I have a chance to pick up a ruger 44 carbine,pretty reasonable.
Worth having,or no?

Probably depends on what you intend to do with it. Good cartridge with 300 grain bullets in my opinion but my own .44 rifle is a bolt gun.

Yeah, probably.

remember when it first came out and they had the ads with the guy who shot a gorilla with one? can you imagine the screaming if you tried that now?

never owned one, but had a buddy who had one of the old ones and liked it for woods deer in La. They completely redesigned it when it was reintroduced and I've not had any experience with them. always thought they were cool.

I would love to find one of the older ones at a deal!

"I would love to find one of the older ones at a deal!"

Is that the ones with the tube magazine instead of the rotary clip?

Super Fun Gun, Especially when you shoot Jack Rabbits with Hollowpoints.

My Dad has one, handy little close up Deer Gun, (again great for Jacks) and he killed a Mountain Lion with it a few years back. Great Little Carbine IMHO.

Its a fun one to have in the collection.

That would be correct.

I've had two of the old ones. I thought they were great rifles for what they were designed for. I had a 2.5 power scope on the first one and a Williams FP receiver sight on the last.

Less than 100 yards they are good for deer sized animals and I never pushed them to do anything else. I never came across any gorillas while I had it with me so I can't speak to that... Most of the places I hunt deer, 35 to 40 yards would be the normal shot and 100 yards would be a very long shot. I always shot factory jacketed bullets in them and had no problems. The 44mg in a rifle has worked well for me on deer.

It is not a target rifle, but it would do 2.5 to 3 inches at 100 yards without much trouble. That was all I needed.

If I came across one of the old ones in good shape for a fair price I would not hesitate to jump on it.

I got one, then learned that you cannot shoot lead in them, due to the gas port gumming up. Anyone else hear that? No matter, I sold it, 4 round capacity aint enough!

Ive got one and I enjoy it. Im a hound hunter and they work good at bear and mnt lion trees. Mine has lived under the seat of my dog truck for the last ten years and it always goes off when it occasionally gets the call. Not hugely accurate but plenty good for its purpose. I have a 4x Leupold on it and the whole unit works good for kids to shoot, its short and has little recoil. It will darn sure dump a bear outta a tree.

Billy

I bought one 15 years ago. Had it re-blued and mounted a Nikon 1.5x4.5 Monarch in the original Weaver pivot rings (anyone remember those?).

These guns have a 1/38 twist barrel and mine won't stabilize 300 grain bullets past about 50 yards. For a heavy load I use a 270 grain Gold Dot softpoint over 21.5 grains of H110. It's not a target gun, but I know for a fact it'll shoot minute of bear or deer. It's a fun, handy little carbine that I have no intention of letting go of.

Father in Law had one years ago and loved it. he regrets selling it. Shot deer with it at woods ranges.

Everyone should have a 44 carbine. One of the most fun guns I've ever owned.

Brian.

About thirty years ago we had a friend who did a lot of hound hunting. If you had a tag, he would tree a bear for you to shoot.

Then he would put two or three into the skull as the bear hit the ground to make sure it did not hurt his dogs. He carried a nine shot 22 mag revolver.

My Dad and Mr. hound man were out one day, hunting on hound guy's tag. The dogs picked up a scent, but the bear did not tree. Mr. hound man waded into the scrap, and fired five rounds into a mean old skinny boar black bear with no effect, and then the hammer fell on an empty chamber. He had forgotten to do a tactical reload after the last bear encounter.

Well, after a quick retreat while his four dogs fought valiantly with the old bear, the revolver was reloaded and the bear was dispatched with only minimal damage done to the dogs.

The next time we saw Mr. hound man he was carrying a shiny new Ruger 44 mag carbine. I never knew what ammo he used, but I was mightily impressed by an expanded slug we removed from a bear carcass. It was a perfect mushroom and larger than a 25 cent piece in diameter.

It was definitely a DRT machine on black bear.

Its one with a tube magazine.

had one for awhile, very fun gun but i didnt have alot of use for it and sold it to a member here a few years ago......my brother was pissed when he found out.....hadnt realized how much he liked the gun.....

I have a Marlin 44 mag lever gun. I know it is not a ruger, but still a carbine by definition. Shoots oversized cast great and factory jackets OK. Everyone should have a 44 mag carbine of some sort- a hoot to shoot!

Hemi

Had a high school buddy who had one, swore by it!





He used to swap 'woods shooting duties' with a .35Rem M336.

I bought a brand spankin' new one from Fred Baker Firearms in Oklahoma City when I turned 18...that was in '79. It was a cool gun. Well made, solid, functioned well, fun. Sadly, it was stolen from me in Tyler, Texas back in 1990. Wish I had it still.

My wife's uncle hunted deer with one for about 20 years. 'Shot one heck of a pile of whitetails with that little gun. Minute of deer accuracy was no problem in the Minnesota Northwoods where shots were usually well within 100 yards.

I bought a Ruger 44 Magnum Deerslayer International (Mannlicher stock) around 1980. Nice rifle, I wish I still had it.

frankly, a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag is a far superior rifle. Costs less, is much more accurate, does not have the jamming/feeding problems of a Ruger, and just plain looks better.

Nice.

Owned one probably 25 yrs. ago. Nice little piece. Very accurate with the receiver sight that was on it. Never jammed. Zero issues. Killed a couple of wild hogs with it. Ended up selling it, and many times I wish I had it back, but not at the ridiculous prices they are asking for them, now. Gotta disagree with Mannlicher. I just sold a Marlin 1894, 44 mag, back in Dec. It was basically a POS, accuracy wise, and my old ruger would have shot rings around it.


maddog

obviously our experience with the same guns varies. Of course, I am correct.

One point does seem worth mentioning. I am not sure of the twist rate on the Ruger, but the Marlin is 1:38. That twist will not really stabilize a bullet heavier than 270 grains.
Maybe the Ruger has a different twist. I don't know what weight bullet maddog was using.
I use a 270 grain Speer Gold Dot SP, and get accuracy at 75 yards that hovers +/- an inch. At 50 yard, it will cut clover leaf patterns.

Sam, I shot both factory and handloads thru mine. 240 gr. jkted softs, 270 gr. gold dots, 225 gr. Hornady FTX and Hornady 240 gr. XTPs. Accuracy out to 50 yds., was decent 1-1 1/2". But once you got out to 70 yds. and beyond, it would open way up. So I sold it. Guess we just agree to disagree...


maddog

I'll take it if you decide to pass. Used to have one, sorry I let it go.

I've got the Marlin .44 mag carbine as well. Mine is extremely accurate. I have a 4x Leupy on it and have no problem shooting clay birds at 200 yards. I even shoot it a lot at 300 yards. It drops a little, but still hits where I point it. I like the old Rugers, but will still take the Marlin. Flinch

I have a Ruger 44 International, the mannlicher stocked version, with a Leupold Vari-X III 1.5-5x20 in a Redfield turn-in mount. I think that it is a fine short range deer rifle. I generally shoot Remington 240 grain JSPs or JHPs. The downside is that Ruger 44 carbines have a reputation for jamming, particularly "stove-pipe" jams, so I would suggest, if possible, that your fire a couple of full magazines through the rifle before you buy it.

I think that my mannlicher stocks Ruger is easily more eye pleaseing than any Marlin lever gun that I've seen, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

JEff

That Bisley Vaquero a 44 mag too?

yep. Thats the hunting trio I take most of the time. The knife is a Randall #11.

Nice trio.

EDit:
I know I would prefer the Marlin too, not that Ruger carbine isn't a good gun (never shot one).
Didn't care much for a 44 Mag SA until I picked up a Bisley Vaquero, I really like it.

agreed!

If the original Ruger .44, can't recommend for rough hunting. Bought two for bear w/hounds. Always having problems with them. Dumped one, kept the other for extra loaner. 2nd got run over by truck back in the day. Never bothered to fix it. Both were very finicky about feeding ammo from the magazine.

Compact little carbine for rough country and easy carry, but too many issues of this and that crop up for rough hunting.

'94's much better choice for hunting.

Five different Ruger 44 carbines:

Semi-auto: looks like 10/22

Semi-auto: looks like Mini-14

Lever action

Bolt action

Single shot

I wonder sometimes about this place. The first part of the thread is all complimentary,then it becomes a bash Ruger 44 mags...I have one of the older ones, had it for years now. I never had a glitch with ammo "designed" for it, including reloads. You want to try to feed nose heavy 270/300 grain loads through it,well,it wasn't designed for that.
In any event, I find mine very accurate, it fact it will shoot circles around my Mini-14 which is a waste of ammo.
I will be selling mine soon as I am kicking the hell out of getting to be 70yo. I just don't use the gun. It would be better with someone that will actually use it.

That's funny! I read once about about hunting in Africa and how hunters are often encouraged to shoot all the baboons they can. The writer said some hunters can't shoot shoot the baboons because baboons are so much like people. He said other hunters couldn't shoot enough......because baboons are so much like people!

Expat

Frickin' Texans!

Some years back used to hunt elk with a friend who used a Ruger .44 carbine. He used the Norma ammo that had a mild steel jacket. It was no benchrest rifle. He used to sight it in by shooting at rocks, stumps, etc.. He would regularly get his elk. I recall him filling his cow tag one year using the Ruger. One shot at about 50 yds. Completed penetration. Does Norma still market that ammo?

Fluffy - Too clarify, the 10/22 look-a-like is the original .44 mag. carbine.

Note Ruger45/70's post, if the type you want, he may have one for sale that works just fine.

Got two of the bolt Ruger .44s in stainless, one walnut, the other synthetic black, recent build, and one of the original bolt .44, walnut/blue, a good bit trail worn. These are all rotary fed from clip

The lever version works just fine for function, but grip angle with lever bit the heck out of my hand as was awkward for me.

Had two of the singles, still kicking myself for being talked out of the last one I had.

I was not bashing Ruger .44's, nor do I have any for sale.

Lead bullets + .44 Mag = enough gun for armadillos.








They sorta explode in a chunky kinda way.

I've never had a signature line - but that is really tempting.

My Dad carries a 1960's version deer hunting. I used it for a couple of seasons but never had any luck with it. It shoots as good as my Marlins about 2"-3" at 100 yards but it won't cycle the Leverevolution ammo. We have shot some lead bullets out of it without ill effect before we knew better. I imagine it would take a pile of them to clog up the gas port. It has never jammed as far as I can remember. They are fun little units. Everybody should have one. Mike

An accuracy tip.

do something with that silly slick curved buttplate, get one of the checkered steel replacements, or glue some rubber on to it, so the thing doesn't squirt off your shoulder when you shoot. It will make it much easier to shoot well.

early Mini-14's have the same issue, but not as pronounced.

I did the glued rubber treatment on a .44 mag for a friend, as well as glass bedded it, and it was certainly a fine little carbine.

Make damn good boat anchor material!!

It's not near heavy enough for a boat anchor even though it has a great place to tie the rope.

I've had the older Ruger auto carbine, the Marlin 336 in 44 mag and the Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. I liked them all. They all shot good and were very reliable. Of the bunch the Marlin 336 was the most accurate and the one I kept.

If I was in the market for a 44mag carbine, the only thing that would make me pass on any of them other than price is the safety on the new Marlin 1894's. Can't stand it. It would have to be a pre safety Marlin.

I have numerous 44 carbines. Never could like the curved butt plate. My favorites are either the sporter or mannlicher. Both have a flat butt. My favorite of all my 44 carbines is a custom 96/44 lever action. Short throw on the lever makes it nearly as quick as the semiauto clip fed and no gas system to worry about of course I had to do something about the stock. The picture shows my original mannlicher carbine and the 96.

Back in those days, Tyler was full of crime. Middle to late 80's and early 90's there was a huge crack cocaine problem there. Car theft was awful, drug crime was rampant, break-ins, assaults, murder...the place was flat-out BAD. The 'powers that be' put forth much effort though to cover it up and paint Tyler as the 'Rose Capitol of the World'.

I had one of the newer, rotary-mag ones. Frankly it never moved me, other than as a means to shoot 44 mag from a carbine, which is very cool. It was a 3 MOA rifle @ 100 yds, and it jammed enough to be troublesome.

I traded it towards a stainless Marlin 44 mag carbine, which I found to be a more accurate, reliable, and infinitly classier, rifle.

Just IMHO.

ruger 44 mag carbine, i have one i bought new in 1976, put a leupy 2X5 on it. and used it as a truck gun for years,i have killed a lot of critters with it.great pig gun, trick to the gun is clean it about every fifty rounds and it will run all day, great little gun in the heavy brush. rio7

I bought and sold three of the older style Ruger carbines last year and one of the model 77/44's.Started to keep one of the semi autos but found out Ruger will no longer work on them and there are no spare parts to be had.They are not bench rifles in accuracy but they do function good.The newer "Deerfield" models are,as I understand,beefed up Mini 14 type actions.I have killed several deer with them.I would not buy another one.I have never found a .44 rifle which was consistently accurate enough for my tastes.

Stan in SC

Stan, I'm shooting a 77/44 that runs slightly over MOA consistently with paper patch lead and a bit under with jacketed loads.