The
350 Legend began as a concept for putting a
straight walled, large caliber, heavy bullet, hunting round into an AR, while still using mags made for .223/5.56 NATO and only needing a barrel swap. It's basically a .223 case that isn't necked-down, loaded with a .357 caliber bullet. Because of the case diameter it has some advantages over the .450 Bushmaster when dealing with an AR platform, as the AR platform needs modified mags and some other changes for the .450 bushmaster
. The .350 Legend has been found to be a good idea in bolt action rifles as well, especially in states where straight walled ammunition is allowed when other rifle ammunition is not.
The .44 mag is a venerable deer harvester. Bolt action, semi-auto, lever-action, and single shot rifles are chambered in it, and for good reason. Even old style, all lead bullets have been shown to hammer deer out to 150 yards. Beyond that the round will still perform but the trajectory is a bit harsher than say the .350 Legend.
Contrary to recent online magazine articles, the .350 Legend is
not superior to the .357 Magnum when the .357 magnum is
launched from a single shot or lever action rifle.
Some articles are disingenuous as they compare the .350 Legend from a rifle platform to the .357 Magnum from a pistol. The longer barrel and lack of a cylinder gap that one gets with a .357 Magnum cartridge fired from a rifle ups the muzzle velocity.
Is the .44 Magnum "better" than the .350 Legend? I doubt it. At close ranges of 50 yards or less the deer isn't going to know the difference. At the 100-150 yard mark the .350 Legend will likely still deform well on impact... the .44 magnum even if it doesn't deform at all is none the less delivering a .429 diameter hole with a 240 grain projectile... (Where's the "shrug" emoji) .
Since you already have the rifle in .350 Legend, I'd say try that on deer. Recoil should be less, and the trajectory flatter, and so far reports on performance have been very good. You should be able to go out to 200 yards without too much worry or adjustment or hold-over
LD