[SteelEye]

I'm interested in the accuracy potential of this gun. The two clubs I belong to have 200 yard silhouette shoots at targets that are on the small side, about 8 x 8 inches more or less. I have a Contender but can't get used to either taco hold or creedmore. The gun is too muzzle heavy for 2 hand isosceles. (I have shot a Super Redhawk and liked it a lot.)

The only measurement I've seen was on GunBlast where they said it did 1" at 25 yards. How would this gun stack up against a 629 DX?

I'd like to hear more real world measurements if any available.

Thanks,
Burt

[Jim March]

My understanding is that bullets in general "stabilize" after a bit, generally 50 to 100 yards all though I'm not certain that holds for the 44Mag.

It's not uncommon to get a gun that's doing more than 1MOA at 25 yards (more than 1/4" groups) but do MOA or better (1" or less) at 100 yards, from this "stabilization" effect.

The reports I've seen on the Hunter classify it as among the most accurate factory Ruger handguns made, of any type and caliber outside of maybe a bull-barreled 22auto with match ammo.

If I had a Hunter and wanted to shoot to 200 yards, I'd do the following:

1) Hand-pick a specimen with "the checkout":

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1430

That way you know you're starting with a good one. For what you want and the caliber involved, I would guesstimate that a barrel/cylinder gap of around .004" would be optimal.

2) Belt Mountain base pin to tighten the cylinder. Costs $21 with a plain head, a little bit more with the fancy #5 head.

3) Trigger: at a minimum, a "poor boy's trigger job" (see link below, it's a zero-cost tweak). A Wolff spring kit may be in order (less than $20). (If you do tweaks 1 and 2, you'll also need good screwdrivers, preferrably gunsmith-grade to avoid boogering screws.)

At that point, see how it shoots. You've spent very little, put less than an hour's work into it. You may or may not need to go past this point.

4) Have a gunsmith fine-tune the crown; given that it's stainless, there's no reblue costs, so this'll be cheap. Probably less than $75. (And make sure your cleaning rod has a plastic or nylon rod or plastic/rubber covered metal rod, so it doesn't scratch the inside of the barrel near the muzzle when you clean.)

5) IF you're not allowed to shoot with glass sights, only iron, a target rear sight will increase your precision significantly. Bowen's has a good rep:

http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/shop/

At that point, if it's not able to shoot at the level you need, there's two more relatively cheap things to look at:

6) Have a gunsmith measure your cylinder. Ruger 44mag cylinders are generally pretty good, but minor glitches in cylinder bore specs aren't unheard of. A bit of reaming could help a lot.

7) You might consider a "Taylor Throat Job". This is a process of altering the barrel slightly; there's a very minor velocity loss but often a significant accuracy increase at very modest cost ($80 at the gunsmith noted below). See also:

http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/revolver/default.htm

and:

http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/contact/prices.htm

For details and links on most of the other tweaks discussed, see also this thread:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=80872

Expect to have to handload to get something brewed up that this gun really likes.

You might want to talk to Jim Stroh or another Ruger SA gunsmith about this project beforehand. I strongly suspect that a well-chosen specimen with very minor tweaks can get the performance you're looking for.

No offense to THR, but a lot more specialists in the Ruger SAs hang out at the sixgunner forums under "handguns":

http://forums.sixgunner.com/

You might want to post a query there as to what a Hunter can really do. Note that even if you do ALL the tweaks mentioned above, you're way under the price of a Freedom Arms.

[munk]

Sounds like March knows his stuff. I'll just add you may want to see how the trigger smooths out with some use before altering.

There are two old saws about Rugers. 1. they're accurate at 25 yards but not at 100 or 200 2. If you have a shooter keep it, as not all of them are.

There's some truth to these oft repeated statements, but in my limited experience, (with my own Ruger revolvers and friends) we must have found all the shooters, because none of them were bad.


munk

[Jim March]

My understanding is that much of the rep for "not shooting well at range" is a product of the Ruger rear sight used on virtually all their models (DA and SA).

That's why the Bowen rear sight is held in such high regard.

Not much else could explain guns shooting better at close range than long but sights issues...

[munk]

Jim, where can I read about and perhaps purchase a Bowen sight?

munk

[Jim March]

You can buy the sight as a part right off the Bowen site:

http://www.bowenclassicarms.com/shop/

At that URL you can link to both the standard Bowen "target sight" or the new "rough country" variant. I don't know much about the latter, BUT it's not yet available in the special Hunter height. The target sight is, so you'd best stick with that.

I did a search and found references to the Bowen part by people I trust, such as John Taffin:

http://www.sixguns.com/range/RugerPackin.htm

...and Jim Taylor:

http://www.sixgunner.com/comments/working_gun2.htm

Neither mention of the part is very extensive, but both are complementary.

Jim Stroh at Alpha uses these:

http://www.alphaprecisioninc.com/revolver/singleaction.htm

Every single reference I've heard to the Bowen rear sight has been positive. Those references will be to the original (target) sight.

I also found an article by a guy who extensively upgraded a conventional 44Mag SuperBlackHawk on the cheap for long-range accuracy. He ended up altering the factory sight to eliminate side-to-side "wiggle" and got decent results; he also talks about some of the same mods I'm discussing:

http://t6aluminum.tripod.com/Ruger_SBlkhwk.htm

Oh and you'll LOVE this:

http://www.hanned.com/Long6/Long6.html - complete article on lone-range wheelgun work, mainly discussing Rugers. Some Bowen info too, on why it's worth it for ranges out past 100 yards. Goes into detail on how Elmer Keith used to do 400+ yard shooting!!!

[munk]

I wasn't going to mention long yardage shots, but since you posted a link...

In the Mojave desert you can see a long ways off. It isn't a big deal to sight in on some rock or boulder way way out yonder. If you do it often enough, you get good at it. Sort of a useless skill, as they'll never open a season on boulders...

I used to spend all my free time there. And my rugers, double and single, have always done fine.

munk

[SteelEye]

Jim,
Thanks for this great abundance of information. This will sway my purchacing decision by a lot!!!

Thanks,
Burt