So I’m prepping for deer season
and this being the first year they allow pistol caliber rifles in Indiana, I’ve been looking at getting a lever in 45lc, 357, or one of the other allowable calibers.
AFAIC, there’s no sense in hunting indiana with anything but a lever, and as I’m busted, the idea of scraping together a grand- or more- before deer season doesn’t appeal.They don’t make bolties in any of the allowable calibers, so that’s out the window, and the only other choice is one of the break action guns, which are nice, but too expensive for what you get.
So I come across this listing in Numrich for a 44 mag barrel for my old 336 Marlin. As the marlin was a junk gun, almost given to me, I figured, hey, what the hell. I’ll rebarrel it. 44 mag is one of the allowable calibers. Not bad to shoot in a long gun. SO I order the barrel from Numrich, get the very last one.
Damn, this thing is nice. Looks to be headspaced properly etc, and I think it’s gonna shoot like crazy- got that Marlin Micro-groove barrel.
Some issues with the feed ramp- if you can call it that- but they;re issues I think I can easily address.
Damn, I’m gonna have me a big bore rifle to shoot this year. I can hardly wait for deer season.
22 comments Og | Uncategorized
Hmm…. this may not work out the way you think it will……
what makes you say that, car?
What do you mean by “Not too bad to fire out of a long gun?”
You’d think the recoil was harsh or something when fired from a handgun….. phhhft :)
ROFLMAO!!!
yeah, Grau, I LURVE shooting that 44 mag. Hey, got a couple empties you can toss my way to use as test samples?
What magazine does the 336 have on it? Will the tube take the round you plan on? Will the cartridge lift lever take the .44 case? Will the bolt head fit the base of the case? Will the extractor fit the case?
I wonder if it’s a workable caliber change without having a whole nuther rifle and some milling equipment.
I think Marlin offered the .44 magnum in the 1894 style lever action, but not the 336 model. I COULD be wrong….
Marlin offered the 336 in 44 mag. This is a factory 336-44 barrel. The mag tube is the same size for both calibers. The carrier is slightly modified (I have not one but five mills I have access to) and the bolt istelf is slightly different. I can make all the changes I need, myself, in house, no trouble- but i would like to confirm the bolt, becuase I would rather have an original bolt than modify the one I have.
I have six or seven BOXES worth of empty .44 brass (saved in waiting for me to finally getting off my ass and buy a reloading set up).
E-mail me your addy and I’ll ship you a box….
The .30-30 bolt head size is pretty close to .44; the only thing I’d really be concerned about was the elevator and the feed ramp.
yeah, Chris, I am VERY close.
I like deer hunting with the 44 (I used a Super Blackhawk with a 7.5″ barrel). A rifle should give even better knockdown. 240 grain hollow point works fine. For elk, I preferred the 240 soft point, for better penetration.
Sure sounds like you are doing your homework. Good to go!
I like pistol caliber lever guns, especially the .44, but have somehow sold all the ones I have had.
I once had a Marlin in .444, basically a .44 magnum extra long. Now THAT was a sweet rifle. Traded it, because I am an idiot. It could be loaded down to .44 special levels, or up to OUCH levels.
I fed my .44 magnum lever gun with hand cast gas checked 240 grain keith styles at 1400FPS. Real solid thumpers that did the job nicely, and very accurate. H-110 powder served well.
carteach, send me that recipe willya?
Start at 20 grains and work your way up. It’s best to roll crimp heavy, and in the groove. H-110 lights a bit hard and magnum primers are in order.
If you cast your own, water drop your cast bullets, or heat treat them after sizing. Use a high velocity lube like the hard angel blue stuff.
Max load with h-110 and a jacketed bullet is 24 grains for 1800 fps, so try and stay under that with the cast bullets. A lot will depend on the hardness of your cast bullets. For rifle loads, a gas check is a good idea if you are pushing them fast.
If you want to spit me off an address, I’ll send you some gas checked hard cast bullets to try.
Og, another goodie IMHO is the old Keith loading, 22 grains of 2400 under (instead of the Keith bullet) a 240 grain Hornady XTP bullet. This is a compressed load in the .44 mag. Modern reloading manuals won’t touch it, but it was a max load in the older (c1965) books. I shoot it in my Super Blackhawk as well. Mushrooms out to about .550″ diameter in wet paper tests, & pulverizes the chest cavity in a whitetail.
My deer rifle is a Winchester Trapper model w/a Williams peep sight- works good w/the old eyes I seem to have.
Yer gonna like the .44…
Way back in my misspent youth, I killed deer with a .44 mag in a Ruger semiautomatic carbine. Loved the rifle for its handy size but sold it because of unreliable feeding. Even sent it back to Ruger a couple times with no luck. Hope your conversion works out.
I’m a BIG fan of carbines in pistol calibers. I don’t have a .44 but I DID have a .45 colt, and I currently have a .357.
Typically speaking, you’ll see as much as 40% higher maximum velocities from an 18-20″ carbine barrel over a 4″ revolver, if using the right powder.
For white tail, coues, and small mulies I’d personally go for a middleweight bullet loaded up to the highest velocity possible.
Try 20gr of 2400 under a 180gr bonded jacket flat point, and work up to your best accuracy under the pressure limit from there (in a rifle you could probably go up to 24gr but that’s awfully hot).
Out of a 20″ micro groove barrel, you can expect somewhere around 2600fps.
You can get 2000 up to maybe 2200 out of a 250-265gr if you like something a bit heavier. Plus they’re easier to find than the light bullets.
Oh and just in case you didn’t realize it; don’t try that much pressure in a pistol… unless it’s a super Redhawk.
… I’ve got a Ruger .44 rifle and absolutely love it…. it used to belong to my uncle – he used it for years with Corbons to knock black bears out of hemlock trees in the national forest…
The Marlin 336 was definitely offered in 44 Magnum, although only for a few years in the ’60s. Later it was offered in the 1894 whose dimensions better suit the cartridge.
Natman,
As I posted at Og’s other post on this rifle, my Dad had one of those 336s in .44 Mag. Its the first thing he told me when he saw I got myself a Marlin 336. Mom made him sell it when I was born.
Wish I could find him one.
fellows a few years back marlin made a cowboy 11 in .44 mag. it had a 24 inch octagan barrel on it. it was a sweet shooting rifle but foolish me traded it. now i find out they no longer make them. any suggestions.
thank you
fellow hunter johnny
Johnny, Nat, Counter: You can still buy a Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. If I had the money I would have done that.