Hunting with the RUGER 44mag Carbine "DeerSlayer"

[SHOOTER]

What factory loads do you guys prefer out of the older 44 carbines when hunting DEER?
Do you scope or iron?

 

[wwb]

If you're shooting factory ammo; 240 grain jacketed hollowpoints (Federal, Winchester, Remington.... don't matter). If you take up reloading, the Hornady 240 grain XTP works just fine.

Scope it with a 1.5-4.5X if you have old eyes. If you have young eyes, use the iron sights.

 

[pete44ru]

Seven ( 7 ) out of the eight ( 8 ) hunters in my annual deer hunting party have been using the Ruger .44 Auto since the early 70's with zero misses/gun, or game issues.

A few deer weren't DRT, but most were hung up after a second or third shot - usually runners.

About half scope theirs, including a couple of red dot sights, while the rest are peeped with two issue/open sight users.

Less is best, with these carbines - the more that's added, in the way of scope, sling, etc only slow down what's about the best-handling woods/deer rifle found.

.

 

[SHOOTER]

Are Factory loaded hard cast bullets safe to shoot in the old girl?

 

[wwb]

Are Factory loaded hard cast bullets safe to shoot in the old girl?

BAD IDEA !!!!!

Use copper jacketed bullets ONLY.

You get some lead shavings in the gas port and you will invent all kinds of new words.... better words than you use when you're putting a new muffler on a rusty old exhaust system.

 

[Retsoff]

I need to make it clear that I've not yet used my old-style tube fed Ruger 44 Mag carbine to hunt deer. However, I have shot it at the range. The best 100 yd accuracy I've yet to obtain is with the Winchester Partition Gold ammo (if I remember correctly this has a 250 gr bullet). I achieve about a 3" - 3.5" group at 100 yds with this ammo, which is plenty accurate for hunting deer within 100 yards or so. Based on what I've read on various forums, this should work quite well on deer. I used to have a Nikon 1.5 x 4.5 scope on this carbine but I moved it to my shotgun for turkey hunting. I now have a Weaver 4.75 X fixed power scope on this rifle. This is probably overkill but it's the only scope that was available. One of these upcoming deer seasons, I'm going to have to try this carbine.

 

[GhosT]

Never owned or even fired a RUGER 44mag Carbine "DeerSlayer".

But watched it since the day it came out.....
TOTAL envy to all that own one!

Everything I ever read on it....A great BRUSH GUN!

 

[pete44ru]

[Never owned or even fired a RUGER 44mag Carbine "DeerSlayer". ]

Neither has anyone else GhosT.

The early Ruger .44 Auto Carbine was the "Deerstalker". until Ithaca complained that it was too close to their copywrited name "Ithaca Deerslayer".

I guess Ithaca was correct, since folks still apply the Ithaca name to the Ruger.

BTW - The later, ca. 1999-2004 Mini-14 based, detachable mag, Ruger 99/44 .44 Auto Carbine was the "Deerfield".

.

 

[cruzerlou]

I have one cira 1965 and I love it with Winchester white box 240gr sjhp's shoot off of my stadyrest it's shot 2" 3shot groups at 100 yards and using the sling I have kept the groups at around 4" at 100 yards when I do my part thats with a Weaver classic K-4 4x38MMscope on it

 

[pete44ru]

Ooops ! Sorry, I overlooked the OP's bottom line Q.

I happen to prefer a peep on mine, give the areas I hunt and the expected longest shots, etc.

This is a typical 100yd group, FWIW, shot with some of that discount factory ammo:

(target rings = 1" apart)

.

 

[mohavesam]

[Never owned or even fired a RUGER 44mag Carbine "DeerSlayer". ]

Neither has anyone else GhosT.

The early Ruger .44 Auto Carbine was the "Deerstalker". until Ithace complained that it was too close to their copywrited name "Ithaca Deerslayer".

I guess Ithaca was correct, since folks still apply the Ithaca name to the Ruger.

BTW - The later, ca. 1999-2004 Mini-14 based, detachable mag, Ruger 99/44 .44 Auto Carbine was the "Deerfield".

.

My first 44 carbine (not a Deerstalker) was our "outhouse gun" in bear camp. Since it was almost darkness in the Adirondack sugarbush at 3PM, one never wanted to venture to the can without the handy Ruger 44M. Porkies, blackies, or other things that crunch the forest floor in the dark, the Ruger carbine gave one mighty reassurance - and 4or5 chances to escape certain death!

Use ONLY jacketed bullets and READ THE MANUAL. And PUHLEASE don't drill holes in the gun to mount some bubba-cheapo second-rate mount!

 

[44 Phanatic]

Speer Gold Dot Soft Points 270 Grain
Accurate in all of my 44 magnums.
Deadly on deer.