Old time rimmed pistol caliber cartridges can be fired from a rifle but need a lever or pump format due to rimlock in traditional rifle magazines. The Ruger rotary mags for their 77-357 overcome the rimlock issues, at a very limited magazine capacirt and an annoying magazine format. Some people love the 77-357 and some don't. But if you like shooting 357 or 44 Mag from a rifle, it's got to be a pump or a lever (except for the Rugers) The emphasis seems to be on making lever rifles. Winchester has taken the approach of making museum-quality rifles now that cost a lot of money and will, I suppose, get shot rarely and looked at and admired often. I don't shoot my Winchester 94AE 357 rifles anymore. Winchester is not making them anymore, and parts are hard or impossible to come by for commonly needed repairs as those rifles age. In fact, Winchester (FNH/ FN America) has stopped doing any repair work on those rifles. The new, museum quality 94's are not being released in the 357 and 44 Mag calibers. In this world where young and older alike prefer optics, the Model 1873's and model 92's (which are top eject and can not use optics) only appeal to those who either want something to look at but not shoot or the young with good eyes, or the cowboy action shooters and while there are many of them, there are not THAT MANY of them. The people who can afford the new Winchester 73's and 92's are generally people old enough to "need" optics. I suppose that FN/Winchester is not releasing the new 94's in the pistol calibers because the 94 action was never really suitable for the pistol calibers anyway. If you've got a 94 in 357 or 44 and it runs well, and I do, count yourself lucky, very lucky and treat it like gold because they are not typically rifles that can take a lot of wear and tear and keep functioning. The 94's in 30 WCF (.30-30) are very robust. In 357, not so much.
So that leaves the Winchester clones which have their problems and the Marlins, no comment there. And that is where Henry found a big giant wide open door to walk right through. Their rifles work decently, look decently, generally, and allow shooting pistol caliber rimmed cartridges in a rifle. Nobody else gives you the reliability and function AND the ability to mount optics that Henry does. And they know it, so they price their rifles at a level that is close enough to Winchester to make many people pause when considering buying a Henry. So, we're back to limited choices for the pistol caliber rimmed cartridges. I think that if someone came out with a reliably functioning pump in 357 at a price that was not too high, they'd sell well.
I've got a Timberwolf. It is a fun rifle to shoot, holds well in the hand, very "handy". Handles well. Just all around fun. Shoots 357 and 38's. Very reliable. Really nice trigger. It has the best rifle trigger of any rifle I own.
For a long time it has been my sort of "main rifle to take to the range." However, at this point when I reach into the safe for it, it is like reaching for a $2,000 bill to take out for fun. It is getting harder and harder to reach for it when I'm headed for the range. Just too expensive to replace, impossible to get spare parts, just kind of makes me uncomfortable to take it and shoot it. Much easier to grab the home made AR pistol that is worth a few hundred dollars in today's market, if that, and take that out to get dirty and hot and throat-eroded. It may be time to retire the Timberwolf to the safe for safe keeping.
