WB
Every good wheelgun collection needs a sound Ruger .44 SBH
Thursday, September 05, 2019, 13:46

No need for it to be a stocker. What a pivotal arm. For me it was the rage in the late 70's and about 1980. Shooting steel chickens had been going on a while, rich boys shot S&W, some DW .44's (1984-86?). A bunch of unsung hero's shot the Ruger. A normal guy working at a grocery store could get one too. I paid $175 for mine. Used, it had Pachmayr grips on it that protected the knuckle BUT rubbed the palm but good in recoil. It negated the muzzle flip that absorbed the bite of a hot 240 gr. Back then we looked to lighter, not heavier bullets, to uptick performance. The 200/220 gr. Speer were hot but the 180 gr. Serria was King. With 2400 you could run it to 1700 fps! We shot overripe 25 lb. melons with it that simply vanished, no pieces at all!

Then JD and Kelly, Seyfried, all started writing about this unthinkable hunk of metal 275 gr. SSK TC bullet. Ruger promised a new heavy DA gun (79) but held it back almost 3 yrs. before I saw one (81). S&W came out with a Stainless M29 that I could only dream of, cost equal or more than what I could buy a Colt Python for ($400). I remember it being a difficult choice at the time, but at almost 3X the price of my used Ruger, reality had a way of fixing things.

I've had several but sort of settled on an old trade beater for myself. made in the early 80's. Someone sent it to JD for a package enhancement deal that was mostly cosmetic. About the cost of a whole new gun at $325, you got some matte chrome parts, red ramp front sight and white outline rear, action job, 2-port Mag-na-port and refinish. I didn't like the matte chrome and grew tired of the classic SBH grip. Swapped stls. BH parts on mine and a steel ejector housing. I also sourced an extra cylinder I rechambered to .431-40 Win. and had GNR engrave up nice, in addition to the .44 Spec./.44 Mag stock cyl. I finally have it shooting the way I expect and worthy of the effort. It took some judicious bore honing but it's there now. (Had a tight spot just behind the porting) It can likely take modern 300 gr. and hold together admirable, but both it and you, will pay the eventual price if pressed in to a marathon diet of the heavy stuff. I hear the 180/200 gr. were like lightning bolts on deer. Maybe more is not always better, has it really changed in 40 yrs?