Marlin lever for 200 yard deer

[animal]

Does Marlin offer any lever actions that are reliably capable of taking deer out to 200 yards? 444 ?

[Cottonwood]

30-30
.35 Remington
.450 Marlin
.444
45-70

Depending what cartridge, grain of bullet along with sights or optics and practice it will be up to you.

Sights can be Lyman #2 Tang Sight or even a Buckhorn Ladder Sight for those that don't like the rear tang sights.

For hunting with my Remington Rolling Block, I use a rear buckhorn ladder sight and front silver blade sight.  These work quite well for those that want iron sighted lever action rifles as well.  Many original Winchester and Marlin rifles sported these buckhorn sights.

[NYH1]

In my opinion and this is all this is, I wouldn't use a 30-30 Win., 35 Rem. or a 45-70 much past 125 yards or so. The 450 Mar. has enough power for 200 yards kills, its doesn't shoot that flat. The 444 Mar. with the right load doesn't has as much power as the 450 Mar. but it has enough and it shoots a little flatter. You'd want to practice doing this so you know where to hold for a good shoot. Have people use all of the cartridges mentioned to take game out to 200 yards, absolutely, but IMHO its not particle when the are a lot better rifle/cartridge combo's out there that will do it better.

The Remington models 7400 and 7600 in 308 Win., 270 Win., 30-06 Spr., 25-06 Rem., 7mm-08 Rem and 35 Whelen (last three were/are limited runs) are just as quick handling and are extremely capable of 200 plus yard shots. The Browning BAR and BLR are just as good as the Remingtons, some say better! There are quite a few more out there too!

I'm not trying to discourage you or anyone else. Hunting is like working around the house. If you need a pry bar and you use a flat head screw driver instead, you may get the job done, but not as good or as easly as if you use the pry bar. Use the right rifle/cartridge combo for your hunting situation and use the right tools when working on something. It makes things easier in the long run! Again, this is just my opinion! :grin:

[Coyote Hunter]

30-30
.35 Remington
.450 Marlin
.444
45-70

Depending what cartridge, grain of bullet along with sights or optics and practice it will be up to you.
…

Ditto that.  Let me add the Marlin 375 (.375 Winchester) and Marlin 336ER (.356 Winchester).  Neither of these is manufactured any more but you can find them used as I did with the 375.

Last year I took a fork horn mulie at a lasered 97 yards and a day or two later a 6x6 bull elk at a lasered 213 yards using my Marlin .45-70 and handloads in both cases.  (North Fork 350g bullet @ 2183fps)  Both kills were as authoritative as one could wish for.

The year before I took a buck antelope at 167 lasered yards with the .375 Winchester.  The buck took a death leap and collapsed.

Zeroed for Maximum Point Blank Range for a 6” target (the bullet never rises or falls more than 3” from point of aim), my Marlins provide me with the following:

.30-30, 150g Speer Flat-SP @ 2440fps
Zero == 203 yards
MPBR == 237 yards w/ 1207 foot-pounds energy
Drop @ 300 yards == 11.9”
1000 fpe @ 309 yards

.30-30, 170g Speer Flat-SP @ 2440fps
Zero == 188 yards
MPBR == 220 yards w/ 1226 foot-pounds energy
Drop @ 300 yards == 15.5”
1000 fpe @ 322 yards

.375 Win, 220g Hornady JFP @ 2230fps
Zero == 182 yards
MPBR == 212 yards w/ 1373 foot-pounds energy
Drop @ 300 yards == 18.0”
1000 fpe @ 323 yards

.45-70, 350g North Fork @ 2183fps
Zero == 175 yards
MPBR == 204 yards w/ 1998 foot-pounds energy
Drop @ 300 yards == 21.3”
1000 fpe @ 509 yards

.45-70, 350g Speer Flat-SP @ 2147fps
Zero == 176 yards
MPBR == 206 yards w/ 2122 foot-pounds energy
Drop @ 300 yards == 20.1”
1000 fpe @ 509 yards

Choose your poison, but any will do easily at 200 yards.

[big medicine]

I will add one more to the list, the 38/55. With hand loads it is a thumper. The longest shot I have had with it so far is about 160-170 yards and the deer never took a step. People way under estimate what a lever cartridge will do. I have killed several deer with the 45-70 and 444 out to about 200 yards and have taken a couple with the 35 Rem at that distance also. It doesnt take a mega blaster to kill animals, all it takes is a hole through the heart, lungs or major artery and they go down.

[GeorgiaDave]

Hello,
   I agree that all the mentioned rifles and cartridges will cleanly dispatch a game animal of deer size IF the shooter does his part. It is very important when hunting with ANY weapon to be able to  consistantly group shots in an area equal to the vital area of the game being hunted. If you plan to shoot at a deer at 200 yards than you should be able to shoot a 4-6 inch group at that distance. All the "sub MOA" groups in the world will not kill an animal. Real life hunting is much different than sitting at the bench punching paper. If the rifle you hunt with coupled with your shooting efficiency is accurate at 200 yards, than you should not hesitate to drop one at that distance. The longest shot I have ever attempted on a deer with my 35 Remington was 207 yards. It was right at dusk and the deer (an 8 point) walked out on the power lines a bit farther than I had planned. Since I KNEW where my rifle was sighted in at, and since the buck was standing broadside I aimed at the top of his back and gently squeezed one off. After the recoil and muzzleblast, I could not see the deer anymore so I climbed down from the stand and went to where he was last standing to see if I could pick up the blood trail. The trail was actually very short, about 2 feet straight down. This was quite satisfying for me because I went through th process of finding the reload that my rifle liked, and then shot it enough to know that a 200 yard shot was not a problem. Now, much farther and the cartridge really starts to shed speed and energy so I would not shoot over250 yards.
   By the way, since I started using this rifle in 1985, I have killed over 50 deer and 20 coyotes with it. It truly is my faithful friend !


Thanks,
Dave

[animal]

Thanks for all the insight fellas. Like you I've had great performance from my firearms. Other than muzzle loaders and my 44 S & W all my hunting arms are .323 or less. My 30-30 Marlin has been excellent out to 170 yards on large deer. I appreciate your input in helping me make a decision on a 200 yard low meat damaging thumper. I'm leaning towards .358 Winchester or .444 Marlin.

          animal

[NYH1]

I'm leaning towards .358 Winchester or .444 Marlin.

          animal

Which 358 Win. would you get? :grin:

[animal]

Well New York Hunter I could just get a 24"barrel .358 for my T C Encore but in the thick stuff I'd feel better with a pistol grip low power scoped BLR. The only thing I dislike about the BLR is the high gloss finish. They sure are light and handy.

 Animal

[old06]

30-30
.35 Remington
.450 Marlin
.444
45-70

Depending what cartridge, grain of bullet along with sights or optics and practice it will be up to you.

I don't have any experience with the last 3 but I can tell you yes with the first 2. I have used them at or slightly past 200 yards. But 97 % of my deer haven beet taken in less then 60 yards. So its not a seasonal expectation of these fine rounds.

[Rwalter63]

Well first off I agree that shot placement is the most important aspect of hunting. Secondly the energy left in the bullet once it reachs its target is also very important. Those two factors are proably the most important factors in sucessfully harvesting game. With that said I defer to an expert on the mininmum amount of energy in ft/lbs for sucessful kills. The following article from Chuck Hawkes in an excellent article from a well respected expert. He states that the minumum killing power in ft/lbs for medium size (CXP2 class) game is around 800 ft/lbs. Easily a 30-30 will meet that energy requirements at 200 yds.

http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_bullet_killing_power.htm

Yes the 30-30 is not the flattest shooting rifle at that distance. Winchester 170g Silver tips are the best ballistically that I have seen based on manufacturers specifications.  Below is a link for the specs.

http://www.winchester.com/products/catalog/comparerifle.aspx?multiadd=WDMwMzA0LTEtMQ==&action=3&ctype=1&atype=1

[Dee]

My 1st question is do you reload. Because if you do the 45-70 in a Marlin lever will do anything the 450 will do. The casings are the same except for the belt on the 450. This was put there to keep some dim wit from stuffing what amounts to nothing more than a 45-70 loaded to its real potential into an old gun such as the Springfield trapdoor. Last year I shot a 350 lb plus feral hog with a 405 grain hardcast loaded to 1750fps with a Marlin 1895CB. The bullet entered about half inch to the left of dead center between the eyes and a half inch high. It exited about 1 inch to the right of the poop shoot. Yep! End to end. He fell on his feet. I would wager that that same load on a broad side shot at a deer would still exit at 200 yds. As far as something more deadly at that range? A Grenade? You punch a hole that big all the way through and break any bone on the way thru that gets in the way?  The real question is do you want to pratice to be able to make that shot. There are faster flater caliburs. Do you want to hunt or snipe? I've done both. There is a difference. By your question I think you want to hunt. Good luck. That's just my 2 cents.

[Range Finder]

Animal:

The Montanan was right on with his selection.  In fact, in my opinion the selection he gave would equip you satisfactorily for any game animal on the planet with the correct ammo and don't let anyone tell you different.  

I've only got experience - and quite a bit at that -  with the .35 Remington and the 30-30 Winchester.  I've taken and seen taken many deer and bear with these two calibers and would love to go on and on about them.  To do so however in this instance would be redundant in light of GeogiaDave's, Coyote Hunter's, and old06's replies. These riflemen said it all. :agree:

GOOD SHOOTING! :-)

Range Finder

[Jason]

Before you choose a gun, be sure to check the ballistic numbers for the kinds of distances you intend to shoot. As was mentioned, if you handload your numbers will give you more capability than if you have to rely on factory loads. I have a 336RC in 30-30 that works wonderfully out to 200yds and beyond. I shoot it in silhouette matches out to 200yds so I'm accustomed to adjusting the sight for different ranges and can also adjust with holdover if I don't have time to adjust for a dead-on sight picture at any particular range. Please note that I have practiced a LOT with this rifle and am using handloads developed to give me the best energy for hits at 200+ yards.

If you don't have the time or ammo money to practice a LOT for longer distance shooting but want a lever gun to shoot longer distances, I would advise you to go with the advice offered earlier of getting a flatter shooting caliber in a Browning BAR or such (.270 Win, etc) and put a good quality scope on it. I love my Marlin leverguns, but if I hadn't practiced so much with that 330RC I wouldn't be carrying it when I'm hunting areas that might give shots out past 125yds or so.