Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters My Marlin 1894 44 Magnum isn't a 44 it is a 43

Speaking of rhymes. In Tombstone, Arizona's, boot hill. There is a tombstone for Les Moore. It says,

Her lies Les Moore,
Four shots from a 44
No less, no more.

Well, anyway he was shot with a 44.

Then there's those .264's folks call 6.5's when they're actually 6.7's... and the so called 7mm's which are actually 7.2mm's

The REAL 6.5's are the .25's and the REAL 7mm's the .270's.

Nope, no alliteration either. .44 and .45 got it, .43 hasn't; it just don't sound right:

"Men were shot down for the sake of fun or to hear the noise of their forty-three guns."

"Went out last night to take a little round, I met Little Sadie and I blowed her down. I went right home and I went to bed with a forty-three smokeless under my head."

"I wore my forty-three so long I've made my shoulder sore."

"And I"m tellin' you son, it ain't no fun, lookin' straight down a forty-three."

You just need different rhymes.

How about this?
"Pushing up daisies under a tree;
He tried to eat a .43"

Pore ol Shorty
Got killed by a boolit from a thirty eight forty.
It weren't a thirty eight that killed Shorty , it wuz a forty.


Mike

All my AR magazines are stamped 458 SOCOM, so in CA they are not high capacity mags. Words don't substitute for knowledge. You own a 44 magnum.

There is no universal "rule" for naming cartridges. One of the more common themes is to name a caliber based on the bore diameter, which is the size of the hole drilled into the barrel prior to rifling. It fits the 270 Win, various "30 caliber" rounds, and most 7mm cartridges. Going by that theme, the 44 magnum is more like 42 caliber than 43 or 44.

One round I always wanted to try is the 7-30 Waters, but guns chambered for this round are not common. Maybe someday I'll find one, or have one made. Until then, I'll stumble along with my outdated 7x57s.

Elvis did a song about the .42 as I recall. Something like "Don't step on my For-Te-Two" or there abouts.

You can do anything you want...but uh-huh baby, don't step on my for-te-two.


...or...in Alice's Restaurant.

You may notice that in the song "Bad Man's Blunder" the perp sleeps with his pistol up under his head. A big twenty-two. It was never a wildly popular song.



Whatever.

Because .429 Magnum would have never sold.....

Don't measure the bore of your 38 special, you'll be truly disheartened.

"So I stood there in the shadows and I had my forty three, I could hear her mock in laughter, but she won't laugh anymore"

"John blew the dust from his old forty three, put two holes in Milton's head"

Grandpa's .44-40 was a .43 too, so at least it's consistent.

"He tried to hide behind a tree,
but I shot his ash with a forty-three."

I have .44mag and .44special revolvers, but i also have a marlin .44 lever. The handguns are .429, the groove on the rifle is .431.
I was trying to find a common bullet to use in both.
I did read this on another forum than kind of explains it. But then it marlin's you also are dealing with two different kinds of rifling.

"I asked this question of Marlin CS when I first got my 1894 CB as the first rounds thru the gun went sideways thru the target at 50 feet.

I measured the groove dia and it was .431 so I asked what happened to .429 which is what all of my previous Revolvers had been since day one.

The answer I got was .431+/- .002. is SAAMI spec for .44 magnum rifles. This is looser due to the higher pressures that a rifle barrel would generate as opposed to revolvers which are generally .429 but have that nice pressure relief valve between the cylinder and the barrel."

and where the interest lies, is if I size a lead bullet for the rifle at one thousandth's over at .432 for the rifle, i am then three over for the revolver.

RoninPhx, I run .432" bullets in both my rifle and revolvers without issue.

I have Ruger revolvers and a 77/44. I use the .432"s due to the throats in the revolvers being .431", and I use the same size in the rifle because I don't want two different sizes, though I am using two different styles. A Beartooth bullets WFN in the rifle and a LCMN DCG in the revolvers.

If the rifle could tolerate anything longer than 1.6", I would have simply used the same load. My revolvers can go 1.725" for the SuperBlackhawk, but the Redhawk can go to 1.775", though I simply use a common load in all three. (I have two SBHs).

I am assuming, and maybe erroneously, you are talking about cast bullets.

vic, i am using cast bullets.

Another reason why the 308 is the most bestest round ever . . . .
(its really a .308!).

BMT

... and its really the most bestest round ever.

I respectfully disagree.

.429 is closer to .430 than .420.

Almost splitting hairs!!

Not a problem...

A lot of folks run their cast bullets too small...I run cast bullets at least .002 over groove diameter as a practical minimum for accuracy and to prevent leading.

Check that all cylinder throats and forcing cone are consistent and larger than groove diameter for best accuracy. The consequences of this for accuracy should be obvious.

I don't run the same ammo in my rifles and revolvers anyway.