Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers Ammo for a 1894P .44 Mag

I recently left a gun store with a Marlin 1894P 16-1/2" bbl .44 mag with a ghost ring real sight installed. The gun is factory ported and, according to Marlin, out of production. It looked new. According to the shop owner he sold it new, had the ghost ring installed and bought the gun back. The owner never shot it.

I didn't even know I needed a .44 Marlin when I walked into the store.

Well I've shot it about 100 times. I've been using Winchester white box 240 grain jhp which I bought from Wal-Mart for $19.95 for 50.

I was wondering what other .44 Mag rifle shooters use for loads and for what purposes.

Also does ammo maker load a hard cast bullet for the .44 Mag?

Thanks,

Winchester makes a 250gr Partition Gold which I've used on deer. Federal makes a Castcore, which I've also used. They're 300gr. Its my bear protection load, mainly used in my revolver. Both give about 2-2.5 in. groups in my Marlin with iron sights at 50yds. I think both Corbon and Garretts make hard cast cartridges for 44mag, pricey, but the companies have a good reputation.

Try the 270 grain load from Buffalo Bore. Shoots well in mine. They also make a 300 and 320 grain cast load but may not be too accurate because of the slow 1-38 twist of the Marlin.

I've found the white box .240 jsp hard to beat.....they'll slap a hog to the groung pretty damn quick...

Robert...

when a man with a .45 meets a man with a rifle the man with the pistol is a dead man...

REM makes a 275gr bullet for the 44Mag and federal makes a 300gr hardcast bullet ammo.I reload and i used a hornady 300gr XTP bullet on a doe at 10yds with my marlin 1894 44mag rifle.The doe jumped 10' in the air on the hit.She went 30yds and piled up!A real nice blood trail in the snow!

Norm, Everybody needs a 44 Mag Carbine or two <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> And you are off to a good start with the White Box Winchesters. I like soft points. And the other guys are correct the Federal Premium Cast Core 300 grain are NICE. Not the hottest loads but a good solid load and is more or less a flat nose round point that works best in levers. I have a lot of confidence in Buffalo Bore as well. I haven't tried them in my Marlin yet but I shoot a lot of them and Tim Sundles is a real nice guy if you have questions give him a call. The long Garretts haven't been too succesful in a lot of rifles unless you have them throated and adjusted for the longer rounds. But that's a possibility as well. But for fun the two primary ones that people have mentioned should do plenty.

bearmgc -

Thanks for the tip. I've been looking at the Cor-Bon and will probably buy some to try. I've had such good lock with Cor-Bon ammo for many years, I owe 'em a trial.

Thanks,

RLB - Seem like good ammo to me too. I've using a ghost ring rear sight. Old eyes can't see the standard rear sight well enough and I didn't want to scope it. At 30 yards which is all the further I've shot it so far the bullet go poa when I do my part.

Also I like the $19.95 price for 50 price of the white box.

Thanks,

Deputy Norm, I just got done talking to a gunshop guy who said its been reported that the Corbons don't fit in the lever actions, just revolvers. Having heard this, I would first call Corbon and ask them if this is true, before buying some.

I use the Buffalo Bore hard casts in mine. Some of the others mentioned will not function in your gun but each ammo web site has that info. I like the 305 grain hard casts but as another poster mentioned they are less accurate due to the twist of the rifeling. Mine shoots the buffalo bore 270s and light recoils very well. I installed a one piece firing pin, a WW trigger and replaced the cross bolt safety. The 44 mag lever guns are fun.

bearmgc,

Thanks for the info. I have a supply of Cor-Bon 165 .44 mag ammo. I carry a Taurus Tracker .44 mag with the Cor-Bon loads. So I can try some in the Marlin from my current supply.

I was wondering about shooting the CB in the Marlin. So far all I've shot is Winch white box 240 jsp which works well and is cheap to boot.

Thanks again,

Stetson,

Thanks for your interesting post. First of all I agree lever guns are fun to shoot.

You mentioned some alterations (1 pc firing pin, trigger and safety.) Will you expand on your comments? Why the 1 pc trigger, and the safety? I think I understand why the trigger.

Did you do the work yourself or have it done?

Thanks again,

No easy way to get a jump on carbine loads-just haveta shoot em n see what it likes.
Most .44 carbines n short rifles r hampered by two things-slow riflin twists n short chambers, some exceptions, but rule of thumb here.
Unfortunately no standard for carbine chambers-some r tight, some r biggern a 55 gal. drum.
Bottom line-lots of variation.
If yer not much into experimentation stick close to original .44 mag specs-240-270gr bullets. Oal should be close to standard n should feed nicely. Good thing is that 95% of what you wanna use a .44mag for will be done by those bullets.
Good luck n Good Shootin.

The firing pin is a one piece like the old Winchesters. The factory two piece pin is pretty cheesy but to be honest its probably not necessary to replace it. The WW trigger is about $100 and you get a nice crisp 3# trigger when your done. I also slicked up the action and removed the cross bolt safety and replaced it with a kit screw plug so it looks and functions just like an origional Marlin. I did all the work myself. The real benefit IMO of the 1894 is that they are so easy to break down and work on. You can find directions for all that on the internet especially if you look at the CAS sites or Paco Kelly's web site.

Try the 270gr or 240gr Speer Gold dot factory loads, they are fairly inexpensive for a bonded bullet and the cases are nickel. The 240gr Hornady XTP is another good factory load.

A couple of things:
Cast Preformance Bulltes in Riverton, WY
http://castperformance.com/
has some great bullets!
260-320gr and all shoot like a house afire!
Another good bullet to load is Hornady's 265gr.
I use WW296 and CCI primers on all loads
Packer

I have a Browning B92 and have tried most everything including Black Hills, Hornady, Corbon.... Met up with another guy shooting a different 44mag while looking for ammo. Turns out we were both in search of Magtech 240 grain ammo. He said it was more accurate than anything else in his rig too. The bonus is that it is about half price as you get 50 to a box. It is cheap so pick up a box -you may be pleasantly surprised. Worse case is you got some plinking fodder but I find it to be very good.

I found the white box Winchester 240 grain load hard to beat in my Marlin. It seem to be quite a good bullet based on my penetration tests. I could never beat the accuracy with 270 Gold Dots or 300 XTP. I would hunt most things with that 240 grain load. At 44 mag velocities, there is no need to get to carried away on exotic bullets.

Sometimes they don't shoot the cast bullets too well- you just have to try and see.