Pictures of My Ruger Hunting Rig

I just installed my Bushnell Trophy Red Dot Scope on my .41 magnum Ruger the other day. Yesterday was our last day of gun season and I got to shoot at my first deer with it. Missed! I hit a little sapling I didn't notice and I guess it threw the bullet off course.

Anyway, I love this set up. I've tried open sights, which I did good with, but have trouble seeing the sights when its cloudy, shady or when they are against certain backgrounds. I tried a 2x Leupold scope, and I unless I was using sandbags, I couldn't hit diddly with it. I checked out red dots, and decided on this one because of the reviews I read on Cabelas and elsewhere. It had good reveiws over all, but there were a few guys who had them on magnum pistols and said the recoil never effected them any. Plus it has a great price. I got mine from Midway USA on sale at $75.00. If any of you have any experience with this scope let me know.

The rings that came with it wouldn't work on my mount because the grooves were not spaced according to the way the rings had to go on the scope. I took my Dremel tool with a cutting disk and made me a new groove in the mount. Worked great. I put it on Friday and got it sighted in at 15 yards just as it was getting dark. I zeroed it in during lunch Saturday at 50 yards and took it with me that afternoon. I've shot it around 20 times and so far, so good. Time will tell how the scope holds up, but I really like the features.
There are four sets of sights inside the scope: a small red dot, a large red dot, a cross hair, and a red dot in a circle. I like the small red dot best, and the dot in the circle is pretty neat. (Makes me feel like I'm playing a video game!) Then there are 11 brightness settings.

Hey JesseL, I am presently using a Kolphin holster with a strap on it that I wear like a bandolier. The holster isn't made for a scope, so I cut a slit in the front to accomodate the red dot scope. It works fairly well, but I am planning to get an Uncle Mike's bandolier holster that is made for a scope. I see that Cabela's has them for $29.99 which seem reasonable to me. You can get them in black or camo.

I don't have a link for the scope, but you can go to Midway USA online and look it up. Cabela's has them too, but I happen to get a sale paper from Midway and got it a little cheaper. Both of these sites have reviews you can read from other buyers of this Bushnell Trophy red dot, and there was a couple of guys who put them on .44 magnums and really liked them. That was the main deciding factor for me, because I like knowing it should hold its zero on a magnum handgun. As a matter of fact, I happen to have it fall out of my holster the other day when I sat down and it thumped the ground pretty good. I shot it today and it was still shooting right on at 50 yards. I hated I dropped it, but it made for a good test!

The loads I am using are of the following components: Winchester brass, winchester primers, 17.5 grains of 2400 powder,with a .210 gr. Hornady XTP hollow point. I have not chronographed it, but according to my reloading data, that load is shooting over 1400 fps. Of course, you should start out lower and work your way up. You may find your sweet spot is a little different, but out of my 6 1/2" barrel it shoots great. Before I got the scope I shot with the factory sights and was hitting inside a 6" group at 94 yards. (I need to clear some more brush to get 100 yards shooting lane in my yard.)

I am planning to do a hog hunt in Fla. this spring and I am going to take my Blackhawk .41. If you get a load worked up, you won't have any trouble taking a javalina. In my area, most of the bear hunters use .41 magnums. I understand you get more penetration with them than a .44 magnum.

Good luck on your hunt.