Surpressed Ruger 77-44 at the range today

[kjeff50cal]

I went on my weekly jaunt to my favorite shooting range Saturday afternoon to fire for function my Yugo SKS problem child (won't cycle Wolf ammo but eats Monarch like candy). After that ordeal I went to the shop part of the range and peeked into the gunsmith area. Ms 'B' the ramrod/owner of the place looks at me with an uncharacteristic worried look. One of the resident gunsmiths was mounting a scope on what I thought was a heavy barreled varmit rifle.

He was boresighting it and soon carried it to the sale counter where its owner waited. The smith layed the bull barreled rifle on a pad and told me to look close at the muzzle of the gun. It had three holes!!! One in the middle was huge and two small gas vent/wrench holes. What I was looking at was a Ruger 77/44 boltaction with an internal surpressor (silencer if you will).

The gentleman who owned it waited a total of 2 years for all the paperwork to clear the F-troop puzzle palace to take delivery. The gent works for a game ranch and this Ruger is going to be his hog/exotic culling gun. This culling gun is for thining out the large population of hogs and exotics that paying hunters don't get (this is legal to do because they are not considered game animals in the Lone Star State).

It shoots a custom loaded .44 Mag. 265 grn subsonic bullet below 1000 fps for a sound unlike a healthy airgun. When he shot it on the 100 yard range a crowd of 10 people stood in awe that when it was learned the rifle that sounded like a .22 short was in fact a .44 magnum. And from the target he shot at sight-in, it is a very accurate one topped with Leupold optics.

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

Camera phones exist for a reason, son.

 

[kjeff50cal]

Sorry Creeping, I am doubly at fault because I took my digital cam that usually rides in my van out for charging:banghead: . The carcharger broke .

BTW being a semi-retired photo-journalist I cannot Stand Cell-phone Cams

 

[VA27]

I was at a school a coupla years ago when one of the guys showed up with one of those. 44 Specials sounded like CB caps and regular 44 mags were'nt much louder. It was pretty amazing.

 

[Climber]

Here's a picture of mine. I shoot 300gn XTPs at 1000fps. It sounds like a high power air rifle.

 

[Crosshair]

Could a person use a 45 auto suppressor screwed onto the end of a 44 mag rifle? I would think it would work so long as you don't use lead bullets.

 

[Chuck Perry]

Can it be shot with high pressure loads without destroying the suppressor? I understand that the pressure must be kept down to maximize the suppression, but is the gun limited to those types of rounds?

 

[kjeff50cal]

Climber that is almost the twin to the one I saw, except it did not have a bi-pod and the scope was stainless finished. Very coool . And when all six numbers of the Lotto coincide with mine...... Paper work time!!!

 

[Climber]

Crosshair, You could use a 45 suppressor on a 44 as long as you only shoot subsonic loads through it. High power 44magnum loads would be to much pressure for a standard 45 auto suppressor.
I can shoot full power loads through mine but the bullet makes a sonic crack which sounds like a 22 rimfire. With the Subsonic loads it is air rifle quite and with 300 gn bullets at 1040fps I am still getting 720 ft-lb of energy.

 

[Creeping Incrementalism]

That suppressor looks like a bull barrel.

BTW being a semi-retired photo-journalist I cannot Stand Cell-phone Cams

Yeah, crappy, but handy.

 

[WestbayWhisper]

Climber,
Ive already got some data on the 300 gr XTP with Vv N330 and Vv N340 for 1000fps. Have tou ever tried Vv N310 behind that bullet? Do you drill the primer flash holes? Crimp? Hope this isnt too much off-topic!?

 

[Ben Shepherd]

Westbay-

I was hoping you'd stumble onto this thread.

This subsonic 300 stuff intrigues me.......
Possible use for a bad urban indoor situation is percolating.....

 

[Nhsport]

Very interesting . 100 or so years ago a 300gr lead bullet going 1000 or 1200 FPS was looked at as a light to medium hunting load and took out much game. It is not so much killing power as haveing the skill to land a rainbow trajectory bullet on the game. In this day of balistic programs and afordable range finders it certainly a doable thing. I don't mean to infer the hunter would take his computer into the field , just be able to crank out a trajectory chart to perfectly match his particular handload or factory load . The hunter or hunters buddy would rangefinder the animal ,then glance at the custom chart (pasted to the buttstock?) and use proper holdover or reticule in scope.
Down in Texas where hogs are really more Vermin than game in some areas guys are useing 9mm ARs with silencers and nightvision scopes to clean them out. Some actually useing 9mm full auto ! Sounds like much fun and helps the farmers out to boot ! They don't claim to be "hunting" they are doing pest control .

 

[Ben Shepherd]

I know a few guys that do exactly that.

 

[Climber]

I have used N310 but the results were not very good. The load was around 8gns. I drill the flash holes for 308 subsonic rounds but it is a waste of time with 44 sub loads. N330 and clays work the best with 300gn bullets in my rifle.

 

[Rick983]

Suppressed 77/44

I have a Ruger 77/44 that was suppressed by John's Guns usung the new K style baffles and am very happy. My initial problem was getting the heavy 300 gr bullets to stabilize in the factory barrel. I dropped down to the Sierra 250 gr silhouette bullets and with 9.0 gr of Trail Boss, groups are under 1" at 100 yds. Velocities are in the 1000 fps range with less than 15 fps deviation and Trail Boss burns relatively clean. This has become my favorite gun and always gets a lot of attention at the range when I shoot a 44 mag that sounds like an airgun. Good shooting!!!

 

[shuter]

Why would he have had to wait 2 years for the paperwork

to clear? I've done 2 suppressors in the last 6 months or so, and both have taken about 4-5 weeks total?

Oh well, nice rig!

see ya

 

[drew2]

Hi Rick983, would you have a pic of your ruger 77/44? I'm interested in getting one of these, but would have to stick to the factory barrel too (which has a 1 in 20" twist). It sounds good that you're getting accurate stabilised loads with a 250gn proj. Is your JOhn's Guns can an integral design or screw on unit?
Thanks for your load info, I like using trailboss in the .308 for subsonic loads.

 

[Sam1911]

Couple of questions:

1) For those of you using XTPs with these sub sonic loads, have you taken shots at game animals and have any results of the terminal performance of the bullet at these velocities. I've read that the XTP line was built to expand at slightly higher velocities (1200 fps+, IIRC) and I'm curious to see if they did work well at 1,000 or less.

2) What other options exist for barrels? Considering the terminal effect of a slow moving .44 load would be greatly increased if it was a 300 gr. or better, are there faster twist barrels available that could be used for one of these builds? And what twist rate would be optimal for the heavier slugs?

Thanks!

-Sam (Who has been dreaming of doing something like this with a T/C Encore or similar...)

 

[1858rem]

anyone have a trailboss load for 168 grain bthp nosler's, .308 winchester...and if it would work in a 22" bbl ok?