44 Mag For Deer Hunting?

[SemperFiDawg]

Absolutely unethical to hunt with a firearm of any kind. Ruins too much meat.

Hey everyone!

My grandfather recently handed down to me his Ruger 44 Magnum Carbine! I would like to keep it exactly as it was given to me with iron sights and leather sling. Has anyone ever hunted deer with this rifle/caliber? If so, what was your outcome? Do you have any pics?

We have a couple of stands in our lease with close shots and would love to use it there but I don't know how effective (accuracy & damage) that caliber would be on whitetail.

I attached a google image of the model he gave me as I didn't have a chance to take a picture of the actual gun. Let me know what you think!

Thanks!

 

[krizia829]

Absolutely unethical to hunt with a firearm of any kind. Ruins too much meat.

Never in the 17 years that I've been hunting have I ever ruined too much meat. A well placed shot will prevent that! And that's that I use a .30-06! Everyone is different.. Believe it or not, unlike many other hunters, I prefer hunting with a firearm over archery.. I love both gun and bow but gun is for me

 

[tcward]

A little info..

 

[Bucaramus]

I just picked one up last year. Wish it was only $600! But, it's a beauty. Also tube fed and barely looks like it was ever used. I picked up some of the Hornady Leverevolutions in 225Gr. Haven't been to the range yet though. I know my wife lever action .44 mag kills em dead!

 

[Darkhorse]

We had 3 at one time in the 80's, the wife and both boys had one. I still have the wife's in the gunsafe though it doesn't get out much anymore. I've seen a lot of deer fall to those little rifles.
Back then hollow points would just come apart so the best round for hunting was the 240 grain softpoint as others have said. Most of ours where handloads.
Scope bases can be found on the Weaver website
http://www.weaveroptics.com/mountcharts/
The guns were very accurate if you could handle the atrocious trigger. I did a trigger job on my wife's gun to her satisfaction and I'll never do one again.
They must be kept clean. Most of the time a good chamber and barrel cleaning is sufficient. But there comes a time when it regularly jams, fails to eject, stovepipe cases etc. and no amount of cleaning helps. In this case the gas ports in the barrel must be cleaned. This requires major dissasembly incuding bolt removal just to access those gas ports. Clean everything while your at it, the bolt, inside the receiver and all the way to the ports. Once this is done your gun will be a reliable shooter again.
How often this will be required depends on the amount of shooting you do and how dirty your powder is.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Those are excellent little rifles for close range hunting. A lot of guys I used to bear hunt with hounds with carried those. The Winchester white box 240 grain softpoints are good hunting rounds for very little money.

 

[krizia829]

A little info..View attachment 935475

Wow this is great info!! Thank you!!

 

[krizia829]

I just picked one up last year. Wish it was only $600! But, it's a beauty. Also tube fed and barely looks like it was ever used. I picked up some of the Hornady Leverevolutions in 225Gr. Haven't been to the range yet though. I know my wife lever action .44 mag kills em dead!

Sweet! Yes they're very expensive now unfortunately but it's worth it in the end!

 

[krizia829]

We had 3 at one time in the 80's, the wife and both boys had one. I still have the wife's in the gunsafe though it doesn't get out much anymore. I've seen a lot of deer fall to those little rifles.
Back then hollow points would just come apart so the best round for hunting was the 240 grain softpoint as others have said. Most of ours where handloads.
Scope bases can be found on the Weaver website
http://www.weaveroptics.com/mountcharts/
The guns were very accurate if you could handle the atrocious trigger. I did a trigger job on my wife's gun to her satisfaction and I'll never do one again.
They must be kept clean. Most of the time a good chamber and barrel cleaning is sufficient. But there comes a time when it regularly jams, fails to eject, stovepipe cases etc. and no amount of cleaning helps. In this case the gas ports in the barrel must be cleaned. This requires major dissasembly incuding bolt removal just to access those gas ports. Clean everything while your at it, the bolt, inside the receiver and all the way to the ports. Once this is done your gun will be a reliable shooter again.
How often this will be required depends on the amount of shooting you do and how dirty your powder is.View attachment 935499

Wow! I was reading about this rifle and the dirty gas port seems to be the biggest complaint. I guess it's like you said, it all depends on the powder and amount of rounds shot. 44 mag is not cheap so there won't be too much shooting any time soon! I'll stick to my .22 or .17hmr for plinking lol this will be my occasional hunting rifle. I've also been warned about the stock cracking near the receiver from the recoil so I don't want to risk it either. I'd love to some day hand it down to my daughter so I want to take real good care of it while I have it

 

[SemperFiDawg]

Never in the 17 years that I've been hunting have I ever ruined too much meat. A well placed shot will prevent that! And that's that I use a .30-06! Everyone is different.. Believe it or not, unlike many other hunters, I prefer hunting with a firearm over archery.. I love both gun and bow but gun is for me

Archery is unethical too. If you can’t kill it with a rock to the head it ain’t hunting.

 

[krizia829]

I've killed a lot of deer here in Indiana with my NEF 44, redhawk, black hawk, even killed one with my 4" S&W629. That 44 is a premium gun up here.

Cool! I definitely feel way more confident now. I want to take out a couple of hogs as well with it

 

[spurrs and racks]

I've got a friend who hunts this caliber in a lever action gun.

 

[Kanook]

 

[Kanook]

I use Winchester white box 240 grain soft point in both of mine. They are an easy 150yd carbine.

 

[Mark K]

I killed my first deer with one in 1979. My son killed his first with the exact same rifle in 2009. And that rifle has taken many deer and hogs between that timeframe also. Excellent weapon!

 

[fishman1957]

Great rifle I use Winchester 240 gn jacketed soft points , have a 1.5x6 scope which is perfect for shots to 100 yards never had to blood trail one more than10 yards . I have killed many deer , hogs and even a gobbler with it awesome rifle out to 150 yards

 

[Mr Bya Lungshot]

The first deer rifle I ever shot was the ruger 44 carbine.
My father said ok son hold it as loose as you possibly can and shoot it.
I said no way it’ll hurt. He said with a stern voice and an odd mean look in his ? hold it loose and shoot it!
So I did exactly what he said and it jacked my shoulder so hard it made me cry. Bruised me up real good. Him and momma fought the rest of the day. Then he said ok son I want you to remember that moment for the rest of your life whenever you hold any rifle and hold it tight as you can against your shoulder and then barely relax from now till the end of time.
To this day I’ve never shot a rifle or pistol without remembering his words and that first shot of the 44. Thanks Dad.

 

[7Mag Hunter]

Mine is the 25th Anniversary edition with inlaid medallion on the stock..
Tube fed...and decent 4X scope....Killed 20+ deer with it over the years
and used every kind of ammo from 180gr HP to to 240gr HP and SP...
Mine is not picky about ammo...I just loaded a batch of 240gr HP for
this year........Great little gun to carry in the woods and in the tree
stand.....you will enjoy your new treasure...

 

[krizia829]

The first deer rifle I ever shot was the ruger 44 carbine.
My father said ok son hold it as loose as you possibly can and shoot it.
I said no way it’ll hurt. He said with a stern voice and an odd mean look in his ? hold it loose and shoot it!
So I did exactly what he said and it jacked my shoulder so hard it made me cry. Bruised me up real good. Him and momma fought the rest of the day. Then he said ok son I want you to remember that moment for the rest of your life whenever you hold any rifle and hold it tight as you can against your shoulder and then barely relax from now till the end of time.
To this day I’ve never shot a rifle or pistol without remembering his words and that first shot of the 44. Thanks Dad.

Hahah wow that's crazy! I can't wait to take it out to the woods!

 

[krizia829]

Mine is the 25th Anniversary edition with inlaid medallion on the stock..
Tube fed...and decent 4X scope....Killed 20+ deer with it over the years
and used every kind of ammo from 180gr HP to to 240gr HP and SP...
Mine is not picky about ammo...I just loaded a batch of 240gr HP for
this year........Great little gun to carry in the woods and in the tree
stand.....you will enjoy your new treasure...

Wow it must be beautiful! Do you have a picture to share? I would love to see it!