I think we could quote the old hot rodders saying on this one,
'there is no replacement for displacement'.


Steve E..........

"Leverguns in 357 Mag are about the most fun you can have with your pants on. Although a 44-40 comes close."



Not from me ... look it up at Paco Kelly´s Leverguns Forums.

Hermann

I like my Winchester .357 Lever Rifle. I wouldn't mind buying another in .44 Mag....and a Marlin .22 lever rifle....and a Marlin .45/70

quote:

Originally posted by Donald Nelson:

quote:

Originally posted by jimatcat:
you guys may be shooting the rifles wrong... the cresent buttplate is designed to fit your arm, where a flat buttplate is supposed to go closer into your shoulder...try moving the cresent out on your arm, and change your feet... it may help, i know it did for me...

This statement is exactly correct. Move that butt down between your shoulder and bicep. I don't know why they did it on big bores but the old squirrel rifles were that way because it worked better for shooting up into a tree especially if you are sitting.

Both above statements are correct. It also helps to "lock" the rifle in the firing position, when shooting rapid fire at bandits...

If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

quote:

If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

The problem is "Many", but Not ALL. I shoot 245 grain cast Keith Style bullets out of my 1894 Marlin and am extremely happy with the results. Not saying that individual rifles can't be or aren't finicky about the bullets they shoot best, but one aspect I have discovered over the years and this is true of most rifles, regardless the action type.

With handloads, too many folks are prone to loading the shells too hot. Instead of starting at the low end of the powder charges listed and checking to see how the gun reacts as the step ups in velocity are reached, they will start at or near the maximum loadings listed, not realizing that they are or maybe pushing a particular style/design/type of bullet too fast for the rifling of that particular gun. JMO, however I have noticed that all my rifles tend to have their best accuracy at the lower to mid level loadings.

quote:

Originally posted by L. Rivard:
If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

Not when you match the bullet to the bore. I found that a relatively hard bullet of proper size, which for mine was .431". YMMV.

I've been loading .38 Spl. for about 30-odd years, and having built up a profuse supply I decided a rifle in .357/.38 would make sense. I picked up a Rossi M92- and I wasn't disappointed. My standard .38 load (4.5 grains of Unique, 158 cast) chronos right at 1000 FPS- which for me makes it a perfect substitute for .22RF. Quite, cheap, and shoots straight enough out to 100 yards or so.

I had a Rossi some years ago in .44-40, and the .357 shoots a lot straighter. I think the .44-40 had a much slower rifling twist. Don't know what the twist in the .44 Mag is, but if it's 1:38" like the .44 WCF was, the .357's going to have an advantage as the range gets longer.

Porosonik.

Chrono-ed some Remington factory 125JHP through it the other day. 2100FPS+. Seems like enough to get the job done on smaller deer, given proper shot placement and range limitations- but a JFP would probably be a better choice for that sort of thing.

I'd like to have a lever 44mag but stomping around the farm where the shot could be 25-200 yards my dad's hand-me-down marlin in 35 rem does the job for everything, 357 size 200gr projectile but with a sledge hammer charge. BTW: holding my dad's gun he bought new right after his honeymoon in 57'..... priceless

Elmer Keith once told me that "I can always load a 44 down to 357 power levels..."

Or to state it another way:

"Big guns can be loaded down to little gun levels, but little guns will always be little guns."

quote:

Originally posted by L. Rivard:
If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

There are two styles of rifling in Marlin rifles: "micro groove" and "Ballard," generally speaking, the micro groove ones don't shoot cast bullets very well, unless you use a really hard alloy and keep the velocity on the low side. The Ballard rifle almost always shoots cast just fine. My 1894 has the Ballard type rifling, and it will put ten rounds of 240 gr SWC into 2-3" at 100 yards. All if the 1894s now have the Ballard rifling. I'm not sure which older ones were micro groove.

Go big or go home!!!!
http://www.bighornarmory.com/

quote:

Originally posted by PAPI:
How about a " Lever Action Shotgun " ... ?
http://coyotecap.com/index.html

A. Shot for Small Game.
B. Slugs for defensive purposes.
C. A source for decent Ammo should be no problem.
D. It's still a " Lever Action "..

PAPI

The 1887 Winchester comes to mind. Copied today by Norinco.

quote:

Originally posted by L. Rivard:
If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

My 1972 shoots cast to the same poi as jacketed and with the same accurasy.
Boolit fit is the key!
One thing to ponder though is: The Marlin 94 has a 1:38" twist and does not stabilise more than 265-270gr bullets.

quote:

Originally posted by kjjm4:

quote:

Originally posted by L. Rivard:
If the poster is concidering Marlin M94 rifles, please be advised that many of the 44 mags are quite inaccurate with cast bullets. The one I had would shoot jacketed bullets quite well, but was wildly inaccurate with cast. It went down the road.

There are two styles of rifling in Marlin rifles: "micro groove" and "Ballard," generally speaking, the micro groove ones don't shoot cast bullets very well, unless you use a really hard alloy and keep the velocity on the low side. The Ballard rifle almost always shoots cast just fine. My 1894 has the Ballard type rifling, and it will put ten rounds of 240 gr SWC into 2-3" at 100 yards. All if the 1894s now have the Ballard rifling. I'm not sure which older ones were micro groove.

Mine is a 12 micro groove and shoots cast just fine.

http://www.marlinowners.com/fo...-dimensions-doc1.pdf