Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Accurate Pistol Caliber Rifles

My dad had a Marlin 1894 in 357 that I bought for him in the late 80s, he sighted it in at 50 yards with open sights and never really shot it for groups. One of my uncles told him he would mount a scope on it for him. If I remember correctly it was a 1-4x20 Walmart scope. My uncle could get two shots touching at 100 yards and after that always a 2-3" flyer. My dad never shot a deer further than 30 yards with that rifle and wasnt really concerned about how accurate that rifle was at 100 yards

My Marlin 1894 .44 mag sucked. 3-4" @ 100 was the best it would do. My 1894C .357 will do 1.5 -2" @ 100 with loads it likes.

Dan should be along shortly to show how his little jewels perform.

For my part, the accuracy I get is sufficient for the task, within the practical range of the rounds. Have shot a mere two deer with .44 mags, one each with a rifle and handgun, and the power is there too. IME, inline MLs might have an edge in accuracy with the same bullets in sabots.

Mike Bellm IIRC says factory chambers in pistol-caliber rifles aren’t optimal for accuracy, and he recuts them. My Henry SS .357 hasn’t wowed me thus far. Might let Bellm rechamber it to .350.

My Remington 788 .44 Magnum shoots like a laser beam, 5 shot groups are one ragged hole with Hornady 240gr. XTP handloads.

Got a Ruger 77/44 to meet the requirements for the southern part of my goofy state.

Has a 2-7 Leupold on it

Tried a bunch of factory loads in 240 and 300 gr.

The most accurate is PMC 240gr TCSP which is 2"

Will never win any competitions but will be good enough to whack deer at 75 yards

Complaining about 2" groups out of a PCC is decidedly a first world problem.

Makes me feel a little better about my 50 yard groups with my Super Redhawk 44 mag.

I strive for the best load I can create. I haven't found MOA from a handgun caliber in a rifle. However, even if it's a 2 MOA load, it's going to work for the distance in which it was intended. How many 400 yard pokes at game with a pistol caliber do you plan on? :-)

He did a 357 for me into a 357 Max instead of the 350 L.

Nobody in this thread has complained about 2" groups, best I can tell.

Of course, nobody will ever see evidence of that.

I haven't put it on paper in years but I have a Universal .30 carbine that shoots way better than you'd expect. Even with only it's 2.5x weaver.

I have a custom 350 legend on a 700 action that thinks it's a bench rest gun. Way more accurate for what I need but is sure is fun to shoot 4" steel plates at 200 consistently.

I sight my .357's in at 60 yards and both my 1894 and ruger 77 ( especially) are right around an 1", with the ruger slightly the better of the two.
158 xtps with Lilgun.
Plenty for what I'm doing with them.

The attraction of the .350 is the abundant and cheap ammo, unlike the Max, for which even brass is sometimes unavailable (Starline is frequently in stock, I know). I might even forgo loading for it. OTOH, Bellm says the Henry chamber is similar to his, just with a shorter throat, so a little futzing with seating depth may be all that’s needed to make it shoot better. I certainly don’t need another deer rifle, and the Henry is pretty heavy for what it is. Be pretty hard to improve on the walnut too. I definitely won the wood lottery. Wish it had the original forend style with wrap-around checkering like my .410.

The .360 is another option, though the standard twist is 1-12” rather than the 1-16” of the others. Ammo is about $30 though, and like I said, I don’t need another dedicated deer rifle, really.

A shame, when all other accuracy/inaccuracy statements here are provided with hard evidence.