I have a 1970's vintage Ruger 44 Manum Carbine that I purchased new in 1973. For years I've jamming problems. Several "gun smiths" have worked on it, but no long term success. The gun smith I am working with now wants to replace the lifter assembly. The various "gun smiths" have damaged this lifter assembly. Ruger doesn't have any parts. Neither does Jack First or Numrich. K.D. Wilhit has a couple of new ones, but he wants $150 for one . Says the collectors are paying that. I'm not willing to pay that much for this hunting rifle/plinker. Can anyone here help.

Thanks

PhatBoy

I have a 1970's vintage Ruger 44 Manum Carbine that I purchased new in 1973. For years I've jamming problems. Several "gun smiths" have worked on it, but no long term success. The gun smith I am working with now wants to replace the lifter assembly. The various "gun smiths" have damaged this lifter assembly. Ruger doesn't have any parts. Neither does Jack First or Numrich. K.D. Wilhit has a couple of new ones, but he wants $150 for one . Says the collectors are paying that. I'm not willing to pay that much for this hunting rifle/plinker. Can anyone here help.

Thanks

PhatBoy

Sorry for the double post. I thought that the first post didn't go as I wasn't logged in.

No problem. Hope you find what you need.

PhatBoy,
when you say jamming problems, what type of problems do you mean? The biggest and most pressing problem I have found in the Deerstalker (Ruger's tube mag. fed .44mag carbine) is that it really needs high power ammo and doesn't function well with factory PISTOL ammo. With 240 grain factory pistol ammo I get lots of fail to feeds and fail to ejects. We have tried with three different carbines and Fed, Win, Rem, PMC ammo and all have been a bit disappointing as these are really fun little rifles. Hotter (safe) loads give good function and accuracy. I don't know who could find you a better price on the lifter. Anyone know of a smith who has one to strip for parts?

Have to agree 100%.

The Ruger 44 Deerstalker (before Ithica made them drop the name) that I used to own functioned ONLY with handloaded high powered loads. Found the 240 grain flat nosed jacketed bullets with a healthy dose of H110 did the trick every time. Trying to mess with the factory stuff always ended with jams.

There is a place up here in Canada that has ruger deerstalker parts, I bought a heel block for my Deerstalker there this fall.They aren't cheap but here's the link. http://www.westerngunparts.com/

Thanks guys. I'll be trying Western Gun Parts tomorrow. I have found the part but the price is just too high.

The jamming problems are not the normal problems of under powered ammo. The problem is a pin in the lifter assembly works it's way out and then hangs up the lifter. I didn't know this was the problem early on. the gunsmith I was working with was a more than competent older gunsmith, but as I now look back he was really snubbing his nose at this rifle...it was beneath him. He only wanted to work on High end guns. Since then 3 other gunsmiths have workded on this gun. They all just kept pushing the pin back in. The problem is that the hole the pin goes into has become damaged throught the years. The gunsmith that I am now working with would prefer to not enlarge the hole and fit it with a larger pin. This is a last ditch solution because if it doesn't work I'm out of luck. Atleast right now I can shoot it til the pin works out.

If you don't need to remove the pin for general cleaning purposes, my suggestion would be to have the 'smith or someone handy with a TIG welder to weld the pin in place and grind down to function fit.

If you don't need to remove the pin for general cleaning purposes, my suggestion would be to have the 'smith or someone handy with a TIG welder to weld the pin in place and grind down to function fit.

That is going to be our next step. My 1st choice is to replace the part, as it has been such a problem over the years. I'm just not willing to pay $150 for that part.

Thanks

Well I struck out again on the part.

Kdub, the lifter assembly is aluminum while the pin is steel, will the weld you are talking about work with these two different metals? My gunsmith is actually taliking about a glue that he has used in the past.

Welding dissimilar metals is an art within itself.

You may be better off as your 'smith suggested - using an expoxy. JB Weld comes to mind and an alternative.

I'd try Acra Weld, which is a nylon filled epoxy from Brownell's. it's thicker than most epoxys, so it doesn't run much.

I HAVE A RUGER 44 MAG. CARBINE SR. # 102-27017. i AM HAVING A FEEDING & SICKLING
PROBLEM . I HAVE TRIDE VARIOUS AMO MFG. AND BULLET WEIGHTS AS WELL AS A NUMBER OF HAND LOAD COMBINATIONS WITH NO LUCK CORRECTING THE PROBLEM.
WOULD APPRICATE ANY INFO YOU CAN GIVE OR IF THERE IS A GUNSMITH THAT SPECIALIZES IN THESE GUNS I WOULIKE TO KNOW.

JAMES SHAIKO
40 NORTHWOOD DR.
VINELAND,NJ 08360
856-696-3105

Welcome to the forum, James.

Please use lower case fonts to post on this board - the large type is akin to shouting in the internet world, and as gentlemen here, we don't shout at each other. :D

Also, it's not a good idea to publish your email address on a website - spammers can lock onto it and bury you with spam. You can use our Private Message (PM) service for comminications with others in private. It's the box in the upper right of the page. I've deleted it in your post for safety sake.

Ive got an entire trigger assembly for for a 70's 44 Ruger carbine. The front tang that fits into the upper reciever is not intact. (that is why I have it, it took a year to find one) it is my understanding that that was the only flaw for that particular rifle. Anyway it is intactwith all the functions parts complete. I guess pm me if you are still looking.

thanks, Fish

Phatboy;

I have an old Ruger .44 Magnum myself. I have experienced jamming problems too. My problem turned out to be one of two things. 1) chamber fouled up and required a thorough cleaning and polishing, and 2) the ammo I was using was partially sticking in the chamber. I didn't find the ammo problem to recently when I used the same ammo in my Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum. Fired brass was sticking in the cylinder and had to be driven out. I suggest you attach a brass brush to your cleaning rod larger than the chamber and attach it to a multi-speed hand drill, apply some good bore cleaner and clean thoroughly...then put a fine film of oil on a cloth and run it in the chamber and barrel.

I had a similar 'no parts available' problem with my old Ruger 44 carbine. I needed a different part- the slide handle- and tried all the places you listed, with no luck.
I don't know if anyone pays attention to Numrich's tag line 'if we don't have your part, check back in 6 weeks'.
Well, I did- and they had it! So, that might be something else to try.

hi, i have a Ruger 44 carbine that i bought from a gun shop about a year ago. ive put thousands of rounds through her and shes never jammed on me no matter what ammo i put through her. but, ive noticed if i let someone else load and shot her she will jam. so, now when anyone wants to shot her i load her give her a kiss and tell her to play nice and of course she doesnt jam. i think yalls problem is that yall arnt being all lovey dovey with her. now, my friends dad has one too. he runs 180 grain bullets aswell as 200 grain handloads without any problems.

I've got the Deerfield model, rotary magazine fed. What did they change to make this gun so much better? I really enjoy mine, 1.5" groups @ 75 yards are no problem.