Originally Posted by shaman
Originally Posted by rickt300
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That carbine could be the perfect Michigan straight walled cartridge rifle for the south zone. Can't understand why they are not common everywhere.



They were not all THAT popular. Ruger discontinued the Model 44, the Model 96 and the Deerfield due to lack of interest. It's a shame, too. Out of a treestand, out to 80 yards or so, there is nothing better when comparing stopping power vs. recoil than a 44 Mag. It certainly performed better than my 30-30. I got mine when my best friend died and left behind a serious Ruger collection. I'd wanted the Model 96, but his nephew snatched it up.

I took it out for its inaugural hunt last fall:

Bob's Model 44 and the Buck


Funny, my Marlin 1894 .44 mag didn't kill deer any better than my .30-30. It kicked harder, wasn't as accurate and had much less effective range so I sold it and went back to using my .30-30. You had a freak occurrence with your .30-30. I once had a very similar experience with 12 gauge slugs. I did not conclude that 12 gauge slugs weren't good deer killers from that one incident and went on to kill dozens more with perfectly satisfactory results. Some deer just don't want to die in the usual expected fashion no matter what you shoot them with.