Marlin 94 44 rebarrel

[WARD O]

With all the discussion around the 38/1 twist of the Marlin 44 mag - does anyone have an economical suggestion to rebarrel this rifle to 20/1 or there abouts? I want to stress the price here only because I don't think it practical in putting more than the cost of the gun into acquiring a new twist.

At what bullet weight/length does it become necessary for good accuracy?

Does anyone have anything to suggest based on personal experience?

Thanks
Ward

[John Taylor]

I can get a liner with 1 in 18" or 1 in 24". Cost to do the liner with chamber ready to shoot would be $320 plus return shipping. A new barrel with a faster twist, installed, would be more.

[beagle]

Go with the 1-24" twist. I re-barrelled one to a 1-18" twist and it shot heavy bullets just fine but not light bullets.

Supposedly 1-26" is the optimum twist for .44 cast. After spending a bunch of money, I finally bought a Winchester Legacy with a 1-26 twist and it handles 429421 Keiths as well as the 300+ grain monsters when I decide to play with them.

Anyhow, ask around and see what the consensus is but that's been my experiences backed by hard earned dollars. You definitely pay for education./beagle

[Grapeshot]

When I rebarreled my Uberti 1873 from .44WCF to .45 Colt I specified a Douglas barrel with a 1 in 16 inch twist. I would suggest you do the same. Remember, you are going to be using that rifle for what you want to and you should have it modified to your specs. Since you are keeping the same caliber, you might want to just have it sleeved to meet your specifications. That precludes having a lot of machine work done to get a replacement barrel turned to fit the contours of the original.