I've been shooting some of the Hornady but in my 1984 44 it has a significantly different point of impact than my usual ammo. I have to resight my peeps to get it on paper. Was shooting magtec 240 grain semijacket soft point and white box 240 grain winchester hollow point and the Hornady shoots up to 8" off. Using the magtech for hunting as the hornady was too pricey to plink with and I did not want to change sight position for hunting season.

 

I have found that they shoot great but...loading and cycling in the magazine is a whole other story, at least in my 1978 1894. My 1894 jams constantly with LeverEvolution .44 Mags. My gun prefers the Remington brass/ammunition.

Also keep in mind that the brass is shorter on the LeverEvolutions so if you reload you need to take that into account.

 

The 30-30 and 45-70 LE was available at very good prices this summer ($17 a box and $26 a box) so I stocked up. I wish such a good deal was available in the LE pistol ammo.

 

My 1894 shoots the L.E. high also but I have it dialed in and hope to use it on a nice Whitetail in a week or so. They give good groups at 50 Yds. 1" or so if I can do my part. I want to see how they preform on game.

 

My short barreled LTD likes the leverevolution 44 mag but it is like the opposite of a 1894 cowboy. I have not shot it out of the 20 inch barreled gun at all as winchester white box is all she has ever shot. The only ammo that won't shoot worth a darn in the LTD is the Wolf gold at 1525 fps. I can get good 8 inch groups with that stuff at 50 yards. All other ammo I have shot has done pretty well at 50 yards.

My LTD has feed everything so that does not seem to be a problem. The leverevolution does not shoot real high like reported but does impact higher than winchester white box. It hits about 1 inch higher at 50 yards. At 100 yards we will see when they harvest out the beans at my shooting area. Maybe it is hitting real high out at 100? I have a box to find out without buying any more. I have shot many of the hornady sst slugs in 12 guage and they seem to preform well.

Winchester white box was back in stock (one box on the shelf before I got it) at the local MEGA_LOW MART. at 32 a box of fifty and 17 dollars per box of 20 the cost is not a big difference to me. I think last time I got a box of 50 winchesters they were 36 a box. Back when i stocked up for my first 1894 they were 25 a box. Lots of online ammo shops still show the 44 mag ammo out of stock except the 50 dollar a box of 20 stuff from corbon and I think they were all copper rounds.

I plan to shoot the hornady for deer season as I have 2 open boxes with a round missing from each one from last year. Two deer and both were bang flop. One did get up in about 5 minutes after being shot and walked 30 step to the creek and died. When i saw the gap in the chest i wonder how she did it.

 

Thanks everyone! The Gun shop had two kind of the ammo to choose from. It was either this box of LE that I ended up with, or a 25 round box of Remington SJSP... for $39.99! I tell ya, I couldn't afford shooting this thing at those prices. Glad to know that the LE gets decent reports here.

Again, thanks for helping the new guy.

 

Try your local Wal-Mart sporting goods section. Ours has had Winchester white box hunting loads in 240gr JSP in stock fairly regularly for $32.95 per 50.

Bill

 

Love my Marlin 44mag lever gun!
I know this is an older thread, but figured I would put in my 2 cents.
I've been using the Lever Evolution in both my 44mag revolver and 44mag Marlin lever gun. LOVE the ammo. Tight pattern. Great out to 150yd.
Cabelas sells a scope for the Lever Evolution ammo that is specific for your gun. You dial it in at 50 yards and it has
As far as game is concerned... Knock on wood, but I have not had anything go farther than 50yd. So far 1 128lb Florida deer, 1 225lb Ohio deer and around 10 100-150lb hogs. Most of the hogs dropped where they stood.

Summary: Faster, more accurate, devastating round that I am super happy with.

 

So far mine like WWB 240's also. The LE should have a different group from spfn rounds.

 

My 1990 1894 .44 mag does not like the gummy tips but is very fond of Winchester white box.

 

White box Winchester ammo is my fodder of choice for my Marlin 1894.

 

The Hornady .44 Mag FTX are not on a short case. The .444 and .45-70 are the only short cases for the FTX bullets. Just for info.
Have a great day.
JIM

 

Beg to differ. Unless they've changed the bullet length, they're too long to seat in a standard length case and feed through the action. I ran a long series of trials when the .44 FTX first became available. The handloading bullets had a slip in the box saying to trim back .050". I chose to cut back the stop on the carrier instead. The few factory FTX loads I shot had short cases, too. Still have some kicking around.

I abandoned the FTX when I found out the ballistic coefficient wasn't as good as the 240 gr. XTPs I had been using. I found the bullet jacket a bit fragile and tips ditto. Reasonable accuracy, but no better than the previous stuff and a lot more expensive, like twice the cost. Really no advantage to using them. They will do the job on deer if placement is right. Certainly if that's the only thing that's available, they'll work on game. But no magic bullet. You can search this forum for my past posts on the subject. I put 500 handloads through in testing and a box or two of factory loads. Currently using Nosler's 240 gr. hollowpoints, slightly cheaper than the XTP and holds together when the shots get tough. The FTX loads did feed like they were greased. Look sexy, too.

Marlin redesigned the magazine follower to handle the FTX, all that's needed if you really want to use them in an older gun is to get one and swap parts.

Stan S.