Rossi vs Remlin, 44 Mag Lever Action

[Geauxfish]

Tomorrow I hope to solve one of those great mysteries of life and shoot a Rossi 44 mag with the same hand loads under the same conditions as a Remlin (Marlin barrel, Remington action, assembled by Remington after they started back up). I made up a variety of .44 special and .44 mag loads to figure out what works best in each. I've shot the Rossi before using reloads and did not have much accuracy. However, it did great with factory ammo so I am a little puzzled.

Hopefully, on Wednesday I can post the results.

 

[sawgrass]

I am looking forward to your range report. Hope you find which ammo those 44s are partial to. What yardages do you expect to try?

.

 

[sandman7925]

Marlins and remlin 44mag both do not like heavy bullets. Been that way for decades. Knowing that can help. The twist is to slow.

 

[cnodie1]

Pardon my ignorance but can rifles chambered in 44 mag also shoot 44 special? I have a 44 mag ranch hand and it would be good to know.

 

[CHW2021]

Yes, the cartridge headspaces on the rim so it will work. Generally, .44 spl, Russian and mag will work in a .44 mag length chamber.

 

[Danny Abear]

I have a 20" bbl. SS Rossi; it will generally outshoot the newer Marlins because it has Ballard rifling instead of the micro grooves and the correct bore size for 44 cal. Marlins have oversize bores.

 

[Redd508]

Check your bullet diameters. Your handloads may be a few thousandths smaller than factory. A larger bullet may fix the accuracy issue. Velocity can affect accuracy also. You have to experiment t find the sweet spot for your particular barrel/bullet combo.

 

[Geauxfish]

Results

After spending about 3 hours at the indoor range, the results are not exactly conclusive (big surprise, right?). I shot both the Rossi and Remlin (Marlin) with the same ammo, 4 shots at a time, on a 25 yard indoor range. Both rifles take some getting used to. I was shooting from a bench rest and both rifles were shooting consitently to the right. After over an hour to sight them in, I was able to get the elevation on, but the windage was still off by 2-3" for the Marlin and 3-4" for the Rossi. The best grouping at 25 yards with the Marlin was about 2". The Rossi was about 3". I should say though that neither rifle was very consistent (repeatable results).

All of the ammo was hand loads. I would say that both rifles liked the mid to high end of each powder charge. Blue Dot seemed to work well in the Marlin and Unique was prefered by the Rossi. Both rifles shot everything I put in, from max charge Lil'Gun to super slow charge in HP 38. The only issue was with the high end charge with Lil'Gun, the Marlin was difficult to eject on two occasions.

The attached photo was taken after sighting in. I was standing up, no rest, 8 shots with each rifle (4 shots 44 spl, 4 shots 44 mag). The marlin is on the left, the rossi on the right. These results are similar with what a friend of mine also experienced with his Remlin.



I decided to list the pros and cons of each rather than start a debate.

Marlin:
PRO:
More accurate and consistent
More comfortable with the hotter loads (has a butt pad, extra weight helps too)
CON:
Much more difficult to load (spring is very tight, snaps at your thumb)
Harder to eject spent brass, esp. with hotter loads

Rossi
PRO:
Just more fun to shoot
CON:
Watch for hot brass (top eject)
Definitely feel the kick with the metal butt plate
HUGE CON...the sights are terrible.

I think that with better sights, the Rossi might get a bit of a leg up for plinking due to the ease of loading and the fun factor. You just have to learn to watch out for the hot brass. For hunting, I think the Marlin might be the better choice due to the added benefit of the extra weight and padded butt plate. Even though I tore down and polished the marlin, it was still very "tight". Maybe this will change with more rounds.

 

[Danny Abear]

It is hard to beat 296/H110 for mag loads and unique for plinking; my Rossi does best with mag loads and Ranch Dogs 285 gr, rnfp with gc

 

[frankinola]

I can only speak from pre-remington marlin, one is cowboy limited in 24" and the other is the std 20", both with Ballard rifling. groups improved with adding a williams pep sight. folks also add skinner sights - http://www.skinnersights.com/. for reloads i use 2400 or trial boss with lasercast RNFP, 200 or 240 gr. you can also look at the http://www.beartoothbullets.com/bulletselect/index.htm site and they have instructions on how to check your bore and you can order the correct size bullets. the most accurate factory ammo is the hornady ftx - accurate as can be for a lever gun.
frank

 

[hunter5567]

You might try shooting from rest to get more consistent results and to get
It sighted in perfectly. My marlin would shoot 2-2.5" groups at 100yds off a bench with a scope
and using 240gr XTP or Nosler JHP bullets and max charge oh H110 or W296

 

[sgt z]

I have the Rossi 92 in 44 mag and I think the sights jumped on me my first time out with it. I put some fingernail plish on the elevator to keep it from jumping. I use the H110 and a Nosler 240 gr JHP (IIRC my load is 23.9gr). I bought a leather lace-up recoil pad to cover the steel butt plate.

 

[Geauxfish]

Going to shoot again tomorrow. I decided to focus on what could be used as hunting rounds. 44 Mag with Hornady 240 gr XTP powered by Unique or Blue Dot (been looking for some H110 or 296 with no luck). But, based on book velocities, I should be in the 1100 to 1400 fps range for the variety of loads I put together. With the rifle, they may be a little faster but i'm not sure how much more barrel length helps those powders.

 

[sgt z]

This data from Lyman 45th ed. firearm, Marlin 336 w/20" barrel, 232gr cast, Unique 10.0 gr 1432 fps 13.0 1666. No load for Unique and 240gr jacketed in this book.

 

[Hot Pepper]

I just picked up a Marlin 1894 .44 Mag w/ 20" Barrel (micro groove rifling) with a 4x scope. Any of you guys have any experience with this model?

 

[maadi47]

I just picked up a Marlin 1894 .44 Mag w/ 20" Barrel (micro groove rifling) with a 4x scope. Any of you guys have any experience with this model?

I have the same model as you. Mine likes federal 240gr sp best. Then winchester 240gr and 210gr. It does not like fiocchi 240 at all. Of course your gun may like different ammo. I'm nailing coke cans out to 100yds with federal and open sights.

 

[Geauxfish]

The results with both rifles were very good. I only got to shoot the Blue Dot loads but both liked the higher loads (highest recommended for pistol). Turns out the Rossi sights were pretty good once I got them adjusted. I was able to put every shot on the 6" target at 50 yards with open sites. The Marlin front sight was very loose and will have to be replaced. I did put 9 rounds standing up at 25 yards in a 6" group although it was high and right (prob because of the sight issue.

I'm actually pretty pleased with the results. I'll have try again after fixing the Marlin sights.

 

[hunter5567]

You might also want to let the rifle cool down between shots when shooting for groups. I give a few minutes break between each shot and don't shoot more than 3-5 rounds before letting the rifle cool down.