My grandfather used one as his deer rifle for number of years and at some point was traded for a Winchester 94.

Always thought it was a neat little rifle and have wanted one for a number of years. Not easy to find in this area and tend to sell quickly when they show.

Three years of gun shows and I found this one a few months back.


Earlier version with tube feed and somewhat rare Monte Carlo stock.
Still a fun gun to shoot 40 years later!

Nice stock! Is it factory?
I have an older tube fed one. I have a low power scope on it. I let my daughter use it for deer hunting. Light & easy to carry, & light on recoil.

I'd love one too especially now as they're legal for deer hunting in my zone. My brother has an early one but with the carbine stock with band that I've always told him I'd buy if he ever sold it.
I haven't seen one in years here for sale though and nice one you snagged.

A "Finger Groove" model. Those stocks are sweeeeeet!!!


I foolishly sold this one about 5 years ago.

Ned

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Devil's afraid I'll take over.

I love the .44 rifle just picked up a marlin 1984 lever gun and very happy, my hunt for the ruger goes on but I won't quit till I find one. At a realistic price that is.

great looking gun o.p.

This carbine has quite a following. They always fetch good money at auctions. .357 and 44 lever guns are the same in my experience.

Always wanted one but they are out of my price range. A semi-auto 44 Mag has to be fun to shoot. Do these have a rotary magazine? Did Ruger ever make one is 357?

James

That is so cool... I've never seen one with that style stock... shoot, what I'm I saying, I haven't seen one for a very, very, long time period.

I finally gave up on finding one and settled (lucked onto) on the contemporary 99/44 "Deerfield" version... which is also out of production = Ruger being stupid times 2 with .44 mag carbines.

That one only has a 4 round rotary magazine.

Attached Images

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

KWG, the stock was a factory offering. Believe that the package included gold bead front sight with the finger rail/ Monte Carlo stock.

Ned
They are sweet with the finger grove stock. Seems I read that Bill Ruger considered the original M44 the best looking rifle he ever designed.

Holo
Would love to find a Marlin in .41 mag. Never shot one but what's not to like!

The M44 and the Marlins do seem to have a following. 3 years of wondering isles and this was the only sighting of one. Oddly enough I had to pass it by for a S&W 57. Lucked out though and the dealer sill had it 3 weeks later at another show. Not cheap at $650 but not excessive.

Gunhaker,
I never really looked at the difference between the tube and rotary magazine models. Thanks for attaching the pics, I see the rotary feeds are much more mini 14/30 like in design. Interesting. The barrel looks longer also?

Everyone enjoy your carbines!!

.41 cal

I love mine. I found it priced way too low at a shop in ABQ and didn't dither.



I'm waiting for the Planet of the Apes thing to come true.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Your Ruger is called the "Sporter Model" if I remember correctly. They also made one with a full length Mannlicher stock called the "International Model", in addition to the standard Carbine model. My first centerfire rifle was a Ruger Deerstalker Carbine. I killed a lot of deer with that rifle, using first, the Winchester 240gr, and the Remington 240gr "Carbine" loads with jacketed bullets that came in the 20 round long boxes. It also shot very well with 240 hacketed bullets over 2400 and H-110.

I did shoot a few of my hard linotype cast bullets, but it is not recommended because of the posibility of fouling the gas port.

The standard 240gr loads killed deer as good as a 30/06 out to @125 yards, which is as far as I shot deer with that rifle.

All the Ruger M44's I have seen had Microgroove rifled barrels, rumour is Ruger bought them from Marlin.
Mine was 100% reliable.

I had a 2.5x scope with a weaver Pivot mount, so I could swing it to the side and use the iron sights.
They make a great hunting rifle.

Bill Ruger took one of the 44 Mag Carbines to Angola on a plainsgame hunt. He had to modify the rifle to be a straight pull only as a semiauto was not allowed for hunting in that country.

Ruger had several advertisements for the Deerstalker rifle featuring Bill himself with many of the animals he had shot on that hunt.

Even Bill Ruger himself was impressed with the "killing power" of the 44 Mag Carbine.

I had one back in the 70's. Got another one recently in probably 98% condition. I prefer my lever guns in .44. Haven't decided whether to keep it or let it go. They are nice guns and fun to shoot............What a lot of people don't know is the 44 carbine preceeded the 10/22. Which from a distance they both look remarkably alike.

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S&W Accumulator

Shot my first one 25 years ago and loved it. It was my aunt's deer rifle and had the sporter stock just like the OP's.

I have been a fan of the .44 Carbine since 1976 when I accidentally confused one at Sears for the 10-22 I wanted...That was until I noticed the slightly larger bore !

I have two carbines, an early low serial "Sour Dough" front site gun from the 50's and a newer version made in 1978.

IIRC the .44 carbine came first and the 10-22 followed as a partner gun and "Deer Stalker" caused some issue with Ithaca's "Deerslayer" TM and so was phased out early on ?


The "Deerfield Carbine" that came later was actually closer in design to a Mini 30 with a rotating bolt , detachable rotary mag and plastic handguard.

I had 3....the one left is LNIB RS model.....