44 mag marlin 1894

[Bardo]

What do you guys think of the newer marlins? I have a chance to get one for a real good deal. I think it is a 2012.

bardo

[Bardo]

Also was going to shoot 44mags and special out of them. I am planning on using 434640 boolit for both 44 special and mag. What do most of you size to with these ballard barrels?

Bardo

[plainsman456]

I got a Marlin in 45-70 about a month ago and it seems to do a good job of throwing 325 grain lead slugs at 100 yards.

They have done a better job than they did when they first moved.
Seems the one you are looking at might be before the move.

If you want get it,they are fun.

[trapper9260]

I got a used one not long ago and found out it was made in 1981 and I like it the ammo I load for my 44mag redhawk works in the marlin and shoot on center also soI do not need 2 different loads for the 44mag for both guns.

[Remiel]

if it says Ilion NY on the barrel its after the move. i have a .30-30 i bought in march, haven't tried cast yet, planin to change that soon, but be fore warned it took about 60 rounds to break in the barrel on mine and my mentor as well as my gun smith said that was odd, but as of late seems to be one thing after another with remington

[44man]

See what twist is in the .44, if 1 in 38" don't bother. the gun needs 1 in 20"
My Remlin 30-30 is doing under 1" at 100 with cast. Been to 1/4" once.

[dragon813gt]

Inspect before you buy w/ all recent production Marlins. They shut down production of the 1894 line for over a year. I bought a 1894C in 2012 right before they shut production down. There is nothing wrong w/ my rifle. There is an extensive list of what to look for over on the Marlin Owners forum. At a minimum check for misaligned sights, gaps in metal to wood fit and cycle the action w/ both special and magnum snap caps to make sure it feeds properly.

[Shuz]

I've HAD 2 ea 1894 Marlin .44 mags down thru the years. One had a Ballard rifled bbl and the other was a Micro-Groove bbl. Both had 1:38" twists, and neither would shoot as well as my 1894 Winchester Trapper .44 mag that has a 1:20 twist. A common misconception out there is that if the .44 mag bbl is a Ballard type that it has a 1:20 twist. That was not my experience.

[dek16001]

One thing about shooting lead out of marlins is one must slug the barrels. Marlins usually have larger bores. I shoot .432 's in mine and have no leading issues. Also Marlin's are finicky about SWC's. Some people report success and others not so much..Overall length is also critical with them.
hope this helps,
Dan

[Bardo]

Well I picked it up today. The barrel is marked NORTH HAVEN CT but marked REP not JM. So it is a Remington. I shot some 44 specials NOE 429421 sized to .433 with 7.5gr of Universal. and free hand at 25 yards it shot a 2" 7 shot group. I shot 35 rounds and didn't have any feeding issues. So I have hope for the gun.

Bardo

[plainsman456]

Have fun.

You will need to load even more rounds because it will make you want to shoot more.
I have to keep my 41 mag away from the wife or she will shoot them all up.:bigsmyl2:

[Bardo]

I would have shot it more had it not been 108 degrees.

Bardo

[shoot-n-lead]

No experience with the new ones, but my old one is great.

[dek16001]

Sounds like you got a decent one.. Have fun!

[dek16001]

They were allowed to use up the old Marlin parts after the acquisition ,but had to stamp them REP , not JM ,that's why the conflicting address and REP stamp

[dek16001]

Also the serial number should start with "MR". The codes for DOM can be found on Remington's web site.

[FergusonTO35]

I saw a brand new, Ilion marked 1894 in .44 at the fun store today. The good news: fit and finish was really good and the price was actually lower than I remember the late New Haven guns were at. The bad: the forend was as wide as an aircraft carrier and like its 336 rackmate the front sight was canted to the left just enough to be noticeable and drive me nuts. Also, peering down the barrel the rifling looked disconcertingly thin.

[snowwolfe]

Interesting thread. I didn't know about the different rate of twists and all my previous experience with these rifles has been they were not accurate (3-4 inch groups at 50 yards). My guess is they were all 1-38 twist.

So now I need to buy one with a 1-20 and give it a go:) But when looking at Marlins web site it appears they are all 1-38. Which 44 mag models have the 1-20?

[W.R.Buchanan]

None of the Marlin .44's have 1:20 barrels they are all and always have been 1:38. I don't know if they have changed this recently as I know everybody in the magazine industry has told them they need to, but until they state 1:20 in their catalogs They are 1:38" This twist rate was a holdover from .44-40's designed to shoot common ammo of the day that was loaded with 200 gr boolits.

Mine is an 1894 CB 2005 mfg. with a 24" bbl. and it is 1:38" and for anything the gun will do it is plenty accurate.

I have recently seen some groups from 44man and Blammer that were perfectly amazing, but they were shot with revolvers. I would imagine they have rifles that will do as good or better. It should be noted the these are exceptional individuals who have tested ammo in their guns for many, many years to achieve these results. They are much further up the " Ladder of Experience" than the rest of us will ever be.

The Ballard barrels on these guns were mostly .431. The SAMMI spec for .44 Magnum for Rifles is .431 +/- .002 and the reason they are not .429 like most revolvers is so the gun will swallow the pressures of a Factory .44 cartridge which is 35K + with a little safety margin.

The pressure impulse for a rifle lasts much longer than a pistol ever sees and thus must be allowed for in the overall design. Any significant pressure spike could easily destroy this gun as the actions are rated to about 45K psi. They are proofed a little higher but loads are recommended to stay well below 40K psi since Factory ammo is limited to 35K psi and you are not supposed to shoot reloads in your guns. OK?.

I might add that there is no earthly reason to run these guns any hotter than 1800-2000 fps as the ballistics of the cartridge with cast boolits will achieve complete pass thru on virtually any NA game animal as well as most light pickup trucks easily at half those speeds. In fact 1600 fps is enough to do this just fine. These loads are well below 35 K psi. and most can be achieved even below 28 K psi.

my .02

Randy

I saw a Ruger tube feed .44 Carbine yesterday that had me twitching. It was a little too much $ for me but I doubt it will last long. It would be a faster way to burn up .44 Magnum ammo.