Last fall I built a short break barrel carbine in 44 spl, with only a week or to to shoot it before leaving for deer camp. I had some Hornady 240 XTP bullets that I use to use out of a muzzleloader so I loaded some up with a load of 18.2 grs. of H 110 and they shot very accurate. I did not get to chronograph them but I would think they would do 1200 FPS + out of a 18" barrel. I shot a nice mature whitetail doe at about 40 yards broadside and she made 1 hop forward at the shot and went down, then my friends dad wanted to use it and he shot a nice 9 pt. at about 80 yards with the deer quartering away. That deer went about 30 yards and went down. The shot on my doe went thru the chest with no problem, the shot on the buck went thru the lungs and was just under the skin in the front shoulder on the exit side. We dug that bullet out and it was the perfect picture of a expanded bullet that did it's intended job and stayed intact.
I have seen this bullet fail before, the 240 XTP when shot out of muzzleloaders at max powder charges at close range where the bullet hit bone and went to pieces. So to answer your question I will say the same as the others did in that the 44 spl at close range is fine , if you don't handload I would not use any of the factory loaded HP's as they are loaded for handgun velocity and not intended for medium game use.
Jedman
