What would you buy in a lever .44?

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  • clfergus

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    Mar 9, 2009
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    One day I am going to buy a lever .44 mag. I use to shoot a single shot H&R .44 before the rules changes and love the round for deer hunting.

    I have experience with marlins as I have a 39A. The shop I frequent sell Henry and Rossi. The Henry is finished really nice but for some reason I have a draw to the JM stamped Marlin.

    Curious to hear others preferences.
     

    Leadeye

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    For hunting it's tough to beat the 1894, ready for scope mount and side ejection make it a winner.
     

    Gabriel

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    The Marlin 1894 was my choice. The side eject puts it above the Rossi if you ever want to mount anything on it. The Henry fit and finish is better, but the Henry loses out by not having a side loading gate (although that has changed for some new Henry models).

    If/When Henry comes out with a standard blued .44 with side loading gate, it'll kill the market for the 1894 in my opinion.
     
    Last edited:

    indiucky

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    2Q==
    73087567-blue-marlin-among-the-ocean-waves.jpg
     

    M67

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    Marlin no question. Older JM one or even the newer ones since the kinks were worked out years ago (by kinks I mean sabotaged ones from the factory by soon to be ex employees)

    Plus one thing I hate about Henry is sticking a scope on them sucks. Even using the lowest rings you can, seems like your cheek is still at least completely a half inch off the stock
     

    Trapper Jim

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    Dec 18, 2012
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    One day I am going to buy a lever .44 mag. I use to shoot a single shot H&R .44 before the rules changes and love the round for deer hunting.

    I have experience with marlins as I have a 39A. The shop I frequent sell Henry and Rossi. The Henry is finished really nice but for some reason I have a draw to the JM stamped Marlin.

    Curious to hear others preferences.

    Any New (recent from 2018) Marlin. Remlin as some call it. I have had and shot over 70 lever actions of all makes and models and never have I have seen the quality of manufacturing coming out of Marlin as now. Used to be on the JM stamped ones I would have to go through 3 or 4 to get a good one. Very inconsistent in manufacturing. All 12 of my recent (2018 and newer) are excellent. Henry makes a good attempt but the balance and materials are just not there. Won't do imports. Too much work to get them to run and stay running. Recent Winchesters ( from 1965 and newer) triggers are crappy and I know of no gunsmith that can tune them. Winchesters chambers are cut large as well and will shorten your brass life. IMHO of course.
     

    Gabriel

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    The shore of wonderful Lake Michigan
    Any New (recent from 2018) Marlin. Remlin as some call it. I have had and shot over 70 lever actions of all makes and models and never have I have seen the quality of manufacturing coming out of Marlin as now. Used to be on the JM stamped ones I would have to go through 3 or 4 to get a good one. Very inconsistent in manufacturing. All 12 of my recent (2018 and newer) are excellent. Henry makes a good attempt but the balance and materials are just not there. Won't do imports. Too much work to get them to run and stay running. Recent Winchesters ( from 1965 and newer) triggers are crappy and I know of no gunsmith that can tune them. Winchesters chambers are cut large as well and will shorten your brass life. IMHO of course.

    You've purchased 12 Marlin lever guns in th last eighteen months? :patriot:
     

    teddy12b

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    Nov 25, 2008
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    I'll be the oddball in the group and say I bought a 92 clone. When the Indiana laws changed I bought a "puma" 92, which was later bought out by Legacy, which was later bought out by Rossi. I have a stainless 20" 44mag and I really can't find a single fault in the gun. For whatever reason, that thing seems to be my lucky rifle. I've got nothing against putting a scope on a lever action rifle, I just didn't want to do that with this particular one and at the time when I looked into buying my pistol caliber hunting rifle there was a lot of talk on marlin forums about the "Marlin jam" especially in the 44mag caliber rifles, not so much in the 357 models. I've owned marlin 30-30, (2) 45-70's and they're good guns or at least were back when I bought mine.

    If I had to do it all over again, I'd still buy what I bought. If I were to buy another one today, I'd take a hard look at Henry. I know not having a side gate is annoying, and if I were in a non-free state and I was looking for a home defense gun this would be a deal breaker to me. Fortunately I'm not doing that and all I'm doing is taking a lever gun hunting once a year. Whenever I've handled a Henry, the actions and craftsmanship have been second to none. My 44mag has over 500 rounds through it and the action still isn't as smooth as a brand new Henry. In my opinion, that's what I'd choose and their case hardened models look like something I'd love to hand off to a child or grandchild some day when I'm an old man.
     

    rhslover

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    Mar 6, 2012
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    I had a miroku made Winchester 1892 in 44 mag. It was a beautifully made gun with nice wood. But the crescent buttplate and the lousy sights made me sell it off. Personally an old Marlin would be my choice.
     

    clfergus

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    Mar 9, 2009
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    Any New (recent from 2018) Marlin. Remlin as some call it. I have had and shot over 70 lever actions of all makes and models and never have I have seen the quality of manufacturing coming out of Marlin as now. Used to be on the JM stamped ones I would have to go through 3 or 4 to get a good one. Very inconsistent in manufacturing. All 12 of my recent (2018 and newer) are excellent. Henry makes a good attempt but the balance and materials are just not there. Won't do imports. Too much work to get them to run and stay running. Recent Winchesters ( from 1965 and newer) triggers are crappy and I know of no gunsmith that can tune them. Winchesters chambers are cut large as well and will shorten your brass life. IMHO of course.


    Mare the newer triggers still as floppy as the older marlins? My dads 1957 35 Rem marlin has a floppy trigger.
     

    Leadeye

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    I replaced the triggers on my two hunting Marlins, 44 and 444 with the WW trigger. I like it better.
     

    700 LTR 223

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    One day I am going to buy a lever .44 mag. I use to shoot a single shot H&R .44 before the rules changes and love the round for deer hunting.

    I have experience with marlins as I have a 39A. The shop I frequent sell Henry and Rossi. The Henry is finished really nice but for some reason I have a draw to the JM stamped Marlin.

    Curious to hear others preferences.

    I ended up buying a 1978 Marlin 1894 in 44 Mag a few years ago. Overall a nice rifle with the exception of the hard plastic butt plate. For me not a real pleasant rifle to shoot a lot of full Magnum rounds through. It will be sold off later.

    I also bought a Henry Big Boy Silver although the 357 version. Really like this one and it fires the lighter 125s and the heavier 180s much better than my Marlin 357 which seems to prefer 140-158 bullets. I suppose if I were in the market for a 44 gain I would get another Henry. If Marlin could do away with the horrible checkering on the new rifles or produce them with clean crisp checkering I might consider one of their 1894s.
     

    Mgderf

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    May 30, 2009
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    I have one of the last LM stamped 1894's produced. It was made about 6 months before the takeover by Remington.
    It is a very nice rifle, but did have a slight case of the dreaded "Marlin hitch" when brand new, but has since smoothed out nicely with use.

    I was hesitant to buy a "Remlin", and waited for quite a while before I decided to give them another chance.
    I finally broke down and bought an 1895 in .45-70gvt and was very impressed with the quality. Impressed enough, in fact, that when I decided I wanted a .35 Remington, I turned once again to Marlin, and I am not displeased with my choice.
     

    fullmetaljesus

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    Jan 12, 2012
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    I'm in the marlin camp. Love it. Solid sturdy goes bang Everytime, bullets go right where I put em.

    I haven't taken a deer with it yet, but that's only bc one hasn't stepped out on front of me.

    There's also a good chance of taking it with me on a wild boar hunt next summer.
     
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