.44 mag Winchester 240 gr JSP fired from Marlin 1894 carbine into calibrated gelatin and calibrated tactical rain water.

BB: 594.1 fps, 3.4"

Gelatin test data:

Impact velocity: 1,848 fps
Penetration: 21.1"
Retained weight: 231.4 gr
Max expansion: 0.711"
Min expansion: 0.732"

Sorry about the cross section of the wound channel. This load really crushed the block and caused a substantial amount of disruption, especially in the first 10" or so. When I cut into the block for the cross section photo it practically fell apart. The photo really doesn't do justice to the damage that was done.

Needs more gummy bear.


eta:  very cool though.  expansion looks great

And that's with factory stuff that's typically optimized for handgun barrels. Loads using powders geared more toward rifle barrel lengths do even better.

Thanks for the vid. People often disbelieve me when I tell them that a .44 levergun will pretty much equal a .454 Casull revolver, but it's a fact. I guess they assume that the absence of shooter trauma means absence of ballistic effectiveness.

This may be why people continue to insist that 5.56mm isn't effective on people and medium sized game.

This was nearly perfect performance and, like you mention, it's just run of the mill factory stuff. Winchester white box is not usually considered the pinnacle of ammunition quality, either. I plan to do a few more of these tests with various factory ammunition and hand loads. There is a link at the end of the video that takes you to a test of the same ammunition fired from a revolver. In the future, I intend to combine the rifle and revolver tests into one video when it's possible. I'm particularly excited about a 300 gr XTP load that my friend who owns the rifle worked up.

I'll definitely be interested in the 300xtp test.

interesting, I get 1755fps from factory Hornady 240XTP 20" barrel.