Ruger Deerfield Shooting & Cleaning

[Newtire]

Hi all,
Just thought I would put this down in writing for those who wonder about shooting cast boolits in your .44 mag. Ruger Deerfield auto carbine.

I, for one, will continue to do so based on my experiences in cleaning it after approx 300 shots using Lee 310 RF, Lyman 429244, and the newest Ranch 44 cal group buy boolit.

For one thing, I just thought I would take this thing apart before it jammed up on me and I was forced to do it. So, this was both a preventive maintenance measure and a learning experience on disassembly of the gas system since the Ruger book stops there.

You can download the disassembly guide at Ruger’s site for free so I did that & took the rifle down to the gas piston point using that.

I then proceeded to remove the stationary gas piston from the rifle by tapping out the spring split pin (non-directional as far as I could tell) and then tapping the piston out to the rear.

There was a small accumulation of lead buildup around the base of the piston which flaked off easily using a small scribe tool.

The moveable piston cylinder was carboned up but free from lead. I cleaned out the carbon with a KROIL soaked paper towel.

These operations required very little effort to get things apart. The piston moved out easily without bringing any metal from the bore with it so didn’t feel the need to loctite it back in or anything of that nature.

The actual gas-port hole diameter in the barrel was .120” according to my drill bit size that would still fit into the hole and the next one that wouldn’t go. That seems like one gaping hole if you ask me! You are not going to plug anything up concerning gas ports any time soon unless you poured molten lead into the barrel and let it cool.

The thing I would watch for would be if the gas piston fitted loosley (which it didn’t in this case). Some loctite judiciously applied would fix that.
All in all, I would say that this is a pretty simple gun to disassemble for someone who is careful and observant.

In the shooting of this gun, I would advise against the use of a scope in hunting situations as the empties occasionally lodged themselves in under the scope.

You have to put a little wrap of cushioning around the scope like a “scope-bra” to keep the empties from dinging the scope. I made one out of a piece of toolbox drawer liner and some velcro. Cut it out to fit around the scope adjustment knobs and you are good to go.

This is what closes up the clearance and causes the jams though so take it off for hunting maybe?..

Only jammed 2-times out of 300 due to that. No other jams or malfunctions of any kind except for the first shot always hits 2" left. I WILL get to the bottom of that.

It's a real fun gun,like an M-1 carbine on steroids. I am keeping it!

[txpete]

thanks excellent .I have looked at them and they seem like a perfect truck/brush gun.how are the iron sights say out to 50-75 meters??
pete

[Newtire]

Iron sights are peep and are great. Peep folds down, scope zips on & off and you just flip up peep and you are all set.

I would say that the "cons" are:
You are limited to more or less full power loads. It wouldn't function with 13.5 gr. 2400 and the Lee 300gr.

The recoil is a little sharp and noone makes a decent pad for it to use it as just a fun plinking gun. Hunting of course would be no problem.

In order to feed any SWC designs, I had to seat them so that the crimp folded over the first driving band or they would jam. The Lee 310 and the new Ranch Dog .44 boolit work great at a full 1.610" length and they fit the magazine OK too. The SWC's weren't as accurate as the Lee & Ranch Dog ones I think because of the seating thing. i got as tight as 1" @50yds. with the Ranch Dog's and Lee's for 3-shots. Averaged about 2" for 5-shots.