Marlin lever 44 or 45

[cooper]

Veral, I'm looking at a getting a Marlin lever gun, strictly for shooting cast bullets and mainly for hunting deer, bear, and hogs, in either 44 Magnum or 45 Colt.  Is there any reason to prefer one of these calibers over the other?

[COR]

I use 2 LBT Molds....The .430 260grWFN @ 1200fps and a .452 280grWFN at 1150fps.  I have shot deer and hogs with both and never found a bullet, just a nice blood trail and an animal within 50yds or so.  Once you fit the gun properly both are capable of one hole accuracy at 25yds.  I doubt any animal can tell the difference....so just get the biggest one.  Veral's molds are so easy to use and even make me look like I know what I am doing so choose either with confidence.

Sorry if I spoke out of turn Veral. 

[TommyD]

I wil let Veral comment about the bullets, but I offer you one caution about the Marlin.

I have the Marlin 1894 Cowboy in 45 colt. I love the rifle, but I have found that it has difficulty feeding the longer nose length. A LFN bullet with a .45 nose length feeds roughly in my rifle and sometimes jams the gun up completely. A nose length of .36 will feed smooth as silk and I have no complaints about the 100 yard hunting accuracy.

Of course this is technically not a "defect" in the Marlin since the .45 nose length will put the cartridge way over SAAMI spec for overall length of the cartridge. But it is something to consider when ordering a custom bullet mold.

[Swampman]

Veral, I'm looking at a getting a Marlin lever gun, strictly for shooting cast bullets and mainly for hunting deer, bear, and hogs, in either 44 Magnum or 45 Colt.  Is there any reason to prefer one of these calibers over the other?

The .44 has a little more rim for the extractor to grab.  IMO the .44 brass holds up a little better.

[243dave]

If your looking at the marlins just be aware of the twist rates.  The 44 has a 1-38 twist while the 45 has the 1-16 twist.  What this means is you may have a problem with the 44 and long and heavy bullets while the 45 and its 1-16 twist will let you shoot any bullet size.  As for the 44 brass being better, I doubt one is any better than the other.  I shoot some loads out of my 45 trapper I would rather not post( yes its above any book loading) and have loaded some of this brass several times.  I agree the rim on the 45 is smaller but its plenty enough.  Yeah I'm a bit biased toward the 45 colt but it'll do anything the 44 will and do plus a bit more.    Dave 

[cooper]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.  The discussion on the twist, and on nose length limiting some bullets, were exactly what I was looking for.

The reason I asked for Veral's comments, was that I would definitely get an LBT mould for whichever caliber I got, and I figured Veral would have some insight on whether one of these calibers was better than the other (in the Marlin).

I realize that the external ballistics wil be quite similar.

[TommyD]

If your looking at the marlins just be aware of the twist rates.  The 44 has a 1-38 twist while the 45 has the 1-16 twist.  What this means is you may have a problem with the 44 and long and heavy bullets while the 45 and its 1-16 twist will let you shoot any bullet size.  As for the 44 brass being better, I doubt one is any better than the other.  I shoot some loads out of my 45 trapper I would rather not post( yes its above any book loading) and have loaded some of this brass several times.  I agree the rim on the 45 is smaller but its plenty enough.  Yeah I'm a bit biased toward the 45 colt but it'll do anything the 44 will and do plus a bit more.    Dave 

Dave makes a good point about the twist rates, and I like the 45 Colt very much as well for that reason. In general, I have found that the heavier bullets (300-320 grains) to be more accurate than the lighter 250-260 grainers. Might have something to do with the longer bearing surface, but I don't know for sure.

While I realize that many people like to experiment with warm loads for their rifle, I have never felt the need to do so. With loads of H110 and Lil'Gun that are well below Hodgdon's published max, I can easily drive a 300+ grain bullet at 1450 fps out of my rifle. That will shoot clean through almost any game in the lower 48. I wouldn't want to go up against the big bears with it, but then again I am not sure any pistol cartridge is truly adequate for that task. Sure, some people get away with it. But I wouldn't want to bet my life on it.

Tom

[Veral]

  I personally prefer the 44 because it delivers all any north american animal needs for a quick kill.  300 gr bullets have to be driven at about 1800 fps plus for good long range accuracy, which puts recoil up there with the hard kickers from such a light gun.  I prefer a 280 gr LFN, loaded to 1500-1600 fps.  For smooth feeding in both the 44 and 45, nose length has to be held a bit shorter than my standard .45, which is actually a nominal designation relating to space from end of ctg to end of cylinder.  Nose length is a bit short of .45 for revolver bullets, and shortened from that a bit for these two lever lockers.  An actual .4 nose will probably feed in any of them.
  Bullet diameter must be large as will chamber smoothly for top accuracy, this to keep the bullet aligned while being fired into the rifling.  The 44's tend to have tighter chambers, which is another reason I prefer it over the 45.

  Maybe most important in making a decision is to stick with which ever cartridge you are now using, if you are using one of them for revolvers.  It will cost a pretty penny to buy brass and dies for a new cartridge, and sorting brass is a hassle if these two should get mixed together.  I've never personally owned a 45 for this reason, because I got a 44 first, compared brass, and disliked the idea of using a magnifier to sort them out by head stamp.

[jbquack1]

I have owned both and either will work for your purpose.In this case getting a properly fit cast slug is more important in my opinion.I prefer 45 colt and have handguns and rifles chambered in that caliber but the 44 is a fine cartridge.Brass life is good in both,with the edge going to the 44 as the chambers are usually cut to tighter specs.in my 45 colts i use from 275 to 350 grain cast and they were all fitted to my guns and shoot better than i can.There is some "homework" involved in designing a good slug to fit your guns and there are ready made slugs that work well, but, that extra work will pay off.I have several molds of different weights and all shoot well.Veral is right about a .400 nose in marlins as i personally use .450 nose length in my ruger pistols and rossi carbine and had to work on the rossi to get reliable chambering.I tried this same nose in my friends marlin and it didn't function well, so stay around .400 nose length.Figure out how large your front driving band can be and still chamber reliably for good accuracy.There are a couple of ways of doing this and i will let Veral help you with this as it is his forum and i probably said more than i should.Either cartridge will work fine if you do your part.jim

[Veral]

  A very important factor in cartridge choice is what we think we like, or have heard the most good reports about.  If our mind is strongly set in one direction it will probably be the one that will make one the happiest with the least effort.   If our mind is fixed against one for some reason, why buck it. 
  I fit molds to every caliber out there from 22 to 8 bore, and the people who use them like them, and do what they want done with them.

  Now isn't that a deeply technical dialog!

  You see, I know people who speak the word Magnum in an athoritive tone, regarding use with big game, and they are speaking of the 22  magnum!  I love the cartridge myself with the right bullet choice because I don't have to reload it.  However when it comes to guns with power I'm happiest with the middle ground.  Anything with real athority that doesn't hurt when I shoot it.  Both the 44 and 45 fit in here at the lower end of the 'middle ground' cartridges.