Sorry I can't help you with the SASS shooting but those 2 guns are as rare as hens teeth here also. Welcome to the forum

 

Good luck in your quest. Welcome from Colorful Colorado!

 

Although the smaller calibers (.38/.357 or one of the .32 choices) might be better, the .44 will work with the lighter bullet choices and light to mid range charges of proper powders.

Best wishes in your quest and good shooting,

 

Welcome to the Forum. I like the idea of multi purpose rifles, and 44mag surely fits the bill.

 

Welcome from Goldthwaite, TX! Thanks for joining us! John

 

Welcome from Alabama...

 

WELCOME FROM OLYMPIA, WA; IN THE GREAT PACIFIC NORTHWEST - THE "ORIGINAL MARLIN®" (North Haven, CT Rifles) COUNTRY!

 

Welcome aboard! Enjoy, and good luck to you...

 

Welcome to MarlinOwners from NW Georgia!

1895gunner

 

Welcome from the Republic of Texas...

 

Welcome from Louisiana

 

Welcome aboard Talbot.

Mark.

 

Welcome to MO. Been there, done that.

A few thoughts. If you're starting in SASS, shoot whatever you have. If you decide that you really want to get serious about it, you'll want some specialized guns.

Most of the serious competitors will use .38 special for handguns or even .32 to reduce recoil and shorten their times. The fastest shotguns are the 1887 Winchester lever (modified to load 2 rounds at a time) and a close second is the 1895 Winchester. It is said of the 1895 that you will need three. One to shoot, one for backup, and one out being repaired. Doubles can be nearly as fast, but will require a ton of practice. Eventually, whatever you use, you will want to be under 1 second per round. SASS is really hard on shotguns, whatever you use.

The fastest rifles are the Colt Lightnings, in .38 special, but they are a BEAR to tune to function reliably. You will need a creative, persistent smith to do it. Otherwise, just a hair slower is the 1887 or the 1873 Winchester with short stroke links installed, also in .38 special. These will usually eject the brass onto the brim of your hat, which makes them easy to retrieve.

Unfortunately, Marlins have a bad habit of throwing the brass forward, past the firing line, and these may not be retrievable. Few shooters use the 1898 or 1892 Winchesters for some reason. Probably the long stroke. Recovery rate of brass for the two Winchesters is about 90% for the Marlins, about 50%.

SASS is another excuse to shoot a lot. You will need to practice. Your .44 mag will be more costly to buy brass for, and it will hurt more when the brass is lost. Same as .45 Colt. It will burn more powder and need 2x the lead by weight. Of course you can also shoot .44 special, but not easy to find those either. Your rifle may prefer one over the other. How easily can you get components? You will be restricted to cast lead bullets, only. No semi jacketed, no full jackets, no gas check. Do you cast your own bullets?

When I started, I also bought a progressive press, to keep up with the reloading. I reload about 10,000 rounds of .38 special a year.

It's a lot of fun. I'm no threat to the guys who are really good. But I have as much fun as they do. Maybe even more.

 

Best possible answer, HIKayaker.

And welcome, Talbot!

Since you already shoot the .357, you're obviously gonna try for the Marlin in the same caliber.

Finding it? Well... Who knows?

And I have no idea on the reloading component situation down under.

My .44s cycle great and shoot reasonably well with .44 Specials, but I'd rather shoot my .357 - it's smoother, more accurate and less expensive.

I guess it comes down to opportunity, so just be ready!

Good luck,

Brocky

 

Welcome to the Forum, from New York.

 

Mary started shooting SASS last year. She already had a Marlin 1894 44 Magnum, 1977 vintage, so she shot it. I loaded 44 Special with 200g round flat point with light load of Unique. It feeds the 44 Special round without a hitch. Recoil is negligible in the rifle. The top 1% of the competitive shooter is going to run a lighter caliber faster but the rest of us won't be handicapped. The way I see it, the first important thing is that the gun feed reliable and it goes BANG every time.

 

Thanks to everyone who has replied to my thread.

Special thanks to HiKayacker and Brocky.

Lead projectiles in .44 calibre don't pose a problem for me at this stage and ADI (Australian Defence Industries) makes a specialty powder called Trail Boss, designed for SASS pistol and rifle loads. I have not seen the powder myself, but apparently it is quite bulky for weight and was designed so that even with light loads it takes up more space in the cartridge than regular loads of other powder. Starline brass at the moment is readily available through a number of dealers here in Western Australia and I have asked my local dealer to get in a few hundred cases for me. I think if I keep the Starline brass for my SASS loads and other brass for my regular loads, the Starline cases should last quite a long time.

I used to load my old .44 hunting loads with large rifle primers, but recon I could get by with large pistol primers for SASS loads in the .44.

Will keep you posted on how I go and thank you again

Talbot

 

Thanks for the tip Bibbyman.

 

I read a lot of posts made by folks wanting to get started in the cowboy action shooting game. The common theme is they want to speck out the latest and greatest set of race guns and leather, etc. They end up getting an hail storm of opinions. In my opinion, the fastest set of guns is not going to put you, the novice, up with the top shooters. Practice and the limits of your ability will put you in your performance place. Race guns will nudge you a little further. My advice is to start with guns you are familiar with (or already have) and concentrate on making them and ammo run dependability. Practice, shoot matches, and when a second or two separates you from the place you want to be, start looking looking for race guns.

 

Talbot. welcome to the marlin forum and to sass as well. Ive been shooting cas for 12 years now and I'll say it's more fun than a man should be allowed to have.:biggrin: I've shot a winnie trapper.a marlin 1894 and a henry big boy all in 44 mag. The henry is my hands down favorite, much smoother and more reliable than the other two. If you can shoot the same caliber in your pistols and rifle it makes things much easier at the loading table.The targets in cas are all close in so the tang sight is not the best choice for main stage shooting. The peep sight makes finding the target harder.Start thinking about an alias now as so many great names are already taken.New shooters in my group who show up 3 times without an alias are nicknamed Pinky.I'm not a fast shooter and at times not so accurate so I like to make lots of noise and smoke. I use 30 gr of goex ff behind a 200 grain flat point that gives me about 750fps out of the pistols and 900 fps from the rifle, hot enough to make a big boom but not so hot that the pistol jumps around in my hand. Have fun
Cathouse Willy
sass 70068

 

Welcome from an old shooter, keep your ammo dry!

 

Welcome to the forum from southeast Wisconsin

 

Hello and welcome to Marlinowners from Pennsylvania!!!

 

Welcome from Oklahoma. I have an 1894 in .44 20" and used it for SASS. It will chamber RNFP, SWC, TC with no problems. I also used to shoot Ruger Blackhawks in .44 also. Used to load .44 SPL cases with 240 grain lead and 200 grain lead with Clays. That's hard to come by but Trail boss, Bullseye, Unique, etc... should produce mild loads for you. Have fun and shoot em if you got em!

 

Welcome and good luck in your Marlin hunting.

 

Shot SASS for years with a 44 mag. 200g RNFP and light loads of powder and you will be good to go. If the 38/357 easier and cheaper to shoot, marginally. My daughter shot a 357 with 38 spls when she shot with me. I used one of my 44 mags.
Never tried Trail Boss powder as I just used Clays as a single powder for pistol, rifle and shotgun.
My Marlins all throw brass sideways and a little back, not forward. May be timing issues there if you have problems with lost brass from going forward. have to shoot to see.
Good luck.
CF