Quote Originally Posted by Fisherjoe View Post
I am considering buying a rifle and pistol in one of these two calibers for deer hunting and plinking. No experience shooting either caliber. Would like opinions/facts on knockdown power, recoil, cost of ammo, etc. The pistol will be a single-action Ruger revolver and the rifle will be a lever-action Marlin. 99% of my deer shots are 50-75 yds, with 100 yds being the absolute max. Thanks in advance.

Just to head off any sniping, I am not interested in other brands of the above firearms.

Joe
I never owned either but have shot both,my personal preference is the .44 mag as a friend let me use his Marlin lever .44 once and I shot a deer at 120 yards with it,it's all in sighting in and knowing the trajectory.Of course he is a champion in shooting state meets.I would prefer the .44 mag pistol as well.Come to think of it I did own a .45 pistol once , it must have been wore out as it shot off after 25 feet.