I got to hunt exactly once with my best friend's Ruger Model 44. I had acquired it from his widow the previous summer. It was a bit of a basket case when I got it; he hadn't touched it in 40 years. It took 2 trips to the 'smith to get it working. I took it out, shot a nice buck at sundown with it, and put it away for next year.
I took it out the next summer and. . .
. . .There was an inherent weakness in the receiver that was fixed in later models. I ended up wrecking the gun on the first test shot. It's a wall hanger now.
What I can say is the 44 Mag did a great job on the buck, perhaps a wee bit better than a 30-30. I took the shot at 100 yards or so. The buck ran about 50 yards and piled up dead.
