fired a Ruger Alaskan yesterday & bought one!

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DobermansDoItGoofy

New member
I was surprised by how light and comfortable it felt. Admittedly it's quite a handful to shoot in .454 C(what handgun isn't?) but it's pleasant to shoot in 45 Colt & and in 45 Colt+P ... it's very manageable... I won't say it's a top choice for someone seeking a concealable pistol...but it can be done...and it's easy to carry/holster/put in a pack... It's handsdown the #1 pistol to carry into the outdoors for protection... I don't run into Brown Bears...but on more than one occassion I've had to watch out for packs of wild dogs...and have come across a few black bears... This big-little snubbie...is nice. The gun store is celebrating & my wife is frowning (looks like she's found a new reason to go to the mall and load up on her own arsenal of have-to-have toys...) :cool:
 
Nuts!

I have a .480 SRH, and I have been drooling over the .454 Alaskan since it came out.

Good luck - I'll bet that it is a great gun!

Jamie
 
Nice mini-report... I was looking at them, that and the Smith 500 in snubby. Ruger has my vote though. I've heard that they are very managable from the gun mags I've been reading.

Great to hear, perhaps conceal it in the front of your pants so people just assume for the best?

I'm wondering what your screen name is all about though... or do I want to know? :) :eek:
 
I've noticed that even the 45Colt loads do pretty well out of the shorter barrel. Very well designed gun. I might look at buying one of these in the near future for hiking into remote area deep into the woods. I like how they made it small, but strong and heavy.
 
Mean looking s.o.b.'s. I'd like one. The one I handled had a pretty good DA trigger, as often found on the Super Redhawk.

I don't plan to spend much time in bear country. However, the ammo manufacturers have finally started to provide us with interesting options in the old .45 Colt cartridge in recent years, making an Alaskan loaded with spicy .45 Colt an appealing (if expensive) defense revolver for nightstand or car duty.
 
I have had one for a month and half now. great gun but mine had some issues that it had to go back to ruger for:mad: They have it now and are fixing up for me.:D
 
Nice gun. The only thing that would concern me is the lack of velocity from a short barrel. Hopefully someone can chrono one and see.
 
Is there really that much of a difference between the 475L and the 454 Cas. to even make such a modification and then you're limiting the versatility of the weapon. Then when you go to buy ammo for your tweaked pistol the clerk is going to say 475 what? The 454Cas/45C is clearly the more versatile combo and I think the intention is to shoot 45C loads more often that 454 due to the size and weight of the weapon.
 
The 454Cas/45C is clearly the more versatile combo
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I will agree that is an advantage but is it really a _decisive_ one?

From what I hear people reporting, a medium to hot .45 Colt is going to shoot to a VERY different point of aim than the .454's. So what is likely to happen is that you buy the gun and you experiment. You finally find the sweet spot. You adjust the sights. And then 99% of what you shoot will be that load x. Whether it will also shoot load y and load z doesn't really matter anymore. And it won't really matter if that load is in .45 Colt or .454.

On the other hand, if I'm going to "go big" then why not move up to .480? I can easily handload everything from puffball target loads to full blast hunting loads. And, just like the .454 version, I would probably settle down on one basic range of loads just to keep the sights in the ballpark. Since I would never shoot anything but my own reloads in either gun, the easier availability of .45 Colt or .454 is beside the point.

If I was going to buy an Alaskan tomorrow, I would probably go with the .480. I don't anticipate needing that little bit more energy I can get through that gun with .454. But I do anticipate less recoil with top hunting loads.

Gregg
 
At 5-10 yds there isn't going to be a significant POI difference between hot 45C and 454Cas loads in a defense scenario. I don't think you are going to shoot a grizzly from 30yds with this gun. It's not the intention. I think the 475 that the sdb777 was talking about generally is a little hotter because it pushes bigger and heavier projectiles at roughly the same speed. I'm just saying that the 454/45C combo can handle two different loads, adding versatility. The 480Ruger isn't that bad of an option becasue many local gun-shops tend to have it. I was saying that 475L can be hard to find if you aren't reloading. You shouldn't have to rely on reloads for self-defense. Just about any major gun shop or SG store is going to have 45C and 454 loads.
 
At 5-10 yds there isn't going to be a significant POI difference between hot 45C and 454Cas loads in a defense scenario.
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I think we now know why we see this gun differently. You want a belly gun. I want a rough and tough, take everywhere field gun. No bears around here. But I might very well have to shoot a feral dog or two in a pack. Or a snake or other vermin. So my "significant POI difference" is going to be a lot different from someone who thinks 10 yards is all that matters. A gun like this _should_ be capable of 3" groups at 25 meters. Maybe slightly less. That means I _should_ be able to take out a feral dog realistically to 50 meters. But not if it shoots two feet high or two feet low. Or more. Or what would probably happen is you wouldn't be able to remember just exactly where your zero is since you shoot so many different things in it.

Different people have different uses for the same gun. In my case, the .480 would be great. For someone who doesn't reload or who just wants a belly gun to defend against bears, .454 just might be the one.

Gregg
 
I think what interests me most is this gun does seem to be a jack of all trades, master of none.

I consider it more a woods gun since the only bears around here are black bears that generally wander in from west virginia or something.

I like the idea of the 480 ruger and am considering it since I don't mind reloading but right now I would go with the 454 casull version simply because 45colt is cheap for plinking and 454 casull is more common around here.

If they make a 44 mag version I doubt I would get it since the 45 colt and 454 casull still cover what I want to do, and light loads in 454casull brass allow the brass to last a very long time from the reading I have been doing.

But I am still saving my money up, so I will wait and see what else comes out by the time I can afford one of these.
 
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