Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Review...New 1894 Classic in 44 Mag

Just ran 100 rounds through the new Ruger built Marlin 1894. I was shooting 9.8 gr & 10.0 gr of Unique behind a Missouri Bullet 240 gr TCFP in Starline brass. First impressions are so-so.

Pros:
Accuracy was good and the bore was able to stabilize the cast bullet unlike my Rossi 92 with its larger bore size.
Fit and finish was decent. Bluing on the barrel was shinier than the matte receiver.

Cons:
Trigger broke around 4.5 lbs. However, it had some creep in it that was noticeable, almost like a two-stage trigger.
Rounds were hanging up from time to time when coming out of the follower and being presented to the elevator. OAL on the rounds were 1.600 and being a truncated-cone flat-point, they shouldn't have had any issues. The ejection area of the receiver was as sharp as a utility knife.
The lever was smooth enough but wasn't what I would call smooth. I also noticed that the lever was wanting to open after the shot. It could have been that 10.0 gr of Unique was too much for this chamber. I have not chrono'ed the loads yet.

With that said, I also have a recent production Rossi 92 in .44 Mag. I have to say that the Rossi has it beat in the areas of feeding and extraction. The trigger on the Rossi was better than the Marlin. The Rossi has an oversized chamber which causes some minor "Glock" bulging. Price wise, I feel the Rossi is a better bang for the buck provided you size your cast bullets to its bore.

Thanks for the report. It certainly seems the revolver cartridge lever guns can be a fickle bunch.

Not uncommon for them to need polished up to inprove feed and trigger pull.

What he said ^^^^^^^

http://marauder.homestead.com/files/TUNING_M_1894.htm

Thanks for the review. Hopefully it slicks up over time.

I owned a Marlin 1894 in 44MAG for several decades but traded for a RUGER 96 when this amazing carbine was introduced. The wood is plain but accuracy, reliability, trigger, and twist rate are far superior to my old Marlin. Cartridges feed from a clip type magazine. I have always admired the 336 model very much but the 1894 model is not worth it to me. - Sherwood

Wow! Talk about serendipity. I was just going here to post a question regarding the Marlin 1894 vs the Rossi 92. Thanks!

I've been having a love/hate thing with 44 Mag for a while.

44 Mag: It won't leave me alone

Well, I thought I'd finally gotten that under control and I was in the LGS the other day and saw a Rossi 92 Stainless. I couldn't help myself. Much to my surprise, I could actually see the sights on this thing. I haven't been able to shoot off irons effectively in 30 years, but I guess the chemo knocked my eyesight around. Those 92 sights were perfect.

I'm thinking a 24-inch octagonal barrel.

$1000 seems like an awful lot of money for a crude gun that doesn't function properly. But, it's a Ruger, so that's what I'd expect.

Agreed Paul. Had I known prior to the purchase what I know now, I probably would have passed. The "sell" for me was it's looks. Ruger did a great job on fit and finish. I'll play with it some more and go from there. If it's still double-feeding, it's going back to Ruger/Marlin.

I have a couple 44 Mag rifles, 10 gr Unique isn’t a heavy load, in my opinion. One of my 44’s was manufactured by Remington "Marlin". It is in all respects a fine rifle. I too appreciate your review. I’m considering adding a 357 lever and am not sure which way to go.

Picked up a new Ruger Marlin yesterday from Bass Pro. It was in the used gun rack that BP had bought from a gun store that had gone out of business. They couldn’t sell it as New In Box so that’s why it was on the used rack. Anyway 10% off for Monday on any purchase, another 10% off for using Cabelas card and 5% off for Military discount. Out the door at BP for $647…….Score!!!

We’ll see how it turns out….

Great score. That’s a heck of a deal.

You got a deal!

To follow up on my original post, I took my new 1894 Classic in .44 Mag back out yesterday. I tried various loads in it this time using cup and core bullets. The rifle seemed to run much better this time around. The only exception was the occasional hiccup where the cartridge isn't being fully presented to the elevator. This could've been me running the lever easy. The trigger is still gritty with some creep...It almost feels like a two-stage trigger. All in all, I'll cheap shooting it. Some of the loads I tried yesterday:

9.8 Unique with a 240 gr flat nose: This load was a hammer and registered with the sights at 25 yards
12.1 gr Unique with a 200 gr XTP: Decent load, shot high and right from sights
23.9 gr H110 with 240 gr XTP: A full-house load

I think Ruger did a great job on the wood with this rifle. It's the best looking lever out there currently in my opinion.