This will give you an idea about recoil for a variety of calibers and rifle weights.


https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

 

My 1894 .357 feels like an M1 carbine. My 1894 .44 mag feels like my 30-30.

AC

 

I own a .22 Magnum lever carbine, several .357 Magnum lever carbines, a .41 Magnum lever carbine, and a .44 Magnum lever carbine. I shoot all of them, and I am here to tell you there is a difference between the two you're asking about. But, perceived recoil is subjective, so... you're going to have to shoot a .44 Mag Marlin 1894 (they all weigh about the same, and the two stock designs are similar in comb height) to determine the answer for yourself.

There are things you can do to mitigate heavier recoil such as shoot .44 Specials or handload your own cartridges in either Special or Magnum brass. Lighter bullets may produce less felt recoil but to a point, for example a commercially-loaded 300 grain .44 Mag load produces no more felt recoil than a commercially-loaded 240 grain load, but that is due to a couple of different factors such as the heavier bullet making the cartridge more efficient, the burn rate of the powder used, yadda yadda blah blah blah...

If you think you want an SBL, I say go for it. Get into reloading, too. The SBL has to be one of the coolest lever carbines of all time. It's like a Guide Gun but without the mind-numbing recoil of the .45-70 Government cartridge. .44 Magnum is sufficient for nearly any game in North America when loaded with the right bullet for the occasion.

 

I have a .357 1894C and an 1894 44 mag. Yes the 44 has a bit of a thump to it compared to the .357. I do hand load and load the 44 down (.357 as well with a 158gr) a little with a 240 gr bullet, that makes them easier on the shoulder. I've shot specials through it, but i seem to shoot a lot more mags. The .357 is more economical, less powder and cheaper bullets. There's no shame in using a slip over recoil pad on the 44, I've done that and it makes a difference. The 44 mag 1894 is a great rifle, really fun to shoot.

 

The 357 has very mild recoil and is quite pleasant to shoot even for children and in-experienced shooters.
The 44 mag will let you know you have shot a rifle. The comparison to a 30-30 is appropriate, or to low brass loads in a 12 ga shotgun. Not awful, but you will not miss that the rifle fired. My 1894 is much better than my friend's 92 Browning and better than my 92 Rossi-- both with steel recoil pads.

 

First up, welcome to Marlin Owners.

If you're recoil shy you might consider a recoil reducing system for rifle such as the following:https://graco-corp.com/
For rifle: https://graco-corp.com/product/gc15r-gracoil/

A friend installed one on his rifle and it does work (35% - 40% felt recoil reduction) and is pleasing aesthetically. You can dial it in to various loads as well. I've never been recoil shy but an old neck injury is beginning to bother me with heavy recoil. I'm putting a GraCoil on my 444P so I can shoot more rounds minus neck problems.

Jack

 

Thanks everyone.

I'll see if I can find a range around here that has a 44 carbine. When I bought my 12 gauge, I went out and bought a Limbsaver for when I shot 00 buck. The 357 just felt buttery smooth, so maybe I'm not as recoil conscious as I thought. We'll see!

 

I bet the limbsaver will do the trick. Nice simple fix.

 

Jlomb436, welcome to MO from Midcoast Maine.

I find it interesting that if bothers you to shoot your AR. My experience with AR-15's is that the recoil is almost nothing, but, the "thump" from shooting a gun with a flash hider (or any ported rifle) in an enclosed area can be a little overbearing. Some ranges are designed to keep noise in, and those that do make it even more pronounced. Have you tried using a linear compensator? I installed a Noveske KX3 5.56 (Flaming pig) Flash Hider and it made it much nicer to shoot. It does push quite a bit of the pressure wave and noise down range.

 

Here is a recoil chart.

https://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

 

No offense to the OP, but you sound like an inexperienced shooter. An AR-15 shouldn't rattle your teeth. Are you holding the butt pad FIRMLY against your shoulder? Are you raising the rifle up high enough on your shoulder (as opposed to lowering your head and sort of craning your neck to get your eye lined up with the sights)? The butt pad should NOT just be resting against your shoulder, you should pull the entire rifle firmly into your shoulder. I'm a tall guy with a tall guy long neck. I said that to say this - proper hold for me with every long gun I own has only about 2/3 of the butt pad in contact with my shoulder. The upper 1/3 of the butt pad doesn't touch anything.

National Shooting Sports Foundation has a youtube channel where all these sorts of things are covered. In particular, Ryan Cleckner (former Army sniper) has quite a number of videos where this sort of thing is covered.

Granted, we all have different tolerance for recoil, and there's no shame in whatever your recoil limit happens to be. But I also think you're probably doing things wrong if a .223 is giving you problems. It is definitely worth the effort to try and determine if your form is bad because a .44 mag would just be a better choice than a .357 for the purpose you have in mind (as a defensive rifle). That's nothing against .357, because a lot of guys have killed a lot of black bear and white tail deer with a .357. But if it comes down to you having to defend your life against an aggressive black bear from close range, .44 mag is a MUCH better choice in that circumstance. For self defense, I'd much rather throw a 240 grain pill at 1600-1700 fps than a 180 grain pill at 1300-1400 fps.

 

44 mag shooting 240's has double the recoil of a 357 shooting 158's

 

Assume you're talking about a Mossberg 500 pump w/ 12 ga 00 buck. I shoot big bore and load some of my guns to max pressure. Think you'd find the 44 mag out of a carbine to be about 2/3 of the recoil

12 ga 00 buck. I would have no problem shooting the 44 mag carbine all day long. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the lack of recoil especially compared to a 44 mag in a handgun. Good luck.​

 

Yes, in my opinion the 44 has SUBSTANTIAL, recoil compared to the 357!

 

Agree. The 44mag pushes about twice the bullet - so the recoil will be about doubled.

But as many others here have pointed out.... The bump from recoil is only a small part of your perception of the recoil a gun makes.

Muzzle blast makes perceived recoil intensify significantly.

An AR with an aggressive muzzle brake can really blast you. It can rattle your brain in an indoor range where they have the hard dividers between lanes and it tunnels all the blast right back on top of you. . I have seen guys wear ear plugs under muffs because of it. Shoot the same rifle with no muzzle brake outdoors and it’s a totally different experience.

Another factor the powder used and how completely the powder charge burns inside the barrel. The smaller fireball that comes out of the muzzle - the less muzzle blast and hence lower perceived recoil. The newer “Low flash” 223 rounds are designed for more complete burn inside the barrel - and drastically reduce muzzle blast while still running the same velocities as regular ammo. The 357 also benefits from this as commercial ammo is designed around pistols with relatively short barrels compared to rifles - so they hardly have any muzzle blast fireball out of even an 18” barrel rifle. The opposite of this is trying to shoot Military Mosin Nagant 7.62x54R ammo out of a carbine and seeing a 10 foot fireball blast out of the muzzle - perceived recoil is huge vs the long barrel 91/30’s while shooting the same ammo simply because of the blast from that huge fireball...

 

I knew the 44 mag would have more recoil than my .357 but I have to admit that I was a bit surprised by how much more.

I had gotten the .44 with the intent of letting my daughter use if for deer as a step up from the .357 but she opted for a 30-30 this year instead.

 

Oddly enough, the .44 mag and 30-30 share about the same amount of recoil energy, but the 30-30 seems to have more of a push, whereas the 44 has more of a smack. The 30-30 feels smoother but shares about the same recoil.

 

I don't even notice the perceived recoil from my marlin 1894 .44 Mag.

I can't compare it to the .357 since I don't shoot that caliber, but for me, I can shoot it all day long and have no negative reaction to it.

Of course, being on the close end of 300 lbs. may give me an advantage in padding! :laugh:

As I always like to say: "embrace the recoil - become one with it".

Gr8rtst.

 

If an AR is too much recoil I would stick with the 357/38 combo or consider a 22 win mag.

 

Agree with all. I was surprised how stout the 44 is compared to the 357. Not bad but you know you've shot a big bore.
The AR's don't really have much recoil, but the movement of the buffer is very mechanical and can be a bit jarring.
The 1894c in 357 is a comfortable rifle to shoot, in 38 spl its a *****cat.

 

Everyone is different in what they think is heavy recoil. The recoil tables are a guide but not the final answer. Perceived recoil or "felt" recoil can vary. I had a Remington 700 ADL in 270 that had lots of recoil. It was felt more using 130 gr bullets than my Savage 30-06 with 180 gr bullets. I then bought a SACO 270. Shooting them with the same loads, the Saco had about 1/3 less felt recoil. The weight of the rifle scope combo's was almost the same. I feel some gun/stock designs are more ergonomic than others.
And, for some people, wearing ear plugs plus ear muffs seems to make the recoil less noticeable.

 

I have an 1894 44 Mag and find recoil more unpleasant than my 30-30's and 35 Rem's, I believe it is because it is quite a bit lighter. A soft recoil pad (Limbsaver, Kick-eez) makes quite a difference. I shoot light 308's quite a bit and light 45-70, 358 Win and 300 Win Mag on occasion so recoil is not unfamiliar, but I do find that recoil spring rattle in the buttstock of my AR's very annoying. Not an AR thread, but there are remedies. Good recoil pads make a difference on everything bigger than the 22-250 or 357. I have a 16" Rossi 357 that is fun with 38 Special, much more pleasant than the 44 Mag. Bullet weight and rifle weight are big factors in recoil. Noise and muzzle blast both affect perceived recoil greatly. Having fun shooting is different than requirements for hunting or self-defense from critters, whatever kind.

 

well my 92 Rossi in 357 recoil is a joke. the 44 mag with lite lead loads very lite. full load 44 mag not to bad. save those cases! someday you will reload.

 

The first two guns I ever fired were a 12 ga. and a Ruger red pad model M-77 in 7 mm Mag. All things I have shot since are compared to those. The only three I have shot with more recoil are the Weatherby 338/378, Full house 45/70 and 444. The 44 mag is child's play to those.

I have 3 Marlin 44's in 336-44, 1894SS and 1894 CB LTD. I also have a Ruger Carbine. I love them all.
I also have 2 Marlin .357 mags an 1894SS and an 1894 CB LTD and they are sweet hearts. I can't wait to shoot the .38 special 1894 CBC.

If you want a big bore with low recoil go old school and get you a 44/40, to me they feel like a .357.

 

I've got a Model 1894 Winchester in .44 Mag./.44 Spl. and a Model 1894 Marlin in .357 Mag./.38 Spl. If I could only keep one of them, it would be the Marlin. The Winchester doesn't beat me up but the Marlin is such a *****cat as far as recoil is concerned and the terminal ballistics of the .357 Magnum was proven in 1936 by Maj. Doug Wesson.

 

YMMV is possibly never more true than when trying to describe recoil to another but here goes . . .

I am rather recoil averse in long guns. I do shoot a good bit my Win 94 trapper in .30-30. It has just a hard plastic butt plate. It's getting towards my upper limit.

My son has a 1894 in .44 and I forget if there is any recoil pad on it at all but if there is, it's a think minimalist one. I've owned a 1894 in .357 like 25 years ago and a couple Rossi 92 clones in .357 since and they're pretty soft as has been stated.

I've just acquired a SBL .44 and that thick recoil pad it comes with seems VERY effective. I would rate it much more comfortable than my .30-30 or my son's .44 firing Fed 240 grain magnum factory loads and Hornady 300 grain XTP. I was pretty surprised how tolerable it was. I figure it wasn't the heavy coat yesterday because I was also zeroing my 870 (no recoil pad) with slugs and that was kicking my ass, cold weather gear or not.

 

My 2008 357 1894 is very mild to shoot with magnum loads. Picked up a 1978 1894 in 44 Mag last year and with the hard plastic butt plate I find the rifle not very pleasant to shoot with 240 grain magnum loads. My Weatherby 30-06 with a very nice recoil pad has never really bothered me. I think my 1894 44 mag with a pad like Henry uses on their steel rifles would make things far more comfortable.


Funny though back in the late 1980s I owned a 1894 in 44 mag and I never remembered any discomfort shooting it and I think it had the plastic butt plate?