Duckbutter48

I have a Ruger 99/44 Deerfield Carbine which is an autoloading 44mag. I love it. I get 4" groups with it out to 100yards. It has NO recoil to speak of because its an autoloader. Everything Ive shot with it didnt make a tract(up to 4 with it). Its not a cheap rifle by any means but it sure is fun.

liquidorange

i love my ruger 96/44 lever. its so fun to shoot and very mild recoil. i put a bushnell banner 4x on it and it rocks to 100 yards. 240 or 300 grain hornady xtp-s

Duckbutter48

I had a hard time deciding on the Lever or the Auto. I actually think the lever looks better and its only around 350$(unless its changed). I just thought the auto looked like more fun but If I had it to do over would prob get the lever gun.
The biggest drawback of the auto is that you have to use the 240--250ish grn ammo to make the action work with no probs. I have tried to load the 180grns and the gun will not cycle through like it should. I also use the Hornady 240grn xtps and like the results.

I have the new Deerfield Carbine the 99\44 so Im not sure if the bullet weights make a difference in the older auto's.

camp_13

Yeh I love my deerfield too. Very fun gun, I have taken one deer with it, a doe running one chest shot one neck shot bang-bang. The neck shot purt her down like a rock. about 75 yard away. The first shot would have been fatal. The recoil is VERY light and the ruger rotary magazines are the best. I love the m14 looks.

smokpole

I havn't seen anyone mention the Henry 44 Mag?. I bought one last year mainly for target shooting but I'm a sucker for lever actions and I've always wanted to own a Goldenboy. It's a beautiful gun and it's fun to shoot,but I never considered hunting with this gun.

I've always hunted with a scope and never got comfortable shooting at long distance's with open sights.I'm sure it's fine for droppingdeer at 100yds or less, but I'll stick with my 270 and my scopes.

Duckbutter48

I dont know about the Henry but I have a scope on my Deerfield. Itsa 3-9-40 Bushnell 3200.
Your right though about 100-120yrds is all I trust it to but in the woods here in WV thats usually more then enough distance.

Camp13 what ammo do you use in yours. I was using the Hornady Custom ammo with the 240grns xtps but I went ahead and started loading my own. I still use the 240grn xtps but thought aboutswitching tothe Nosler Partition 250's.

camp_13

Mostly winchester whitebox 240 grain. Put I am going to try some speer 270 gold dot next and then reload some of my own with some 265gr. hornady's.

Duckbutter48

I shot almost a foot higher when I went to reloads then the factory rounds. Good luck with those loads.

DM

I have an "old" Ruger semi auto 44 mag., and it functions fine with 180 grain ammo.

Both dad and i have shot several deer with it useing both 180 and 240 grain ammo. With 240 grain factory loads i consider it to be a 100 yard or so, rifle. It's been a while since i've used it for hunting though.

Drilling Man

Duckbutter48

Thats awesome that the 180s work with it. I really was disappointed when I couldnt get my reloads to work with the 180s after many frustrations, I called Ruger and they explained what I was doing wrong.

I went with the 240s and have had no probs but your exactly right that now Im limited to right around 100 yards. I can keep them in a 6" circle at 120 but thats still no open terrain rifle.