Ruger 44 carbine ejection malfunctions

[Fatcat]

I recently came upon an old Ruger .44 carbine (the kind with the tube magazine, produced in the 70's I believe). It's in good shape, with no visible problems. I lubed it the best I could and tried to fire 5 rounds through it.

Now, it will either: 1) Fire, eject the spend case and not feed the next cartridge, returning to battery empty; or 2) Fire, eject the spent case, along with the next cartridge in the magazine. Not once could I get it to feed normally.

The odd thing is, it feeds fine if you cycle it by hand. I'd love to disassemble it, but I have no idea how to do that (looks like if I take the barrel band off, it'll fall apart, but I dunno). Anyone have any idea what would cause this? I don't have it in front of me right now, but I'm headed home this weekend and I'll have time to mess with it.

Thanks.

 

[JeffC]

I had a problem with my Carbine jamming but this was like 20 years ago...... Ruger fixed it free of charge, they had to do something to the gas system.....ream the port maybe????

It's still reliable to this day.

......and yes, my stock is split underneath.

 

[steeledge]

I bought a used Ruger 44 carbine a few years ago, it to was jamming badly.
I disassembled it and the rifle was filthy. A good cleaning and jams stopped. Ruger doesn't recommend lead bullets. I think the gas system is very unforgiving as to fouling. Get an exploded view like from Numurich Arms, and tearing it down is not that difficult.

 

[JeffC]

Yup, lead will stop it up.

Something to do in case your port needs cleaned, disassemble and prop the barreled reciever muzzle facing down..... on newspaper. Put a couple drops of solvent into the gas port and let sit. It will eventually work into and run down the inside of the barrel. Add more solvent and repeat the process, then when your ready to, blow the port out with compressed air, I use those cans of air that you clean your computer with. Clean the bore and your done

 

[Paniolo808]

Im scared

I too just bought the old style 44 and it is doing the same thing. Fires good but it wont feed anything automatically, although it will feed fine manually. My question is does this fix require complete disassembly to do where do i put my cleaning solution...or how do i find the gas port? Is there any kind of resource that show in pictures how to break down this rifle. The ruger website tells you how but it confuses the heck out of me, and im afraid if i take it apart it wont go back together.....please help me!


Aloha

 

[JeffC]

I haven't taken mine down in a long time but all that's neccessary is remove the barreled action from the stock, lay it muzzle down on newspaper with the bolt locked open and dribble some copper solvent into the gas port where the piston goes into. Take a tooth brush and clean off the piston too. Do this several times and blow out the gas port with compressed air.

Use gunscrubber, or Brakeclean and spray the receiver down real well(with bolt open) and then use a good lube after everything is dried. Beyond that I wouldn't advize you dissassembling it if you're not comfortable.

 

[HerbG]

I owned one of these carbines when they first appeared, and it was ammunition sensitive. It was designed for full-power 240 grain jacketed ammo. Lighter bullets, cast bullets, reduced power handloads would cause the malfunction you describe.

 

[Paniolo808]

BTW if you go to rugers website they have an excellent manual you can print out that will tell you how to break the rifle down, its actually alot easier than i thought. I did it to mine and found out the gas port was plugged real bad. I also changed ammo from 240 gr. blazer ammo to PMC 240 gr. Works wonderfully now. hope this helps

 

[Geoengr]

Gentlemen,
I've been helping a friend trouble shoot his carbine and we cleaned it completely. Then we notice the piston plug set screw at the front of the gas chamber. It was loose and we were not sure how it should be adjusted. It seems to give the gas piston an offset from the forward portion of the gas chamber. I theorized that his problem was related to the pistion resting against the front of the chamber and not having enough surface area in contact with port pressure to get it moving. Does anyone out there have any experience with this part of the carbine?

 

[Corey ACP]

I also aquired an old style 44 carbine. I sent a short letter to Ruger requesting a owners manual for the rifle. They sent one out pronto! I have to echo what has already been said, "Keep it Clean", it is an awesome, fun gun!