I've not killed a lot of deer with my .44 Mag 1894, but the ones I have were all with the 240 XTP- shots ranging from 120 yards to around 20 feet. All exited.

Hunt with those things and don't worry about it

Rick

 

I've never killed a deer with a Marlin 1894 44mg. I have killed several with a Ruger SBH 7.5" with 240xtp and before that the Hornady 240JHP. Same load 22.5gr H-2400. Bullet opens good and drops their oil pressure instantly. I have never worked up a load for 44mg carbines. I have had Ruger autoloader, #3s and Marlin 1894 and just shot the SBH load in them. I got some H-110 and am going to see what it will do. The 1894 clover leafs at 60yds with the SBH load. I been using Hornady 240jhp since 60s. I don't know if things have changed since but I picked them because they were the softest. There was complaints about them coming apart from the crowd that weighed bullets dug out of game. I never cared about that because they killed deer. At the time Speer 240g JHP was hard and didn't open well. Sierra was in the middle for expansion.

 

I too don't have a lot of experience with the 240gr XTP but I do have some. When my home state of Louisiana began a black powder season some 20+ years ago I promptly got into the game. I bought a very inexpensive in-line muzzle loader and proceeded to find out what it liked. A .44 caliber 240gr XTP in a sabot left the muzzle at 1700fps and shot superbly. I killed 8-10 deer with that combo before getting a more expensive smokepole.(It did not shot as well and it didn't kill them any "deader")
A lot of rambling to tell you I had a very good experience with those XTPs. I shot deer from 10yds to 110 yds and had complete penetration on all deer regardless of the yardage or angle the deer was positioned in. I wholeheartedly endorse those XTPs! I'll give you 3 guesses as to what I have loaded for my 41 magnum Marlin and my Ruger Blackhawk, and the first two guesses don't count!

 

I've killed deer, hogs in Texas, a big St Bernard and a bigger Mastiff chasing livestock, and various other smaller game with Hornady 240 XTP's. One shot per animal. They work just fine. Hunt with confidence.

I load them with 23.0 grains of IMR4227 and a Federal 155 LP Mag primer. Hodgdon website lists this at about 1700-1725 FPS. Getting outstanding accuracy from both of my 1894's.

 

Just what I wanted to read, ​

Thanks All!

 

This was a good read. I've got an 1894 44 mag and recently picked up some H110 and 2400 but wasn't sure which bullet to start with. Might have to consider in picking up some XTP's and give them a try.
Tnks

 

Suppose you are not happy, closing the nose up with JB weld effectively turns them into a soft point.

 

Have you weighed them after they were filled with the JB Weld?

Thank you.

 

I had the same results shooting them in a inline muzzle loader, good expansion and didn't come apart.

 

Shot deer between 20 yards and 80 yards using the 210 grain XTP's out of 41 Mag revolver and rifle and 240 grain XTP's out of 44 Mag carbines. Complete pass through with nice wound channels.

Have to add my first XTP hunt in 2001. Had this big ten point angling away from me at 80 yards. My girlfriend at the time was experiencing her first time in the woods. We were both on the ground and I had her get on her hands and knees, and I used her back for a solid gun rest for my muzzle loader with a sabot containing a 240 grain XTP. The bullet hit the buck just behind the last rib and exited in front of the left shoulder. He ran 50 yards downhill and piled up. The bullet went nearly length wise of that buck and still kept going.

 

I have hunted deer for a lot of years now with the 240 grain XTP. I shoot it out of my T/C Contender pistol with a 12" barrel. Accuracy is great taking deer out to 100 yards. Bullet performance was also very good. No fragmentation and good expansion.

Jim

 

Another bullet that has worked well has been the Speer 240gr. jsp. I've had two different Marlin 94's that loved these bullets! One an older gun and the other bought new around 1996. At fifty yards both would shoot 1/2" OR LESS without the benefit of optics. But that was when I was young and could see the sights and the target. Oh to have those eyes again! I don't know just how many deer I took with that bullet but I remember being happy with its performance. It always, like the XTPs, exited the animal even on strong quartering shots. I still have nearly two boxes of those on the shelf and with those XTPs I found and the several hundred cast bullets and brass I found...... Hey !!! I NEED to buy another 44!!!

 

I used the 240 grn. XTP in a .44 mag pistol on deer with good results. If my memory serves me, in the boxes with the bullets was a paper stating the bullets were designed to work at velocities between 900-1800 fps.

Using them in the higher velocities of the .444 makes 1 gal milk jugs filled with water explosive, fun targets. Never hunted with them so no experience there.

 

I have a load for my SBH that works great in my Ruger carbine. 24.4 of W296 and never recoverd one bullet. I still have 100 rounds plus left and only use it for the carbine now, it clover leafs. I have moved to Hardcasts with a gas check for my SBH and Marlins.
In my muzzle loader I use the Barnes .452 X bullet. Only had one recovery. Entered back of neck and recovered under the skin of the back of the hind quarter.

110 Yards lasered.

 

I load 240gr XTP's in a 44 mag rifle for my sister in law. She shoots a Handirifle(slightly longer barrel than the 1894), her shots are 25-60 yds. I load full power H110 per Hodgdon manual, would say velocity is more in the 1700-1750 fps range. Not sure about a boiler room shot as she aims for the neck or brain(she likes venison). Always thru penetration with minimal meat loss. She never misses. Never recovered a bullet so can't say if it shed the skin. That bullet works excellently for her in a rifle. Always penetrating bone and some tissue, but not a lot of tissue. I have full confidence in the 240gr XTP at rifle velocities on whitetail sized animals.
On a similar note I use 250gr XTP's in my 45LC Handi, which has a 20" barrel. The bullets are constructed similar and are driven to about the same velocity, my shots are about same distance also. I aim similar to sister in law (I taught her to shoot) and have always had good performance from those bullets driven to rifle velocities as well.

 

I've taken 15 or so deer with that bullet . I load to about 1700 fps. Never recovered a bullet. It's very effective. My rifle prefers 2400 over 296 for accuracy.