Griz said:
"Years ago, we lived in northern California and I hunted blacktails in Napa and Sonoma Counties. Mostly I hunted with a Marlin 1894 in 44 MAG and Williams peep site. These coastal deer rarely exceed 125 pounds live weight. My shots averaged about 75 yards as I hunted from well concealed blinds.
For no other reason than best accurasy, I hunted with Hornady 200 grain hollow tip bullets. Killing power was quite impressive. Sometimes the deer would topple over where it stood. Other occaisions it would bound away only to drop after a few jumps. The bullets were always recovered and typically measured about 3/4 inch in diameter."
Interesting. We hunted blacktails in Alaska for about thirty years. I used a 44mag hand gun with 320gr hard cast for a lot of venison, and my son used a M1894 with factory 240gr sjsp. We never recovered bullets. We rarely had a deer not die on the spot. We rarely ever had to track deer, and more often than not they were dead before they collapsed. We never used hollowpoints on game and to this day won't use them for anything but vermin.
Different philosophy I suppose. I personally prefer heavy-for-caliber bullets moving at moderate velocities. I have seen so many deer die that I don't have any doubts about harvesting them with this setup.
But I think the .35Rem is a fine option. I have one. I have never taken game with it though, so there is a question in my mind about it. I hope to find a few hogs to help me resolve this question next month.
Between the two guns mentioned, the 94 is handier and quicker, the 336 has a range advantage, but I would put the break point somewhere around 125 yards. At that range, a 260-320gr bullet still has plenty of momentum to ventilate venison.
Grizz
Grizz is right on the money with the 125 yard marker. Here is the ballistic info for all of corbon's 44 mag loads shot out of a standard length revolver. I'd love to see the the same ballistic table based on a 20 in barrel.
44 Magnum 180gr Jacketed Hollow Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1700 1480 1293 1214 1147 1091 1044 fps
Energy 1155 875.8 668.0 589.1 525.6 475.5 436.1 ft/lb
Path -0.50 1.74 0.00 -2.74 -6.96 -12.84 -20.52 in
44 Magnum 240gr Jacketed Hollow Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1500 1354 1229 1175 1129 1089 1054 fps
Energy 1200 977.1 805.1 736.9 679.6 631.7 591.6 ft/lb
Path -0.50 2.13 0.00 -3.16 -7.88 -14.31 -22.55 in
44 Magnum 260gr Bonded-Core Hollow Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1450 1319 1208 1161 1119 1082 1050 fps
Energy 1214 1005 843.1 778.2 723.1 676.6 637.2 ft/lb
Path -0.50 2.25 0.00 -3.29 -8.20 -14.83 -23.31 in
44 Magnum 280gr Bonded-Core Soft Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1400 1289 1194 1153 1116 1084 1055 fps
Energy 1219 1033 886.5 826.7 775.1 730.7 692.4 ft/lb
Path -0.50 2.37 0.00 -3.41 -8.46 -15.24 -23.87 in
44 Magnum 300gr Jacketed Soft Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1300 1206 1128 1095 1066 1040 1016 fps
Energy 1126 968.8 847.9 799.3 757.2 720.6 688.2 ft/lb
Path -0.50 2.74 0.00 -3.87 -9.55 -17.14 -26.71 in
44 Magnum 305gr Flat Point Penetrator
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1300 1209 1133 1100 1072 1046 1022 fps
Energy 1145 989.7 869.2 820.4 778.0 740.9 708.1 ft/lb
Path -0.50 2.72 0.00 -3.85 -9.48 -17.01 -26.50 in
44 Magnum 320gr Hard-Cast Flat Point
Range 0 50 100 125 150 175 200 yards
Velocity 1270 1146 1055 1020 989 961 936 fps
Energy 1146 933.1 791.2 738.8 694.6 656.3 622.7 ft/lb
Path -0.50 3.05 0.00 -4.37 -10.81 -19.44 -3038 in
I bet that 180 grain HP would be prefectly suited to small deer....low on recoil...and less drop at 100 yards than any other load listed.