Well, I was down to the gun store today. They had a 15% off sale if you had cash. I did and walked out the door with a Ruger 99/44 Deerfield (.44 Mag) for $382. I bought a couple of boxes of generic PMC 240 grain TCSP (truncated cone soft point) just shooting offhand with the peep sights (ghostring I believe) it put 8 shots into 3" at 50 yards. Its a really nice gun to shoot. It was between a Marlin 1894CB in .44 Mag as well or the Ruger. I passed on the Marlin because it just didn't feel right, and was rough on the fit and finish (sharp burrs and some misalignment) I'm looking forward to taking it elk hunting this fall.

I have one of the Deerfield carbines too. I like it a lot. I have a Leupold VX-II 2-7x33mm shotgun scope on mine. It works out great.

Used to own one of the old Ruger .44 Mag semi-auto carbines and found it a pleasure to shoot. Needed fairly stiff loads to function properly, but for game hunting you want such loads, anyway.

I would go with good solid point bullets with lots of meplat for the best hunting fodder. The hollowpoints just don't seem to get the penetration of the solids.

Yep, I was reading through the manual, and they recommended 210-255 grain jacketed bullets loaded to standard pressures. I'm hoping to pick up some dies and reloading supplies for it in the next few weeks so I can shoot it a little more.

I haven't shot the new Deerfield yet. It's a nice looking little carbine. Years ago back in the early 60's I used one of the little 44 Ruger carbines for a truck gun and it was an excellent deer killer out to a hundred yards. It never tore a drop of meat up and was a drop them in their tracks kinda gun. I had a couple of big clips and stuck it on the drivers side door. Good luck with yours.

I poked around on Ebay and Gunbroker, but couldn't find higher capacity magazines for the gun.

Its a fast handling gun... I'm not sure if it'll serve truck gun duty... right now I've got a Mosin-Nagant in there. I know if the truck is low on oil, I can squeeze some out of the stock on the MN.

I am wording what COAL this rifle will handle? I have a friend who has the lever action Ruger in .44 Mag. and it requires a rather short cartridge OAL. If you get a chance to experiment I would like to hear about this.

The 99/44 uses the industry standard 1.610" COAL... no 300 grainers for this guy.

The 99/44 uses the industry standard 1.610" COAL... no 300 grainers for this guy.


Oh well, it still looks like a very interesting rifle. I have never seen one.

My expierience with the .44 had been use the strongest bullet you can. I have been useingthe 265 hornady FP after some bad results with a 240 gr FP. I'm going to try the 240 XTP, when I get around to reloading again.

I've used the XTPs in my .357 Mag and .40 S&W and they have expanded reliably when used with a near max load. Penetration is also on par with most other premium bullets. I look forward to testing out some different bullets.

The Beartooth 280gr. WFNGC can be loaded to an OAL of 1.610."

Having used that bullet in a Super Blackhawk, I'm sure that it will be devastating in a rifle.

Echoing Mikes observations, you'll find any of our .44 caliber WFN profile bullets will fit the max COL of your new Deerfield, and add teeth to that little machine!

The WFN Profile bullets in .44 caliber come in several bullet weights, 250, 265. 280 and 300 grain all of them gas-checked to aid load developement and accuracy as well as eliminating leading.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/display.php?catagory=4

Enjoy that new shooter!

God bless,

I wish I could, but like the M1A, its gas auto... no lead bullets. The manual said not to use lead either. I don't know if you could get away with a really hard cast bullet and be safe. It said not to use reduced charges either, as it has no adjustment for the gas port. I'm looking to buy a Redhawk .44 Mag in the near future, so I'll definitely have a good use for cast bullets. I keep meaning to order up some fo those 185 grainers for my .357 but I never get around to it. I haven't found a lead bullet that shoots straight or doesn't turn my bore smooth after a few shots.