SCbowhntr

Hey y'all,
Just wanted to see if anyone could give me an opinion on what's the best .44 mag carbine out there. I'm leaning towards the Marlin 1894 but also like the Ruger Deerfield...any thoughts?

Ruger-Redhawk

Both are great rifles. Depends if you like a Lever Action or a semi auto?The Ruger Deerfield 99/44 only holds 4 rounds where the lever action has a greater capacity(10).Ruger made a 44 semi auto years ago and discontinued them. They were the Model 44 Autoloading Carbine.The first ones were called Deerslayers (1961 or 62) until Ithaca filed a suite against Ruger for Name Infringement. If you want a semi auto the Ruger is the way to go. I've never been much on lever actions but Marlin does make a fine L.A.If I'm not mistaken Marlin discontinued the 1894 back around 1984.
Ruger Redhawk

akbound

Hi SCbowhntr,

I have a Marlin 1894P Carbine. Set it up with an aperture rear sight. It is both light and handy. Shoots well too!

My brother has a Ruger Lever action 96-.44 Magnum which he put a 2 1/2X scope on. Both he and his son use it whitetail hunting. Actually it fits his 13 year old so well that my brother seldom gets to touch it anymore!

A few years back when we still lived in Alaska I owned a short, portable, Winchester 94 Trapper, (also set up with a peep), chambered in .44 Magnum. Loaded with heavy bullet loads I would sometimes use it as a "meat packing" gun. (Though I usually opted for something a little heavier up there!)

Personally I wouldn't hesitate recommending any of them to you. They are all nice, portable, and effective!

Good luck with your decision!

Drilling-Man

I also am not a lever fan, so i also have one of those old Ruger semi auto carbines. They are on the "fat side", but it does get the job done. As i remember, it prefers factory ammo over the handloads we tried in it back when i bought it.

Back in the late 60's i shot a huge buck with mine. It took my brother and i forever to drag it out of a swamp it was in, and back to camp!! Probably the heaviest deer i ever got, but them days no one bothered to weight a deer.

I haven't used it in quite a few years, but one of these days i'm going to take it out and limber it up!! :&gt

SCbowhntr

I guess my decision will ultimately be based on each's ability to digest reloads as I handload quite a bit for my Ruger Super Redhawk...any thoughts?

biggunz.45-70

I bought a new marlin 1894 a couple of years ago and I really am impressed. The rifle is compact light and accurate. It also digests any hand load I feed it. I have even had good luck with keith style cast bullets. I read on the marlin site that these shouldn't feed well but they do. I installed a williams peep site and fire site front bead. What a handy little gun.

neweboarhunter

The Ruger Deerfield has trouble handling heavy bullet loads 300 grain of bigger do to the leangth of the magazine

wimp

Go for the marlin, they are great handy little rifles, that shoot really well.

Scott M

I had one of the original Deerfields. Bought it at an estate sale for $50. Man it was a jam-o-matic. About every other round would stove pipe. Hopefull they have it fixed for thier new 99/44 Deerfield.

mtair

i have a ruger 96/44 (lever), i used it this year for the first time . it couldnt have performed any better. i took a 6 pointer in the chest with it .it dropped on the spot. i was shooting a hot hand load pushing a 240 grain hornady xtp!!