to make my own. The closest cartridge that I have found is a .255 grain hardcast Keith bullet in .44 Special at Underwood ammunition.

Several years ago I found a credible source which claimed that a heavy hardcast bullet with a wide and flat meplat would make a permanent wound channel at least twice the diameter of the bullet–even at impact velocities of 900 feet-per-second. They used a standard pressure .45 Colt loading (muzzle velocity of something like 950 feet-per-second) with a heavy hardcast bullet to take a bison with a broadside shot at fairly close range (maybe 30 yards?). The photos that they provided showed a huge hole through the animal. (I don’t remember which specific animal parts, maybe the heart or even the exit wound through its ribs.) If that portrayal was true, then I expect a subsonic hardcast .44 Magnum bullet to make a similarly large permanent wound channel in a white-tailed deer. It will be interesting to see how far they can run after absorbing that.

** My home is so overloaded as it is that I have to keep the small new deep-freezer (that I purchased last November for all of that venison that I harvested this year!) at a friend’s home. There really is no possible way that I can keep reloading equipment at my home.

Thanks. Have a peaceful day.

Depends on who’s killing them and why. I take 100-200 a year, so I just pull the loins and hams and leave the rest for the coyotes. If it’s a serious infestation most will just kill as many as possible as often as possible and just literally pull up a tractor and leave them in a big pile. You might just butcher a couple of them. A couple weeks ago I counted 100 pigs from one location on one property.

Greetings: I’m not a hunter but enjoy reading stories from those who are. So what happens to the “piles and piles of pigs.”? No challenge or judgement here just a question from someone who is pretty ignorant of all things hunting. Thanks for the good stories.

Outstanding. On subsonic 44, run a 300+ grain hardcast bullet pushed just under the speed of sound. There will be a clean .429″ tunnel through the animal. Ive done with with an integral suppressed Ruger 77/44 to kill piles and piles of pigs. Don’t expect them to drop in their tracks.

Thank you for the thorough review and details.

Your hunting experience confirms what I have read from other sources: large and heavy hardcast bullets with flat meplats, even at modest velocities, put deer down in very short order. And .44 Magnum definitely qualifies with “large and heavy” bullets. I am even considering shooting a hardcast .43 caliber, 255 grain Keith bullet just barely subsonic through my suppressor for very quiet shots to maybe 50 yards. (White-tailed does tend to move in groups where I hunt and I have very good chance of being able to take two within seconds of each other if I can reduce my noise signature to virtually nothing and avoid spooking them.)

You also reinvigorated my objective to use my .44 Magnum revolvers and rifles to their maximum capabilities for white-tailed deer hunting this coming fall season of 2025. I should have plenty of time to sort out what shoots good groups and what does not.

Oh, and congratulations on filling up your freezer. I had a similar banner year, although I took all four of my does with my .50 caliber muzzleloader shooting .45 caliber, 250 grain Hornady SST-ML bullets at muzzle velocities around 1,600 feet-per-second, at ranges from about 40 yards to 117 yards. Me eldest child, however, did take a nice 9-point buck at a mere 30 yards with one of our .44 Magnum break-action rifles shooting inexpensive Fiocchi 240 grain semi-jacketed softpoint bullets. That buck went about 70 yards after the shot, laid down, tried to get up once, and then expired several seconds later. All the while my eldest child could see blood pouring out of the entry wound until that buck laid his head down for the last time.

Bucephalus,

Several months ago I had the pleasure of dry-firing someone’s new model Colt Anaconda .44 Magnum revolver–the very same revolver that Jon reviewed in this article. The trigger is beyond fantastic in both single-action and double-action. If you want a large revolver and can even begin to justify the expense, BUY THIS REVOLVER. You will NOT regret it.

Getting back to the trigger, the double-action trigger feels twice as smooth and half the weight (force) of any other revolver that I have ever fired. And when I say smooth, it feels like the same pull force from start to break. It is astounding. Of course, being a quality trigger, the break is clean without any significant over-travel and reset is just as clean.

I have three very-large revolvers chambered in .44 Magnum. I just realized that I can probably sell all three of them and the combined proceeds of those should be more than the cost of a brand new Colt Anaconda in .44 Magnum. That will be my goal in 2026–sell all three of my large .44 Magnum revolvers and buy a new .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda revolver.

My wife doesn’t want you to write any more..😄