Ruger 44 Carbine - Good short range deer gun ?

JWarren · May 6, 2011

7Mag Hunter said:
Magazine ??????
A Ruger 44 carbine does not use magazines ?????
At least mine don't......

Where does the second, third, fourth shot come from on an autoloading rifle????

The original .44 carbine certainly did have a magazine.....just like the Marlin 1894 has a magazine.....think tubular.

My carbine's magazine was a problem from Day 1 regardless of whether or not it was clean, if it rained, if it was sunny, any day of the week and maybe twice on Sunday, factory ammo, hand loaded ammo, warm weather, cold weather........you get the idea...total junk.

And, as much as I like Ruger.....they were no help either.

After dumping the Ruger, I bought a Marlin 1894 that has been everything that I sincerely wanted the Ruger to be. I like the handgun caliber carbines as I am not really a rifle person. I have rifles in rifle calibers and shoot them some, but I have just never been able to get "into" them for hunting or just shooting because I don't personally find it challenging to make hits on animals with rifle calibers and I don't really get enjoyment out of shooting extremely small groups. JMO

SgtPat · May 7, 2011

I hunted with the old tub magazine 44 carbine (jam-o-matic). I hated to give it up but after 3 trips back to Ruger, they even gave up.
Now I hunt with the new (discontinued) Ruger Deerfield carbine model 99/44 with the detachable magazine. It is not as light and graceful as the old carbine, but it functions flawlessly.
I prefer to hunt on my feet and this gun is perfect for me. It is light, fast, and brings them down with one shot. I use 240 grain soft points.

WTM45 · May 7, 2011

They ALL use a magazine.
The 99/44 Deerfield has a detachable one.

They are great close action stalking rifles. Be aware the Deerfield magazines will not allow the use of some of the heavies due to OAL constraints. The one I owned was a consistant shooter that would give good groups with 240gr JSP loads. Never had a problem.

7Mag Hunter · May 7, 2011

JWarren said:
Where does the second, third, fourth shot come from on an autoloading rifle????

The original .44 carbine certainly did have a magazine.....just like the Marlin 1894 has a magazine.....think tubular.

My carbine's magazine was a problem from Day 1 regardless of whether or not it was clean, if it rained, if it was sunny, any day of the week and maybe twice on Sunday, factory ammo, hand loaded ammo, warm weather, cold weather........you get the idea...total junk.

And, as much as I like Ruger.....they were no help either.

After dumping the Ruger, I bought a Marlin 1894 that has been everything that I sincerely wanted the Ruger to be. I like the handgun caliber carbines as I am not really a rifle person. I have rifles in rifle calibers and shoot them some, but I have just never been able to get "into" them for hunting or just shooting because I don't personally find it challenging to make hits on animals with rifle calibers and I don't really get enjoyment out of shooting extremely small groups. JMO

Never had any problems with the tubular magazine in mine....Thought you were referring to a box type mag....
Can't see where the tubular type mag is as prone to problems like the box type mag.....Unless maybe it had dirt
inside it....

sandhillmike · May 7, 2011

I have a Winchester 94 in .44 mag, really just got it to go with my .44 mag Vaquero and Super Blackhawk. My primary deer guns are a 30-06 Tikka T3 and 45-70 Marlin 1895G.

JWarren · May 7, 2011

7Mag Hunter said:
Never had any problems with the tubular magazine in mine....Thought you were referring to a box type mag....
Can't see where the tubular type mag is as prone to problems like the box type mag.....Unless maybe it had dirt
inside it....

That was more than 20yrs ago and knowing what I know now, I should have demanded on one of the trips back to Ruger, that they change the spring. I actually thought that they would have done that, but now I have my doubts. I have read several places that the pin on the trigger guard that actually supports the tube would cause problems, but again, I would have thought that Ruger would have checked that. Also, I know for sure that there was no dirt or debris in the tube.

rayjay · May 8, 2011

The only deer I ever shot was with a 44 mag Marlin and the only one I ever missed was with a thuty thuty H&R so in my mind the 44 is a much better deer killer :rofl:

throwdown · May 9, 2011

I love my 44 carbine, don't let anyone tell you otherwise from 80 yrds and in, it will kill with the best of them.

yaknfish · May 9, 2011

They've had a Ruger .44 mag carbine (semi-auto) on the rack at Bullseye in L'ville for several months. Nice shape, with rings. It must be recent production, because the upper handguard is plastic. I'm always surprised that it's still there.

Lead Poison · May 9, 2011

A 44 magnum will EASILY kill deer all day long all the way out to 100 yards!

Place your shot and you will have a dead deer on the ground.

bowbuck · May 18, 2011

My first 25 deer or so fell to a .44 mag Marlin. Some of them were close, some were in the 125 yard range. It didn't seem to find killing em at all. It had killed dozens of deer when I got it, and it finally wore out enough it will jam so it has been retired. I killed em all with either slow moving 240 grain corelokts or 275 gr Federals JHP. The deer were just as dead as they are now when I crush them with 180 grs out of my 300 mag. The only difference is my gun weighs twice as much and isn't nearly as handy when I get the notion to slip around on a damp morning now.

one hogman · May 24, 2011

Gumswamp, Did you buy the Ruger?? I had two of the older ones, never had a problem with cycling or feeding but always stayed with a factory load, If you handload I would look at a Marlin 1894, I have a cowboy version 20" Octagon barrel, hold 10 rounds shoots very accurate, almost as handy as the Ruger , not fussy about different loads.

Ruger 44 Carbine - Good short range deer gun ?

JWarren

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SgtPat

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WTM45

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7Mag Hunter

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sandhillmike

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JWarren

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rayjay

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throwdown

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yaknfish

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Lead Poison

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bowbuck

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one hogman

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