Ruger 44 Carbine - Good short range deer gun ?

Gumswamp

Senior Member
I hunt in an area on small food plots where my longest shot would be a maximum of 50 yds. What do you fellas think of a Ruger 44 carbine in this situation ?

Thanks
Gumswamp
 

chuckdog

Senior Member
It would be effective enough, but I wouldn't buy one just for hunting. Way too many better choices. If you already have one or just want one to accompany your 44 revolver, then I would use it, I guess.
 

abrannon

Senior Member
It makes a very good Deer or hog gun out to 50 yards and a descent one out to 100 yards.

My first Deer rifle was a Ruger 44 Mag Carbine. Wish I still had it.
 

TripleXBullies

Senior Member
IME it's great for deer, especially in thick stuff. In thick stuff you can't see that far normally and the mass of the bullet helps it stay on target through brush.

I've seen a deer shot through brush at about 30 yards. The deer was laying down looking up at the stand, then turned it's head to look behind itself. The shot was taken. It went through the neck back in to the gut and stopped right under the skin on the opposite ham. Two entries, one exit.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Decent short-range deer gun, but I wouldn't buy one just for deer hunting. A .30/30 will give you more power for the same situation. A few of the guys I used to bear hunt with carried them for shooting treed bears.
 

pnome

Senior Member
Sounds good. Put a decent red dot on it and you've got a fine brush gun.
 

JWarren

Senior Member
I had one years ago and finally got disgusted with the magazine issues and sold it. Honestly, I have never missed it.......YMMV
 

7dawg9

Senior Member
ruger

I got the new 77/44 bolt-action carbine to go with my 44 mag SBH. I hunt some small openings, it should do the trick.
 

SSGN_Doc

Senior Member
Look at the worthiness of the cartridge itself. The .44 Magnum can be loaded with bullets ranging from 180-300 grains. A 180 gr bullet load that runs 1250 fps from an 8-inch S&W revolver can be run up to nearly 2000 fps in a rifle.

The .44 bullet is nearly 50 percent larger in diameter than .30-caliber bullets. It uses only two-thirds the powder, making it more economical to reload and shoot. Actually, it's probably a pretty good gun/cartridge combo out to 100yds.
 

jglenn

Senior Member
carried several 44 mag rifles over the years.. Ruger Carbine and a 1894 Marlin

handloaded with Hornady 240Gr hp it was flat deadly on deer. out to 75 yards it is way more than enough. never had a deer move more than 30 feet with a well placed round into the lungs. Vast majority were DRT

both rifles were very light weight and a pleasure to carry.

of the two I preferred the Marlin but my wife hunted with a Ruger carbine for years.



just my experience with the 44 and deer
 

chuckdog

Senior Member
Why buy a rifle in a handgun cartridge for deer hunting? I have no problem with using one if that's what you want, but to purposely buy one for deer when you can do so much better in the same size package just doesn't make sense to me? I've got a carbine in 45 Colt. It's a great little rifle, and I love shooting it. I can load it up with a magnum load and hunt with it, but why? I can take my .257 Rbts carbine or my 16" 6.8 spc and be so much better prepared. Just my 2 cents.:huh:
 

SSGN_Doc

Senior Member
Why buy a rifle in a handgun cartridge for deer hunting? I have no problem with using one if that's what you want, but to purposely buy one for deer when you can do so much better in the same size package just doesn't make sense to me? I've got a carbine in 45 Colt. It's a great little rifle, and I love shooting it. I can load it up with a magnum load and hunt with it, but why? I can take my .257 Rbts carbine or my 16" 6.8 spc and be so much better prepared. Just my 2 cents.:huh:

For someone keeping things simple it can definitely make sense. If you already have a .44 handgun, ammo, dies, reloading compnents, etc. it lets you keep things to a minimum. The rifle adds better hit potential with better aiming. It adds better ballistics by adding more barrel to burn powder in. (You can actually approach .30-30 energy and penetration in a bullet with a larger starting diameter with the right loads.) With good bullet selection you can use them on small game, load shotshells for snakes, or have heavy enough loads for hogs, or small black bear. It has performance as good as many black powder guns that put meat on the table as well.

You just took a pistol round and improved it just by putting it in a light and handy carbine.

The user must learn the limitations, and realize it's not a flat shooting long range laser beam, but as woods guns go they are handy and plenty powerful for deer sized game. I too would prefer a levergun in this chambering, but .44 mag can be a decent carbine round for hunting or general purpose outdoor gun use.

Yes for the shooter with several tools to choose from there are better tools specifically for deer. A .257 Roberts or it's parent 7x57 Mauser will add some serious reach for longer shots. A .44 Mag would definitely fall short for 300 yd shots at Elk out West, or even 200-400 yds shots at pronghorn. But for deer in Georgia woods and shots at 100 yds and under, I don't think he'd be under gunned with good ammo.
 

haskell

Senior Member
The huge advantages of a Ruger 44mag carbine are light weight, and short size for quick handling. Our deer and hog drivers love them. Range is short, the carbine with a bright front sight dot (and maybe a ghost ring rear sight) points like a shotgun. For stand hunting, a more conventional rifle may be better.
 
Are you talking about the later model lever action Ruger or the old autos? The automatics are beginning to get hard to find parts for as the old aluminum trigger housings tend to fail with time.
 
Magazine ??????
A Ruger 44 carbine does not use magazines ?????:huh:
At least mine don't......

It has a tubular magazine. If it wasn't feeding correctly, then it probably just needed a full cleaning.

I killed my first 4 deer with a Ruger .44 Carbine and 240 grain SJHP's. I still have one of them but don't hunt with it anymore.

As others have said, great gun out to about 50 yards. With the right load and scope, it can cleanly kill deer even past that. My aunt killed a nice buck at 94 steps with one back in the 80's. She misjudged the distance and shot farther than she intended to, but it did the job.
 
The lever action model Ruger does use box magazines. The auto's trigger housing holds the tube magazine in place. The front of the housing is a small aluminum tab about a quarter inch thick and a quarter inch in protrusion. When this weakens with age the mag tube gets loose and the gun begins to have feeding problems.
 
It has a tubular magazine. If it wasn't feeding correctly, then it probably just needed a full cleaning.

I killed my first 4 deer with a Ruger .44 Carbine and 240 grain SJHP's. I still have one of them but don't hunt with it anymore.

As others have said, great gun out to about 50 yards. With the right load and scope, it can cleanly kill deer even past that. My aunt killed a nice buck at 94 steps with one back in the 80's. She misjudged the distance and shot farther than she intended to, but it did the job.

The new version of the carbine uses a magazine.
 

captbrian

Senior Member
my girlfriend killed a corn fed indiana buck with a ruger 77/44 using leverevolution loads @ 80 yds. he might as well have been shot with a .300 win mag, because he was just as dead! the buck is in my avatar.
 
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