Accuracy Potential of Marlin 1894 in 44mag

[JiminCA]

I recently attended an auction where I picked up a mint Marlin 1894S in 44 mag. It has the microgroove barrel.

I am thinking about putting a scout scope on it, but before I spend the $$ I would like to know just what level of accuracy I can expect with it.

If you have experience with this model I would love to hear what sort of accuracy you've been able to get from it. I intend to shoot jacketed 240 or 300 gr bullets. I reload, so any combination is possible if you have a load that really works in this gun.

Depending on its accuracy potential I may just opt for a set of peep sights and call it good.

 

[Nhsport]

I can not directly answer your question but will toss out a couple of tidbits.
General opinion is not to bother with any lead (cast) bullets in the Micro-Grove.Some claim to have some success with certain bullets/loads.
The good news is the Micro-grove has a good reputation with regular jacketed bullets . Start by giveing it a very heavy duty cleaning job to clean out any lead of jacket fouling that someone else left behind.
I don't know your skill or experience but a proper peep sight doesn't give away much to a scope in many situations . If you are hunting in real poor light conditions a good (read expensive) scope will help some.
I am not sure about a scout scope setup but many lever guns have a stock cut for irons and they do not work well at all with a regular scope.
A peep sight with a couple of extra apetures can be a powerfull tool. Not expecting you to swap them in the field but if hunting early you might put your largest or if doing some open field hunting or general shooting a smaller peep would work better.
A old timer trick was to remove the apeture completely and only use the ring that the apeture screws into.Sort of an old timers gost ring

 

[Leadhead]

I love shooting .44mag from a rifle! It's about a perfect level of recoil not too much but enough to let you know your chucking some serious lead downrange...

I've got a williams peep mounted on my 1894 SS and a firesight up front. It's mounted in the factory drilled scope mount holes so there is no drilling necessary and the rifle remains stock.
I'd go with the peep sight first and if it turns out to be a real good shooter and you want more then 3 inch groups at 100 offhand you could scope it latter.

 

[Il Duca]

I agree with Nhsport. I have Williams peep sights on a P17, Ranch Rifle, Puma 92, Remington 581 and soon to be a Mossberg 42M(B). I am a big fan. Unless you are really looking at distance, which isn't likely with a lever action in .44 mag, a peep might serve better. It is smaller and compact, there are no lenses to fog up, there's less to get snagged on brush and such, they are generally less expensive than a good quality scope and they don't throw a lever action off balance the way a scope tends to.

 

[fatelk]

I have a Marlin 1894 in .44 mag, and my dad has one. It's been years since I fired his, but I was not able to attain an acceptable level of accuracy with either one. I tried lead and jacketed (cleaned barrel thoroughly between each type), 180 to 240 grains, light loads and heavy, open sights and scope. About the best either rifle would do was three and a half inches at 50 yards! I can normally shoot at least two MOA with open sights so it's not the shooter.

I recently took mine apart and cleaned it. I looked down the barrel carefully and could see some small dents or "ripples" in one spot about a third of the way down. Upon closer examination I realized it was where "Model 1894" had been stamped too hard into the barrel, and dented through to the inside!

Perhaps we got two bad ones, but my experience with the 1894 has not been good as far as accuracy. I've thought about a new barrel, but don't want to spend the money.

 

[JiminCA]

Just for additional info, I have two Wild West Guns 45-70/457 WWG's - one with the scout setup and one with the peep only. They are pretty much my favorite rifles.

So I picked up this unfired 1895 at auction on a whim. I figured that it would make a cheap and fun practice rifle, and one my older kids could build lever action experience with.

My first outing with it was with plain 'ol American Eagle factory 240 HP's, and the results weren't all that great - maybe 2.5 to 3" at 50. But I couldn't tell if it was the gun or the "spare no expense" sights or the load for that matter. Perhaps the barrel will settle in a bit with some shooting. A lot of things could be affecting it at this point. But one thing is for sure - the factory sights are no match for peep sights, which I greatly prefer.

The more I think about it the more I think the peep is the answer. Still would like to know what the best load recipe for the gun is. I have no intention of even trying to get lead to shoot right in it. It'll be 100% jacketed loads.

I almost certainly won't hunt with it - although it could serve as a camp gun under certain circumstances.

 

[Winters]

I have one a 1978 vintage It likes 240 gr. or less bullets Horniday XTP or Speer soft tip with a near max load of H100. When I sighted it in for deer season I got a 3 shot group under 2 inches at 100 yards. It shoots best dirty but it is getting old.

I had a peep sight on but had to take it off and put a 2 1/2 power scope on as the front sight got too hard to see!

Good luck they are good brush guns for deer and fun to shoot.
Winters

 

[ArmedBear]

EDIT: Oh wait... You SAID it was MG. My bad.

Current production 1894SS rifles are NOT Micro-Groove. They're Ballard.

http://www.marlinfirearms.com/Firearms/1894centerfire/1894SS.aspx

The 336, the 1894's other than .44 and .357, and the 39A are Micro-Groove.

The XLR's, the 1895 and 444 are also Ballard.

 

[ElToro]

my shooting buddy has one and I have only shot it at the indoor range at 25 yds. with scope and steady rest, i can put 5 shots covered by a quarter.
That being said my late 60's vintage 44 carbine ruger with fixed 3x will do the same. I have another buddy that rolls pigs with his 1894P at reasonable distances unscoped.

so unlesss you get a turd, it will do its part if you do yours.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I bought an older 1892C in .357 Magnum which was pre-microgrove. It came with a nice leather sling and a high mounted 4X32 scope. I can hit a paper plate with 6 out of 6 at 200 yards with the scope and 6 out of 6 at 100 yards with the iron sights. I think that's good accuracy and the gun is probably much better than I am. In the hands of a real shooter it will probably do even better.

 

[JustsayMo]

Here is a picture of what mine will do at 50 yards with 240 grain Jacketed bullets

http://www.grovestreet.com/jsp/onepic.jsp?id=1066975

It will do close to that with cast bullets sized .431". Micro groove gets a bad rap about cast bullets. In my experience a correctly sized bullet will match or exceed the performance of my Ballard grooved Marlins. The MG is easier to clean too...

Mine doesn't seem to be picky about the bullet brand. Anything 240 grains will shoot well over the published MAX charge of 2400.

The one issue with 300 grain bullets is that they might be too long to feed reliably. I didn't shoot enough 300 grain bullets to work up a load but the results looked promising.

My favorite hunting bullet for that rifle is the Speer FN 240 grain bullet. HP's open up too fast at rifle velocities and don't exit reliably in my experience.

 

[TnBigBore]

I have owned about a half dozen Marlin 1894 44 mag rifles. I have had good luck with accuracy. All but one of mine would group no worse than 3" at 100yds. That is all the accuracy you need from a rifle shooting a pistol cartridge. 100 yds is about as far as I would ever shoot a deer with one anyway.

I agree that a peep sight is the way to go with this rifle. A Williams Foolproof rear and firesight or sourdough front makes for a heck of a setup. A Leupold compact 2.5X compact is pretty good as well. It does not ruin the balance of the rifle and is better for low light than the peep sight.

Dont let anyone tell you that microgroove will not shoot cast bullets well. They just need to be slightly oversized and somewhat hard. Microgroove barrels are ofter very accurate with jacketed and cast bullets. Enjoy your rifle.