Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger .44 Carbine OK for deer/bear?

I have always wanted a little Ruger .44 magnum semi-auto carbine, but never enough to go seeking one out. This past weekend I found one at a gun show in very nice shape, considering it was made in 1964, for a very reasonable price, I couldn't resist. I took it completely down and cleaned everything, it was quite dirty but cleaned up nice. I ordered bases and a Weaver 1-3x V3 to top it off. I picked up some Hornady loads with the 225gr FTX, and some Remington ammo with a 240 gr soft nose. Hopefully I will be sighting it in this weekend.
My concern is, how effective is the .44 magnum, in a carbine on large deer with the possibility of black bear? With deer season only a couple of weeks away, I won't be working up any handloads for this season. What should I be looking for in factory ammo?

it will work fine......had one of these for awhile and i sold it to Dober cause he wanted one for that exact purpose for his dads hunting....

It'll flatten either. Proceed with confidence!

I have used my Marlin 1894 44mag with great success on deer including a large 10pt,and hogs up to 325lbs. I use Nosler 240gr JSP bullets, but just about anything should work fine for whitetail. Bear should be hunted with heavier bullets, and I would prefer JSP over JHP, but I suspect the 240 JHP should work just fine.

Yep, it will do just fine.

I friend of mine has one, and it has felled LOTS of big Ontario deer (about 20 I think), a couple of black bears and a couple of moose.

My friend's rifle wears no scope, but has a (Williams?) receiver sight. Makes for a very light, quick handling rifle.

John

it will thump a deer within 100 yds. The last one I shot with a 240 g XTP at 50 yds had large holes on both sides with a grotesque air-sucking sound from the cavity when we loaded it. As you might imagine it did not go far after being shot.

past 100 yds the flying ashtray projectile loses its thump very quickly.

I own a Ruger .44 carbine, made I think, in '64 also. It's a neat little gun and will do the job on deer and black bear pretty well. I shot my first blackie with it and my nephew killed his first white tail with it.

A couple things I think worth mentioning-it has a slow twist barrel. 1-38" IIRC and struggles to stabilize the 300 XTP bullet, the bullet I killed my bear with. On paper it stabilized this bullet OK out to 50 yards or so, but beyond that the bullets began to keyhole a bit. For this reason I've settled on the Speer 270 gr. Gold Dot SP for my heavy. Also, it'll push a 240 grainer to nearly 1,800 fps just a few feet from the muzzle, which strains most hollow points of this weight. The little 8 pointer that my nephew shot was taken with a 240 gr. Remington SJHP and the bullet did the job, but didn't exit on a high behind the shoulder shot. The bottom side of the backstrap and spine were pulverized, but so was the bullet.

My particular rifle isn't a tackdriver, being a bit inconsistent. It'll plunk one shot dead center at 75 yds, toss another with in 2 inches, heave the third slug an inch or 2 in the opposite direction of the second and may plunk another shot or 2 somewhere near the first shot. Plenty good for deer, but nothing to write home about. Oh, and the trigger on mine is about 8 pounds.

I love mine!

A fellow in our group uses a marlin in 44mag and the deer he has shot all ended up pretty dead pretty quick. n8dawg6 pretty well sums it up.

Thx again Rattler for selling this rig. Dads gone now but I have still have the rig. When ever I go on bruin hunts it always goes along as the "enforcer" for retrieval...

Plus it shoots great!

Thx again

Dober

I've got one, and it shoots well enough. Wouldn't worry about using it on either, but it probably has 40 deer taken.

Keep trying to get my dad to take it when he goes hunting piggies. He's 72 and ain't quite as quick on that bolt as he usedta be...

what do you like for ammo in your rig?

Dober

They kill stuff dead.

Cant speak as to bears, but my Uncle killed gobs of whitetails with one.

He always got stuck puting the dogs out and killed more bucks than any of us. LOL.

That thing has only seen cheap 240gr JSPs. Haven't shot a box through it in 10 years, but actually looking around for decent loads in case dad or the kids want to give it a go.

I have had one for a while, a pawn shop beater. Only game taken has been hogs and none really large, ~150# max. I have used both the 270 gr GD and the 250 gr Partition (I bought a azzload of them from Wideners when they had them on clearance). Both easily pass through and the animals were down pronto. A word of caution. Mine stock cracked as the tang due to a bit of slop between the stock and the steel recoil block caused by a slightly loose throughbolt holding the block. I pinned and epoxied the crack and also glass bedded the recoil block to the stock. Fits up damn tight and actually shoots a bit tighter as well. With the GD it will consistently put 3 inside 2" at 100 yards and often a bit less. This with a 1-4x Leupold. It now wears a Williams WGRS and is my truck gun in Idaho. I would have zero concern with thumping a bear with mine. Great little rifles.

yeah its a sweet lil handy rifle with a good deal of punch in a lil package.....my brother was pissed when he found out i sold it

I have one of the originals, my wife loves to shoot it. I have only taken one 8pt with it using white box Wichester 240grn jsp. Buck was hit at 40yrds, and made it another 40yds.

5 semi-auto shots of .44mag is a lot of thump from a 10/22 sized package. You won't be under gunned inside 100yrds for common big game, imo.


Bill Ruger used his on Leopard in Africa.

Cult rifle here in New England....used one's don't last long,if you even see them for sale.

Never seen bear killed with one, but have been around several deer killed with 44 revolvers. Worked great. I always wanted one of these little carbines.

Lou

Lou, the New England boys who own them shoot up the bears and bucks with them.They work!

I just got back from the range with my little Ruger 44, and although I'm not suprised with the accuracy, I am a little dissapointed. I kept my shooting at 50 yards, and the best group was just a hair under 2". About what I expected, but not what I had hoped for. The groups were consistent though, not much in the way of fliers. The best load of the two I tried were the Hornady using the 225 gr FTX, so I will use that one hunting. I was nicely impressed with the little Weaver v3 1-3x, it adjusted very precisely and seemed clear enough. Overall I think this will be a nice little rig to carry in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks this season. Two weeks from today, I can't stand the wait.