357, 44 Mag, or 45 Colt ?

[jack19512]

I recently purchased a Marlin 1895 Cowboy in 45/70 caliber and since Remington is suppose to be buying Marlin firearms I thought this might be a good time to purchase me another Marlin lever action, never know what the future might hold for Marlin, might be Remington lever actions from now on with a bump in the price of course. [smilie=1:

So, I want either a 357, 44 Mag, or a 45 LC and sure would appreciate some input on these calibers if you have any experience with them and why or why you would not chose any of them. As far as hunting goes the rifle might be used for 100 yard shots or less on deer. Thanks

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Both the .357 and 44 Mags can be very effective at 100 yds, particularly the 44 which uses a significantly larger projectile of greater weight. Both factors are to be considered in hunting where they are an important part of the total energy delivered to the target. Ammo producing mfgrs. usually make available- tables listing velocities and energies for both calibers and the weights of boolits loaded. And both calibers are considered much more effective when fired from rifles as compared to revolvers, and probably more accurate as well. I have no experience with the 45 Long Colt so can't say much other than it is a bigger cartridge than the 44 in terms of case capacity, boolit weight and somewhat different exterior ballistics. The so-called "ballard cut rifling" that Marlin is using in their barrels is considered by many as a major plus in terms of cast boolits as compared to the micro-groove design. Two shooting friends of mine are currently loading and shooting the.357 and .44 Mag with their Marlins and getting good accuracy at 100 yards.

[EDK]

Go over to leverguns.com and look for Glenn Fryxell's article on Marlin 1894s. This guy did his homework and then some! Being a 44 fan, I don't like the answer he came up with, but facts is facts! Your state game laws on calibers might not agree with Mr. Fryxell either, but that's another topic.

My big determining factor would be the caliber of handguns I owned. My only 45s are 45 ACP, but I have Rugers and Smith & Wessons in 357 and 44, so.... I'd be looking for clean used guns with the discontinued 24 inch barrels (and also drilled and tapped for receiver sights.) I had standard round barrel 20 inch 44 model 1894s since 1971 or 72....until the Cowboy Rifle in 24 inch came out. I've got two 24 inch guns and a used one that was cut to 20 inches by the previous owner...and I'd like to have it re-barreled! There's also a 24 inch 357, but it doesn't get a much use.

For use in Missouri, any of the three would work nicely. Most shots under 100 yards and the pistol caliber hits way harder than you would think it should. My favorite comment is about ammo cost. It is considerably cheaper to shoot than your excellent 45/70 and therefore you can shoot it more--and more often--and the familiarity with the gun will make up for the lack of power compared to a rifle in more traditional calibers. Practical hunting accuracy, power and range are a little different than shooting on a range with a bench rest, etc. You don't get a lot of 200 yard shots in the timber!

Hope I helped your decision

:Fire: :castmine:

[Jack Stanley]

Of the three pistol calibers you mention , I'd choose the .357 hands down . I've had a couple of them and one I've decided to keep . With heavy bullets it' hits pretty hard but I think the main virtue is how easy it carries and all the different loads it will use .
If ya like the 44 or 45 , you will get a good carry package but the recoil will be more . My marlin .44 is not the 1894 model but rather the 336 frame ...... it is so nice , I'd buy another just because :drinks:If you did not have a 45/70 the larger pistol rounds might mean more but if you are looking at collector value , that would be a good enough reason :-D Since the advent of lawyers running the companies , I haven't bought a Marlin with a safety . It is safe to say that they won't get any of my money as long as the button is there ... I guess they gotta make an effort to help stupid people from hurting themselves huh?

You will find a lot of "uses" for the .357 I bet .

Jack

[runfiverun]

i like the 45 seems like cast and jacket shoot very well use horn 250 xtp have taken a few deer with this combo in 20 and 24 bbl if you reload this is the way to go if you dont go with the 44

[Old Ironsights]

I'm also a fan of the .357. With a proper (read C358-180RF GB) bullet and a hefty load of LilGun (16gr) It will crater deer out to 110yds + with decent placement.

I took 3 deer this year with my Rossi .357, and none took more than a step/fall.

I also shot a half dozen squirrels with dome 180gr subsonic "catsneeze" loads that maks about about as much noise as a .177 pellet rifle - but hit like a truck.

That said, if I didn't already have a .357 pistol and was wasn't concerned about component costs, I'd go with a Rossi/PUMA .454 - and here's why:

On the top end, the PUMA .454 can be loaded to factory .45-70 energies, which means it's good for anything up to and including Alaskan Bear & Moose at reasonable (<100yd) ranges.

On the low end, you can load or shoot cheap "Cowboy" .45Colt ammo for plinking & small game.

If you are REALLY ambitious, you can reload your own "cat sneeze" loads that will lob 200gr lead bullets at 500fps with almost no noise... and will kill about anything you need to kill at 25yds or less.

It's the ultimate "Rocky & Bullwinkle" gun.

I chose .357 because I have a matching revolver and it's cheaper to reload than .45/.454 (I used to have a .454 revolver).

It's not as "powerful" as the .45/.454 but Elmer Keith proved that a practiced Shootist with a .357 can take anything on the NA Continent.

So. Considering you can get a NIB Stainless Steel .45/.454 for less than the cost of a basic Marlin .45-70 guide gun, and have it be more versitile ta boot, that is the direction I would go/would have gone if I didn't already have a .357.

[Char-Gar]

I have Marlin 1894s in .357 and 44 Magnum rounds. Either will do what you wish. If I had to have only one, it would be the .357 as the rounds is more versatile than it's larger brother.

[7.62Man]

I went with the 44mag as the deer up here in the north are large (most of them). Plus when loaded with 300grain ranch dog boolits they work fine on moose up to 75 yards. Also I like the extra thump when hunting black bear.

[Four Fingers of Death]

The beauty of the 357 and 44 is that they have strong, sturdy, straight cases and are a snack to reload.

[jack19512]

Thanks for everyones input. I will go with the 357. :drinks:

[Rafe Covington]

I have a 94AE Trapper in 45 Colt, it has been a good rifle and caliber. I have killed seversl hogs with the 45 colt with 300 gr bullets.:drinks:

[lovedogs]

Guess I'd suggest you think about what you want to do with it. I prefer the .44 as I feel it's more versatile and it hits harder for hunting and could be used for bigger critters. In my .44 Cowboy I feel the 240 gr. bullets at over 1800 FPS can handle some pretty tough stuff if I need to. It works well for silhouettes, too.

[Old Ironsights]

Thanks for everyones input. I will go with the 357. :drinks:

Good man. Now, get one that looks like this:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/MrMisanthrope/myrossi357.jpg

and shoots like this (offhand 50yds)

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/MrMisanthrope/IMG_0474.jpg

and with good loads you should be able to do this at 100+ yds

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/MrMisanthrope/1107071429a.jpg

It may not be a Moose gun, but it sure is a treat for about anything else within range of Iron Sights... :mrgreen:

[6pt-sika]

I'm afraid I can't be of much help since I already own at least two Marlin's in each of the calibers you mentioned as well as the 41 MAG !

I will say I have octagon barreled models of all four ( the three you mentioned are 24" and the 41 is a 20") ! Also have the little short 16.25" models of the three you mention and a 20" also in the 41 MAG .

If I were down to just one I think I would get the present manufacture 1894CB in the 44 MAG . This one has a 20" barrel and I think is way nore versatile then the others . But thats just my opinion !!!!

[northmn]

The 45 Colt was never really designed for a rifle as its rim is too small and there was little gain from pistol to rifle with BP loads. It only became popular with the cowboy shooting crowd in rifles because they wanted a rifle to be interchangeable with a pistol and did not seem to like using the original 44-40s and 38-40s. Likely because 44-40s can be tricky to reload. I remember shooting a 45 in a Rossi that spit back at me (I later learned that the loads were too mild) A 44 Mag with cast can do anything a 45 C will do and more if both are loaded reasonably. (If I were a cowboy shooter I think I would also rather load a 44 mag to 44-40 levels and try to get an appropriate pistol). Actually, a 357 can do the same thing and is not a bad choice either. Many seem to like them on deer. I use a 30-30 MArlin CB with cast on deer, but know an individual that usually gets a deer a year with 140 gr jacketed out of a pistol with no trouble. I edited this post as I looked up Mr. Frxyels article that EDK mentioned. Personally I feel that if one were going to load at the levels he talked about one might be happier getting a 444 or 45-70. I guess if I were carrying one in Grizzly country I would prefer the carbine with loads like that to the 454 Casul as I can hit what I'm shooting at better with a carbine. We do this stuff to have fun, good shooting have fun.

Northmn