Hunting Timber with my Taurus 44 mag

I was out deer hunting this morning on my property, its the gun week in Ohio. I was set up next to one of my many "downed tops" on the property sitting in a nice comfortable plastic "deck chair", playing Dirty Harry with my 44 mag.



About 8:30 am, I was falling asleep now and then when I awoke and spied 3 does working their way across in front of me. Two were about 80 yards out but the 3rd was about 60 yards moving through a group of small trees. I took a bead on the closer one and let one fly. The deer ran off unscathed, but one of the trees was not so lucky.



My new wallpaper of the one that got away! Next time my saw is acting up I'll just grab my Taurus!

99 Taurus Wag

LOL, LOL, LOL ............. another gold star post for BrotherBart!

Too funny....

Holy crap, how much of the doe would have been left if you had gotten a hit with that beast?!?! Never heard of deer hunting with a hand-cannon!!

Actually, not much different than most other calibers commonly used on deer. High powered rifles, 50 cal muzzle loaders, and 12 ga sabot slugs can all do more damage. The 44 would have just passed right through the deer with the "normal" damage. Hitting something hard like the tree shows the potential of that 240g slug.

You gotta ask yourself..............would Dirty Harry have went wood hunting with a cheap import .44 mag? I'm thinking not so much.

Harry did ask himself........ he used to have a Ruger Redhawk, and two Smiths (41 & 44), but wanted a ported gun. So Harry bought the Taurus, shot them side by side with a variety of loads. Harry sold the Redhawk and the 44 Smith and never looked back. While the "craftmanship" on those two guns was slightly superior to the import, Harry decided on the one that hit his mark the most. Harry also didn't have any trouble getting a small buck at that same spot Monday morning from about 75 yards, with open sights.

Sometimes Harry even missed, took many shots, and had to reload.

Print out that shattered trunk & tape it to front door.

What caught my eye in your pictures was that monster tree cluster in the background.

"Do you feel lucky, trunk?"

I think in the movie they actually use a41. Even though it was reffered to as a 44. I have a model 57 myself. Awesome revolver.

I met an old guy down at the range that uses a TC 45/70 pistol.
He stated it moves them sideways so they never really drop in thier tracks.

Your absolutly right! I have a 657 too, but in a 6" barrel. Had an 8" model 29. The 8" ported barrel on the Taurus actually shot better than the unported 29.

I have a Thompson Encore rifle (50. cal) that I want to pick up a pistol barrel for. Ohio lets you use any cartridge as long as it is straight walled and at least .357. There are some frightening cartridges out there that meet that requirement, my bad left wrist throbs just thinking about them!

That's a beauty, big red oak. Thought about making a stand up in that tree, but I prefer just sitting on the ground in my green plastic confortable deck chairs. I bought several of them at a flea market for like $6.00 each and put them out in stratigic spots around my acreage. They just stay out there all year long, the critters are used to them.

The barrels are so heavy that the recoil is fairly well mitigated - even for a southpaw
Think more accurate 50 desert eagle.

You guys in pretty much every region other than the northeast have all the fun!! In MA it's especially bad....I just hunt with bow so I don't have to deal with what type of shot I have in my possession during certain seasons, etc!! Even then, and with a MA license to carry high capacity concealed, I can not do so while in the act of hunting!! Crazy!! I know some people hunt snowshoe hare with TC pistols and large revolvers that basically only differ from rifles in that they lack a forestock/hand guard and have either a revolver or a break action. They look like fun to shoot!

I unfortunately sold, which I do regret but did it due to finances and needing/wanting something that I could put more rounds through, a SP101 with a 6" barrel. It was a sexy piece, but it funded the purchase of a 92fs that I now count how many rounds I put through it in a year by the case rather than by the box.

Here's the the way I drop a widow maker. (at 300yds)

Bushmaster?

I too have killed many a tree during deer season. It's fun to watch them explode when a 12ga slug goes through them. Of course I would have rather had the deer standing behind the tree instead of making toothpicks.

fv

She was just a ways behind that tree, I can't figure out why I didn't get her anyway. All I can guess is that the hole looks like it has a slight upward trajectory coming out of that tree and it went over her. Although she took off, I felt for sure that I had hit her, I'm a pretty good shot! I walked up past the tree looking for signs of blood, hair, etc (never noticing the small entrance hole on that side of the tree) and I just found a bunch of wood splinters all over the place. I still did not figure out what had happened till I turned around to line up the shot back to my chair and saw the tree. Could not find any sign of a hit after tracking her for about 15 minutes.

I'll take that in 6.5 Grendel, used to shoot Service Match Competion. Sold my Garands and M1A last year, a match Grendel is on the top of my bucket list.

Bullet likely disintegrated when it hit the tree.