Home Forums Lever Action Central Marlin Talk Marlin'84 microgroove 44 Magnum.

Just acquired one in very good condition. By the serial # it looks to be of 1968 vintage.

Considering the vast array of commercial 44 mag ammo and I believe a 1:38 twist, I have two questions not easily found on the 'net.

How strong is this action; i. e., can it digest Buff Bore or other very heavy loads? And secondly, for those who have and use them what commercial loading -- weight, etc -- have you found that shoots "well" and is a good deer load?

Thanks.

Typo: of course it's a model '94.

I sold my Marlin 1894 because it would not group well with any bullets heavier than 200 grains. Blame it on the rifle, slow twist, or micro-groove rifling. Three inch groups at 100 yards with these 200 grainers were common shooting the Hornady ammo. Hornady bullets are sized .430 which was accurate enough to down several deer for me. Most 44 MAG bullets measure .429 which may be too small for micro-groove rifling. I traded for a RUGER carbine with 1:20 twist and never looked back.

I hope that you have better luck with your 1894 than I did with mine.

Sherwood

Not all Marlin 44's are '94's.

there are 336 44's out there.........

not sure why............

336 was first made in 44mg but was hard to make long stroke 336es work with short cases so they brought 94s back . 94s were 44-40 & 38-40 rifles

Does anybody have a '94 44 that shoots?!

mine shoots great and i've taken a lot of pigs and deer with it.
when you step up to a rifle, much of the knowledge of .357
and .44 magnum pistol loading has to go away. the rifles have
way more soup than a pistol does and are plenty for larger game.
unless i'm mistaken SAAMI spec for a .44 mag rifle is different
than for a pistol. i know that .429 bullets are pretty much useless
for any of mine. i use at least a .430 jacketed and a .433 cast
or i can't get any kind of accuracy at all. smaller cast lead will
foul the bore terribly and sometimes tumble. you will probably
be best off to slug the bore and see what you have and go from there.

Ranger, you mention using "jacketed bullets of at least .430." A quick look shows Hornady makes a bunch of them but have you used any of a greater diameter than that and if so who makes them? Thank you.

try hor 430xtphp an 24gr h110 or 23 h110 with a 240tl lee cast falls out of my mould at 431 tumble lube an shoot no sizeing

Ok, thanks for the suggestions.

My hunting partner had good luck with his Marlin 1894SS 44mag loading 22.0grs of LilGun with a Speer 240gr. SP. He is getting cloverleaf groups at 50yds. I have good luck in my Marlin 1894C 357mag with 16.0grs of H110 and a Speer 158gr SP.

Not a Marlin, but I had a Winchester 94 trapper with the same 1-38" twist. Surprisingly enough, it shot well with the 300 grain Hornady XTP despite the slow twist. This is just off the top of my head, a 15 year old memory, so y' better check, but I'm pretty sure the load was 20 grains of H110. Seat to the front cannelure. 270 grain Speer flat point is another good choice.

The point is, don't assume failure, try the heavier bullets, try .429 & .430, theory is great but what actually happens when you pull the trigger is what truly matters.

Tom

I bought a new one in 2008.
Dunno what kind of rifling it had.
Slapped a scope on it and got sub 2" @100 yards.
Ammo was 240gr Hornady "Custom".

It shot good enough I didn't try anything else in it.

My 1976 shoots Winny white box 240gr JHP's into 1.5" at 5oyrds with a peep sight.
Plenty accurate for the back yard Whitetail I take every year or two.

The SAAMI spec for the 44 mag is the same for hand guns and rifles.

My Marlin (1976 manufacture) shoots Hornady XTP 240 grain (.430 diameter) in front of 20 grains of 2400 into 1.5" to 2" groups at 100 yards. Will also shoot leadhead 250 grain Keith hardcast sized .430 with same powder load into same size groups.

I am surprised you are getting the Keith bullets to feed in a Marlin 1894.

I was too but they feed slick as can be. Had another 1894 several years ago that would feed them but several others I have tried wouldn't.