Ruger 44 carbine

[JayZuv]

Been looking for one of these for a while now and not having much luck. So, decided to give the whole gunbroker thing a shot. From the photos it looks like it has some real nice wood, and should be a blast to shoot. Anybody ever have one/ shoot one?

3C9098E4-E248-453C-B19C-D60067C1549F.png

[JEBar]

had one years ago that I used for bear / boar hunting .... worst mistake I've ever made related to buying /selling a firearm was to let it go

[MuddyWaters62]

I have one that I bought about 20 years ago for $150 dollars. It doesnt have fancy wood or deep blue. Just a good utility rifle. Great hog and deer gun. Keep it clean when shooting hard cast boolits. I usually shoot 270 gr hard cast. I wouldn't trade for the world. I have a 2x7 Burris scope mounted and it shoots 3-4" groups at 100 yards. Most shots I get are under 75 yards.

I wish Ruger would bring back the 44 Carbine. I would buy another in an instant to give my grandson.

[JayZuv]

I have one that I bought about 20 years ago for $150 dollars. It doesnt have fancy wood or deep blue. Just a good utility rifle. Great hog and deer gun. Keep it clean when shooting hard cast boolits. I usually shoot 270 gr hard cast. I wouldn't trade for the world. I have a 2x7 Burris scope mounted and it shoots 3-4" groups at 100 yards. Most shots I get are under 75 yards.

I wish Ruger would bring back the 44 Carbine. I would buy another in an instant to give my grandson.

Funny you should mention the scope as this one also has a 2-7 Burris on it as well! Can’t wait to get it on the range and try it out

[BigAl52]

I have a Ruger PC carbine in 9mm that I think is a lot of fun to shoot. I see now its come out in 40cal. Who knows maybe more calibers soon. Enjoy the 44.

[Redthies]

Congrats Jay! I found one of those last year, after looking for one for a very long time. I ended up selling it to another member here on HRF. I decided that I really wanted another lever gun more, so it’s sale funded my .357 BBSC which is my favorite long gun of all times, so although I wish I could have both, the sting of selling it has been mitigated by the love of the BigBoy carbine.

The tube fed version is supposed to be a much better gun than the later mag fed ones. If mine had been mag fed, there is a small chance I would have kept it. I wanted it for a hunting rifle, and where I live it’s very illegal to have any ammo in your rifle while driving, and when we are moving a lot, the loading and unloading thing would have driven me crazy. The BBSC is obviously tube as well, but it’s way faster to load and unload.

Be VERY careful with the stock too, they tend to fracture right at the curve of the pistol grip as the wood is super thin to accommodate the action. The only replacement stock I could find for mine came from Macon Gunstocks, and it took about 8 hours of finishing to get it even close to where I wanted it.

[JayZuv]

Thank you Redthies! I finally got my hands on it this past weekend. I have been looking for one for a couple years myself. Overall, its in decent shape for its age. It definitely has some wear to it, and as I plan to hunt with it I am okay with that. Luckily there are no cracks like you described on it, hopefully it stays that way. Also, aside from the stock, Numrich gun parts seems to have nearly all of the internal parts available for it should I ever need them. Definitely a fun one to shoot!

[Redthies]

Yup, Numich has all the springs etc. Keep the gas ports clean if you are using cast bullets. They lead foul really easily. I really liked mine, but lever fever took hold again...

This was mine:

[JayZuv]

Very nice! Looks much more modern with the laminate stock

[Redthies]

It looked nice for sure. That phot was taken before I oiled the wood, so it ended up darker. I kind of liked it better lighter.

Have fun shooting yours Jay!

[roddy]

Congrats on getting one. I searched for a while as well. Most of the ones I looked at were either rusty, or way overpriced.

I bought Redthies' .44 Carbine. Other than the crack in the OE stock, it is in great shape. Fun to shoot too. I have read that they can be a little fussy regarding bullet weight. I use 240 grain jacketed/semi-jacketed hollow points in this one. I wouldn't say the recoil was severe, but more than I expected...it's no wonder the OE stocks are prone to cracking. As Redthies said, they are really thin in places.

Here's a picture from the 'un-boxing' when it arrived with the scope mount and OE stock. You can see the color/shade difference after being oiled...

20181016_151350.jpg

[JayZuv]

Looks good! I tried a few different cartridges and it is a bit finicky with what it does and doesn't cycle well. I worked up a load of a 240gr xtp over h110 and that seems to work great

[JayZuv]

Also its a shame that stock is cracked, that has some nice figure to it. I don't suppose there are any ways to repair the crack?

[roddy]

There was a previous attempt at fixing it, and it appears to have been stripped and stained at some point in its life. I did a little more work with some epoxy, and rubbed in a few coats of linseed oil. It doesn't look too bad, but I'd be happy to find an intact original stock to slip it into. I was going to add a small scope, but tried this Williams peep sight set, and changed my mind...

20190216_093403.jpg

[JayZuv]

I would have probably gone with a peep, but the one I got came with a Burris 2-7 already mounted on it, and it shot less than an inch groups at 75 yds so I’m not gonna mess with it

[Redthies]

There was a previous attempt at fixing it, and it appears to have been stripped and stained at some point in its life. I did a little more work with some epoxy, and rubbed in a few coats of linseed oil. It doesn't look too bad, but I'd be happy to find an intact original stock to slip it into. I was going to add a small scope, but tried this Williams peep sight set, and changed my mind...


20190216_093403.jpg

I wasn’t going to out you as the buyer Roddy without your say so, but I’m glad you’re chiming in. I sanded the factory finish off and did a couple of coats of linseed oil. When I bought it, the crap repair had been done already, and then the whole grip area was wrapped in red and blue duct tape about 1/4” thick! There was epoxy all over the wood under the duct tape slime too, so the sanding and oiling was a far better solution. I look around for quite a while for an original stock too. I bought the Macon stock as it was the only one I could find anywhere. I wish Boyd’s still made a stock for them. The one on my Ruger boot gun is amazingly nice!

I also felt it shot best with 240 grain jhps, and it does have quite a bit more felt recoil than I would have expected. My memories from shooting on in my early 20s had apparently faded...

[JayZuv]

Sounds like a mess! I have not seen any original stocks for sale anywhere either.

[roddy]

There was a previous attempt at fixing it, and it appears to have been stripped and stained at some point in its life. I did a little more work with some epoxy, and rubbed in a few coats of linseed oil. It doesn't look too bad, but I'd be happy to find an intact original stock to slip it into. I was going to add a small scope, but tried this Williams peep sight set, and changed my mind...


20190216_093403.jpg

I wasn’t going to out you as the buyer Roddy without your say so, but I’m glad you’re chiming in. I sanded the factory finish off and did a couple of coats of linseed oil. When I bought it, the crap repair had been done already, and then the whole grip area was wrapped in red and blue duct tape about 1/4” thick! There was epoxy all over the wood under the duct tape slime too, so the sanding and oiling was a far better solution. I look around for quite a while for an original stock too. I bought the Macon stock as it was the only one I could find anywhere. I wish Boyd’s still made a stock for them. The one on my Ruger boot gun is amazingly nice!

I also felt it shot best with 240 grain jhps, and it does have quite a bit more felt recoil than I would have expected. My memories from shooting on in my early 20s had apparently faded...

No worries. I posted a thread a while back about it, and thanked you for not tossing the original stock. Some walnut stocks pop up on the Macon site from time to time, but they leave too much work on the table...all were 'semi-finished'. I've had a couple of Boyds stocks (OE Savage and direct from Boyds), and have no issues with their stocks. I e-mailed them a while back about the possibility of cutting a stock for a .44 Carbine again, but didn't get a response.

[Redthies]

No worries. I posted a thread a while back about it, and thanked you for not tossing the original stock. Some walnut stocks pop up on the Macon site from time to time, but they leave too much work on the table...all were 'semi-finished'. I've had a couple of Boyds stocks (OE Savage and direct from Boyds), and have no issues with their stocks. I e-mailed them a while back about the possibility of cutting a stock for a .44 Carbine again, but didn't get a response.

The black laminate I sent it with was “semi-finished”. It took about 8 hours of serious woodwork with multiple routers, sanders, die grinders etc to get it even close. I think it could have had at least another 1/8” of thickness off everywhere in the state you received it. I tried to con Boyd’s into doing a stock as well. There is a cult following for these guns. I’m really surprised they don’t even have basic offerings for it.

[JayZuv]

Finally got around to getting some photos of mine.