# WHY , Did Ruger Quit Making the 44 Mag Carbine ?



## fordy

................I've wanted one of these and never understood WHY Ruger stopped making them ??????????? , thanks , fordy


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

demand was the story i heard , demand was down , most were moving to longer range rifles , or shotgun was being required in many areas 

I think it may have had to do with to many of the old brush busting hunters going to tree stands 

once in a tree stand a short fast handling gun wasn't as necessary

they sure have a following , and a bunch of people including myself asking why but apparently not enough to keep it going , that was also at a time when Ruger was restructuring 

why did they get rid of the P-series carbines either , they would be selling like ice in a heat wave about now


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## tarbe

Most serious 44 mag shooters also like to shoot cast or swaged bullets.

The gas port in the Ruger would not tolerate leading, of course, so lead bullet shooters stayed away. That is a fairly significant portion of the 44 mag universe.

That is the reason I don't own one.


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## Bearfootfarm

Lever action 44's will shoot all types of bullets, and Ruger couldn't compete


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## fordy

................Thanks , I had no idea why it had disappeared ! , fordy


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## HuskyBoris

Bearfootfarm said:


> Lever action 44's will shoot all types of bullets, and Ruger couldn't compete


oh yea,,A lever .44 is on my "to buy " list or a .444 or 45/70


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## Bearfootfarm

> why did they get rid of the P-series carbines either


I heard they had reliability problems.
Ruger has made some "false starts" with semi auto rifles before

Google "Ruger XGI 308" and you can see one that they cataloged, and then built a few "demo" models, but it never went into production:


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## MichaelK!

Have to agree with Tarbe, that it might be a cast bullet issue. I personally load a lot of .44 magnum, all with bullets I cast myself.

I wanted a .44 magnum carbine for deer hunting, and settled on the Marlin 1894. It's already made meat, and I'm happy with it! The lever action is not load dependent, so I can shoot either light loads or hot maximum loads.

BTW, I also have a Ruger PC94 carbine and although it's a fun gun, it really has applications limited to range shooting and tin can stalking. It's too much gun for small game, and a little too light for deer. It's best application is probably as a law enforcement/prison guard gun where they're armed with both a Ruger pistol and a Ruger rifle.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

the leading issue is a hotly debated topic over on the cast bullet forum , many run thousands of rounds of lead thru them without problem others a few hundred and they say they have problem, it has more to do with how you cast , gas check , size and load than the gun being bad for lead.
many shooters also run thousands of lead rounds thru other gas operated semi autos without problem
but always needing to run a round that will cycle the action does limit your load ability 
but some have ordered spare recoil springs and shortened them a few coils to be able to shoot light loads and have them cycle even down to round ball loads 

I think that the max 4 round magazine had as much to do with it as any of these things , that and it's no good for cowboy action shooting which is the the main thing keeping lever action pistol carbines in manufacture.

you need to appeal to a market other than a small percentage of deer hunters that hunt thick woods in a state that allows the use of rifles , many states that have shorter hunting distances require shotgun like Ohio and parts of Wisconsin , these carbines were popular with many hunters here but not as many as they could attract if people could use a pistol cartridge carbine instead of a shotgun.

the deerfield carbine did little to atract non hunters , and frankly hunters often fire less than a box of shells a year , and their guns last multiple generations if they take care of them , because any gun will if you only fire10- 20 rounds a year and then it sits 51 weeks

if you don't attract a huge portion of the hunting market or a non hunting market any gun is likely to go out of production


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## Hollowdweller

Those were cool guns. Good shooters too. I've wanted one for my wife because her 94 Marlin .44 has developed the "marlin jam" and needs to have the action worked on.

But while we are at it? Why did they stop producing the Old Army?? Seemingly lots of demand for that one too.


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## Hollowdweller

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> the leading issue is a hotly debated topic over on the cast bullet forum , many run thousands of rounds of lead thru them without problem others a few hundred and they say they have problem, it has more to do with how you cast , gas check , size and load than the gun being bad for lead.
> many shooters also run thousands of lead rounds thru other gas operated semi autos without problem
> but always needing to run a round that will cycle the action does limit your load ability
> but some have ordered spare recoil springs and shortened them a few coils to be able to shoot light loads and have them cycle even down to round ball loads
> 
> *I think that the max 4 round magazine had as much to do with it as any of these things *, that and it's no good for cowboy action shooting which is the the main thing keeping lever action pistol carbines in manufacture.
> 
> *you need to appeal to a market other than a small percentage of deer hunters *that hunt thick woods in a state that allows the use of rifles , many states that have shorter hunting distances require shotgun like Ohio and parts of Wisconsin , these carbines were popular with many hunters here but not as many as they could attract if people could use a pistol cartridge carbine instead of a shotgun.
> 
> the deerfield carbine did little to atract non hunters , and frankly hunters often fire less than a box of shells a year , and their guns last multiple generations if they take care of them , because any gun will if you only fire10- 20 rounds a year and then it sits 51 weeks
> 
> if you don't attract a huge portion of the hunting market or a non hunting market any gun is likely to go out of production


Very true. Put a 30 round clip on them an some sort of pistol grip stock to make them look like an AK or something and people would have bought them out.

Sad to say wood and steel and a good solid gun just aren't as sexy to some segments of the gun buying market anymore.


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## oth47

Found a Ruger .44 mag carbine on Gunlistings a while ago.Says it has the internal magazine,not the removeable mag that caused the problems.$550,not for me.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

i think with a M1 carbine type magazine even in 10 or 15 round mags would have changed the future of the ruger 44 deerfield 

but ruger really likes the rotary mags and they do work well they just don't hold very many rounds 

if the gun isn't used in a competition , popular for self defense like pistols , marketable to police or military , or cheap and fun to shoot , you have an up hill marketing battle


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## Bearfootfarm

> I've wanted one for my wife because her 94 Marlin .44 has developed the *"marlin jam"* and *needs to have the action worked on.*


Nine times out of ten it's just a loose screw on the reciever


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE

I have had the jam make sure the screw that holds the loading gate in is tight that was a bad jam , i think it took me almost a half hour to take the gun apart with the screw driver i had and carefully not drop any parts in the snow , then get it all back together , but i was back in business after that.

maybe it only felt like it took that long


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## robpa

I think its focus was kinda narrow. It was a nice gun and even tho I had over 350 Rugers in my collection, I never had a deerslayer 44. I did have a 99/44 which I adored. Every gun has its day, and that is good for the collector!


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## tarbe

robpa said:


> ...even tho I had over 350 Rugers in my collection, I never had a deerslayer 44.





You are pretty serious about those Rugers!


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## Hollowdweller

Bearfootfarm said:


> Nine times out of ten it's just a loose screw on the reciever


Tried that. It's this:

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/marlin94fix.html


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## Hollowdweller

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> I have had the jam make sure the screw that holds the loading gate in is tight that was a bad jam , i think it took me almost a half hour to take the gun apart with the screw driver i had and carefully not drop any parts in the snow , then get it all back together , but i was back in business after that.
> 
> maybe it only felt like it took that long


My wifes became pickier and picker on the ammo. Finally only a JHP would work. Then it became a single shot. I need to send it off to be fixed because there's no decent gunsmiths in this area and have been procrastinating.

I have a 336 I have had since I was 15 (1975) Never jammed except when the screws were loose. However the 94 is a difft bird. Hers is not as old as mine she's only had it maybe 25 years but it was used when she got it. Started acting up about 5 years ago.


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## texican

I still see them at gun shows regularly...


tarbe said:


> Most serious 44 mag shooters also like to shoot cast or swaged bullets.
> 
> The gas port in the Ruger would not tolerate leading, of course, so lead bullet shooters stayed away. That is a fairly significant portion of the 44 mag universe.
> 
> That is the reason I don't own one.


I looked into getting one, but my research came to the same conclusion... didn't like reloads, and couldn't deal with extra large bullets (too long). My favorite is a hand cast hard 325gr lead bullet.


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## Conhntr

There are also some states that dont allow autoloaders. Pennsylvania being one, and one of the biggest deer hunting states in the country! My state allows them but i seldom see anyone with one. I am starting to see a few AR style rifles in 6.5, 30ar etc and the ar10 in 308. 

Here bolt rifles and pump shotguns are two most common. Lever actions, budget single shots, and rarely a pump or auto rifle make up the rest


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