I'm thinkin' of buyin' another Marlin Lever Action this weekend. I already have a 45 Colt, 30/30, and 45/70. What pistol cartridge rifle should I get? I have a 357 and a 44 mag pistol, but don't know which would be best. I tend to like to shoot the 357 more because of accuracy. Which should I get?

I feel that .357s out of lever guns are the more accurate out of .44mag & 357mag but in staying true to the faith.I'd have to say lets faceit the .44 has a hell ova punch at the delivering end

If you handload, the 1894C in 357 is about as much fun as you can have legally. No, it does not have the ME of a 44 mag, but it has 25% of the recoil and gives true varmint level velocities in the 2100 to 2500 fps range with 110 to 125 gr bullets. Still, it works fine at woods ranges with 158 gr softpoints at 1800 fps for deer.

The most fun, however, is medium weight HPs at moderate velocities...my favorite is 7.9 grs of Tightgroup with the Sierra 140 grainer at 1600 fps. No recoil, low noise and still nearly 800 FP that compares favorably to some hot and hard to handle revolver loads.

I have a Marlin in .357 and it functions well. One factor to be aware of is that the Marlin is picky about over all loaded length of the 357 cartridge. If it is a bit too long it will jam and can be a real pain to clear.

You'll probably have more fun with the 357 Marlin 1894. I've owned both 357 & 44 versions, either are nice, the 44 kicks a good bit more and is more picky accuracy wise. My 357 was very accurate with jacket bullets but not cast. I prefer the pre-safety/pre-warning models. For low cost plain fun shooting, nothing beats a Marlin lever action.

It's just a matter of personal preference. I've had both .357 and .44 Mag leverguns and both were fun and light carbines.

I will say the .44 Mag really comes alive out of a rifle. It hits HARD and is a fantastic deer/hog round at 100 yards or under. They do have recoil though in the full-power loads... I had a .44 Mag Ruger M77/44 that a friend and I both swore kicked as hard as my .450 Marlin (7.25 lbs) in side by side tests (the M77/44 was the stainless/synth model and only weighed like 5.5 lbs)!