Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Leaver gun 44 or 45???

If you were buying a pistol cart. Lever gun what would you buy a 44 mag. Or a 45 colt had me wondering. What say the fire?

I bought a 45 Colt to match the revolvers and simplify my component gathering.
If I was relying on factory ammo and didn't already have a 45 , a 44mag would make better sense for my uses.
There's no wrong choice.

Over 25 years ago I bought a Mod. 94 Win. in caliber .44 mag. from a buddy. It is a slick little light weight 10 shot power house. My wife liked it for her berry picking trips. I got a good deal on it and it has proven to be a reliable rifle with the 280 grain hard cast LBT's I loaded for it.

If you load your own ammo the .45 Colt would be my first choice, knowing what I know now. If you are shooting factory ammo I would go with the .44 as I see more of it on dealers shelves. I think if one is using similar powder charges and same weight bullets the .45 Colt makes a slightly bigger hole at similar velocities and does so at less pressure. I also heard the Mod. 92 Win. or Browning copy or a Marlin made for pistol cartridges is a bit more reliable in the feeding area, but have had no problem with the Mod. 94 we have.

#1) I’d match my rifle to whatever pistols I have or are wanting to buy.

#2) 45 Colt. You’re going to have to reload anyway, might as well be for the Colt.

Thinking about the 45, as I do reload. Also thinking about going with a Henry rifle. Thanks for the info.

I know nothing about the Henry but I highly recommend the 45 Colt in either the Marlin 1894 or the Rossi 92. Of the two the Rossi is the strongest action, the Marlin can be scoped. My marlin has seen 100s of rounds of 300 grain hardcast at 1600. I’m not recommending it, but it does it with no pressure signs at all and will penetrate long ways through a 300 pound pig while being accurate enough to have several squirrels to its name.

I also load cheap rounds at around 12 cents each for plinking and general shooting. This load also has a pig to its name, although not as impressive.

Have 'em both in Marlin's

flip a coin....

saddlering, I have a Henry in .45 Colt. Very nice rifle with 20" round barrel, not octagon. Easily scoped if you decide on that. It goes with my two .45 Colt revolvers[Italian replicas].

I would recommend 45 Colt to a handloader. But I suspect that for 98% of loads and shooters you'd not be able to tell much if any difference between the two. Loading up 350+gr cast bullets with 110/296 in a 45 Colt rifle, it begins to look more like a 45/70 than anything smaller.

Spot on. My loading has shown that 360g with H110 is the breaking point. Anything heavier and you can’t get enough powder in the Colt case.

I like my Henry BBS 16” a bunch so far. Not as light or svelte as the Win. 94 I had, but so far, it’s been quite accurate and does a very good job with heavy loads, per it’s weight, stock dimensions, and ample recoil pad.
A Winchester or Marlin may handle longer bullets better. I had to do a little filing on the lifter to get it to feed 270-SAA’s, which is likely the only bullet the rifle will ever see. They feed like they’re greased now.
I actually wanted a Marlin this past go round. Handled two new ones and they were both fine examples of a complete and total lack of Q.C. If I wanted a new one, I’d wait till Ruger gets them in production. Otherwise, I’d do like everyone else and scour the inter web looking for a Marlin from way back when they had their crap together.

Being as you handload I'd go 45 Colt, if not .44.

In regards to the Henry, the sample of one I've handled was very nice. It belongs to my SIL's dad. He asked me to load for him. In my research on the strength of the Henry I ended up emailing the company. Their reply was their rifle could handle any factory loads on the market to include Garrett and Buffalo Bore. I ended up loading him 250 gr. Hornady XTP bullets over Lil' Gun in Starline brass.

He's used this combo in N.H. the last two years. Results, two shots, two dead deer. Shots were between 50-100 yards, no trailing job needed.

I'd go .45...-70.

45 colt in my trapper

Check the twist on whatever you pick. Some for both cartridges still have 1-38” and might not stabilize everything you want to shoot.

I like my Browning 1892 .44Mag. No safety, just like the original

45 Colt! 300gr Speer Deep Curls running 1550fps kill on one end and maim on the other end of my Rossi 92. They also shoot well from my two other rifles and from my Blackhawk.

Thanks, Dinny

Yup, mighty fine little rifles.

In today's climate, whichever you can buy at a reasonable price.
In the long term, both.
Factor in what you have on hand already, and that 44 mag is easier to find.

Do they load 45colt factory to modern specs?

I picked up one of them Marlin 1894 SBL 44 mag

For reloaders... The Henry 45C Steel & X models will take Ruger pressures and have a 1:18 twist. This is fast considering most others are 1:38. A 1:18 can stabilize a swagged down a 405g, .458” cast bullet to .452”. I shoot mine with BluDot for sub-sonic at about 1010 fps. The Speer .451” 300g jacketed SP will near harvest timber at close range, about 1600 fps with 296 or Lil’Gun powder.

Help me understand gents. What does reloading have to do with the selection? If you reload, you can reload either 44 mag or 45 colt. Reloading 45 colt brings it up to typical 44 mag performance, maybe more. Reloading 44 mag generally exceeds reloaded 45 colt performance. In the end, reloading makes them a wash IMO. To the OP, my choice would be 44 mag as there are more off the shelf options available. Plus there are off the shelf 44 special options ranging from extremely mild to almost light 44 mag level. There are no 45 colt specials as a standard load. Though 45 colt "cowboy" loads are available which are on par with 44 special loads.

If you reload and the firearm is rated for it, 45C energy spec's can be brought up to par with the 44 Mag with the advantage of a larger dia. Yes, there at commercial 45C +P rounds but they are limited.

Larger diameter. That’s 22 thousandths larger. I personally don’t think that’s significant for in application. Hunting, target, or self defense.

That’s saying the .243 is the same as the 6.5, and the 6.5 is equal to the 7mm, etc. (.244-.264-.284-.308). I find those to be significant steps.

The only point in bringing reloading into the conversation is that the 45 Colt is a BAD choice if you don’t reload. The 44 is far more versatile off the shelf.

I don't know how much you guys really hunt or shoot pigs with your 44 mag. because the main reason I had to get away from magnums, 357 or 44 is the magnum crack ! I am old now and it would almost drop me to my knees to fire off a few to see if I was on with that pistol . I started shooting 45"s and can shoot all day w/o plugs. I shoot 38 and 44 s in my mags now, it's so much more fun now a 45 long. I also carry matching levers with pistols.

my Rifle is a 44 marlin.it shoots 44 mag and 44 special very good..

As a percentage, the steps pointed out above are more significant than the step from .429 to .452. Imagine adding 2 caliber to a 50 cal, vs 2 caliber to a 17. Big relative difference!

Regardless of whether one goes with the 44 Mag or the 45 Colt, you must either handload or be wealthy to be more than a casual shooter!

Hello, this is my first post here. However, I have about 50 years of history using firearms.

In my opinion, the .45 Colt is the best choice these days for several reasons.

1) The rifling twist in most lever guns in .45 Colt is faster than in .44 magnum rifles, ensuring better bullet stabilization. The 1894 Marlin is pretty slow at 1:38, although it has worked well for me with 270 grain Speer Gold Dots at 100 yards with Ballard rifling. The Marlin 1894 uses a 1:38 for .45 Colt though, but others like Henry are 1:16.

2) The groove diameter SAAMI standards allow makers to produce over-bored .44 magnum rifles, unlike .44 magnum revolvers. The last that I owned slugged at .432" when the Hornaday bullets that I was loading were the standard .430". Not conducive to accuracy, and creates headaches for cast bullet loading. The .45 Colt 1894 Marlin that I own has a normal .452" groove diameter, as do most other rifles.

3) The modern .45 Colt functions perfectly in most rifles, thanks to the fouling groove ahead of the rim, which makes it a semi-rimless cartridge of sorts with the typical sharp beak extractors of most lever guns. It feeds and extracts as well as .44 Magnum and .44-40.

4) The .45 Colt can be hand loaded to .44 magnum velocities in rifles that also are chambered for .44 magnum, using the same bullet weights. As a bonus, the greater volume of the case creates lower chamber pressures. So a 240 grain .44 magnum load that generates 35,000 PSI, will generate about 25,000 PSI in an equivalent velocity load in .45 Colt.

My 1894 Marlin in .45 Colt has that 1:38 twist.

It favors 225 grain factory loads over 250 grain factory Cowboy loads.

Coke or Pepsi, Ford or Chevy, Ginger or Maryanne, Marlin or Henry, 44 Mag or 45 Colt (please, for gosh's sake, just don't call it long colt), blond or brunette, 9mm or 45 ACP .....

All of those are apples to apples except one ... only one. It's apples to oranges.

And when anything is apples to apples ... there is no one sure answer.

However ... as someone with over 50 years of firearms experience and one who has reloaded for almost that long and as one who was shooting leverguns and wheel guns just out of diapers being half Texan with a calvaryman for a Grandfather and a cowgirl for a Mother .... I'd go with 44 Mag/44 Special.

See what I did there? And Saddlegun is not wrong ... he's just biased. He didn't tell the whole other side of the story.

One more thing - just food for thought take it for what it's worth.

I am really good friends with a couple of gun shop indoor range owners ... one in SC and one in NC. About once a month I'd swing by each and pick-up a couple of 5 gallon buckets of brass they'd save for me (out of many they have per month they both set a couple of buckets aside for me each month ... I dunno why, just because I'm likeable and we served together I guess) ... and when I sort that brass, and I have sorted 100s of 1000s of pieces of brass (it tells you a lot about what people are shooting and what is the most popular range brass, etc., etc., etc., for every caliber/cartridge) ... and admittedly I got way behind sorting so I had several 55 gallon trash cans slam full of range brass out in my barn that I never got around to sorting until just this past year ....

Bottom line ... I guarantee you there is easily 20x more 44 Mag brass to be found in random range brass than there is 45 Colt brass. Easily. It's not even close. Is some of that Desert Eagle spit brass? I'm sure. Is some of it Dirty Harry wanna-bes ... no doubt. But the fact remains, and I am not embellishing, if anything I am probably leaning to the conservative side with my guesstimate ... there is 20x more 44 Mag brass than there is 45 Colt brass in a few years worth of random range brass hauls from two different gun stores in two different states. One in West Columbia, SC and the other in Wilmington, NC.

And I'll add this. While my 1894 CB in 45 Colt is a fun gun and it goes well with my Vaquero ... I have killed more pigs with my 1894P in 44 Mag (shorty, ported) using nothing more than inexpensive Winchester White Box 240 grain JSP Value Packs from Wally World and I have never not recovered a pig I hit with one of those. And that little 1894P may not be as pretty paired with my Model 29 as the 1894 CB is with the Vaquero or the 1894 CB LTD is with the S&W 686 in 357/38 ... but I always grab the 1894P first. Always.

It's pie plate accurate which is all you'll ever wanna ask from a straight-walled pistol caliber cartridge levergun out to 100 yards. Anything else is pie in the sky.

Does it thump a little harder ... maybe. But that's what limbsavers are for.

If the mouth starts to crack a bit from reloading too many times you know what you do? You trim it down and load it for 44 Special and keep going. You'll get twice as many reloading out of your brass with 44 Mag than you will 45 Colt.

Also ... if you're going-to cast boolits and reload for either, you're going-to slug your barrels and resize your boolits accordingly for both. Show me a 45 Colt factory load as viable, as effective and as affordable as the Winchester White Box Value Pack 44 Mag 240 gr JSPs ... there's not one. Show me a dozen different factory loaded hunting and personal defense loads for the 45 Colt ... there's not. But there are for the 44 Mag.

Both are fine fine loads, calibers, cartridges and you can't go wrong with a JM stamped Marlin or a Henry Big Boy ... I own rifles in both calibers.

You have to decide for yourself based upon everything you know.