Deer legal 44 mag under lever

[Gav89]

Hey guys,
I’m looking to get an under lever in 44 mag that is deer legal in England.
Law states it has to achieve above 1700ft/lb
I’ve got my heart set on the Henry Big boy X . Due to it being ready threaded for a mod and the tactical accessories are all available for it.
Issue with it, is it only has a 17.4” barrel …. Which is amazing for woodland , off hand shooting. And i know over 1700ft/lb can easily be achieved on a 20” barrel, just wondered if anything had loads that would work consistently with a 17.4” barrel? Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Smellydog]

Lever action. The action works via a lever.
Some air guns have a lever under neath.

Just get it. No one really gives a ****.

If it's getting lively to shoot with magnum loads you'll be about right

 

[Greener Jim]

Legally, it realistically isn't going to do it this side of Bubba's ****ing hot handloads.
45-70 is the smarter option to achieve what you want to achieve from a shorter barrel.

 

[25 Sharps]

Hey guys,
I’m looking to get an under lever in 44 mag that is deer legal in England.
Law states it has to achieve above 1700ft/lb
I’ve got my heart set on the Henry Big boy X . Due to it being ready threaded for a mod and the tactical accessories are all available for it.
Issue with it, is it only has a 17.4” barrel …. Which is amazing for woodland , off hand shooting. And i know over 1700ft/lb can easily be achieved on a 20” barrel, just wondered if anything had loads that would work consistently with a 17.4” barrel? Any help would be greatly appreciated

Are you planning on home loading?

If so it looks achievable with 180 or 200 gr bullets however with the lead ban looming you need to be confident that you can get copper bullets in this weight range, you then may still have an issue as your cartridge length will be limited by what will cycle the action. This will mean the longer copper bullet will need to be seated deeper into the case using up powder space so you may not get there at all. To give you some idea the hornady .458 (45-70) 250 gr monoflex is a longer bullet than a 350 jacketed soft point or even a 405 gr cast, to cycle, all of this extra length has to be pushed back into the case, cases for these bullets also have to be shorter than a standard 45-70 case or the case mouth extends past the base of the ogive (curved front section) of the bullet.

As above the 45-70 would be a better cartridge, this should achieve the 1700 ft-lb using the 250 gr monoflex bullet in a shorter barrel (I'm getting 2150 fps from a 20"), this load can also be bought as factory ammunition.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Barnes XPB will/might get you legal for energy and non-lead depending on how you load them. They're very expensive and not easy to come by. Ask me how I know

 

[enfieldspares]

.444 Marlin. Even in a 20" barrel factory .44 Magnum 180 grain are marginal as to legally required figures in England for larger deer.

 

[Smellydog]

Just get it and carry on.

 

[6mmarc]

Just get it and shoot it and have fun with it
I shoot way more 44 specials through mine than magnum loads but I have got a 444 and 45/70 too for the more fiesty loads

 

[Gav89]

Cheers for the advice guys. I would get the45-70 but the whole reason I wanted the 44 was so I could use it in my indoor range as well. Rather than having two rifles. One for hunting and one for range.
It’s a good point about the lead ban too . Hmmmmm my brain hurts
And yeah I’ll defo have to hand load

 

[moeggesit]

44mag is developed for revolvers with really short barrels and typically use a fast burning powder to burn more of the powder in the barrel. It is possible to use a slightly slower magnum pistol powder for higher velocities in rifles but in reality it make very little difference whether you use a 16” or 20” barrel.

 

[Greener Jim]

Cheers for the advice guys. I would get the45-70 but the whole reason I wanted the 44 was so I could use it in my indoor range as well. Rather than having two rifles. One for hunting and one for range.
It’s a good point about the lead ban too . Hmmmmm my brain hurts
And yeah I’ll defo have to hand load

What are the range limits for the indoor range?

 

[Gav89]

Yeah I looked at the data and it showed I might lose about 100ft/lb compared to a 20” barrel . But given I can defo achieve 1850ft/lb it doesn’t seem to be a massive issue .
Luckily my cousin is a gunsmith so can defo help me develop a load .Again massive thanks to all helping out .
I mean , they shoot fookin bears in the US with 44mag , so I don’t think a little roe deer will be an issue at alllllllll.
My range is maxed out at
.455 to be exact

 

[reiver]

My .44 is doing around 2450 fps with 265 gr interlocks And just over the book 47 grs of reloder 7 good out to 100-125 meters .get a
.444 Marlin

 

[Smellydog]

My .44 is doing around 2450 fps with 265 gr interlocks And just over the book 47 grs of reloder 7 good out to 100-125 meters .get a
.444 Marlin

Lol, I was going to say, you'll need a bloody long drop tube to get 47gn of rl7 in a 44 mag case

 

[reiver]

Lol, I was going to say, you'll need a bloody long drop tube to get 47gn of rl7 in a 44 mag case

More useful than the .44 mag. I could go harder for a little faster but circa 3500 ftlb is plenty . I also use 19 gr of 2400 for indoor pistol /gallery ranges. I have used this load on knock down targets on Charlie HI years ago just need to give 2-3 ft hold over at 300 m and wait !!