44 mag carbine

[zzclancy]

I'm a big fan of the 44 mag/spl and I have decided that I would like to add a 44 carbine. Anyone have a Ruger, Marlin, Henery carbine/rifle? Would like to stay with somthing made in the USA. Anyone own or have experience with a 44 carbine?

 

[SWID]

I have the Ruger semi-auto. It's a fun gun but you have to load it hot or the action won't cycle. You can sure go through a lot of .44 mag ammo in a short time.

I don't use it for anything other than play.

 

[Beaver]

A real sleeper is the Ruger 77/44, a small bolt action rifle which uses the rotary magazine. My friend John Ross has one and I've been trying to screw him out of it for 10 years. Ruger is making them again, try a stainless/synthetic. A real cool gun.

Marlin lever in 44 mag is also a very cool gun, make sure a gunsmith slicks it up for you and, Man, you got a gun.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I had a Ruger .44 mag carbine years ago. I wish I still had it. I took several deer with it. This was back when you could still get the pointy nose "armor piercing" ammo. I remember when I bought it I was told to never load the AP in the carbine magazine as the recoil may set off a primer loaded in front of it causing a lot of problems. Has this ever happened?

 

[jbouwens]

Stay away from the Rugers. I sold them on the 70s and that gun along with one or two other guns were always coming back for "repair".(AMT 22 automag II was another that comes to mind. We used to call that gun the jamomatic. As a matter of fact I saw a fella at the local range two days ago with one made in 64-- nice shape too. We got to talking and he told me how the gun never jammed in all the years since he loaded hot rounds for it-- well you guessed it, I had to hold his rifle while he pried a live round out of the action.

The Marlin and Winchester are great carbines. I used to hunt black bear in Northern NY with them (along with a 44 mag revolver for back up). I sold my pre-safety Marlin 94 to my friend that has been bugging me about it for ten years. Grab one of the Marlins or Winchesters- you won't be sorry.

 

[Marksman]

I had a very early Ruger Deerstalker .44 Magnum Semi-auto, lots of fun to shoot. Now I have a M77/44, an early wood stocked/blued model that I deer hunt with. It is a very handly little rifle that points and shoots very well, I like it a lot.

 

[Jellybean]

I have a Winchester Trapper in .44 mag and one in .45 Colt, they're real handy with the shorter barrel. I have a couple Marlin 1894Ss in .41 magnum, they are pretty nice too. I've never shot any of the Rugers. Remington used to make the 788 in .44mag too, just for historical reference.

 

[feralmerril]

I have this browning 92 in .44 mag. I like it but I also have a rossi 92 in .357 mag that I like even better. They are sweeter to shoot.

 

[zzclancy]

The new Rossi Ranch Hand on the cover of the July American Rifleman did catch my eye. I know nothing about Rossi.

 

[feralmerril]

They are a faithfull copy of the winchester 92 as is browning. You can get them with octogon barrel, rifle, short rifle, case harding etc. They come in 44 mag, 45 colt, 357 etc. Prices vary.
My browning is on the left with gold trigger and the rossi on the right,(or taurus) it gets confuseing as one bought out the other. There are copys with other names too. I think many of us that have examples of various calibers seem to favor the .357 mag. Cheaper shooting, can use 38 specials, and many even deer hunt with them. After haveing both 44 mag and the .357, I favor .357.

 

[n4zov]

I bought one of the early Ruger Deerstalker with the built in receiver sight. It was a very nice handling little gun but wasn't very accurate and its recoil seemed out of proportion to the cartridge it shot. I soon got rid of it and haven't missed it. I'm just not a big fan of pistol cartridges in rifles and carbines.

 

[BUFF]

I had a Ruger Deerstalker semiauto back in the 1980's. It shot well with full power ammo, especially the heavier (240 grains) bullets; 180's sometimes didn't cycle fully, catching the empty casing as it tried to load the next round. Someone else wanted it more than I did and it went away.

I have always regretted not buying the Browning B-92 in .44 Magnum. I have shot friends' carbines. I need one of my own, badly.

Feralmerril, you need to sell or trade me for yours. What are you looking for? I can drive on down to Cedar city for a sit-down swap.

 

[tom turner]

I had the newer generation of Ruger .44 Carbines. It was a sweet-shooting, light little carbine that was quite handy as I climbed trees in the Georgia woods. The new ones had the rotary box magazines and I never had a single problem with 'em.

I topped it with a Millet dot sight. It was a light little "deerslayer."

I traded it off a couple of years ago.

 

[Class III]

I've got the Ruger and the Marlin. As stated above the Ruger is a Jam-O-Matic with light factory loads. With hand loads loaded to near max it shoots great. My Marlin will shoot anything I feed it, from 165 gr to 300 gr (Heaviest I have loaded) it shoots them all, and shoots them well. My vote goes to the Micro-Groove Marlin.

Class III

 

[alde]

It's pretty hard to beat a Marlin 1894 with a good peep sight.

 

[WPWarhawk]

I have 2 Marlins, a Browning, and two Rossi's. The Browning is the nicest gun, best fit and finish, but probably the worst shooter of the bunch. The Rossi's are almost crude in comparison the Browning, but are very good shooters. The Marlins are easy to scope and get used the most of all of them because of this, actually I've only shot one of my Marlins, an older pre-safety model, the other one is stainless and still unfired.

Contact me if you're interested in buying either the stainless Marlin 1894, or a 20 inch octagon barrel Rossi.

 

[NE450No2]

My first centerfire was a Ruger 44 Mag Deerstalker.

I killed a lot of deer with that gun.

I never had ANY problems with it shooting jacketed bullets, either factory 240gr, or reloads with 22gr of 2400 or 24gr of H 110.

My farthest deer killed with it was 125 yards.

I have also had a Marlin and I now have a Winchester Trapper.

All of them had the 1 in 38" twist Micro Groove barrel.
A 1 in 20" twist would be much better.
They usually shoot real good out to @75 yards and become really finiky at 100.
With ammo the rifle likes you might be able to get 5" or even 4" groups at 100 yards, iron sights. Maybe better with a scope.

My Trapper seems to shoot better at 100 yards with 300gr bullets than 240's.

These 44 Mag Carbines kill game much better than the ballistic charts say they should.

I am doing some load development now with the Trapper and it likes H 110 better than 2400 with 240gr bullets.

Sierra 240 HP's with 24gr of H110 are shooting pretty good at 100 yards.

 

[cmort666]

Before I got laid off, I was thinking about a Cimarron Model 92 in .44 Magnum. It would go great with the 6" Model 29-2 that I take on my infrequent hunting trips to Catawissa, Missouri. If I'd had one three years ago, I'd have been able to take a shot that was too close for my Savage 112BVSS (had an inclined 1,000 yard scope base on it) and too far for my iron sighted 29-2.

 

[whitecoyote]

Not American made (Italian), Puma 92 Bounty Hunter, .44 Mag.

 

[rond]

I have a Ruger 96/44, the lever action carbine, and like it a lot. You might find a used one, they are no longer made.

 

[DCWilson]

All this reminds me that I have a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag around here that I have never shot. Bought it at a Big 5 promotion a couple of years ago to keep company with a 629 I had acquired a couple of months earlier. But -- familiar story -- I handled the one they had on display and then wrote up the paperwork on a boxed gun from the back room. Mistake. The front sight was crushed into the slot at an angle and couldn't be made to fit. Rather than send it back, I just ordered a replacement front sight and then found it was the wrong one. I can make this right, but other things have taken priority.

I thought I would put a tang sight on it some day. I like the action and the way it feels.

 

[Ogandydancer]

My son had a Marlin and he loved it. He got several deer with it.

 

[NE450No2]

Let me add that a friend of mine has a Ruger Bolt rifle in 44 Mag and likes it a bunch.

 

[max]

I have a Win 94 in 44 mag. Some warm pistol loads kick like a mule in that carbine.

 

[Stevie]

If you buy one of the older Ruger .44 mag semi-auto's....they only work properly with full power 240gr magnum ammo.

I've owned both an older Ruger, and a Marlin 94 in .44 mag. I've used both for hunting.....lots of punch, decent accuracy.....both brands of .44 mag carbine lived up to expectations.

The cool old Ruger 10-22 lookalike .44 mags carbines just plain don't like puny ammo....or 'Blazer' aluminum case ammo.

 

[Cocked & Locked]

just two...an older Ruger 77/44 and a Winchester 94 with 16" barrel. The Winchester is by far the most accurate of the two.

 

[Snapping Twig]

Always wanted one and had my eye on the Ruger Deerslayer, but after discovering that they won't shoot lead - all I ever use - I had to look elsewhere.

Found this 1894 recently and took it home. Fantastic rifle! 1978 vintage, no CBS, shoots my reloads accurately. Word is, these like fat bullets, .431 or more, but this one works real good with my skinny .429's.

I swiped this Leupold 2x7 Vx II off another of my rifles and it's a perfect match for this rifle. 2x and you can shoot with both eyes open.

I can't say enough about how much I like this rifle. More power than a 30-30 in the first 100 yards by a good margin, flat shooting and hard hitting. Reloads costing as little as they do when you cast, it's an inexpensive fun rifle that's accurate and easy handling. Perfect brush gun.

 

[gaucho1]

Not American made (Italian), Puma 92 Bounty Hunter, .44 Mag.

I am starting to get the impression that you like your guns
chopped.
Looks good.
How's it shoot?

 

[venomballistics]

44 mag lever gun is a logical little rifle to use as a brush gun. In fact, I believe that ultimately the 500 S&W round will find a home in such a carbine and enjoy far greater popularity there than it does in its current native X frame wheel gun.

 

[BUFF]

"Always wanted one and had my eye on the Ruger Deerslayer, but after discovering that they won't shoot lead - all I ever use - I had to look elsewhere."

They will shoot lead bullets (mine did well with my home-cast SWC's) but it plugs up the gas system after a while and it is a pain to take this gun apart enough to clean that out.