Hunting Forum

Just getting into handgun hunting. What kind of scope would you recommend for a Ruger Super Redhawk or Ruger Super Blackhawk 44 magnum 7 1/2 inch barrel?  Could you suggest power and manufacturer of the scope.  Need any information I can get. Thanks for your help.

I have a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 mag and I have a Bushnell 3X9X40 scope mounted on it. Mine also has a 7 1/2" target barrel and 5 shot cylinder for shooting the +P+ loads.

I have a BSA 4 power scope on my Redhawk .44 mag. I also have the 7 1/2" barrel and mine is stainless, so the scope is silver to match. Since I won't use it beyond 50 to75 yards, that's enough scope for my purposes.

Dawg
Does the short eye releif on the rifle scope cause you any issues with the recoil of the .44 mag?

Yoiu would think it would as that was my first thought when I got my revolver. I had it built by Gary Reeder ( www.reedercustomguns.com ) and told him to put what he thought would be the best scope for it on it when he shipped it to my FFL dealer. When I first opened it I thought the same thing as the question you ask but it is actually better and there is no problem with the scope. The scope is set back in the rings and that coupled with the way the gun is held while firing make the possiblilty of scope eye a moot point. When shooting offhand I use both hands with my elbows bent slightly and this stance coupled with the fairly similiar distance of a long gun make it a good choice. I generally keepmy shots to 50 yards and under but I have once and only once shot at a doe at 125 yards and not only hit her but she ran only about 35 yards and fell. The range was lasered after the shot by my hunting partner and it was a little further than I had estimated with the naked eye and if I had known before I shot her I probably would not have shot her. Also with this scope it makes it easy to shoot with either the one eye closed or both eyes open. I shoot most all times off a set of Stony Point " Polecat " shooting sticks that are the adjustable ones that adjust from 27"-63" which makes them ideal for shooting from the sitting/kneeling to standing position and I usually keep them at 63" and use them as I walking stick when moving around otherwise of course when sitting I set them at the 27" height.

Whoa, that's too close to the face for me! You must have some strong arms Dawg!

It's not as close as you would think surprisingly ! Although it is not an EER scope it is easy to see at the distances from the eye to scope that are a little more than if the scope were mounted on a rifle.

I have a Ruger Super Redhawk .44 mag (well..girlfriend kinda adopted it "away" from me...but that's another story) with a 9 3/4" barrel scoped with a Simmons 2.5-7x28 scope. Shoots quite well with no clearance problems off my shooting bench. I just have to invest in some shooting sticks for hunting with it.

Thanks a lot for all the information.  Now I have a much better idea as to what I need to do.

I have and hunt with a Savage Striker bolt action pistol in 308 stainless, with a turn on or off muzzle break. I have an EER Leupold  FX 4 power scope on it, Weaver style bases, and for stability when acquiring target I use a mono pod attached to the front swivel that expands from 25" to 60" to steady and hold firearm in position. Acts as a solid, single pivot and works darn good. 3 inch groups off hand at 100 yards are repeatable. I hand load for this firearm to keep the recoil and performance tolerable and consistent. It will do the job on most any NA game with 165 grain Game kings and 32.5 grains of RE 7. A friend told me i should try Power Pistol in stead of RE 7 to get faster burn time in my short barrel. Any one on the board know if that will work better?

naustin I have a NIB Nikon fixed 4 power scope that is a 2009 model that I took as part of a deal. It retailed then for $350.00 but if you might want it I would let it go for $250.00 and it has never been mounted and has all the in the box paperwork. My email is bigdawgwalls@yahoo.com

I have a hologram type red dot on my Redhawk 7 1/2" .44mag that works well for me but as far as scopes I have a Bushnell trophy series handgun scope in 2x6x34 on my Striker in .243 and really like it. Originally it had a Burris but IMO the Bushnell is way more user friendly.

My stainless 7.5 inch 44 mag Super Redhawk has a Leupod 2x20 pistol scope, which has held true for quite a few years. Sometimes I wish it was a slightly larger objective and adjustable 2-7 perhaps, but not enough to want a new scope. I did start with a BSA 2x20 and although fairly clear, the internal features broke quickly from the recoil is my guess. Midway did let me return it and get my money back. The accuracy of the gun improved greatly when using a fine cross hair compared to big fat iron sights, making 50 yard 6 shot groups from a bench around 3 inches.