I owned a Ruger 96/44 for about 10 years. Though I carried it a lot for backup in baiting bear it never got used for that purpose. But I did develop several loads for it from 265gr FPs to 300s, and it shot very well. It was accurate and one of the fastest, best handling rifles I've ever owned. I only shot a couple of crows and a lot of targets with it, though it got carried quite a bit in the bush.

Recently a friend deceased and left some firearms for the 2 sons to dispose of... neither of them hunt. In that small collection is a nearly new Marlin in .44 Rem Mag, which I'm considering for purchase.

I know that in Alaska the .44 Mag is a favorite sidearm for defense against grizz, etc, but how many use it, or have used it in a rifle, and why?

It seems the perception is that it's potent enough (though there are more powerful sidearms today)for grizz up close in a revolver, but too anemic in a rifle!

Brian Pearce has written that with the right load it is as effective on elk at 150 yards as a .30-06!! And he has considerable experience with that cartridge in a revolver plus most others.

What are your experiences and thoughts?

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

I keep two guns at camp for bears. One is a Rem 870 Pump, 20" rifled barrel- loaded with slugs. The other is a Win M94 45 Colt Trapper carbine. A few summers ago we had a bear problem where the bear refused to comply with our wishes and it finally became a terminal issue. A 12 gauge slug was lethal but only slowed Mr. Trouble. The Brenneke slug did not find its way through the young boar. The Trapper carbine turned out the lights. Both of its slugs penetrated farther and exited the animal.

Recently, I shot this animal with the same 45 Colt lever carbine:



The 320 cast slug struck the animal first in the left shovel, punching a neat hole through the antler. Next it struck the left shoulder near the edge of the scapula. From there it traversed diagonally through lungs, paunch, and right rear quarter. The bullet exited. The shot was probably around 200 yards. Significant handgun rounds can seem a bit wimpy in rifle-sized weapons, especially I think, because they sometimes get judged at the butt end of things where they are a bit mild, especially compared to the fury of the fist-held stuff. Nothing could be further from the objective truth however.

Klik;

Your kind of experience is what I'm looking for! Thanks.

I have a friend, now moved back to Saskatchewan, who a number of years ago shot a very good blackie at 50 yds with his Marlin .44 Mag. The bullet was one of his own -- a 300gr I believe, loping along at around 1400 fps. On shot to the shoulder and it was done. He retrieved the bullet, a classic mushroom that retained near 100% of it's unfired weight. A premium?

Bob

www.bigbores.ca

That's a nice bou. What herd?

You oughta get that 44 Marlin anyway but, ask around and find out what is the longest bullet that twist will stabilize. Seems like I've read it doesn't like 300gr bullet. The Lever-Action forum here may be of some help.

Double shovels and a 45 Colt. Very Nice.

Ive only shot deer and hogs with my marlin 44 mag carbine, Ive used 21 grains of H110 under a lee cast gas check,bullet ..it knocks the hell out of deer and hogs but exits, in my experience its more effective than a 30/30

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/51...0-diameter-310-grain-flat-nose-gas-check

Buy the rifle u will not be sorry.This is one hell of a gun fast handleing an shoot better then I can

I had a stainless marlin and it was a 1:38 twist and didn't like 300s. It shot the Speer 270 gd ok though. I sold the marlin and bought a ss puma 16" carbine and it handles fast and shoots my 310g hard casts well.

I still need to get my puma 480 ruger out of the box and see how it likes the 400's.

Bb

We benefit from the fringes of the NWA herd at times. However, we also have a small resident herd of caribou in the not-so-distant hills, a difficult to access and hunt bunch that has been largely isolated for years. However, there are also some wild reindeer which seem to get lost among the wilds at times, sometimes for years. Obviously things get pretty mixed at times. This bull, a totally unmarked animal, no holes, or ear notches or evidence of tags, was among a herd of animals that were nearly all colored like caribou. However, he didn't appear to be as rangy in the legs as many of the caribou his size I've dealt with. OTOH, his antlers are larger and fuller than most of the local deer we have around here. So, I don't know if he was more a deer gone wild, or 'bou which fell in with the wrong crowd. In any case he was a wild animal which I'll report as a caribou kill, and a pretty set of antlers I'll keep regardless of their 'trophy' value or lack thereof.

I was pretty impressed both with the little revolver cartridge 'out yonder', as well as with the completeness of the rack when I saw it up close. Truth be told, I probably would have shot a fat cow if I had had a scoped rifle along. It was just a bit easier for my aging eyes to see a bigger target through the Wild West ghost ring sights the little carbine wears.

My Marlin 444 shoots 300 gr Hornaday XTPs just fine. Lower velocity, possibly different twist rate will change things. I read that my 444 may not stabalize 300 gr bullets, but it did fine out to 100 yards.

Beautiful caribou!! They are my favorite Alaskan mammal for both looks and eating.

THX, IIRC, they don't make 300gr XTP's anymore. I've been meaning to buy some 270 Gold Dots and load em up for the Trapper 44. I have one each of Davidson's run of SS/laminated 16 trappers in 45/70, 30/30, and 44. The latter is by far the handiest.

Looks like they are still made~

http://www.hornady.com/store/44-Cal-.430-300-gr-HP-XTP/

I shoot a Browning 92� in .44, 20� barrel� (but I never shoot any 240gr stuff other than to get the brass) 270gr hot cores in my hand loads 1600+fps �(federal use to make the 270gr spfp loads for silhouette / metal shoot)�.shot a moose @175yds ( 1st round landed a bit shy on the pond as my eye on the distance was a bit off) a little adjustment (old redfield peep) and it was drt �� the recovered round looked like a 25centpice The same load in my black hawk (7.5) goes thru most of my black bears when hit behind the front leg at tree stand ranges��wish I�d had the gun back in the 70�s.(not made then) as it would have been the nicest 11shot -lite weight- heavy woods deer shooter.

I think that maybe the 265gr Hornady is not made anymore? Pretty sure the 300gr is.

I have a Win 94 44mag, but I have no experience with it yet. Obviously like the idea. Thinking about taking off the 1.5-5 Redfield scope and putting a XS ghost ring sight on.

They still make the 265, also:

http://www.hornady.com/store/44-Cal-.430-265-gr-FP/

Just sold as a rifle bullet. It is what I like to use in my .44 handgun. Notice that they have two cannelures....

none of the junk 265's for me...they peel the jackets off...shoot it/them at 55gal drums and the jackets pile up on the ground in front of said can...call'in bs??...i have a box of the old 265's.......the new 265's have a second factory crimp/cannelures on the bullet...cause hornady found out that they suck to.

I have a marlin .44mag. Its a pretty fun rifle. My 13yo son carries it hiking and I dont worry about him.

What velocity were you shooting them at?

Two thoughts on bullets for the 44 carbine: Speer Deep Curl/Uni-Cor; the DC is made in a 270 grain weight, or the Sierra 300 if your rifle will handle it. The Speers are soft but hang together and penetrate very well - in general anyway; I haven't used that specific bullet but other of theirs of similar construction. The Sierra heavyweight revolver bullets have a very hard core which prevents much expansion and allows good bullet integrity until you get into the upper teens speed-wise.

Hunting BC has the same thread up an some good posts.

great stuff Klik, nice bou indeed.


we've got the trapper version in .44 mag.


ime, .44 mag improves considerably in the longer rifle barrels vs. the handgun's it's most often associated with.




it ain't my favorite gun for dealing with bears and such, but like the mouse gun in your pocket, it's a handy lil rifle that has some snort to it with the right loads.


too bad the trapper doesn't see much use, it's sorta a safe queen, the boys have used it some, but I bought it used and it looked like it had just come from the factory, pre safety version.


love that little gun, but would love it more if it was a beater.

That's an easy mod.

Used to have a semi auto 44 carbine. Was a great "boat gun".
It was a perfect little brush gun for the deer on Kodiak. Of course there were a few times I sure wished I had something a LOT bigger, (lost two nice bucks to bears), and also several times that I wish I'd had a scope for some of the shots I had to pass up. All in all, it was a great little gun for what it was designed to do. I sold it about 20 years ago, many times I wish I still had it!

Little Marlin 1894's are one of the handiest rifles out there, esp in 44 mag. Try the 300 grain Federal Cast Core.

The Marlin 1894 44 mags were made with 2 types of rifling and twist rates.

The older micro groove rifled barrels were 1-38" twist and do not stabilize heavy or cast bullets well. The newer models with 1-16" twist ballard rifling do.

I talked to a gold miner who carried a lever action
In 454 Casul
I asked what he used it for, he replied "Whatever I Want".
whelennut

I saw one of these the other day for sale:

http://www.winchesterguns.com/products/catalog/detail.asp?family=022C&mid=534194

Any one know what the R.O.T. (1:26) will handle? At 6#'s, it sure felt nice and svelte!

My M94 Trapper had been a 454 when Down Under in Fairbanks picked it up on a trade. They rebarrelled it to OEM spec and sold it at a good price. Apparently in was either fired very little in the 454 configuration, or the M94 is a pretty stout action. It ain't broke or worn out yet. Mostly she just runs 300-320 cast bullets at around 1500-1600 fps these days.

I have the Marlin 1894 in 44 mag, and it has the micro-groove rifling. I tried some pretty hot loads with the Remington 240 JHP and they were keyholing at about 50 ft. Switched to the Winchester 240 gr jacketed soft point (plain white box factory load) and 5 went into a tiny little group. Who would have guessed?

I really like the little carbine, but my lesson was to try different bullets to find out what my gun likes. I plan to try out some of the Hornady 300 gr XTPs. I figure it's even money whether they'll stabilize or not. But we'll just have to see.

All of these loads shoot great in my 6" S&W model 629. Go figure.

I used to load my 444 Marlin with Noslers 250 gr. Partition Handgun bullets with very good accuracy (3/4" 3 shots at 100 yards)and they also shot very well in my RSBH 44 Mag....

never did shoot any game with the 444 Marlin, sold it in the summer of '07 to a guy at work along with about 50 of my handloads, and he ended up shooting a forkhorn bull moose at 150 yards (his estimate) the bullet flattened (DOA, DRT, KBD) the young bull and the bullet passed through with a nice exit hole..