Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Ruger 44 carbine

Looking at one that has been painted camo by bubba, doesn’t look beat up and was made in 1980. I’m sure I can get the paint off with a little patience. They want 660 out the door. Are there any years that were better or worse than others? Trying to decide if I want to get it.

For $660 you could buy that, clean it up and if you don't like it, sell it and make a few hundred bucks.

This one eats ‘em all….

The most knowledgeable Ruger guys who I ever met were the Rodischin brothers, Bill and Henry, who had worked for Ruger and then opened Rody's Gun Shop in Newport, NH, just down the road from Ruger's Pine Tree Casting plant. They told me that using cast bullets in the Ruger .44 carbines was a sure way to plug the gas port over time, so they recommended only using jacketed bullets, both in factory ammo and reloads.

owned one years ago. I sold it because of mediocre accuracy and the 240 grain bullet limitation. Went with a Marlin 1894, which is a far superior rifle.

THIS...

Mine are fairly accurate - 2 1/2" off a bag at 100 yards with open sights... I can't shoot better than that with the original Irons.

For that small niche of still-hunting or tracking whitetails in heavy cover where a majority of shots are likely to present themselves at close range on an animal that is already on the move, a semi-auto allows the shooter to put lead on target as fast as he/she can keep the sights on target and squeeze the trigger. While lever and pump actions allow for faster follow up shots than bolt or single shot actions, none of them are as fast or less disruptive to the sight picture as a semi-auto. While a Marlin 1894 might be a superior rifle for some hunting scenarios, I don't think that it is in this specific niche. As far as bullet weight goes, the common jacketed 240 grain factory loads that I shoot are accurate enough, around 3 MOA, and penetrate well enough such that a whitetail shot through the lungs is a dead deer. I have a lot of lever and pump action rifles, but when I'm still-hunting whitetails in heavy cover I reach for the Ruger or one of the Winchester 100s. At least that has been my experience.

I still remember the stricken look on my buddy’s face with the .44 Carbine when he was asked to cover an opening about 300 yards long.
You can shoot a close deer with a cartridge that shoots far, but you can’t shoot a far deer with a cartridge that shoots close.

Supposedly the late production as there was a part redesign . As I remember the early ones have a part (trigger guard?) that is prone to breakage and no parts are available. This is from a aging memory so do some checking. I sold mine a year or so ago, it was a late production gun. Wish I had kept it.

Tried a buddys and never could hit anything with but he couldnt either I think he sold it rather quickly.

I have one I bought used when I was home on leave from the Navy in 1968. It was the receiver sight model and it has a 4 digit serial number. I had wanted one since they first came out and I'd seen the Ruger ads, something to the effect that, "This is the 5 pound carbine that will put its 240 grain bullet through a 6" pine tree and still kill a deer". The ads with the guy showing the gorilla he'd killed with one really cemented my lust for it. I never got to do anything with it until I returned from SEA in the early '70's. Accuracy was always disappointing, even though I shot Norma's "Carbine Load" ammo in it. I did kill some deer with it however, it was perfect for hunting in the woods, on foot as we used to always do. Eventually I read an article in Rifle magazine about accurizing it. I discovered the stock through-bolt to the rear receiver nest was loose so I tightened that and glass-bedded the gas block. After that treatment, with a 1-4 Bushnell Banner, it would shoot under 2" at 100 yards. Later I put an Aimpoint red dot on it with which I killed probably the biggest bodied deer I ever killed at 200 yards. It sits in the safe at my son's house now. I should get it and put it back into service.

Yes, there was a redesign due to trigger housing breakage. I also don't know the year. There have been stock breakage problems as well, whether it's 1st or 2nd gen isn't known to me either.

Yes, No cast bullets. Will clog gas system over time & nearly impossible to correct.

I had a new 44-R(factory equipped with a Williams peep) & it was a neat rifle that was fun to shoot. But the no cast bullet thing, plus it throwing a lot of my brass away had me soon losing interest.

Thinking the fact it's discontinued is likely pricing them about double their worth IMO. .

So what about the Deerfield Carbine models? They went poof from the catalog pretty quickly. Poor sales or crap design?

Good question Pappy. They came & went so quick I never learned anything about them..

I agree. I have a Glenfield lever 30-30 that I hunt with, but at the ranges I often hunt it's too noisy for a follow up. A deer will often stand after a miss but as soon as you work the bolt or lever it's gone. A semi would allow a quick follow up without the noise.

I never shot one, but I did handle one. It was based on the Mini-14, IIRC. I recall complaints about it ejecting brass a bit skyward, often hitting the scope if equipped. Ruger offered a leather protector that sort of strapped around the underside of the scope turret to help with the issue.

Seen & shot several and carried a friends for a few hunts many years ago. Wasn't impressed with the accuracy at all! IMO they are way overpriced for what they are.

As with any other rifle, you MUST shoot several types of ammo to find out what the gun likes. All mine love 240 Jacketed Solid Tips... The 200 gr were not as accurate and the 185 gr were zippy but not as accurate.

Bought one in 1982 , it did not seem as solid as my Buddy's older model 44 . I think they went from milled steel to investment casting . He killed a boatload of bucks in NY state with his. From what I understand parts are hard to find and Ruger no longer services them.

When younger, I couldn't leave anything alone.