Mine seems to group 2-1/2 inchs at 100 yards, one hole at 50. That is with a 1X3 Weaver scope.

Not as sexy as touching holes but plenty good to hunt deer with.

I get best accuracy at near maximum charges with 296.

Corbi

 

Mine seems to group 2-1/2 inchs at 100 yards, one hole at 50. That is with a 1X3 Weaver scope.

Not as sexy as touching holes but plenty good to hunt deer with.

I get best accuracy at near maximum charges with 296.

Corbi

Mine does the same except with a Skinner receiver sight. I am waiting on a Scout scope setup and think I can improve on that a little.

 

2 1/2" at 100 yards would be okay by me!

 

I've managed a one hole group for three shots at 100 yards. Not my reloads so I can't repeat the load.
I get the same, about 2-1/2" at that range most of the time with most of my loads. The exception is the Hornady 300g XTP. That's 44 Mag #1.
Haven't shot #2 for groups at that range as she is a SASS backup.
CF

 

I don't have one right now, but have in the past and have shot friends' Marlin .44s. The 2 1/2 groups seem about right with good sights. I keep hoping Marlin will tighten the twist a little, but I don't think it is going to happen. Realistically, 2 1/2 is good enough for deer/hogs/etc. out to where the trajectory begins to fall off....
Best wishes, Jack

 

Well I had a similar exerperience with the one I had. I tried lots of different loads.... Then I tried my old standby load 22 grains of the OLD 2400 and a 240 grain XTP. that shot about 2-2.5 inches with a 4x installed.

I came to the conclusion that the factory sites suck past 50 yds and that was pushing it for me. When I get another one, different sites are going on.

 

My new '09 made Marlington 1894SS shoots 2.5" groups with WWB 240gr. SPs. It had feeding issues when it was purchased, but I gave it the cure. Now I'm very happy with it. I had another older 1984 shoot about the same, and a 24" 1894 CB that would do only about 3" groups.

Once again, I'm happy with my 1894SS

 

FWIW, I have a Marlin '94 in .44mag and it shoots just fine. It is probably the only firearm of any type that I have that I have only shot factory ammo through. That has been a matter of laziness on my part in not reloading any .44mag. I have used 240gn jacketed soft points by Winchester, Remington, PMC and Magtech. I have gotten several (most) moa groups at 100 yards with all of these rounds, Winchester WB doing the best. I also get one hole, three shot groups at 50yds. I have used it to take several wild hogs. It currently has a peep sight mounted on it and is my close range hog rifle. With my eyes and the peep it gets about 1 1/2 inches at 50 yards and will still do one hole, three shot groups at 25 yards. I now plan to develop a load for it, again using 200-240gn jacketed and cast. I think you will like the '94. It can be a shooting machine.

 

MY 1894SS with a Trophy Red Dot does an excellent job with the 265gr JFP Hornady in front of 2400 powder. I can keep 3 shots groups in the black. The same load also shoots well in my Ruger SBH 5.5" 444

 

Do you think the .44Mag thwacks deer and hogs a little better than the .45colt?

 

I'v had handis and ruger before and they shot minuet of deer at 100yrds. but my 1978 marlin shoot alot better about 1 1/2"-2" at 100 yrds. with 240 xtp's with a 3x9 scope, if you come across a good deal I would get it. As far as finding a gun that will let you pick the bullet and not the gun leting you know which one it want's good luck.

 

24" Marlin CB #1 shoots just about everything into 2 1/2" @100m for five shots using a 2-7x Leupold. Its main deer/elk load is all I shoot through it anymore and thats with the RCBS 240SIL (255grs) and 23grs of W296. Velocity around 1750ish. There will be the occasional group around 3" every now and again, but also a few 1 1/2" groups every now and again. Sometimes I get the feeling some days its the nut behind the wheel that makes the difference....

24" Marlin CB #2 only shoots one load. Not that it doesn't shoot all loads very well, but I only shoot one load in it. An RCBS245SWC (258grs) and 9grs of Unique. I've used this load for almost 35 years with fantastic results and this rifle loves it. 75 yards groups for five shots are usually in the 1" to 1 1/2" range. Kills deer like nobodies business.

20" Marlin CB #3 is fed only 1 load, the same one I shoot in my 44 Lipsey special. RCBS245SWC and 7 1/2grs Unique in a .44 special case. One hole groups at 50 yards and under 2" at 75m. My everyday hiking load.

20" Marlin 1894S is an experiment still in progress but results so far are spectacular. Set up with a XS scout scope rig I have already shot a few groups that were 1 holers at 100m. Lyman 429640 (293grs) with 15 1/2grs AA#9 in a 44 special case is proving to be spectacular But it is early in the process. I first developed this load when I was shooting an Anaconda which has a pretty short cyclinder. The first time I tried it in a rifle and every rifle after has turned out to astoundingly accurate. It is also a deer sledge hammer load!

I forgot to mention, my all time most accurate .44 mag has been a 10" T/C pistol with a 4X leupold mounted on it. I have shot many MANY groups down at an inch at 100 yards. The load was a 320gr SSK bullet and 21.5grs of W296. Absolutely fantastically accurate.

44

 

00Bucck,

I don't think there's a measurable difference between 44 Magnum and 45 Colt. ;D

 

I agree with Tatersoup, No measurable difference in 44 mag and 45 colt. I have both in 1894 Marlins and I do reload. I use Hornady XTP's in both rifles and I have taken deer with both. I did however take a 14 y/o out with me for his first deer hunt this fall and I bought some Leverevolutions for my 45 colt for him to use and was quite impressed. The lower powered 45 colt load did the job well and the deer went 30 yards and dropped, not bad for a first timer. Dan



BTW did I mention he shot that deer with a Skinner peep on that rifle?

 

My '73 1894 Octagon has a Skinner peep sight and can cloverleaf at 50 yards, 100 yard groups average 1-2" depending on me. That's good enough for deer or about anything else I'd care to shoot.

 

First of all, the .44 mags I've loaded for would not shoot anything lighter than a 240gn worth a dang.

Next, slug the bbl of your .44 mag and you will likely want to find some .432 dia cast with gas check bullets.

W296 I stay away from while a good crimp is needed for a tube mag levergun, I don't like choking my bullets to death, 2400 will give you all the high power you need. Unique is a very good light cast load powder and will work well in the upper regions also, combine this with a handgun, levergun combo and you should find one load that shoots well in both with .432 dia cast.

Then it is up to you how accurate you want your .44 to shoot by expierimenting with your loads.

 

My first 44 mediocre at best with anything...it was not my first Marlin so I knew I may have had bad apple....I sold it to my brother without knowing how to load tune it with cast stuff..it still doesnt like anything jacketed all that great but is a killer with .432 hardcast bullets...thats ok because its all my brother wants to shoot now...my new gun is much better with jacketed and slightly better than that with hardcast....I do still hope if Remingtons influence is seen anywhere they still go with a quicker twist..like 1/24 or 1/28 and please tighten up those barrels a bit..no bigger than .430.. .4295 even better!!...are you listening Marliremi...?? or whatever you're calling yourself these days

 

2 1/2" at 100 yards would be okay by me!

+1

 

My 1894 will do 3-shot groups of 2" (occasionally, if I am up to it) to 2-1/2" (pretty consistently) at 100 yards with a 0.050" aperture screwed into the Skinner peep. So far, the best accuracy has come from 23.5 gr of W-296, WLP Primer, and a 0.432" dia. 240 gr SWC-GC (the NEI #252). This bullet weighs in at an average of 262 gr, and my velocity with this load is averaging 1,740 fps.

 

I don't know if mine is a dud or I've just not spent a lot of time with it. I did a typical barrel break in for a new rifle. Out of the box with factory sights MagTech 240 ammo I could not get the bullet to impact low enough at 50 yards to even come close to the outer ring on the target. I switched out the factory sights with a XS ring sight set and can shoot the Hornady 225's at 50 yards in about a 2-3 inch group (with the XS ring at the lowest setting). Also, my rifle seems to want to shoot way to the left. The XS ring is pushed way over to compensate. I own a tack driving 24" .444 and a Model 39 that I truly love. I kind of figured the 1894 would perform rather well with 240 grain bullets (not expecting moa performance). I see where making your own loads seems to help and I'm ready to go down that lane.

 

The 44's that I've had always left a lot of room for improvement and when I brought it to Marlins attention they were unconcerned and basically said "it is what it is" ...thats no way to produce something like a rifle where performance sells and junk sits....maybe one good thing will come from Remingtons control ..is that they start making barrels for the 44 that have better QC and sticking to industry standards closer...theres no reason the 1894 shouldnt shoot at last half as good as my old 788 in 44Mag...at 100yds it shoots like my 444 and 45-70...1.5" with many groups 3 shots in a cloverleaf ..now thats how an 1894 44mag should shoot...my 41mag and the 357mag leverguns leave the 44 in the dust accuracy wise...what a shame..I think Elmer would have cringed

 

CalvinMD

I totally agree with your opinion... I am disappointed. I tried a scope and I had to shim the back of the scope base up about 20 thousands, and buy some Millet rings that you can adjust for windage as I had no windage range left on a Bushnell 3200 Elite. Seems to me they didn't drill the hole staight in the receiver for the barrel!

 

Two sub-3" groups at 100 yards back-to-back with sight adjustment in between groups:

 

I love my new 44. It came with a feeding problem that Marlin took care of in
a timely manner. I only got to shoot at 75 yards and it was from a bench,
but it would put 3 240 XTPs in about one inch. I should add , that due to
eyesight, I was using a 3-9 scope set on 3x.
FM

 

Geez moose, ya eyesight can't be too bad. I would have needed 9X to do that good.

Mark.