dairycreek
New member
I bought a NIB Ruger Alaskan today in 454/45 although I just really don't know why. I'm 69 years old and, here in western Oregon, we just don't seem to have much of a problem with surprise attacks by Grizzlies. Do have a couple of recalcitrant racoons that raid dogf ood off the deck at night and that may be the basis of my deep seated need to have this gun. I do feel well armed to meet the challenge of a racoon!
Took it home and, since I live on a farm and have my own shooting range, immediately took it out to see what it could do. Fired 250 grain, 454 Casull Winchester SuperX with jacketed hollowpoints. Also fired a bunch of 45 Colt rounds I had laying around.
The results? Of course the 45 Colt rounds were a piece of cake to shoot as far as recoil is concerned. It was a real *****cat; easy to shoot and with surprisingly good accuracy. Shot at 10 and 25 yards and hit the target every time. The target was a series of 9" paper plates and putting all the 45 Colt rounds into the plates at the two distances was no problem.
Now for the Casull part of the equation. I had read so much about the bone crunching, hand twisting, elbow spraining recoil that has been reported here on the web that I had some trepidation about shooting the Alaskan with Casull stuff. I was really surprised when shooting the little gun turned out to be not much of a chore at all. Recoil and muzzle flip? Sure, some, but it was very easy to get the gun back on target for the next shot. My son-in-law was shooting his 3" S&W 629 with 240 grain 44 magnum stuff and, really, the difference in recoil between the Alaskan and the 629 was negligible. The Hogue grip that comes with the Alaskan really does a job of cushioning quite well. Once again, our contrived accuracy standard, 9" paper plates at 10 and 25 yards was achieved with no problem.
Conclusions? The Alaskan is a sweet shooting, big bore snubby with substantial (but not terrible) recoil. Accuracy, given its avowed role as a backup gun for bears and enraged racoons, is more than acceptable. It is definitely NOT a scary handgun and I am glad I got mine. FWIW!
Took it home and, since I live on a farm and have my own shooting range, immediately took it out to see what it could do. Fired 250 grain, 454 Casull Winchester SuperX with jacketed hollowpoints. Also fired a bunch of 45 Colt rounds I had laying around.
The results? Of course the 45 Colt rounds were a piece of cake to shoot as far as recoil is concerned. It was a real *****cat; easy to shoot and with surprisingly good accuracy. Shot at 10 and 25 yards and hit the target every time. The target was a series of 9" paper plates and putting all the 45 Colt rounds into the plates at the two distances was no problem.
Now for the Casull part of the equation. I had read so much about the bone crunching, hand twisting, elbow spraining recoil that has been reported here on the web that I had some trepidation about shooting the Alaskan with Casull stuff. I was really surprised when shooting the little gun turned out to be not much of a chore at all. Recoil and muzzle flip? Sure, some, but it was very easy to get the gun back on target for the next shot. My son-in-law was shooting his 3" S&W 629 with 240 grain 44 magnum stuff and, really, the difference in recoil between the Alaskan and the 629 was negligible. The Hogue grip that comes with the Alaskan really does a job of cushioning quite well. Once again, our contrived accuracy standard, 9" paper plates at 10 and 25 yards was achieved with no problem.
Conclusions? The Alaskan is a sweet shooting, big bore snubby with substantial (but not terrible) recoil. Accuracy, given its avowed role as a backup gun for bears and enraged racoons, is more than acceptable. It is definitely NOT a scary handgun and I am glad I got mine. FWIW!
