[Cosmoline]

I admit I poo-pooed the whole Ruger Alaskan concept when I first heard about it. But while I still think powerhouse Casulls out of anything that small are going to hurt like blazes, I did get one in .44 Mag. I'm going to test fire it tomorrow and see how my fingers do. Its weight is on par with a 4" Redhawk, so it should be fine. It will make a nice companion to my Puma M92, also in stainless.

I like the balance and heft of it. And it actually fits in my pocket! It's muscular and compact, like corned beef. It will complete my collection of short barreled wheelguns. I've got the Spenard Special, the Susitna Six and now the Matanuska Magnum. Pics shortly.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/srh2.jpg

Here it is next to my carry piece, the little Special. You can see how compact it is for a magnum, in spite of all the steel on it. It has the same grip stud as the GP-100, so in theory you could put a more compact stock on it as well.

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/rh3.jpg

[Cosmoline]

Here it is in the Alaska Sportsman holster designed for short barreled revolvers. That's the original nylon belly holster, not one of the many ripoffs that's cropped up. Everything is triple stitched and double layered with heavy nylon. The Ruger rides very nicely, but I can't figure why he only put five spots for shells not six. I may have picked up the one for old model SA's by mistake. Anyway, the bandolier o' fifty makes up for it ;-)

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/srh4.jpg

http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/Gussick/srh5.jpg

[DrLaw]

No offense to midgets or pro wrestlers, but it looks like a midget on steroids.

The Doc is out now.

[Cosmoline]

Have you ever fought a midget on steroids? They'll flip you for real.

[Alphazulu6]

Have you ever fought a midget on steroids? They'll flip you for real.

Haha.

[Cosmoline]

Finally got out to the range today to cap off a few. Here are some observations:

--The factory set both windage and elevation WAY off, which made me happy it was adjustable sights. I don't know who was smoking what, but in the end I got it lined up.

--Accuracy is good, but could be better. Slow fire SA it will put most loads in an inch group at ten yards. It can't outshoot my Detective Special but then again few revolvers can. It's minute of bruin, but would be of limited utility as a longer range hunting handgun.

--Recoil was no problemo at all. Even with the powerhouse 320 grain beasts it soaked them up and asked for more. It was comparable to shooting an SP 101, with a little longer roll but no greater pain. Indeed the whole thing seems like a huge SP 101.

--The blast was not too bad with standard loads, but when I loaded some 300 grain Hornady XTP hunting rounds designed for leverguns, it threw a vast fireball. Interestingly, those were by far the most accurate of the loads tested. I'll experiment more but I suspect it will do better with jacketed rounds instead of hardcasts.

--Speed in hand was good, though I much prefer fixed sight revolvers for fast target acquisition. I was a little slow to fire with this guy, certainly far slower than I am with the Speed Six. But I think it's mostly just me and I'll have to practice more. I'm used to fixed sights these days.

Overall, out of the dozen or so .44 Mags I've owned this is one of the funnest to shoot. It's also the ONLY snub .44 Mag I'd ever consider shooting full house loads out of.

[DrLaw]

Now, now, it was just an observation. I am not about to fight (wrassle) a midget on steroids. :rolleyes: I'd probably be 'hornswaggled' by one. (Check the wwe.com page on this reference)

I'm sure a gun like that has its purpose. What it really is, I am not sure of.

One thing I do believe I know though. You can have some fun shooting that
little big monster. :D

The Doc is out now. :cool:

[MCgunner]

I'd get it in .454 if I was going to get one and shoot a lot of .45 Colt in it. But, the .44 Mag isn't a wimp.

To me, for an Alaskan outdoorsman's gun, I'd want a 4" barrel, more sight radius makes for better accuracy and the 4" barrel helps give it some ballistics. I just can't get into the whole snubby cannon thing. LOL! It sorta looks like my SP101 on steroids with adjustable sights.

Interesting the barrel is cast with the frame, doesn't screw on. Got ta be a strong beast! Of course, that's what Ruger is known best for.

[HiVelocity]

Just food for thought..............

Ya' think Ruger is reading comments all over the web about this fine weapon and considering making it it both 460 and 480?

I lived in Juneau for 6 years, you can't beat a 375 H&H. Ask the US Forest Service up there.

HiVelocity in SC:cool:

[Cosmoline]

I'm sure a gun like that has its purpose. What it really is, I am not sure of.

It's designed to be an easy packing magnum that can fire max OAL and beyond loads with big hardcast FN bullets. It's also incredibly strong, with a ton of steel all around. For handloads you can crank it to the max on the charts and use "Redhawk Only" loads.

Plus, as I discovered the .44 at least was a lot of fun to shoot. It would also be a kick to fire specials in. There would be almost no recoil and you could fire very quickly.

[rbmcmjr]

Interesting the barrel is cast with the frame, doesn't screw on. Got ta be a strong beast! Of course, that's what Ruger is known best for.

I don't believe that it is. As I understand it, it has a sleeved barrel that is dressed at the crown after being threaded into the long frame throat.

[MCgunner]

Sure can't see a seam where the barrel screws on. If it screws on, fit and finish are outstanding. Now, it might have a barrel threaded in, wouln't be able to tell that from the photo. But, it doesn't look as if it has an external barrel threaded to the frame as with, say, a K frame which has a pin (the old school decent ones) that fixes the barrel.

Anyway, nice gun. Wonder what sort of 25 yard groups one could expect out of a ransom rest? Is it lacking a little inherent accuracy or is it just hard to shoot, IE, the short sight radius or something?

[Cosmoline]

I wasn't terribly impressed with the 10 yard accuracy off the bench, except with those heavy Hornady HP's. It's good enough for a short range defensive gun, but not for hunting. I'll do some fiddling with the loads and see what works best out of it. The sight radius is certainly short, but then again it's no worse than the Colt and I was threading needles with that little pony all day.

[pwrtool45]

The sight radius is certainly short, but then again it's no worse than the Colt and I was threading needles with that little pony all day.

Yeah, well, these days you don't get what went into making that second generation Colt Detective Special unless you pay far out the rear for it. (With apologies to ignignokt.)

[Davo]

coo coo