Has a local store mispriced this Deerfield 44mag?

[epijunkie67]

I was at a local outlet store today and looking around and noticed they had a Ruger Deerfield 44mag rifle in the rack. Brand new, never fired, in the box. $460

Is that right? I'd never handled a Deerfield before and tried it out. It seems like a nice light little carbine that could be a lot of fun to shoot. When I went to the Ruger web site to check it out they list the MSRP as $702. I didn't expect it to be selling at MSRP but $240 off?

I even checked to see if they had mistaken it for the bolt action in the same caliber but that has an MSRP of $635. The lever action rifle though has an MSRP of $546. Both the lever and the Deerfield are called the 96/44 on the web site.

Are people really selling NIB Deerfields for $460? Is it a good rifle to buy?

 

[Crosshair]

My copy of the Wal-Mart Gun catalog lists the 99/44 as selling for $468.15. Not many guns sell for the MSRP.

 

[epijunkie67]

I was just kind of suprised. I expected it to run more than that. What's it like to shoot?

 

[lawson]

like a 10/22, but much bigger

the mechanics are quite similar. it's a fun gun.

 

[Crosshair]

The 10/22 uses straight blowback. Doesn't the 99/44 use an M1 carbine style short stroke gas piston?

 

[Draven32]

Short-stroke gas piston and dual recoil springs- oddly enough, very similar to the Universal M-1 Carbine clones.

 

[Ranger J]

While I like my Deerfield and have taken several deer with it the gun does have several things I wish Ruger had done different. It requires heavy loads to cycle reliably and after a while it begins to wear on your shoulder, shooting at the bench, because it has no recoil pad. Instead it has a curved butt plate that makes putting an add-on recoil pad nearly impossible. When shooting it at paper I usually wear a light shoulder pad and this tames the recoil quite well. Ruger needs to put a square butt on the stock. They have done this is some late model mini-30s. Unfortunately I have one of the older models with the identical butt plate as with the Deerfield. The gun will handle bullet weights up to 240g or so but will not load 300g bullets. Also you must use jacketed bullets with the gun, as cast bullets will foul the mechanism. I paid about $450 for my Deerfield several years ago so the price is right.
RJ