OT - Ruger 44 Carbine

[deerwhacker444]

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Anybody own one of these little rifles? What is your experience with them? I don't have one, but I've sure got an itch that needs scratching.

Is there anything about that model that I need to be on the lookout for? Any mechanical issues with them?

What say you.?

[jeepnik]

Now you've got to bring up a sore spot. Many moons ago I had one in my hands and was all set to buy it. But, thinking about the kids, the mortgage and so on stopped me. Kick myself everytime I think about it. Oh well, the house is paid off, and the kids turned out alright.

I was in my new favorite shop just today. They always have a full rack of used guns. I keep looking for one. Haven't seen one yet. That must say something right there.

[Chas.]

Resuming production of a discontinued line is unusual, but I can't help thinking they would sell very good if re-introduced. 357's would also, if they could be made.

[Pete44ru]

Well, I've owned/shot/hunted with several, over the last 35 years - along with 7 other hunters in my annual Maine deer hunting party.

There are TWO different Ruger .44 Auto Carbines - the older, tube magazine model in the ad you posted, made from 1961-85 (early versions were named "Deerstalkers"); and a rotary-magazine Mini-14 on steriods .44 Auto Carbine called the Model 99/44 Deerfield.

Although I've had both types, I much prefer the original/older model - BUT there's a few things to be aware of.

1) They were designed around factory 240gr JSP/JHP ammo, and do their best with equivalent ammo - lead boolits will clog the gas system shortly, jamming the rifle and leading to a daily PITA teardown/cleaning.

2) Parts/Service are hard to find - with some parts, like the trigger housing, unobtainium.

ALWAYS physically pre-check a potential purchase for a cracked/broken trigger housing prior to purchase, since a bad one is a deal-breaker IMHO.

If the stock cannot be removed for the inspection, a check can be preformed with the action in the stock anyway.
With a finger inside the magazine throat, and the thumb of the same hand outside the bottom metal, grab the barrel/receiver firmly and attempt to move the front of the trigger housing up/down in relation to the receiver.
ANY movement means that the trigger housing front attachment lip(s) are either cracked or broken - they are non-weldable/non-repairable.

If the finish is hardly worn off the bottom feed latch, which gets pressed by ammo noses when loading, it would indicate to me that the rifle's not been fired very much, no matter what the outside finish looks like.
Wood refinishing's a no-brainer.

They shoot sweet - I usually buy whatever commercial .44 Mag ammo's "on sale" - with this as an average 100yd group:



(the target rings are 1" apart)

This is my current carbine:



.

[Hobie]

I've seen two in the past year. One at a show asking $800+ and one in the shop to be cleaned. The owner was emphatic about not ever selling the gun. Don't ask me how I know.

[deerwhacker444]

They were designed around factory 240gr JSP/JHP ammo, and do their best with equivalent ammo - lead boolits will clog the gas system shortly, jamming the rifle and leading to a daily PITA teardown/cleaning.

So you can't shoot hard cast in them, even with gas checks...?

That's a bummer, I was planning on using cast if I ever got one....

[AJMD429]

If you can't get hold of a semiauto, the 96/44's are kind of fun, and a bit easier to find, plus not as finniky about ammunition (and they have a 1:20" twist ). Our family's 'family' of Ruger 96's includes the .44 Mag, .22 Mag, and .22 LR. Like the semiauto, I wish they made a .357 (and a .45 Colt, .32-20, ...)

[rond]

My 96 lever really likes the 240 gr. cast bullet.

[Mac in Mo]

Mine is the older type. It is my primary deer rifle, perfect for where I hunt in the southern Missouri Ozarks. I have killed a bunch of deer over the years with it.It is light,handy and reliable. One of my boys will get it, I would not ever sell it. I rarely see the older ones for sale around here either. Last one I saw several years ago was going for 6 or 7 hundred I think. I was not aware of the trigger group breakage issue. If you hunt in thick woods like I do, I highly recomend one. I have no experience with the newer models. I love mine, it is a joy to head into the woods with it. Kevin

[2X22]

I had one years ago, it was a deluxe model with no barrel bands and really nice wood. I loaned it to my brother and as he was apt to do, he traded it off and I never saw it again. As a cast bullet shooter I was bummed about needing to use jacketed. But what a neat rifle it was.

2x22

[crs]

You mean like this one?


A very handy carbine. Mine is sighted in for a six o'clock hold and is dead on point-and-shoot up to 100 yards.

Last weekend, my 9 year old grandson shot it offhand - 4 rounds and he was asking for more bullets!

[Borregos]

I used to have one of them, would love to have it back, a real fun gun. I never shot anything but jacketed out of it though

[Stan in SC]

Last year I bought,shot and sold four Ruger carbines and one lever action.They are really dandy rifles.The main thing that has turned me off to them is the inability to shoot cast bullets.When you also realize the factory will not work on the older ones and that certain parts as previously mentioned are prone to breakage and unobtainable then you really get turned off by them no matter how much fun they are to shoot.
Then I discovered Ruger's OTHER .44 magnum rifle,the 77/44.The culmination of a three year search was finding a stainless synthetic stocked model.It had been fired but I did buy it from the original owner and got the box.This is a light very accurate smaller rifle that will do all that the carbine would do and more.I like showing it off.
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5803/pics007e.jpg
Find one of these and you will be happy.

Stan in SC

[CaptainFinn]

The old model had two variations (mechanically, I mean. There were barrel-band carbines, band-less rifles, and full-stock 'international' type carbines.).

Later (70's) guns had a magazine release latch to empty the tube magazine. Older guns had to be emptied by working the action and cycling/ejecting the loaded rounds.

I got my gun in a trade around 1994. A plain-jane carbine, birch stock. It was banged up but not abused. I mounted Redfield windage-adjustable scope bases on it (similar to the Leupold bases) and mounted a (gasp) BSA wal-Mart special 4X scope on it.

Never fired a round of factory ammo through it. With th old speer JSP it would shoot inside of a 3" orange circle at 100 yards.

Went to the 240 Hornaday XTP over a stout charge of H110. Shoots one-hole groups at 50 yards and 2" at 100 yards all day long. I've taken at least one deer a year with it since moving to West Virginia. (Except this year, waylaid the whole season due to Swine Flu).

I refiniahed the stock a few years back with mahogany stain and Tung oil; the previous owner wore wire-rimmed glasses and the temple tore the jheck out of the buttstock. Other then that I really haven't had to do much to it.

Out of embarrassment I took off the BSA scope and replaced it with first another BSA, a 1.5 x 4.5 Firefly, then finally a Weaver K4. The poor carbine never realised how terrible those BSA scopes were, cause it shot the same with a $24.88 Wal-Mart scope as it does with the $120+ Weaver...but I don't have to cringe when the guys at the range see the brand name of the scope anymore.

[crs]

Captain- no cringing required with the groups that you are shooting.
Just smile and say "imagine how well it would shoot with a high $ scope on it."

[Ysabel Kid]

I've seen two in the past year. One at a show asking $800+ and one in the shop to be cleaned. The owner was emphatic about not ever selling the gun. Don't ask me how I know.

I bet you asked! Another one kicking himself that he didn't pick up one of these nifty little rifles years ago...

[AJMD429]

Then I discovered Ruger's OTHER .44 magnum rifle,the 77/44.

Yep - those 'side-levers' are nice guns. BTW, Stan in SC, your former 96/44 is in the pic above; still my main deer-gun, except I use the 77/44 (with a NEGS peep) if it is rainy. I'm glad you got back into shooting, too!

So far, our 77/44 seems to have great potential - http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... view=print

[lthardman]

My brother-in-law hunts with one of these in the old model. He really likes it for hunting deer when shots are expected under 100 yards. He has had it for years, and while he now lives in an area where he must use shotguns, as of last month he would not part with the Ruger. I asked.

[JohndeFresno]

I had one with the rotary magazine, several years ago, for a couple of months. It jammed frequently. Back then, resources and instruction were limited without the Internet and I didn't have a manual; so I sold it (with provisos to the new owner that it jammed) at a loss.

Looking back, the person who had sold it to me was a dedicated reloader, so that makes sense now; he probably shot lead rounds through it.

[creosote]

I had a nice little banded carbine I got in a trade, when I shot up the two boxes of ammo that came with it, I traded it off to my buddy for his Chinese SKS in new condition and a hundred rounds of 7.62x39.
I nursed that ammo supply for a long time, as it was 1967 and while a few SKS`s where around that ammo was impossible to find.
Its funny how my exotic Nam bring back became so common place and the ammo was available by the truck load at give away prices.
Every time I see an SKS I think of that first one and the ammo situation of those long ago times.
I think I should have kept the Ruger,grin.
Creosote

[Stan in SC]

AJMD429,I just KNEW that one of those in the picture had to be the one you got.Good rifle.That was one of the most accurate ones I have ever seen.

Stan in SC