Marlin Lever Action
 

Hey guys, I just picked up an unfired/new in box Marlin 1894C in .38/.357 Mag from an older fellow who says it's been in the back of his closet for years. Neat little gun with beautifully figured wood.

Does anyone have any experience with this gun?

I've got a Marlin 1894cp in 357. very nice shooting rifle. I've shoot one whitetail with it. My wife has a 1894p in 44 mag that also is a sweet shooter. does a little better job on the deer.

Thanks for the response ruger357w. I bought it mostly for a plinker/home defense gun. But I wouldn't mind carrying it when cruising for deer in the thick stuff. I figure it's maybe a 125 yard deer gun with the right bullet.

What load were you using when you shot that deer, and what kind of results did you get.

Did you stick with the original buckhorn sight? I'm thinking of putting a ghost ring on mine.

I reload my own ammo, I was using a 158gr. Hornady HP/XTP bullet loaded pretty hot. Put an egg sized hole in its front shoulder and as for the sights I've got a scope on it with the see through mounts so I can still use the irons if needed. I am thinking about picking up some of the leverlution tips from hornady.

I reload also. Thinking about the 170 grain Speer Deep Curl (#4230).

http://www.speer-bullets.com/ballist...il.aspx?id=174

I would expect a pass-through with that bullet on a mid chest shot. I'm a real Deep Curl fan and use them in several muzzle loaders with excellent results on game.

A good option on the Marlins, if you're so inclined, is adding the XS ghostring sight set from midway. I also installed a tang mounted marbles peep sight for longer range shots. For close cover, I use the ghost ring sights, for longer work, I flip up the tang peep and I'm all set. I also have a scope rail installed on this rifle (a Marlin 1895 Guide Gun) most of the year, with a tip-off QD red dot sight. I also have QD rings on a 3-9x scope that is sighted in for that rifle, but it's rare that I ever take it afield. Basically, I have 4 sighting options that I can swap between in a matter of seconds, depending on my hunt.

I don't know if they make one for the 1894, but for the 1895, XS makes an extended optics rail that comes with an XS ghostring rear sight machined right into the rail itself. That would be much handier than having the sight, then the optics rail mounted separately (which is what I have, except my rail is about 1/3 the length).

Semi, you are going to love that little gun . I had one for years and took many South Mississippi Deer with it. Every one a one shot drop using 158 gr hollow point.

Thanks for the poop Nomercy. I looked at that XS sight and It looks like a possibility, even if I have to drill new mounting holes. Those suckers aren't cheap though. When I looked at it the thought jumped into my head "if I get that I'll likely scope it and the scope will likely stay on it". So I started looking a scope bases and now I'm thinking scope. I have a nice little 4X somewhere in the closet that would fit it nicely on a trim little one-piece DNZ base.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/dnz-dedn...ope-mount.html



How far out do you feel comfortable with that 158 grainer on deer Bigboomer? Heck, it's probably pretty close to a 150 grain 30-30 load which most consider a 150 yard cartridge. Dang, I've got to do a little reloading data research.

Not so much...
 

Don't be mistaken about the velocity and energy increase you get from the .357mag in a rifle. Yes, it's leaps and bounds ahead of the .357mag in a revolver, but "pretty close" to a .30-30 it ain't.

I have used a "Glenfield" 30A .30-30 (marlin 336) a Win 94 Trapper .357mag (FANTASTIC little truck gun) for deer, and in my experience, there's a pretty wide gap between the .357mag and the .30-30. Knocking down a deer at 150yrds with the .357mag was as challenging a feat as knocking down a deer at 250 with a .30-30. The speed and energy just isn't there.

A 150grn .30-30 should be trucking in the 2300fps ballpark, whereas a .357mag 158grn will be stretching to hit 1800fps, over 25% more muzzle velocity for the .30-30. Run that out and you're talking about muzzle ENERGY of 1750ft.lbs. for the .30-30, to 1150ft.lbs. in the .357mag, 55% more energy in the .30-30. If you compare "Marlin" loads, both rifles could push up the pressures slightly, so if you really pushed a .357mag to 1900fps, you could equally push the .30-30 to 2400fps+, but both will be over SAAMI limits. If you really think about it, the .30-30 is taking 50% more powder than the .357mag, which adds a lot of extra energy (50% more powder, 50% more energy, coincidence? I don't think so).

Then add in the BC of the bullets. A 150grn .30-30 should be in the realm of .27 BC, whereas the 158grn .357's will be in the .15 ballpark. Neither are "great", not really even what I'd call "good", but a .27 flatnosed spitzer looks a whole lot more aerodynamic than a .15 JHP handgun bullet to me!

Run all that together through some software and the .30-30 is moving faster and has more energy at 150yrds than the .357mag from a rifle has at the muzzle. Both sighted in at 100yrds, the .357mag will drop 12" by 175yrds, while the .30-30 will run to 225yrds before dropping 12".

My point is, yes, the .357mag Levergun is a great deer rifle out to 100-150yrds, even carrying enough energy to do the deed at 200yrds (within the range of normal scope adjustment without an angled base). But no, it's not a .30-30.

From an ammunition standpoint, if you're only planning to shoot 150yrds, yes, both will do the job equally well, so why not go with the one with the cheaper ammo cost. From that aspect, the .30-30 is a lot more expensive for factory ammo, usually selling for about the same price for 20rnds vs 50 of the .357. Plus for the reloader, again, it uses 50% more powder, so the .357mag is a lot cheaper to reload as well.

All good points Nomercy. I did a little research comparing the 30-30 Remington factory loads against hot handloads for the .357 Mag. The muzzle velocity differences are in the 300-400 fps range. Then again, there's the difference between my little 18" carbine barrel and a 30-30 with a 20 or 22" barrel.

I mostly hunt small food plots on a hunting lease where a long shot would be 150 yards and most shots are in the 75 to 125 yard bracket. If I creep the woods or sit in a woods stand I can see around 40 yards or so and not much more. But mostly I hunt with muzzleloaders anyway. I figure this little carbine to be my "carry gun" when I walk around scouting or to do things like check the trail cameras. I learned a long time ago to always carry a gun when in the woods during the season and my Hawkens and Renegades are pretty dang heavy for that.