Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 44 Carbine

Been jones'n for one of these for nigh on 50 years. An old friend owns one, and i hunted with it once. Tried to buy it with no success.

The years it was made i was way too into practical all around rifles to pony up for a new one...
My bad...

I like mine quite a bit. Fun to shoot and has been reliable.

Never shot a critter with it though.

I had one. It shot great, carried great and was in great condition. Sold it because I got paranoid about the bottom steel cracking and not being able to be fixed. Dumb move on my part, but oh well.

Dale

I've always wanted one.

DMc

I got a 44 carbine at a gun show for $180.
The barrel got Leaded and when I shot a jacketed bullet, the muzzle split like a banana peel.
I talked to a guy who collects 44 carbines and he said that was a common failure and there are no barrels available.

I got a 20" Marlin 444 micro groove barrel, and cut off the rear of the chamber [thus making a 44 mag chamber] and drilled a gas hole.

I took it to the range and shot it. I now have a heavy and accurate 44 carbine.

I believe mine is a 1963. I bought it from a former co-worker about 15 years ago. It had been stored in a soft case and had some rust speckling on the steel as well as on the Weaver K-3 it wore. I had the gun re-blued and swapped out the Weaver for a Nikon Monarch 1.5-4X using the same rather unique Weaver pivot mounts.


A pic of the pivot mounts.

I finally convinced a friend to sell me his. I got sick of seeing it collecting dust in his safe.

Threw a 4x period scope and ran Hornady 240 loads through her and was impressed with its accuracy.

Carried it during a few hunts, but no hair.

rather unique Weaver pivot mounts.

I have 3-4 sets of those exact mounts that came on old rifles purchased over the yrs.
People look down at those mounts but I did everything I could swinging off-on & I never could make a set change it's POI !

Sounds like we had the same mentor, except he would give me the Ruger and he took the 300 Savage. I stumbled across an ad for one in the CF classifieds a few months ago & couldn't resits grabbing it.

My mentor always seemed to like that little rifle. Of course he was either still hunting heavily wooded areas or driving to guys who where on stands so his shots were always close. I remember kind of scoffing (to my self) his choice of weapons. I had just bought my first centerfire rifle, a Remington 788 in 6mm, and couldn't grasp how anyone would chose that stumpy little pistol cartridge over a hot rod like the 6mm. I saw the light after seeing his little carbine in action and had wanted one ever since. Found this one last year. That's a 50 yard target. First 5 for a group and the second group of 3 after adjusting the scope for my zero.

In 1968 our house burned to the ground and we lost everything except the clothes on our backs. When the insurance check arrived (which, by the way, was not nearly enough to cover the loss) my father went to a local gun shop and bought replacement guns for the family (bought guns before he bought clothes or a place to live.....my father had his priorities straight!).

At that time, in East Texas, deer hunting was done with packs of dogs in really thick brush. The preferred weapon was a double barrel shotgun and buckshot, but even in those early days he knew the limitations of buckshot and when he saw an early Ruger carbine in .44 magnum on the rack....it seemed "perfect".

A heavy bullet in a short, lightweight rifle that would kill anything within 150 yards was exactly what was needed. No one in our group of friends/family/hunting partners had ever seen such a gun......so it was a bit of an oddity/novelty gun. Over the next decade or so this little gun became a "legend" in our neck of the woods. Used by my father, me as I got older, and my mother (her first deer rifle) and various family members, this little carbine killed over a hundred deer and hogs.....mostly one shot kills and an amazing ability to hit hard and "stop" animals in their tracks.

I still have a Ruger carbine in the gun room and more times than not it is the gun I reach for when I "know" the distances will be close and the brush thick. Maybe luck, maybe ability.....but my Ruger carbines have all shot 1" or so groups at 50 yards (the longest distances I've cared to test them). I've tried heavier bullets (and they worked well) but then I think...."WHY???". A 240 grain bullet shoots through any deer/hog at 50 yards or so and kills like a lightning bolt.

Maybe "legend" or maybe not but if there is a better short-range killing machine than the Ruger carbine and the .44 Magnum cartridge I haven't found it. The .45-70 in a short lever rifle comes close.....but it is much heavier and less "handy". In 1968....by mistake or by intuition.....my fathrer got it right.

Cool post, Rick. Thanks for taking the time to type that one up.

I had two of the older guns. With jacketed bullets, these guns are reasonably accurate 100 yard deer guns. My preference for the .44 Magnum is cast bullets. Did a lot of experimenting; neither gun shot cast well, but gas port blockage was never a problem. A 250 grain cast semi-wadcutter had to be seated deeply to feed through the Ruger magazine.

My father had one in a Mannlicher stock, it shot lights out with little or no kick. I still can't believe he sold it!