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

Since i shoot Hornady .430 XTP bullets , then my Marlin 44 is really a 43 , right

The bore will be .429, so .430s will work.

BS sells. (Sometimes the middle child needs to embellish things for attention; really not necessary though considering what this middle child does.)

Sure, the grooves in the bore are .429-430, but the lands are a different measure, and the case diameter still another. There are lots of reasons why things are named what they are. I'm not a 'Jason' with definite characteristics true of all 'Jason's. My name is Jason. Same with the cartridge. 44 is just a name, and a caliber. It is strange, but that's how it works. Longer 44 cal cases go up in numbere of designation from plain ole 44, rather than down to the actual bore measure. Examples: 444 Marlin, 445 Supermag.

A 38 Special has a .357 bore, etc. There are scores of examples of this sort of thing.

When loading the 44 mag ammo i got to thinking about the size marked on the Hornady XTP box compared to the bullet actual measurement .

It's the Russian's fault. When they ordered revolvers from Smith & Wesson back in the 1870's, they were interested in the .44 S&W American, but demanded that the cartridge be converted to use an inside lubricated bullet rather than the .44 caliber outside lubricated heeled bullet that was then standard.

So S&W kept the same diameter cartridge case but reduced the bullet diameter to .429 so that it would fit inside the case as an inside lubricated bullet. But they still called it a .44.

Thus was born the .44 Russian, grandfather of the .44 Special and .44 Magnums using .429/.430 bullets.

A stern letter to Vladimir Putin may be in order.

Yeah, maybe Vlad'll send you a picture of himself with his shirt off!

Better than sending one of Obama with his shirt off

If the Pres is going to act like an [bleep], I'd rather he was a man's man like Putin, Rather than a skinny dork. Saw a photo of Ohshit playing golf recently. He looked like his mom dressed him. For the record, I'm not a fan of anyone who has been Pres in my lifetime, but I can say I've at least agreed with some of the decisions each has made. It is getting very tough to do that. Very, very tough.

Politics aside, the Marlin in 44 is the Hammer of Putin. With 240's, it is a slayer of all things tasty, and with 300+ bullets, it is a slayer of all things. I put a 2-7 on mine, and filed back the cartridge stop so it will cycle longer rounds from the mag. It comes to shoulder and goes bang faster than the 20 gauge SS from my youth. 44,43 either one is a great cal for a carbine.

Forty-three don't rhyme with much of anything.

The 41 Magnum don't lie , it's a 41



Mike

"Heart breakers with your forty three".....nahhh, don't sound right.

Calling it a 44 is a feng shui thing. Better balance. A 43 magnum would be like a body-builder with one bicep 25% bigger than the other.

Yeah, it would sound kinda silly singing about Stagger Lee going to the bar room and pulling his forty three.

Can't hear Clint Eastwood say , Since this is a 43 magnum , most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, so ask yourself punk, do i feel lucky ?

If you're going to get upset that the name of the cartridge isn't the exact diameter of the bullet you'll go crazy.

Consider that the 218 Bee, the 219 Zipper, the 220 Swift, the 221 Fireball, the 222 Remington, the 223 Remington, the 224 Weatherby Mag and the 225 Winchester all use the same diameter (.224) bullets.

Best to just chill.

This is driving me sane...

You mean I don't need to lathe the bullets for my Bee down to .218" ?!? Son of a.... !

That explains why my 270 never shot worth a damn, too.

What an ungrateful sob...you should feel lucky you got that much.