My new toy!

[sneekyhunter]

I like to hunt my deer in the thick swamp on our property my uncle and cousin like the open fields,i just got a sweet gun that i think would be perfect for this kind of hunting,its a Ruger 44 carbine 25 year aniversary,it was made in 1985 and is near mint condition,its short and really light i wont have time to shoot it until next week and am wondering if anyone here has used one for hunting and your opinions on this little carbine.Thanks for your time.

[OLDHandgunner]

I've had my old Ruger 44 carbine for years. Between my sons and I we own 6 of these great rifles. They shoot great and carry very nice. My sons and I hunt small game & rabbits with our Ruger 10/22's to get us ready for deer hunting in November with our Ruger 44 Carbines. We also use other rifles, but for swamps and thick cover the Ruger 44 carbine is hard to beat.

[Ahab]

Used one in Wisconsin swamplands for many years. Our hunting group started out with an assortment of calibers. I was the first with the .44 carbine. After two years all 7 of us had one. Sold mine when I moved out west.

[shooter]

My two brothers and i cut our whitetail hunting teeth in upstate NY using my dad's 44 mag carbine.I was a nice,light handy little shooter.My Dad had an early weaver quickpoint mounted on it.The quickpoint relied on natural sunlight and mirrors to superimpose a red dot on the target.It was fine until you got into some dark evergreens or towards the end of the day but heck ,that was 1974.
Shooter

[nrb]

I've used my 44 carbine for years in the southern states for deer and find it a totally dependable, accurate, easy to carry, and effective deer harvester. When reloading for the 44, I found that heavier bullets, 240gr or heavier, were the most accurate. Ligher bullets were not impressive.

best,         nrb

[Rangr44]

Six, out of the eight regulars, in my Northern New England hunting party have used Ruger .44 Carbines for the past thirty years.
Four are scoped, two low-power fixed & two low power variables, one is peeped, and the last hunter uses the issue open sights. All have been very effective, over the years.

It's even good along the edges of smaller fields - where you might get shots up to 150yds.

[BNoz01]

I've got a 25th Anniversary model that I bought new in 1986.  Still minty condition with box and everything else. 

While I haven't shot mine in years, I have fond memories of shooting 180 grainer's at deer years ago.  Everyone else used a bottleneck cartridge while we hunted deer using dogs.  When the deer appeared there'd always be a hail of bullets.  When a deer went down with one bullet hole, there'd be five guys claiming they made the kill.  With the 180 grain bullet, I could cut it out from under the hide on the far side of the carcus and there'd be no dispute as to who shot it.  The bottled necked 270s, 06s, etc always exited the far side.

The only drawback to the gun is that it's twist rate only allows it to shoot up to about 240 grain bullets, so don't waste your time with 300 grainers. 

I gotta ask, what did you pay for the gun?

Great gun!  Enjoy,

B. Noz.

[sneekyhunter]

I bought it at gander mountain,i think think it was priced wrong because i only paid $225.00 ,that includes tax.There isn't a scratch on it anywhere.

[BNoz01]

Damn!  I paid $385 for mine (new from the dealer) 21 years ago.  And I got it at cost -- still have the UPS packaging showing the COD amount.

You got quite a gem, enjoy it!

B. Noz.

 

[sneekyhunter]

Thanks ,i will enjoy it,if anyone lives near the gander mountain store in middletown NY they have another one there for around the same price but its not the 25th aniversary one.

[Ron T.]

Jezzzzzzzzz..........

I can't remember what I paid for mine 'cause I bought it when Ruger first brought them out 'way back in the early-to-mid 1960s.  Mine is still pretty "minty", but then it's been used very little... one deer hunting trip to Michigan and another one, by my eldest son 10 or 15 years ago, to Kentucky where he killed a very large whitetail buck with a single shot through the "boiler room".

It was a "bang/flop" kill using one of my hand-loaded 240 jacketed grain hollow-points in front of 24.0 grains (a MAXIMUM LOAD in a rifle) of H110.  As I remember, this gave a muzzle velocity of a bit over 1800 fps.

Anyway... the little Ruger Carbine is a good one... and better looking than the new version in my humble opinion.   


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.