Questions about 44 Carbine before buying..

[Recoil Rob]

A friend is selling a 44 Carbine that from outward appearances is in excellent condition, bluing looks great as does the wood. The serial number is 1228XX, from an online chart I found it was made in 1968.

It has the Williams peep sight that is milled into the receiver but also has two Weaver scope mount blocks, one in front of the peep sight and the other on the barrel in front of the receiver. They are not level to each other, the barrel mounted block is lower than the one in front of the receiver.

Between the two blocks there are another two screws that look as though they could be for scope mounting.

My first thought was someone drilled and tapped the barrel and buggered this gun up. However I found an exploded view online and now it seems that the two Weaver blocks are indeed in factory drilled holes and the two screws between the blocks are actually to hold the ejector. (#4 in this diagram). Do I have this correct?

If this gun is right what's a fair price, $400? $500? $600? Any recommendations as to getting bases that will be the correct height?



thanks, Rob

 

[mike7mm08]

Yep all factory there. Standard stock weaver bases are readily available. You need a Weaver 68 for the Front and a Weaver 47 for the rear.Hard to tell condition based on your pictures. But it being a RS model makes it a little rarer. You say excellent condition which would put the gun in the high 500s to low 600s. Depends on the area. Some areas they might bring more. But anywhere it is a 550 dollar gun based on auction averages. I cannot find a 44 carbine of any variation under 475 around my area and they are beat for that price.

 

[Recoil Rob]

I applied heat to the head of each screw with a soldering iron and was able to soften the epoxy enough to remove the screws, the bases popped right off, no damage to the blue. I finalized the deal, it's a 95%+ 1968 RS, cost me $500.

BTW, the sights I took off were the correct Weaver sights, 68 for the front and a Weaver 47 for the rear, but the rear was about .060" higher than the front. I don't know what the base heights are supposed to be but I have to think it's the gun that's out, not the bases.
Is it common for these guns to be out by so much?

 

[mike7mm08]

.060 is not a lot in my opinion. Probable within tolerances. You have to remember the receiver was cast not machined. How much polishing was required or not required to produce a finish surface on the exterior could vary a bit between guns. I would think that is all it is. If you do decide to scope it lapping the rings should solve any problems even though I don't think you would have any.

You got great gun at a fair price for both you and the seller. Give it a good cleaning and go out and enjoy it.

 

[Recoil Rob]

.060" is about 1/16" lapping not going to take care of that. Then again the bases could be out. Don't have time right now but some measurement in is order to find out what's wrong, might have to use a different base or modify one of the existing ones.

 

[mike7mm08]

Somehow I was thinking another zero was ahead of the 6. Oops. A piece of brass shim stock would probable be flexible enough to conform to the curve of the barrel under the front base.

 

[cruzerlou]

Numrick's and Brownell's have weaver scope monts for your gun and they match in heighth .J.M.H.O. but the're not that expencive and would save the headake of tring to shim the bases right .I have a set on my gun .I'm going to remove the scope for deer season this year and just buy the Williams recivier peep sight from Brownell's as the woods are real tight here and a scope is a bit of overkill +I I can see the deer at 150 yards I can hit it with the peep sight .Here's a pic of my gun .
Lou

 

[George Tucker]

I have had a couple, i would think they are getting a little hard to find parts for by now.

 

[wunbe]

This is a smidge OT but still useful even to the knowledgeable 44 mag carbine gurus who post here,

I just came across an old article in Rifle magazine from March April 74 on "Tuning the.44 Ruger Carbine". Has lots of insights on how the mechaism actuially should work and what to do to make it reliably accurate. Lots of bedding tps.

The issue might still be avaialble as I got mine fairly recently.

regards,
wunbe

 

[Boxhead]

Just a word of caution. I have a 10XXX gun and cracked the stock at the top of the pistol grip where the receiver block meets the stock even though all was tight. I epoxy'd pins in to solve the cracking problem and glass bedded the receiver block to the stock. All is good now and the rifle seems to shoot a touch better than it did prior.

 

[TWalker]

My 44RS is D/Ted for two bases, one directly in front of the receiver sight and the other on the barrel. Where yours has two screws to hold the ejector, mine has two flush mounted pins. My serial number is 102-2470x.