Rifles in .357 and .44 magnum

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SullyVols

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Any reliable and popular bolt, lever, or other action rifles chambered in .357 or .44 magnum?

I know Ruger offers bolt action rifles in these calibers - I've had a bad experience with a new revolver from them - but they did fix it.

Also, can these rifles (bolt and lever) reliably cycle .38 / .44 special for lower-cost target practice at 25 yards?

I have plenty of .357 and .38 ammo and it is still easy to find where I live. I'm looking for accuracy up to about 100 yards and from my understanding is that is possible with magnum pistol rounds.

In-store prices and experiences would be a plus.

Thanks.
 
I have found no reliability issues with my rossi m92 .357 carbine, it seems to shoot whatever I have loaded with no ftf or fte. I have loaded .38s and .357s ball, hollow point and ballistic tip. This is a new mfg. gun with the lawyer bolt safety.
 
I just got a new old stock Winchester 94 in .357 magnum for Christmas. It has eaten absolutely everything I've fed it with the exception of a couple of Full Wad Cutter hand loads which I didn't expect to feed I also have a matching one in 44 and it is just as reliable. Both are tack drivers out to 100 yards.
 
I'll second the Rossi 92 for new rifles, it works fine and is more accurate than I am. The one I have now is a stainless in 357 mag, planning to add a 44 mag to the collection.
 
I was recently salivating over a ruger 77/44 in the local gun store. It was priced rather high at $749, but I think that's the current craziness being priced in. I thought it was well made and serviceable. The main selling point for me is the removable magazine and easy scopeability. Plus the fact that it's an all stainless gun. I think I'd prefer one in .357 for the one additional round in the magazine. It'd just be a rifle trainer for me, since the longest range readily available locally is 100 yards, and 200 yards if I drive an hour farther. I reload for both .357 and .44 magnum, but .357 is just fine for me.

I already have a Marlin 1894 in .357 that I bought new, 10 years ago, for $299 on sale at Big 5. Now they're $750 on gunbroker! I'm not selling my 1894, but I think that the 77/357 is a more useful gun, despite a magazine with half the capacity. Unloading a lever action is a pain, plus there are a lot of attachments to the barrel that can't be helping accuracy. I think the ruger will scope easier. The Marlin will take a scope, but after adding mounts, it raises the scope a long ways above the stock. The ruger is a conventional bolt action.

Some friends of mine are waiting for the prices on the Marlins to come down to reasonable levels. I'm recommending to them to get the ruger instead. I don't think the Marlins will come down that much, and the rugers are slick.

-John
 
Got lucky with a .44 mag Puma '92 a few years back. (the '92 is probably the strongest pistol cartridge lever action out there) Feeds & fires pretty much everything I've fed it. BUT, with 300 gr. WFN gc lead bullets over a max dose of H110, will shoot 1" all day. (50 yrs - as good as my eyes are) I've only changed the rear sight with an adjustable flip-up. I handload mostly, so a 44 spcl. load would just be a light .44 mag., not sure if special brass would want to feed. For deer and such, I feel much more comfortable with a 44 than a 357.
 
My Marlin 1894c will shoot both .357 and .38 special. I reload for it using Lil-Gun (,357). Buying store bought... look at what Buffalo Bore offers.

I bought this rifle on a whim, never having even put my hands on one, it's become a family favorite.

8120565755_b6a6ca909b_c.jpg
 
I have a Rossi Model 92, though it's in .45 Colt. Great gun for the money with a nicely blued finish and with some decent grain to the wood. The action is very smooth and the trigger pull is surprisingly crisp and light. Overall one very handy little carbine.
 
I acquired a used Marlin 1894 in .44 at the Medina, OH gunshow in ~1988. I added a Williams aperture rear sight and used it quite a bit for several years on my ancestral farm and found it to be very (surprisingly) accurate with the "whitebox"-type .44Mag ammo (often branded American Eagle) that I could buy for ~$12-$13/50Box at the time.

If I could see only a woodchuck head in one of the pastures out to as much as 100yds, and I had a steady rest, he was history.
 
Unloading a lever action is a pain,
Click to expand...

That's the one thing I don't like about the lever guns, PITA to unload when you get back to the truck or house. I just carry mine with 4 or 5 in the tube, less to unload. Mine is used just for a knock about gun, light .38 handloads for small game usually. I've shot a doe with it and it can put up some numbers using Lil Gun in magnum brass, but I have better deer/hog guns in more powerful, flatter shooting rifle calibers. As for trainers, that's what .22s are for, but I'm a grandpa so I'll leave the training to my SIL. :D

When I carry the gun out back of the house on my property, I get back and just store it loaded, usually, though I fired it a couple of days ago at swinging targets on my range just to unload it....and to shoot it :D The .454 Casull chambered Rossi 92 has a screw in magazine follower that can be removed to dump the magazine. I wish Rossi did that with the .357 version.
 
Ruger made a .44 M77 bolt action (which suffered from accuracy issues), along with semi-autos and levers that can still be found. The Rem Model 788 bolt action was chambered for .44, I have seen several of those, and as recently as last week. And the.357 and .44 traditional levers have been well documented by other posters above. I have the 1894 in .357 with a 2.75 Redfield on it, and it is a handy rifle for sure.
 
+1 on the Rossi. The only thing I would do is change the factory rear sights to something "better". I shot one with aftermarket Thompson-Center sights installed and it was a really enjoyable experience.
 
I have one of the newer Marlin 1894c's in 357 and Rossi's in 44 mag and 45 colt. I guess I got lucky with the Marlin because it's been a trouble free rifle from day one. I really do like the Rossi's. Even though they are a bit less refined than the Marlin, they are both great, trouble-free guns that are a blast to shoot. I reload for all three and get good results with several different loads for each. I have used a scope with the Marlin, but now all three have Skinner ghost ring sights on them.
 
Find an older Marlin Model 1894C in .357 and you will have your answer.....
Click to expand...
What defines "older" here? I have an 1894C in .357, and it is a delight to shoot. I did have it jam on me, and had to take it to a gunsmith. He worked it over, and I've had no problems since then. I don't know that this was the "dreaded Marlin jam." I got the gun used, at a gun show, and have no idea how much it had been run through it before I got it. But I think my problem was trying to cycle the lever action too slowly. This is a common mistake, I'm told, by first time users. Cycle the lever action with authority. I had mine out to the range just a couple of weeks ago. Lots of fun was had. More "fun" than the Mosin Nagant M44 I was shooting that day. :) (More only in the sense of number of rounds sent down the range. I consider the M44 a "fun" gun to shoot. But not as often.)
 
Took My new Rossi out today...

Took my new Rossi 92 357 to the range today.
Right out of the box...just cleaned and oiled.
First few rounds were out of the circle and high as I had to find the right place in the rear sight for the bead.
Once I found the nich, got streadied up, all rounds were in a 1 1/2" circle.
Being over 70 years old, off handed I'm not as stable as I once was.
There were some old bullets that had soft nose hollow poiints that the feed tube did not want to accept, but a few blunt nosed bullets placed in it first solved that problem.
I really thought I made a mistake when I bought the Rossi, but now I know it was the best thing I have done.
I had 7 ar's and I sold them.
I would not swap my Rossi 357 for any one of them back.
Bought Steve's DVD and I plan to smooth the action a little.
I did buy two 22 Henry's and their actions are much smoother.
Might get me a Henry soon.:D
Kinda lika like the safe to have the best if you know what I mean!:evil:
 
I have a Ruger 77/357. With ammo it likes, mostly 125 grain JHP's, its accurate and has been reliable.

Its not real reliable when shooting .38's though, and you tend to get rim lock tie ups with the mag, which require you to pull the mag and fiddle with it to get them undone. Most of my .38s are 158 grain LSWC's for my handguns, and it doesnt seem to like them as far as accuracy goes. If I load them with 125 grain JHP's, its better.

Ive had a couple of Winchester Trappers, in both .44MAG and .45 Colt, and they have all always have functioned fine, and shot well.
 
I have a Marlin 1894 in 44 Magnum, purchased in 2009. Never had any problems with it, even though it was from Marlins "dark times" era.

Fun to shoot, have used iron sight and even have put a little 4x scope on it from time to time. Holds a nice group at 50 yards.

Winchester factory 240gr JSP chrono 1840 fps for 1805 ft -lbs. More than adequate for the deer around me. 210gr Gold dots scream out at 2,000 fps. No jams.

I also load my own, 240gr MBC Smashers. They have a rounded profile vs. a semi-wadcutter. No problems feeding them. Never tried anything in 44 Special in it. I just download and use 44 mag cases.

Surprisingly, it does have a bit of kick. No recoil pad on these.

No problems feeding Hornady 240gr XTPs or Power bond 240 JHP, Fiochhi 240gr JSP, or some 270gr JSP.

The action isn't as smooth as my Marlin 336, but that rifle is from 1978. The 1894's today are lighter than the 336's as well. Nice, light 10 shot rifle to tote around.
 
I picked this one up (R92) in 45 colt, but they had it in 38/.357, 44 mag, 44 40, 45 colt and 454 casull in barrel lengths ranging from 16" and 20" round to 24" octagon. Not bad looking at all for a $450 rifle.
 

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