I stopped by the pawn shop on the way home. I haven't been there in several weeks and they'd been weighing on my mind. Something told me that there was an interesting rifle in the racks, and I wanted to check on the status of my .30-30 Handi.
The counter guys told me that they'd called five distributors this morning and hadn't had any luck finding the Handi. Their main distributor has 30 of them on backorder. I don't know what the problem is in filling an order of .30-30s, but hunting season is coming.
However, they had one rifle in the rack that piqued my interest for reasons I don't understand. This is a Ruger Model 77/44. It's a bolt action Model 77 chambered for the .44 magnum cartridge. I've got dies and brass for that caliber, but I'm trying to understand the niche of a bolt-action .44 magnum. It's marked at $529.00 and I can get them to shave several dollars off that price, but the question becomes, do I want the rifle? I don't currently have any .44 magnum revolvers, but I've got plenty of .357 magnums.
It might make a good grandkid rifle and it would be a nice companion piece to a Ruger Blackhawk. The irons would suffice, but a low-power scope would make it shine. It's a lightweight, blued, walnut stocked rifle and seems to be in pretty good shape. The price seems right, and I could dicker with them.
Decisions, decisions.
**UPDTE** I've talked myself out of that rifle. The .44 magnum is a pistol cartridge, suited to revolvers and lever guns. A bolt action in that caliber is a niche rifle that I don't have a niche to fit. As unique as it might be I don't really see a use for it that justifies the expense.
I remember reading about them when first introduced. The gun writers liked them but they like most things. I could well be wrong but seem to recall either the rate of twist or overall length or both may have limited it to the lighter 44 cal bullets. Handgun hunters often like to shoot heavier bullets with their Rugers and inability to use the same ammo may have hurt it.
ReplyDeleteI think you want the rifle but not sure how to justify a need for it.
ben
For about the same amount of $ you could get a Rossi 92 in 44 mag. Throw in another $100 and get it race ready and sans rebounding hammer from Steve Young.
ReplyDeleteA 44 Mag bolt rifle seems rather............off-kilter.
ReplyDeleteKinda like a Victoria's Secret model wearing a Muu-Muu dress. You have to ask yourself: "What's the point?"
I have considered getting such a thing for my daughter to hunt deer with in another year or 2. She is on the small side. Something like that in a youth sized-stock would be perfect for a smaller kid or woman. You get a repeating rifle with low recoil that can be made with a very short action so that it is easy to handle, chambered for a cartridge that works fine on whitetails out to as far as 100 yards. For some people this rifle makes sense.
ReplyDeleteFor an adult male of normal stature, a rifle/cartridge combination like this doesn't do anything that plenty of rifle cartridges don't do better.