Hey there,
I have a stainless Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag - I think it's my favorite long gun for reasons I can't quite articulate. It is pretty forgiving of bullet profile in 44 mag, less so in 44 special. It's very easy to shoot using 44 specials, but the 44 mags make my shoulder sore after a while. Not quite 12 gauge recoil, but it's quite a jolt, I can't imagine 44 mag in a handgun.
You want to beware the dreaded Marlin jam. Mine suffered from this right out of the box. Either load it up with dummy rounds or have a gunsmith load and unload it a few times the first time you load up. Sometimes the lever will "sieze" in the open position, leaving you with x number of rounds stuck in the tube. Bad news! Gun must be disassembled to get them out. This requires gunsmith attention to fix. There is often a sharp edge on the end of the lever internal to the action that tends to make a gouge in the internal part that rides against it. That gouge will eventually affect important clearances and result in the "marlin jam". If you disassemble the action for the initial cleaning, you might do well to soften the sharpness of this edge before reassembling.
I don't know if this is true of the 1894 in general, but mine was rough as a cobb on the inside. The action was heavy and gritty. I cycled it a few hundered times (700 I think) using dummy ammo and it now seems to work quite a bit more smoothly. It's still too heavy to comfortably cycle using the back of my knuckles, so I always grab it by the underside of the lever for cycling. Trigger pull is on the heavy side. I lubricated with CLP only at first, but I think the action likes a drop or two of something a little thicker for smoothness. Using hoppes gun oil right now, maybe a smidge of grease next time.
I'm not very good with the buckhorn sights. Maybe I will have to replace them - I'm considering a Williams Firesight. The barrel twist is slow, I don't know all the math, but theoretically it should be fine. I'd never want to try to down something farther than 100 yards, due to ballistics and accuracy. But it makes a heck of a home defense gun.
For all my piddly little complaints about it, I do love this gun. It's short and handy, I like the way it feels in my hands, it is solid and sturdy, comes naturally to my shoulder, and I love the way it looks. I'm pleased that it's stainless. The wood is nice. It's a shoulder bruiser, but I know it packs a punch on the recieving end. For all these reasons I have taken a very forgiving attitude towards all it's faults. Oh yea, it was my first centerfire rifle, wonder if that has anything to do with it?