Lever .44mag or .45 Colt quality

[guyfromohio]

Now that Ohio is able to hunt deer with straight-walled "pistol" ammunition in a long gun, I'm looking for a high-quality lever gun in .44 or .45. 20 years ago, I would have picked up a Marlin without a second thought. But now, the Internet tells me they're garbage. Has there been any improvement? If you were to go to the LGS and choose between the Marlin and the Henry, which would you choose? I love my 1990s Marlin .30-30 and my preference lies there, but I won't buy junk. What say you actual owners?

Another option is an additional $600-$800 for a Winchester current production.

 

[Reloadron]

If you want to put stock in the Internet then just find a lightly used Marlin from the pre Remington ownership days. Here in the Cleveland burbs I see plenty of Marlin lever guns in 44 Mag, 45 Colt and 444 Marlin. Additionally rifles like the old Ruger 44 Carbine fill the ticket nicely and a few other Ruger guns.

Here is what I have and like. I have a Ruger 44 Magnum Carbine and a Marlin 444. The 44 Mag is a fine deer rifle which I used as a go to gun in West Virginia for years. They run in the $600 range maybe less when you can find them. The 444 Marlin is also an excellent deer rifle with a better reach than the 44 Magnum.

I would not walk away from a Winchester either if one came along reasonably priced.

Ron

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Any straight wall or does it have to be available in a handgun?

 

[guyfromohio]

Jim....without googling it, I believe any straight-walled cartridge.....444, .45-70, and others. The Marlin Guide Gun has always piqued my interest.

Thanks Reloadron. Definitely some options. I'd love to find a Ruger Deerfield Carbine too.

 

[GBExpat]

... find a lightly used Marlin from the pre Remington ownership days. ...

That sounds like a good way to go ... to me, at least.

I still have the mid-80s-MFR Marlin 1894S (.44Mag) that I picked at the Medina, OH Gunshow in ~1988. I added a Williams 5D rear aperture sight and that little rifle is both handy and very accurate.

 

[RainDodger]

I have a Browning 92 in .44 Magnum that's a very, very nice rifle.

 

[Reloadron]

Any straight wall or does it have to be available in a handgun?

As a side note to avoid confusion as this varies state to state and things are changing. Here in Ohio with the newer law:

Legal deer hunting rifles are chambered for the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110 and .500 Smith & Wesson.

Ron

 

[eastbank]

.44 mag is a better round if you need more power than the .45 colt. i have a marlin .44 sporter from the early 70,s and a ruger 77/44 in 44 mag and like both and both shoot very well, but i like the ruger alittle more, removable magizine, stainless steel, a better trigger(worked on) and lighter than my sporter. eastbank

 

[greyling22]

In a marlin, 45lc tends to spit back on you pretty bad. It's a relatively low pressure round that doesn't seal the large chamber very well and allows a lot of blow back around the bolt. Now, I don't know about "hot" loads. Never tried one in mine. But I would lean towards a 44 because of that. That said, 45lc brass can be found on the ground because a lot of people use it in the judge pistol. Pretty much anybody who has a 44mag reloads and picks up their brass.

As to quality, yes, the brand new 1894's are acceptable, but there are plenty of bad ones in the wild. At this point in time, I would only buy a marlin in person after looking it over. I would not order one online.

 

[BSA1]

The Rossi 92 is a well made gun. The action of a new one may a little rough out of the box but they smooth up nicely.

Uberti 73's are very high quality and have smooth actions. They are chambered in 44 Magnum so they are safe for hunting.

I am not in any way a fan of the Henry Big Boy.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

As a side note to avoid confusion as this varies state to state and things are changing. Here in Ohio with the newer law:

Quote:
Legal deer hunting rifles are chambered for the following calibers: .357 Magnum, .357 Maximum, .38 Special, .375 Super Magnum, .375 Winchester, .38-55, .41 Long Colt, .41 Magnum, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, .444 Marlin, .45 ACP, .45 Colt, .45 Long Colt, .45 Winchester Magnum, .45 Smith & Wesson, .454 Casull, .460 Smith & Wesson, .45-70, .45-90, .45-110, .475 Linebaugh, .50-70, .50-90, .50-100, .50-110 and .500 Smith & Wesson.

Interesting they listed actual cartridges as approved rather then just straight walled. A 50-90? Really? And they where thoughtful enough to allow two different loadings of the Winchester 50-110, both the 100 and 110 loads? Why no .405 Winchester? Who came up with this list?

 

[DPris]

Current Marlins are do-able.
The steel Henry is lighter than the brass Henrys, for carry.
Both are accurate & reliable guns.

The Winchesters from Japan are excellent quality, but expensive.

The Uberti Winchester repros are generally good buys.
The Chiappa Win repros can be spotty.
The Rossi/Taurus Win repros are not bad, affordable but tend to come rough & oversprung.
Denis

 

[Dain Bramage]

So you can hunt with a .38 Special, or pull out your Colt Thunderer in .41 Colt, but you can't hunt with a .480 Ruger? This is what happens when government tries to legislate by minutia.

 

[Reloadron]

Interesting they listed actual cartridges as approved rather then just straight walled. A 50-90? Really? And they where thoughtful enough to allow two different loadings of the Winchester 50-110, both the 100 and 110 loads? Why no .405 Winchester? Who came up with this list?

Jim, you would need to understand Ohio. While I have been here a good many years I have yet to master that. Ohio followed suit when many states which were flat and densely populated finally allowed rifles for deer hunting. Several states initially defined the cartridge as straight wall and tacked on a length which eliminated the 45-70 Government as well as the 444 Marlin. Ohio, for reasons I will never understand came out with the list I quoted. My guess here is the people who created the list knew little about hunting or cartridges but it is what it is and rest assured it is an improvement over shotguns and pumpkin balls.

Back on topic I like the Marlin lever guns, followed by Winchester. I was never a Rossi, Uberti or Henery rifles. I am not saying the latter are not any good, simply not my first choices.

Ron

 

[pps]

On the Marlin quality control problems, they (Remlin/Marlington) have improved from a few years ago. In 2013 I looked at one at our local store. Barrel was canted to the right and the sight wasn't centered. The action did not even cycle once the screws were tightened.

I saw a 336 in 30-30 last month at a gun store that usually carries only the tacti-cool stuff, but someone had declined a special order Marlin. I asked to have a look before they boxed it up. Action was ok, barrel on straight and the fit and finish was actually pretty good. The trigger pull was a horrendous gritty stacking 16# pull. I told the owner if he knocked 200 bucks off i'd buy it as is as a project gun.... SOLD.

I ordered a new lever detent and this solved the lever not locking, Wild West happy trigger brought the pull down to 3 to 4#, but the most pesky issue was the gun intermittently let the rim of an incoming round jam against the carrier and fail to let the round into the receiver. I had to take 7 hundredths off the left side of the carrier and form it like a forcing cone and polish to a mirror finish. It is now 100% reliable through about 700 cycles with dummy rounds.

450 bucks, 100 dollar trigger, 7 dollar part, and a lot of polishing the action truing the snail cam, and deburring... purrs like a kitten. Overall, price factored in, I still give them a C-

 

[GRIZ22]

I have an older (no safety) Marlin 44 mag. It's the most accurate lever action I own at 100 yards.

 

[Furncliff]

I shoot an older Marlin 1894 38/357 mag. with hand loads. Running at about 1850- 1900fps (Hornady XTP) it's enough to put down a mule deer under 100 yards. Similar loadings can be had from Buffalo Bore. It's light and handy to carry. There's lots of commercial ammo out there and if you intend to plink with it ( I do) it may be more economical than the larger calibers.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

Well whoever wrote it knew something. How many people know there was a 100 gr loading of the .50-110 Winchester? Or that a .41 Colt even exists? Seems 100% arbitrary.
I would have loved to have been in the room when these calibers were picked just to hear the reasoning.
The length restriction makes more sense.

Oh and BTW I hunted deer in NY for many years with a scope equipped Ithaca model 37 [with slugs, not pumpkin balls] and for the work I was doing[shots from 10 to 100 yards, often running] I can't think of a better tool.

Jim, you would need to understand Ohio. While I have been here a good many years I have yet to master that. Ohio followed suit when many states which were flat and densely populated finally allowed rifles for deer hunting. Several states initially defined the cartridge as straight wall and tacked on a length which eliminated the 45-70 Government as well as the 444 Marlin. Ohio, for reasons I will never understand came out with the list I quoted. My guess here is the people who created the list knew little about hunting or cartridges but it is what it is and rest assured it is an improvement over shotguns and pumpkin balls.

Back on topic I like the Marlin lever guns, followed by Winchester. I was never a Rossi, Uberti or Henery rifles. I am not saying the latter are not any good, simply not my first choices.

Ron

 

[200Apples]

.

I have a Browning 92 in .44 Magnum that's a very, very nice rifle.

Agreed. I am fortunate to own one and I have a renewed respect for the .44 magnum cartridge. Beautiful rifle, very accurate, even, offhand. If you can find one, jump on it because you won't be the only one. I can't say enough.

 

[CraigC]

I've got two pre-Remington Marlin .44's that are excellent. I've had several Miroku-made Winchesters and Brownings and they are great rifles. If I was buying a new one for hunting, it'd be a Rossi. Or the Alaskan from Taylor's. I'd send it to my gunsmith for a tune-up and peep sight install.

 

[The Big D]

I love how the list includes everything from the totally inadequate (.38 Special) to things you could comfortably brain an elephant with.

The new Remarlins didn't impress me on the rack. I've never shot one. The new Winchesters are nice, but the rebounding hammer seems to be a rare but potential point of ignition problems which you might or might not be willing to risk. I believe there are NIBish Browning model 92s with the original ignition in those calibers available. That's what I did for my 1886, and probably what I would do for an 1892 as well.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

I love how the list includes everything from the totally inadequate (.38 Special) to things you could comfortably brain an elephant with.

I suspect someone just opened a copy of COTW and picked straight wall calibers at random.

 

[SwampWolf]

Now that I don't have to hunt deer with shotgun slugs in Ohio (albeit, slug guns have come a long way in terms of improved accuracy and projectile choices), my choice is a Model 1886 Winchester (Miroku repo), "Extra Light Weight" rifle chambered in .45-70 Government. Mine has proven to be an accurate, well-made, smooth-action rifle that carries, handles and points well. My choice of sights is a William "FoolProof" receiver (peep) sight.

 

[guyfromohio]

Very seriously considering the new Winchester in .45-70.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

The 1886 Winchester in 45-70 [would rather have a .50-110 but those are difficult to find-hard to believe it's on the list] is exactly want I would choose.
Can they take heavy[Ruger #1] loads?