Yeah, me too. It's all good and it's all fun.
A third hand TC fifty cal muzzleloader rebored to fresh fast twist rifling is a mighty fine thing to behold.
But if you do need to use brass .35 Remington and .45-70 sure are hard to beat.
I am a fan of the 44 Rem Mag in the application you intend, but I currently have a H&R in 357 Mag I may be using this year. I intend to ream it to 357Max before too long and start some load development for it. The SOCOM and Bushmaster cartridges are much more expensive to purchase than the 44RM, but cost will come down some if you reload. A few other suggestions as far as rifle options: Ruger Deerfield Carbine (semi-auto 44 Rem Mag) may be available on the used market (no idea of current asking prices), buy a used Savage (or a deeply discounted new old stock) and swap the barrel to the 458 or 450 for a good bolt gun, many times the T/C Contenders and Encores can be found complete with scope for about $600 or less if you catch one before it is snagged up, CVA and the H&R have already been mentioned.
I know you don't like scopes on lever guns, but I had a compact Weaver 2.5x scope on my 1894 in 44 that worked well out to 150. I whole heartedly recommend Federal Fusion, and used it to take a few deer before unemployment forced me to sell the rifle many years ago.
I switched to the 35 Remington in a single shot and have not been disappointed. Great knockdown, very accurate and inexpensive to get started. I found a reloader in South Bend called Rose Reloading and he usually is at the gun shows in northern Indiana selling 35 Remington in the cut down brass. Price of the ammo $1 a round.
I like the 458 but, cost of ammo. And generally "different" is costly as well. 44 is still a steong contender
Yes i am considering the 77/44. How do you like it? And do you mean finicky in terms of accuracy or function? Thats another reason im not too interested in a muzzle loader since i dont hunt fields hardly at all.
I've been doing some research into the .308 and it seems like an excellent round. As far as I know you can now use 30 caliber cartridges for deer. I've also heard great things about the 6.5 creedmore. Right now the .308 is more available but it looks like the 6.5 could become very popular and available soon.
If you don't want to drop a lot, a CVA single shot in 44 mag or 450 Bushmaster
Lever gun, maybe an older (pre Remington) 44 mag Marlin 1894
AR upper, 450 Bushmaster upper. 450 is a nasty round. Bushmaster does weird production schedules though so finding one of those might be difficult, you might have to get a Windham Weaponry 450 Thumper upper and just shoot BM out of it
Thanks, this is what I've been leaning towards the most since last year, but felt there may be better options. From what I've read, the 450 bushmaster would have better terminal ballistics over the 44 mag? Most appealing about the 44 handi rifle is I could have it scoped with ammo in hand for less than the alternative rifles alone. There is the cva 450 but it appears availability is limited?
You could have a nicely accurate buffalo stopping hunting rifle for less, shooting paper patched soft lead bullets.
Why bother satisfying goofy bureaucrats on what cartridges they insist upon? Tell them to stuff it up their brass.
The only question to be answered is flint or percussion.
Sorry. I did not finish the thread so, hopefully this is not a repeat. I have taken many deer over the years with muzzle loader, 12 gauge, 44 mag and last year my old 30-06. This year I plan to use my old 6.5x55 Swedish mauser because I have wanted to use it for so many years. But out of all of them, the 44 mag is my favorite. If you plan to keep your shots under 100 yards it will do very well. It is my opinion that it kills faster than a 30-06 at 50 yards. I like the lever guns, but my little brother has killed a bunch of deer with a Rossi single shot 44 mag that is scoped. Just my