44 mag fun

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dakotacaller

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 9, 2015
Messages
19
My late grandfather is who taught me all about guns and the love for hunting, plinking, and definitely safety (oh and Rugers!). It was always a treat to see what he would pull out of the safe to shoot with. One day he pulled out a ruger super red hawk in 44 mag. The thing terrified me at the age I was (probably 14?). We all had fun plinking with that for the afternoon. Good memories. He was a guy who bought and sold quite a bit so it wasn't long until that gun made it to a new home of some person.

He passed away about 5 years ago. One of the hardest people to lose in my life. Anyway, a guy calls me up this spring saying he had bought several guns from my grandpa back in the day and wondered if I would want to take a look and buy any of them.

In the lot was the super redhawk. Could have knocked me over with a feather.

Went out and shot it this week with my mom (it was my maternal grandpa so she has many great memories too). It was really quite a special time I won't forget soon. Took me right back to that sunny afternoon with my grandpa.

Funny how special simple moments become.

Side note: I would like to use this for a little more long range shots (75 yards or so). Seems like the sights are dialed into some preference of my grandpas but curious what I should zero the sights on. 50 yards?
 

Enigma

Hunter
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
Messages
2,511
Location
Houston metro area, TX
Glad that you had the opportunity to recover your grandfather's gun(s)! A lot of folks zero for 25 yards, but no reason you couldn't zero for 50. You can either hold over, or adjust the rear sight for longer distances. If you hunt, you will have neither a screwdriver nor the time to adjust the sight when the time comes. Some folks also insert or have a gunsmith insert brass wires across the sight blade to mark aiming points for extended distances.
 

contender

Ruger Guru
Joined
Sep 18, 2002
Messages
25,138
Location
Lake Lure NC USA
Recovering a bit of family history is always special,,, if you appreciate it.

Adjust the sights for 50 yds,, shoot the dickens out of it,, and then w/o adjusting anything, move to 75 & see where it hits. Often,, you won't see enough of a difference to worry about changing the sights any.
 

Magnum Force

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 19, 2016
Messages
141
Location
Far Southwest Virginia
.44 Magnum is a fun cartridge to shoot and hand load for. I probably shoot 1000 .44 Magnum rounds a year through my Ruger handguns, and a Ruger 77/44 as well as a Rossi 92 lever gun. I load mild cast lead loads for fun shooting, as well as "Top of the Chart" loads to maximize performance. My revolvers are sighted at 25 yards with 240 grain loads, I can hit out to 50 yards with confidence.

A pic of the herd, Ruger Super Blackhawk (4 5/8" barrel), Redhawk (4.2" barrel), Ruger 77/44 bolt action carbine and Rossi 92 lever rifle:

413922441.jpg
 
Joined
Jun 19, 2006
Messages
4,247
Location
Midwest Illinois
I have a 30mm UltraDot on mine, sighted in at 50 yards. Just starting to shoot at 75 and then going out to 100 to see how I can do. My 65 year old eyes can't do open sights much past 25.

Congrats on recovering your Grandfather's gun(s). Enjoy shooting that 44.
 

jimd441

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 28, 2009
Messages
684
Location
NC
Touching story dakotacaller, I'll bet we all wish we had a similar one. Thanks for sharing.

Jim
 
Joined
May 28, 2004
Messages
1,337
Location
MN
Great story!

I always cringe when I hear of (usually) young people selling off Dad's or Grandpa's guns.

Even if you're not "into" that particular gun/cartridge/whatever, you normally have only one chance to hang on to those guns! Once they're gone, they're usually gone for good! Maybe your kids or another relative would have wanted that firearm...

My aunt sold my uncle's Winchester M94 .30-30 after he passed away. I could have cried. Actually, I did... but for the uncle, not the rifle. It went to the Chief of Police in the nearest town. He's a good guy, and friend of the family, so I know he paid appropriately. I never tracked him down, until my aunt's death. I was going to ask to buy the rifle back, but eventually I changed my mind. My aunt had offered it to him, he paid a fair price, and his kids had shot deer with it. Now the rifle has a new family! As Wil Terry would say, "And so it goes..." :p

Great to hear you were able to get your grandfather's Super Redhawk back.

Assuming it was priced fairly... maybe that seller is owed a nice steak dinner, for his thoughtfulness!
 

98Redline

Blackhawk
Joined
Dec 9, 2010
Messages
681
Location
PA
If you zero for 50, your bullet will be nearly 2" low at 75.
If you zero at 75, your bullet will be about 1.5" high at 50

The midpoint to maximize your PBR would be around 65 yards.
You will be about 1" high at 45 and 1" low at 75. Pretty much aim and shoot at anything 0-75 yards.
 

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