Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ruger 44 Carbine

I'm a recent Model 44 convert. My buddy died a year ago and I acquired his Ruger Model 44. I determined to hunt with it last year, and managed to bag a buck.



Story here:
Bob's Model 44 and The Buck

When I first got it, it was a Jam-O-Matic. Over the summer, it took two trips to the gunsmith to get it working right. It wasn't feeding the second round properly, and the action was locking up. When it did work, the brass was ejecting every-which-way. My guess is that the first owner did something to hose it up and then took it to a gun show to dump it. Bob acquired it cheap and never shot it and let it sit in the case for 40 years. Bob was more of a collector than a hunter. Once it got going, it was a joy to shoot. Bottom line: if you find one that jams, a good smith can fix it.

My load of choice is 240 grain XTP's over H110, just a tad hotter than a starting load. I started out with an 1st Generation Aimpoint, but that did not work so well in low-light conditions. It now sports a Bushnell Banner 1-4.5X; the Dusk to Dawn coatings are the Schizz!

After the buck, I took it along to Georgia for a hog hunt with Folically Challenged.



One word of caution: On my last evening hunt with FC, it was pitch dark when the truck picked us up, and I made the mistake of cupping my hand over the ejection port to catch the round. The round popped out, bounced off my hand and then back in, and it jammed up tight. It took removing the action from the stock and working a butter knife into the action to get the round sent back up into the magazine where it could be re-ejected. Just make sure you let loaded rounds eject freely as you're unloading it, and you won't have to suffer as I did.

Pros: Light, accurate, quick to point. Negligible recoil. Deadly on whitetails at close range.
Cons: It flings brass. Mine was flinging it all over the place when I got it. After the smith fixed it, it flings much more reliably to the 2 O'Clock position, but it still flings.

[
It appears to be the finger groove Sporter model. Cool . They are More sought after.

Ruger did kind of a foot shot with that carbine introduction when one of their first advertising campaigns featured a hunter holding that .44 carbine with a human sized gorilla spread eagled next to him. With all the look alike 10/22's already in circulation, the .44 carbine was a natural. One does wonder why they stopped making not only the carbine, but other successful Ruger rifles and handguns?

Yes, but I doubt it really matters. It was Bob's, and it is one of the few tangible things I have of his. It won't be going down the road anytime soon.

25 years ago, I remember the much-maligned Clay Harvey in The Hunting RIfle writing glowingly about the Ruger Model 44:

"For still-hunting-in dense brush, nothing is quite as good--all things considered--as a Ruger .44 Magnum semi-automatic carbine. . ."

In a photo caption, he added: "Author opines that the defunct Ruger.44 Carbine was the finest rig ever for rainy-day still hunting."


Up until this past fall, I'd shot deer at close range with 12 GA slug, 30-somethings like 30-30 and 30-06, and a .54 Hawken. This Ruger compared quite favorably at 60+ yards. It got the job done better than my 30-30 and it got it done without the recoil of a slug gun or '06.

As a general-purpose weapon, I'd look for something else-- especially for longer ranges. For close-in still-hunting and treestand work, I'd put it near the top. The one niche where I'd the Model 44 shining is places like Ohio with these blasted pistol caliber rifle rules. The Model 44 gets the job of the 12 GA smoothbore slug done with a lot less recoil.

Ruger did kind of a foot shot with that carbine introduction when one of their first advertising campaigns featured a hunter holding that .44 carbine with a human sized gorilla spread eagled next to him. With all the look alike 10/22's already in circulation, the .44 carbine was a natural. One does wonder why they stopped making not only the carbine, but other successful Ruger rifles and handguns?

The .44 Magnum was out way before the 10-22, the .44 carbine being Ruger's first rifle.

Back when those came out nobody gave a schitt whether somebody was shooting gorilla. People considered it a cool, adventurous thing to do, go off in the jungle and shoot a gorilla. Some of us still do.

If they'd make the Mini-14 in 350 Legend, we'd have a respectable heir to the .44.

I really wish I could find someone that can shorten the pre and over travel of these triggers. Lightening it would be icing on the cake.

Thanks, Dinny

Yes, but I doubt it really matters. It was Bob's, and it is one of the few tangible things I have of his. It won't be going down the road anytime soon.

25 years ago, I remember the much-maligned Clay Harvey in The Hunting RIfle writing glowingly about the Ruger Model 44:

"For still-hunting-in dense brush, nothing is quite as good--all things considered--as a Ruger .44 Magnum semi-automatic carbine. . ."

In a photo caption, he added: "Author opines that the defunct Ruger.44 Carbine was the finest rig ever for rainy-day still hunting."


Up until this past fall, I'd shot deer at close range with 12 GA slug, 30-somethings like 30-30 and 30-06, and a .54 Hawken. This Ruger compared quite favorably at 60+ yards. It got the job done better than my 30-30 and it got it done without the recoil of a slug gun or '06.

As a general-purpose weapon, I'd look for something else-- especially for longer ranges. For close-in still-hunting and treestand work, I'd put it near the top. The one niche where I'd the Model 44 shining is places like Ohio with these blasted pistol caliber rifle rules. The Model 44 gets the job of the 12 GA smoothbore slug done with a lot less recoil.