In 2014, TALO Distributors commissioned what may be the best .44 Magnum carry gun of modest size. Called the Redhawk Kodiak Backpacker, it sports a 2-3/4” barrel with excellent adjustable sights, including an easily changeable ramp front sight. Uniquely, it’s the first round butt grip style ever offered on a Redhawk, again increasing its carry ability even more. Factory supplied laminated wood grips are smoothly contoured and smaller in bulk than traditional Redhawk grips. And, if you so desire, I also found that Pachmayr grips for the square butt Redhawk also fit on this model if rubber is your material of preference.
The barrel actually measures 2.68” long- how it’s stated to be 2-3/4” is a bit of a mystery to me. Regardless, I’d worked with both a 4” Redhawk and a 2-1/2” Alaskan before, testing both for velocities. Either one produces plenty of speed to be effective up close for use as a trail gun or defense against man or beast. In this review, I wanted to come up with a variety of loads which the owner could choose to effectively handle the tasks they may put their Kodiak Backpacker up to.
Chapter 1: Feeding your Kodiak
Click to LOAD DATA SHEET
Nine bullets in total were tested in the Backpacker, covering the gamut of self-defense to plinking…to busting hogs or stopping bears. From Cutting Edge Bullets (www.cuttingedgebullets.com ), I tried their 150 grain solid copper expanding HG Raptor, meant for self-defense or hunting, the 200 HG Raptor for medium to heavy game hunting, and their 240 grain copper HG Solid for maximum penetration on heavy game. With an eye towards a self-defense load, Barnes 200 grain TAC-XP was loaded from light to heavy. Hornady sent 180 and 240 grains XTPs, and the tough 265 grain flat point. A lower cost bullet for practice was the 240 grain X-Treme swaged, TMJ plated bullet. A long favorite 300 grain Wide Flat Nose gas checked bullet came from Cast Performance Bullet. And lastly, I had left over some 300 grain Nosler JHPs, which in earlier testing had shown to be a heavyweight jacketed bullet which will still readily expand at lower velocities.
While I included some traditional slower burning pistol...
powders, from prior experience with shorter barreled handguns, I knew that medium rate propellants would be the way to go. Slow burning powders need sufficient barrel length to burn and to propel the bullet to maximum speed. In short barrels, there is just a lot of muzzle flash and blast, far out of proportion to the speeds delivered. The tested powders included: Hodgdon’s H110, Longshot and Universal. Vihtavuori’s medium burning 3N37, and IMR’s TrailBoss, meant to give modest speeds while still filling the case for consistent performance. Then, from Alliant, I included Blue Dot, Power Pistol, Herco, Unique, and the slower burning 2400. All rounds were loaded in Hornady brass and powered by Winchester large pistol primers for “standard or magnum pistol loads,” as so identified on the box.
For reloading dies, I used Redding with the addition of their Dual Ring Carbide sizer/decapping die. It’s very unique in that it has not only a lower titanium carbide ring to size the body enough to bring it to just under maximum specs, but additionally, an upper ring of titanium carbide to resize the neck only enough to give proper neck tension. Traditional carbide dies, unfortunately, aggressively size the body all the way down as small as the neck, which overworks the body and is not at all necessary. This results in a loaded round looking, “like an ostrich trying to swallow an apple.” The case is noticeably smaller below the seated bullet.
However, the Redding Dual Ring Carbide sizer die results in a cartridge which more closely fits your chamber and doesn’t overwork the body like a regular sizer die does. An additional benefit is that microscopically, titanium carbide crystals are smooth and rounded, while regular carbide will have a jagged appearance under magnification. The result is less effort to resize full length, less scratching of the case, and greater case life due to not being reworked as much. A loaded round also looks much better! They’re also available in .38 Special, .357 Mag, .40 S&W, .44 Special, .45 ACP, and .45 Long Colt. In an upcoming article covering handloads in the Ruger 77/44 carbine in .44 Mag, I intend to see how they might help me to...
get better accuracy out of a rifle.
Chapter 2: Handload Performance
The 150 HG Raptor is unique in that it offers both extensive trauma and deep penetration. The nose is cut so after 1.5 ~ 2” of penetration, four blades blow off and radiate out in a star pattern, cutting and tearing tissue. Meanwhile, the remaining sharp edged base continues on for almost certain complete penetration. This bullet in a Contender Super 14 resulted in an exit on a whitetail at just over 100 yards. Additionally, all four blades made it to the far side of the chest. In the short Kodiak, around 14 grains of Unique, or 15 of Herco, would be excellent for a trail carry load or for protection. At around 1,400 fps, the blades will work as intended as they will still blow all the way down to only 800 fps. The top load with Hodgdon Longshot reached just over 1,600 from the short Kodiak barrel and was still very controllable to shoot.
Hornady’s 180 grain XTP is a dual role bullet, also great for trail carry or self-defense. Even top loads breaking 1,500 fps were easy on the hand. At only 1,300, they expanded to .64 caliber while still retaining 160 grains. On 10.7 grains of TrailBoss, the Backpacker delivered almost 1,000 fps. It was very pleasant to shoot and would be a good load to start .44 Mag shooters on without all the blast and concussion of full-power loads. Longshot was able to break 1,500 in the short barrel when loaded under the 180 XTP. The Barnes 200 grain TAC-XP, labeled as for the .44 Special, also was easy to shoot over 9 grains of TrailBoss, producing 867 fps. Moderate charges of Universal, Herco, or Unique delivered around 1,200… expanding the bullet to .72 caliber, while still retaining 100% of its weight. Hodgdon’s Longshot produced the highest velocities of 1,362 fps with modest recoil.
The 200 grain HG Raptor broke 1,350 fps with 14 to 15 grains of Hodgdon Longshot or Alliant Blue Dot. After the four blades blow off, the remaining sharp-edged non-deforming copper wadcutter base will give penetration far out of proportion to its weight. It’s capable of going broadside through both shoulder blades of an over 200 lb. hog as proven...
in California when field testing. All other powders tested hit 1,160 to 1,210 fps; most on very modest charges of medium burning rate powders, producing low recoil and blast. A relatively inexpensive bullet, the swaged 240 grain X-Treme TMJ plated bullet duplicated the speeds of the Hornady XTP with like charges, so it would be great for practice. Five of the tested powders produced around 1,200 fps on charges running only in the teens. The very slow burning H110, better suited to longer barrels, needed ten grains more powder to almost approach the velocities of Longshot. This proves the point that in very short barrels in magnum cartridges, medium burning rate powders are the way to go. The blast and muzzle flash of these propellant types is much more user-friendly in short guns like the Kodiak.
Most certain to make it through both sides of the biggest bear skull, the 240 grain Cutting Edge HG Solid copper non-expanding bullet approached 1,200 fps when loaded over only 12.7 grains of Power Pistol. Not too hard on your hands or ears, this powder offers better short barrel performance than the traditional slow burners like Alliant 2400. At anything over 1,000 fps, this bullet is an excellent option for defense against big boars or bears.
Hornady’s 240 XTP provided excellent expansion when fired into my water tank. At 96% weight retention (230 grains) and expansion to .66 caliber, count on this performance on medium to heavy big game. Hodgdon’s Longshot was able to push it to almost 1,300 fps from the short Kodiak, while a modest charge of Universal still gave over 1,060 with minimal recoil and blast. The heavier 265 Hornady flat point, really meant for the .444 Marlin, still produced between 1,000 and almost 1,200 fps on charges running mostly in the teens. While it would not expand at those speeds, it would be a great penetrator of flesh and bone.
If up against boars or bears, the 300 grain Cast Performance wide flat nose bullet would certainly be an excellent choice in the Kodiak Backpacker. Cast hard to penetrate deeply, four powders delivered right around 1,100 fps. While 21.3 grains of H110 was the fasted load, only 14.9 grains of Blue Dot, or 11.7 of...
Longshot, almost matched that speed with less blast and recoil. And only nine or ten grains of Unique or Herco approached 1,000 fps with minimal fuss, making either load great for practice or the recoil shy shooter.
Lastly, Nosler’s 300 grain JHP was able to hit 1,000 fps using any of four powders with the three medium burning rate ones only requiring 11 to 14 grains to reach that speed. Even at that relatively modest speed, it opened up to .56 caliber and retained 260 grains. So with a high retained weight and modest expansion, you have the recipe for a deep penetrating, expanding bullet.
Chapter 3: Summary
The Ruger Kodiak Backpacker has proven to not be handicapped ballistically by its compact and manageable size. I’ve worked up full power loads ready for most any task, as well as far more modest loads which would serve well for practicing or plinking. All of the loads made it easy to keep a can walking at 50 feet and beyond. So the latest limited run Ruger from TALO Distributors has proven to be just about a perfect working tool, functionally suiting its name to a tee- the Backpacker!