THE HUNTER 44 - RUGER’S NEW/OLD SINGLE ACTION by Paco

(from the old Sixgunner.Com website)

Ruger produced what it called the Super Blackhawk Hunter in 44 magnum back in the mid 1990s. My 1995 Gun Digest shows a price of $415 for the Super Blackhawk...but none for the Hunter...though the Hunter is named and pictured.

Unfortunately the Hunter class Super Ruger didn’t stay in production. Many of us slow thinkers, bemoaned the fact that we waited too long to get ours. Used prices for the Hunter when you could find one...went much higher than the original price for the gun when it was new. Then about 1½ years ago a friend in the industry mentioned that the Hunter would be brought back for a short run ....because of all the requests over the years since it was dropped. I immediately put an order in for mine. My favorite gun distributor thought I was nuts...saying something along the lines of... "Gun companies always drop the good stuff and never bring it back..."

Which of course is not true...and not only with the Ruger Hunter. Mine showed up a short while ago...and it is lovely. But my nitpicking first....and the one nit that really bothers me first.

Myself and several others that have gotten the new gun, all have found the cylinder is as loose as a goose on our guns. Not that it is unknown on Ruger single actions for cylinders to be sloppy....but this one was the worst I’ve seen. Remedy: Belt Mountain makes a good business out of tightening up Ruger cylinders with their absolutely fine cylinder pins. I took the Belt Mountain pin from my Super Blackhawk and put it on the Hunter...had to thin it just a bit...but it was like a custom fit. And most importantly, it cured the problem instantly, lock up and rotation is now solid. And the accuracy proves it.

After the instillation of the BM pin my Hunter put all six rounds into one ragged hole at 25 yards, with Garretts very fine 310 grain loads. And at 1377 fps average from the 7.5 inch barrel...and over 1300 lbs of muzzle punch...this is a big game load supreme even from a handgun. This Garrett load out of my Rossi 44 mag levergun gave near 1800 fps and way over a ton of muzzle energy. There is little that walks the earth that can’t be taken by an experienced handgunner/hunter with this load out of a rifle. Just a word or more about this with that load, or any other in a 44 mag handgun....I am taking about animals up to the size of American buffalo and moose as large game.

But if you are going to hunt Ultra-Large game like the big bears of the north or thick skinned stuff of Africa...you need more gun. Especially if you are using just a handgun chambered for 44 magnum. A TV. western type star of the 1960s...if I remember correctly, it was Nick Adams. Principle word here is "WAS". He found out the hard way that shooting the big bears of Alaska with a 44 magnum handgun takes a great deal of skill...which I guess he didn’t have.

I know that many others did it successfully, the 1960s and ‘70s saw a slew of hunters go against very large game with the 44 mag in handguns....Petersen of the publishing empire named after him...used Norma mild steel jacketed slugs over good doses of WW295P and killed a polar bear circa 1960s...but my feeling and it is mine, I know many disagree...that the big bears of the north are more dangerous than African lions. I know for a fact that a heavy loaded 454 will turn a lion inside out..but I still feel that even the 454 heavy loaded from a very strong handgun, is still marginal on the big bears...elephant...cape buff and a few others.

I know it has been done...good friend Lynn Thompson of Cold Steel Knives has taken record size ‘everything’ with the 454 in handguns, including the largest Rhino ever taken in history with a handgun. The difference is Lynn and a few others I can name on less than 10 fingers, are very experienced hunter/shootists...the average hunter using the 454 on the Ultra Big stuff is in marginal country. Even with the vaulted 454 ballistics...much less the 44 magnum loaded top end, that is almost less than half the power of the 454! But the King of the handgun calibers, the 44 magnum on game suited for it, is hard to beat. Elk, moose, and buffalo will fall to the hunter who at least practices a good deal with his loads and handgun...and has more than a few seasons deer hunting experience. Of course with the 240 grain and lighter, soft nose or hollow pointed, jacketed slugs, the great 44 is perfect for deer and black bear.

The second nit I have is universal for me with all Ruger handguns. I don’t like the back sights. The old steel sights that used to be placed on the early flattop Ruger S/As were much better. Bowen Classic Arms makes some very good all steel replacement back sights for Rugers. But I guess I’m too picky...I still have not found the perfect back sight for me and my Ruger S/As. The nice thing about the Hunter is the front sight is easily replaceable...being just like the Redhawk series front sights on the ribbed barrel. The last nit I have is...(and it is just me)...I like blued guns. Stainless is wonderful for bad weather type areas....but I will when I can afford it, have my Hunter nickel/chromed...what ever it is... so it is blue. I have a number of stainless guns, and they are very fine, I just like grew up in an era that was almost exclusively blue....personal taste. End of nits.

The things I like most. One of the very best sets of grip/stocks you can find are on the Hunter. Laminated wood in red and blues that just force your eyes to them. They fit fine for me also, even with heavy loads. The use of the Redhawk designed barrel without the underlug of course....gives the handgun a nose heavy feel I like in handguns. For me at least, it settles faster and better on target for hunting field accuracy. Unlike my friend John Taffin who likes the long barrels...I would prefer the 5½" length, but that’s not even in the nit category with this gun, because this barrel points so well... like a German short hair bitch on a hot covey.

The trigger on mine out of the box, was much too heavy...like pulling the lid off a garbage can at 6 lbs...it took about a ½ hour of work and it was as slick as needed. At 25 yards, 6 shots each of three different bullet weights (240/270/300), in the 1200 to 1500 fps ranges grouped into a little under 3 inches for all 18 rounds. My 45s with the same weight bullet spread won’t go into 7" at 25 yards...and that’s with my ultra accurate FA 454. But this is not unusual for 44s...or for 45s for that matter.

For some reason this Hunter likes the heavy bullets best, both jacketed and cast. Cast Performance 300 grainers (LBT/WFN) over 20 grains of 2400 is so accurate out to 100 yards, that we were slamming pop cans all over the desert. At 1166 fps average for six shots...it is mild in recoil yet powerful enough for large game like elk to 100- 125 yards with open sights...that range limit is because of my eyes, now that the gray in my hair is taking over the brown.

But the Hunter is set up for scopes. I know how a number of shooters feel about scopes on handguns...but sales of handgun scopes don’t show the non scope users are in the majority. I put a good Tasco 4X on my Hunter...the rings are provided with the gun. And they situate the scope forward on the barrel so it is not hanging back over the hammer spur. I don’t like that position at all. But the Hunter puts them just right.

I immediately found out the 44 magnum’s reputation for wrecking scopes is just as valid today as it was in years past. 20 shots and this scope was toast...I’m sending it back to Tasco. At first I thought mayhaps I got a 22 RF scope by mistake...went back and checked the box...doesn’t say that....I took the Tasco I had on my 7Waters mod.94, Winchester levergun (it was mounted on the barrel and is going back on the barrel after Hunter the tests). I built this rifle into a quick woods gun. So I put this scope on the Hunter...so far with several hundred rounds later...no problems.

All of the loads I have tried with three different 240 grain jacketed slugs, go into 1½ inches at best, to 3½ inches at worst. My gun doesn’t like the 240s like it does 270 thru 320 grain bullets. I didn’t have any 200 grainers or less to test, so that will be for later tests...and we will see if it is the barrel twist or not... My Ruger Super Blackhawk from the 1980s will with 240 grain jacketed Speer 44JSPs over 21 grains of 2400, go into less than an inch at 25 yards. But not with the Hunter...

This Super Blackhawk Hunter with the ribbed barrel should make Brother Taffin happy, it doesn’t have the square back trigger guard, that the non Hunter series Super Blackhawks have, that likes to rap his knuckles. This trigger guard is what is the standard round shape on the Blackhawk series. I like the square back shape better...but that’s because it doesn’t try to eat my knuckles. I have heard other folks with large hands make the same complaint....The early Hunters from the 1990s also had the round trigger guard.

The testing of one gun from any manufacturer really doesn’t tell us about how well others of the same model are produced and their accuracy or lack of it. But it does tell us if the gun is well built, the fit and finish, the ability of the gun to take certain pressure ranges, how it feels and acts in the shooters hand at firing and such. As most know I don’t believe in 50 to 100 round, commercial ammo, gun tests....to date I have 541 rounds of commercial, handloads, jacketed bullets, cast bullets, four different powders, all thru this Hunter. In part two on the 44 magnum, we will chart for you the best loads I have found....and also mention the bullets and powder the gun didn’t like. Except for the cylinder shake ....this Hunter is superb.... and I paid just $39 over the stated 1995 GUN DIGEST price...what a deal! Of course it’s a Ruger....