marlin 44mag ?

[monge]

Does anyone know when marlin is going to change the twist rate of there 44mag lever? Thanks

[Outpost75]

The SAAMI drawing specs for .44 Magnum rifles have been one turn in 38" since 1957.

They won't change that for a few guys who want to shoot heavy lead boolits.

The 300-grain factory jacketed loads shoot OK i the standard twist, so there is no reason for them to change it for guys who want to handload heavier.

[runfiverun]

find a used one for a decent price and have it re-barreled.
the only way your gonna get what YOU want now days is to build it yourself, or have it built for you.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The SAAMI drawing specs for .44 Magnum rifles have been one turn in 38" since 1957.

They won't change that for a few guys who want to shoot heavy lead boolits.

The 300-grain factory jacketed loads shoot OK i the standard twist, so there is no reason for them to change it for guys who want to handload heavier.

I disagree with this , mainly because Every serious gun writer and lots of public people have been beating on them for years to change this. I think they are finally close to caving in . I know the Remington Factory Reps were certainly interested in hearing what I had to say about it at SHOT this year. We'll see in the next couple of years if they get past the Lawyers..

Part of it is the Lawyers worried about the action not being able to take a big pressure spike. The 1894 action is supposed to be good for about 45,000 psi. Most Factory .44 Magnum ammo is loaded to 35,000 psi. The SAMMI Spec for barrel dimensions for Rifles is .431 +/- .002 as opposed to Revolvers being .429+/- .002. This is because a Revolver has a gap between the cylinder an barrel to vent excess pressure and a Rifle does not. Thus the looser barrel dia. to keep pressures down to manageable levels. However twist rate will not have nearly as much influence on pressures as barrel diameters do so maybe we can get them to wise up.

Revolvers also generally have 1:20" twist barrels, and rifles are 1:38 which was left over from .44-40 (.44 WCF) Day. But when you consider that most .44 cal Revolvers are running in the 800-1000fps range and rifles are in the 1600-2000fps range the actual RPMs generated on the boolits is nearly the same.

The Lawyers concern over high pressures is only exacerbated by 300+gr boolits and guys wanting to run them at 1800 fps which will definitely take more pressure to achieve.

Both Brian Pearce and Ashley Emerson have Marlin 1894 Short Rifles with 18" 1:16 twist barrels Custom Made by David Clay and both guns shoot inside of 1" at 75 yards with iron sights and using handloads that are close to Garrett .44 Magnum 340 gr ammo. (owned by Ashley Emerson.) So it's obvious that the guns can take it.

Hopefully they will make a change someday before all of us are dead! Until then the only way you are going to get one is to rebarrel one with the barrel of your choice.

Randy

[Outpost75]

I disagree with this , mainly because Every serious gun writer and lots of public people have been beating on them for years to change this. I think they are finally close to caving in. I know the Remington Factory Reps were certainly interested in hearing what I had to say about it at SHOT this year. We'll see in the next couple of years if they get past the Lawyers...so maybe we can get them to wise up... Until then the only way you are going to get one is to rebarrel one with the barrel of your choice. Randy

All it takes is for a distributor to put up the front money for a $100,000 order and you can get anything you want.

When I worked in the industry in the 1980s it only took a $10,000 order, but times have changed. In the overall scheme of things lever rifles are low on Remlin's priorities and don't make enough money to come up with new models.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Good Point,,, and this is the way that Lipsey's gets Ruger to make all their cool special runs of different models Like .44 Special Black Hawk Bisley's, and Scout Rifles with Wood Stocks.

I don't know who the main Marlin Distributor is, maybe Davidsons? If they made an order and specified only 1:20 twist barrels then there would be enough incentive for Remlin to make a permanent change. Remington makes all its own barrels so it's not like they couldn't change the twist rate just by changing the set up on the rifling machine.

I also don't know why they are resisting this so heavily, as it makes absolutely no sense.

Randy