44 carbine

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DavidT

Bearcat
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
95
Location
Foley, AL
I just picked up 44 carbine, 44 mag.
I happen to have some 44 special rounds.
Will this gun shoot the specials?
TIA.
DavidT
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
1,473
Location
wtn ct usa
Hi No I know from a guy asking me to check his gun out after he missed a 40 yard shot at a deer that was standing still as I was knocking three stacked bullets out of his barrel he told me he forgot his shells so he stopped at a general store and all they had was 44 specials

Gramps
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
1,473
Location
wtn ct usa
Hi He wasn't hurt and the gun wasn't damaged that took place at least 35 or more years ago he has since passed away but another relative still hunts with that gun I have been trying to remember what ammo he was using I keep thinking it was a old green and white Remington box but really cant remember

Gramps
 

mac66

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 27, 2013
Messages
342
DavidT said:
I just picked up 44 carbine, 44 mag.
I happen to have some 44 special rounds.
Will this gun shoot the specials?
TIA.
DavidT


To answer your question...yes it will shoot them but won't cycle them semi automatically. You'd have to hand cycle them.

The story Gramps51 told doesn't make any sense.
 

Get Wood

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 16, 2017
Messages
200
Location
Mid Ohio.
Gramps 51: Don't You Just Love It When All Your Trying To Do Is Help Someone. And Then This Guy Who Wasn't Even Around Then KNOWS ALL THE ANSWERS !!!!!!! And Basically Says YOUR FULL OF S--T..... I'm With You. You Crazy Old Man.
 

mike7mm08

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
1,709
Location
Milwaukee Wisconsin
As stated it won't cycle. As for sticking 44 specials in the bore. Light enough load or poorly sized bullets, possible. Surprised they cycled.I have the original carbines in various configurations. Never shot specials. I have shot specials in the more recent production Ruger 44 rifles, 96/44 and 77/44. Both functioned just fine and they all left the barrel. These were handloads middle of the road to full power with both jacketed and cast bullets.

Back in the day even 44 magnum was rather mild by today's standards. Some of the 44 special loads were downright pathetic.
 

kevin masten

Blackhawk
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
575
Got to remember the time frame in which Gramps is speaking of there were several .44 loads to include the Russian, S & W Special, Schofield, etc. these were black powder loads, originally, and were very weak loads, as BP and smokeless were, also. Who knows , now, what the ammo type was when the incident happened. The Ruger was a very strong and well made carbine. Most, not all chambered revolvers were of the BP era and not strong and the factory loads were well under operating pressures for the weakest of the guns still in use.

It would, in my opinion, take a fool to call someone a liar or an embellisher of the truth when one does not know the facts leave alone not there to witness the event. Where is the respect? Come on , we are better men not to do that.

Regards
 

jgt

Buckeye
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
1,000
Location
coleman texas
People have a way of talking about the "early days" from their prospective. Early days to me were in the forties, early days to someone else might be the eighties.
When the 44 magnum first came out it was loaded to shoot a 240 grain bullet in the neighborhood of 1550 fps from a six and a half inch barrel. That was because there were no older guns to worry about blowing up with that load. Later, they toned it down because the majority of people could not handle a load like that and resorted to shooting 44 specials in their guns.
When the 44 magnum Ruger carbine was introduced, it had heavy springs to keep the magnum round from beating it to death and was recommended to be shot with jacketed bullet loads only. Two things could happen if one would shoot a 44 special load in the gun. One was the load just didn't have enough pressure to operate the action and it would not eject the empty case. Two is the 44 special cartridge available from the factory was loaded to shoot a lead roundnose 240 grain bullet traveling about seven hundred or so feet per second. There is a good chance one could stick in an 18 to 20 inch barrel. Even if it did not stick, it could foul the gas port in the rifle and cause even more problem.
A question was ask, If one could use 44 special ammo in one of these carbines. With no other information describing the 44 special load, Gramps51 answered the question as ask with not a lot of qualifiers. In other words he answered the question asked.
Could one get away with using 44 special cartridges in a 44 magnum Ruger carbine? Yes, if he was a good home gunsmith, if he loaded the 44 special as hot as he could load one, and if he used jacketed bullets or was a good enough hand loader to use cast bullet proper for the parameters of the rifles internal ballistics. Can the ordinary person who buys his ammunition at the store shoot 44 specials in a Ruger 44 magnum carbine? Not unless he wants to cause himself a lot of agony.
 

mac66

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 27, 2013
Messages
342
GRAMPS 51 said:
Yah I'm just a crazy old man that lays around dreaming up nutty stories

Gramps


Not saying your story wasn't true, just that it didn't make any sense as told. Not enough info given to make sense of it. It was told with no explanation or context. Did the cartridges actually fire or were just the cartridges stacked up in the feeding mechanism? If they fired, why didn't the projectile exit the barrel? I've fired plenty of 44 spls through both my Marlin 94 and Ruger 44 when I was testing velocities. They will shoot 900-1000 FPS out of a rifle barrel. The would not cycle the action in the Ruger.

The only way I can think of a 44 spl not exiting a rifle barrel and not causing damage by multiple shots is if they had no powder in them and were strictly primer fired. That's entirely possible that someone forgot to put powder in the casing.
 

wwb

Hunter
Joined
Nov 18, 2004
Messages
2,867
Location
wisconsin
If bullets were "stacked" in the barrel, unless they were almost to the muzzle, each round would have to have been manually cycled..... if the bullet doesn't get past the gas port it isn't going to cycle. Also, if the rounds were so weak as to not make it out of the muzzle, I seriously doubt they would cycle the action even if the bullet made it past the gas port.
 

jgt

Buckeye
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
1,000
Location
coleman texas
Bottom line is the Ruger 44 magnum carbine was designed to shoot rip snortin 44 magnum loads with jacketed bullet. It is a free country. Shoot what you like and explain it any way you want to. It does not change what the gun was built to use.
 

Goss

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 20, 2014
Messages
38
It depends on the cartridges.
After the onset of the 44mag, a lot of 44 specials were loaded for target only, meaning HBWC with light loads. So if that's what was shot then yes you could stack up slugs in the barrel.
 

loaded round

Hunter
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Messages
2,257
Location
Valley Forge, Pa
Never call anyone a liar unless you've tried it yourself! I too have a 44 Mag Carbine and have had it for some 40 years. Sometime ago a buddy of mine started a conversation about why couldn't we shoot a 44 Spl in a 44 Mag carbine. So we did it it, I loaded a 240 gr Speer JSWC bullet with a healthy dose of 2440 in a 44 Spl case and gave it a good crimp. Fired it in my 44 Mag carbine and it worked except it did not eject the case. Had to manually eject the empty. Anybody want to call me a liar?
 

langenc

Single-Sixer
Joined
Aug 22, 2007
Messages
471
Location
Lewiston, MI USA
I guess my 77/44 is not a carbine.
I dont have trouble w/ 44 Spec not cycling and I dont try but I bet the bolt would handle em.
 
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