44 mag rifle. Single shot, lever, or bolt action?

Which action design for 44 mag?

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The 77/44 is kinda funky on scope mounting.
Need to run a Leupold or similar eyepiece sized scope to clear the bolt (if trying for a cheekweld w factory stock).
Bad enough some folks have said screw it, and gone w a Burris FF at a ring location.

Know a few folks that had/have em.
Not uncommon to try a couple before finding one that is tolerable.

Nice looking rig, light and trim..........but no thanks.

If I had to buy a .44 rifle to hunt with, proly get a Ruger #1.
 
For the .44mag in a rifle, I think that I would have to choose a lever-action.

I have had a 1983-mfr Marlin 1894S since ~1988 and all that I have ever fed it is generic American Eagle/White Box 240gr jacket soft-point factory ammo.

Using the Williams rear aperture sight that I installed shortly after acquiring the Marlin, the little rifle was a real groundhog slayer in my hands out to about 125yds.

Last time that I did a quick check of the sights before heading out (2" round blaze orange sticky on a Poplar at the back of the drainfield and the corner of the house for a field-rest ... ~110yds) I fired two carefully aimed rounds and both struck the sticky ... just as I expected. ;)

Yeah, I could still see pretty well back then. <sigh>
 
adcoch1 said:
Other than the red dot it looks just like my old one. Never should of sold it, but it wouldn't cycle the load I wanted to run in it. Or shoot my plinker loads better than a pattern. Might have been the semi buckhorn sight...
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That sight is hard to use. I sold an outboard early this year and headed straight to the store to pick up a 357 version of that same gun but when I was checking the gun out I shouldered it and tried to aim it at a sprinkler head and couldn’t figure out how to shoot it. The sight just has too much going on, and replacement sights are available but I morally and opposed to buying a gun like that and immediately spending money making it how it should have been to begin with.
 
WestKentucky said:
That sight is hard to use. I sold an outboard early this year and headed straight to the store to pick up a 357 version of that same gun but when I was checking the gun out I shouldered it and tried to aim it at a sprinkler head and couldn’t figure out how to shoot it. The sight just has too much going on, and replacement sights are available but I morally and opposed to buying a gun like that and immediately spending money making it how it should have been to begin with.
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Semi-buckhorns? Yeah hate those things. I put a bolt mounted peep on mine, it deletes the safety.
 
I hate buckhorns too!

My first choice is usually leverguns but with the stupid slow twist 99% of them have, there are limitations they shouldn't have. My Marlin 1894S model will shoot sub-MOA with jacketed bullets. It's microgroove so I've never shot cast out of it.

The new Henry and Taylor's guns have the fast twist and I'm itching to try one.

A single shot isn't going to have the limitations on bullet weight/length. I was tempted by the Ruger No.1 but the price tag turned me away. With the strength of it, there is virtually no limit on what it can do with the cartridge. The extra long, 50,000psi loads I feed the Super Redhawk would be interesting to try from a proper rifle. I've been meaning to order the CVA to give it a shot. I have their Optima blackpowder pistol and it's a good one.
 
adcoch1 said:
So this same shop has a 44 ruger semi auto as well on the used rack. I had the mag fed version a long time ago, but also didn't like the fact that it fed ONE bullet type. I may revisit one of these 44 rifles again, but semi auto is flat last on the list.

Anybody ever try a true .429 bore rifle barrel? Maybe in a contender or something? Really curious if anyone has ever gotten good accuracy out of a 44 mag rifle... As Townsend Whelen said, only accurate rifles are interesting.
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In about 1992 I bought a Browning B-92 in .44 magnum. It proved to be one of my most accurate rifles when using .44 mag. A bit less so if using .44 special. My solution? I don't shoot .44 special.
 
adcoch1 said:
it made me miss my rossi levergun.
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Well with that in mind consider replacing it with another lever gun. Really a matter more of personnel taste I guess. Lever action rifles have always had a certain lure to them. Personally I like the Ruger 77 / 44 and I also like my old Ruger 44 Carbine semi-auto which was my go to deer rifle for West Virginia for years. Just choose what you are most comfortable with.

Ron
 
I suppose my answer would be all of the above, with either or both of Ruger's .44 semi-auto carbines thrown in for good measure.

I have an early 77/44 'All-Weather' that I quite like. I modified the bolt stop to make it more positive, added a Volquartsen mag release and a NECG receiver sight modified to work in the rearmost scope cut.

Ruger7744.jpg

I've also got a custom .44 Magnum single shot made from the back half of a worn-out Aussie Martini-Henry-Enfield service rifle I bought for parts.

Marteenie.jpg

And the gun I'm still looking for is Ruger's discontinued Model 96 levergun in .44 Magnum. Sort of a mini-Savage 99.

Ruger96.jpg

A pump action .44 Timber Wolf would also be quite nice if they weren't going for north of $1.5K right now.
 
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Dave DeLaurant said:
I suppose my answer would be all of the above, with either or both of Ruger's .44 semi-auto carbines thrown in for good measure.

I have an early 77/44 'All-Weather' that I quite like. I modified the bolt stop to make it more positive, added a Volquartsen mag release and a NECG receiver sight modified to work in the rearmost scope cut.

View attachment 944517

I've also got a custom .44 Magnum single shot made from the back half of a worn-out Aussie Martini-Henry-Enfield service rifle I bought for parts.

View attachment 944519

And the gun I'm still looking for is Ruger's discontinued Model 96 levergun in .44 Magnum. Sort of a mini-Savage 99.

View attachment 944516

A pump action .44 Timber Wolf would also be quite nice if they weren't going for north of $1.5K right now.
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That Martini is awesome....
 
I got a Henry lever action Big Boy carbine in 44 magnum 3 months ago. First, agree with the posters who hate buckhorn sights. With old eyes will probably scope it. The original front sight blade was way too short. I could not zero it as every shot went 12” high at 25 yards. Called Henry, they sent out a higher blade designed for the 357 magnum Big Boy at no charge and I was able to get a nice zero at 100 yards shooting 240 gr Hornady XTPs over 24 gr of H110. Some 5 shot groups were probably 2 Inches, with some of the bullet holes overlapping. Very acceptable for a lever action.Now I like it. A beautiful firearm.
 
personally I own a ruger .44 carbine semi auto and it runs hornady leverevolution 225 grain amazingly well never had any issues and have taken pigs at 125 yards no issues I would stretch it to maybe 175-200 tops but have not had to as I live in an area where there’s rarely even 100 yards of visibility through the brush. That said I also have a 1969 winchester 94-44 I recently acquired and am going out this weekend to do some chrono-ing, and trajectory charting for the difference in the 20” winchester over the 18.5” ruger And see if the Winchester has issues cycling any rounds, which I doubt but my ruger doesn’t like the lighter range rounds but I’m guessing the Winchester won’t care since it’s lever.

All of this is a long winded way of saying personally I’d spend the money on a used ruger carbine but I understand the appeal for a lever action I have owned a few but eventually sell them and keep the ruger, I like knowing when I stumble upon a sounder of 8-10 pigs I can usually get 2-3 shots off before they are out of sight. I’m not as confident of such with a lever. I also use irons on my lever guns but my carbine has a leopold hog hunter with the pig plex 1.25-4x20

to comment on a few above responses my granddad who thought me to hunt always used a 7.5” super red hawk .44 but since switched to the 77/44 and I’ve shot about 20 rounds through his rifle and they were all touching shooting off hand. I don’t think you can go wrong with any but I personally wouldn’t want a single shot by any means


adcoch1 said:
Been wanting another 44 mag rifle to replace the rossi lever I let go of, and when perusing the gunstore today I saw a new stainless ruger m77/44 with a synthetic stock. It was so light and nimble, it made me miss my rossi levergun. It got me thinking, which action is best for the 44 mag in a rifle? Single shot? Lever, or a bolt gun?
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natman said:
Might have been because it was a Rossi. I had a 92 in 357. The action was stiff and the "oil finish" stock looked like it had been soaked in used motor oil. So I set about improving it. I refinished the stock. I polished and smoothed the action, which involved assembly and reassembly of the action many times, not a fun task on a 92. Finally it looked great and operated smoothly. Proud of my "new" gun, I took it to the range. Where I found that if you aimed carefully, you could get all the shots on the paper at 25 yards.

I learned two lessons that have served me well ever since: First, always shoot a gun before you put a bunch of work into it. Second, never buy another Rossi.
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All that work should have been done to the sights. Best thing I did was replacing the factory sights with a set of peeps.
OP. I like single shots and lever guns. I don't know which I like more.
 
I have a couple lever .44 mags and three H&R single shots... I need to spend more time with them I do. I grabbed the last two .44 mag handi rifles when Dicks had a sale right before or after they were discontinued. I would love a 77/44 but have heard of the accuracy issues- but a friend of mine showed me his suppressed 77/44 and man its nice... drool drool drool
 
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