Cool.
I remember those.
This was one of those guns that didn't sell particularly well while in production but after ruger stopped making them lots of people had to have one.
I think one of the things that hurt sales at the time was an abundance of cheap surplus m1 carbines.
Those were the days.
Its a great brush gun for deer and hogs.
CB was right on the money about avoiding lead bullets and sticking to jacketed bullets.
Were the Ruger 44 carbines with a rotary mag called "Deerfield"? I didn't remember a change in the magazine on the original carbines before production stopped.
I had one back in 1971 that had been frogged up by a couple of Bubbas with a cast bullet mold and a Lee Loader. It was not the lead that clogged the gas ports as much as the lube.
I use a Ruger 77/44 carbine now - my load is a 265 grain Hornady bullet over 23 grains of H110. My experience with the 240 grain bullets is the jacket can shed or fragment on a deer and not leave an exit hole, which can be important hunting in brushy areas. The 265 grain Hornady is a rifle bullet designed for the .444. Not sure how it would cycle in the Ruger auto, but we have nothing but good experience with it in my 77/44 and my son's Marlin lever.
Back in the mid-70's I saw a picture of a Ruger 44 auto in the NRA magazine that chain fired with some full metal jacketed .44 mag ammo. Wow! Looked like a grenade.
Cedar Creek
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