[bernie]

I have a .45-70 Marlin that I set up to deer hunt with. However, I take my deer rifles out every once and a while for an extended range session and the .45-70 is way on the far side of pleasant. I am thinking of swapping it for a Marlin .44 magnum lever gun and have a few quick questions. Will one piece scope mounts interchange between the two. Also, what does the trajectory of a 240 JSP .44 magnum out of a rifle look like and what is the maximum effective range for deer hunting with it. This would also be able to double as a house rifle for my wife, obviously the .45-70 will not work since she is about 100 pounds!

[larryw]

Marlin 336 and 1894 scope mounts are interchangeable.
'
Out of my 1894 (20" bbl), 240gr loads chrony at 1733 FPS (23.0gr of H110 behind a Hornady 240gr XTP). Because of the 38" twist, 300gr bullets don't stabilize very well.

Numbers are in 50 yd increments from muzzle (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 yds):

Vel in fps: 1733, 1569, 1419, 1288, 1179
Path in inches: -1.5, 1.0, 0, -5.4, -16
ME in ft-lbs: 1599, 1311, 1073, 885, 741

Muzzle energy drops below 1000 ft-lbs at 117 yds. Because of this and the trajectory, I consider mine to be a 100 yard gun only. Recoil is similar to a 12ga in feel.

[WonderNine]

Hell, typical factory loaded .44 magnums are only 780 ft/lbs at the muzzle out of a revolver.

Out of your Marlin, you're still making that energy at 200 yards.