Marlin 44 Magnum

[awionzek6]

Just picked up a nice 1894 manufactured 1978 and would like to know if anyone had issues with any ammunition not cycling before I go and buy some

[David Henry]

All factory 44 Mag ammo should be made to SAAMI specs and should function through your rifle, I would however place a caution on the Lever Evolution ammo with the flex tip which may come in a little longer than your cartridge carrier will cycle. This has been my experience with the Lever Evolution ammo in some of the 30-30 rifles made by either Marlin or Winchester.
One more thing and this may just be gossip in the cast bullet circles, if your Marlin has micro groove rifling it might refuse to be a cast bullet shooter. One of the seasoned shooters at our local range had a rifle of similar vintage to your one and he exhausted all the options available to him trying to get the micro groove bore to handle his own cast bullets. D.H.

[Pioneer2]

Cheaper if you are. Win 296/H110 is a great powder.

[colroggal]

Marlins can be a little more forgiving on coal. The win 92 and clones not so much. A win 94 in .44 mag is a different story.

Something to note, Some of the older 1894s had over bored barrels, needing a 432 or even 433 sized cast.

The idea that microgrooved rifling won't shoot cast isn't entirely inaccurate, but it has more to do with finding the right bullet and the right diameter.

I used an 1894 belonging to a friend's father on a couple of hunts and shot it many times at the range. His hand loads would be inside 2 inches at 50 yards with the factory sights.

The load development on an 1894 might as intensive or even more intensive than some of the 6.5 creedmore threads we've been reading.

Same can be said for a 336 shooting cast loads.

Colin