PCCLA Question

[ChuckD]

Found a good deal on a Marlin 1894 in 44 mag. Did want a .357 for this, but hard to pass up. Will this work, or too much to shoot all day?

Thanks
chuck

[Another Dang 9]

Chuck the 44 mag may not be the best choice for pistol cartridge. The .357 mag would be better. It's not the worst either. And it works well if you plan on shooting CLA too. You will most likely need to load two different loads for the two different games.

[frankmako]

i used the marlin 1894 44 mag for one year in pccla. it worked well and is not hard to shoot. i down load the round and made it easy shooting. it took some work to find the load that grouped good at all animals. after that it worked well. i tried it for cla but i could not get it to group at the rams. it was so bad it was a waste of time and ammo trying to make it work. it did the job/grouped well on chickens, pigs, and turkeys. but the rams i could not get the 44 mag to group no matter what loads i made/tried. the grouped open up more than i liked at the turkeys too. when it would hit a ram it took them down. later i moved over to the marlin 1894 357 mag for pccla and a marlin 336 30-30 for cla. i tried the 357 mag for cla. worked well for chickens, pigs, and turkey. i used my pccla loads for them. but it would ring the rams if they were set heavy and/or closed to heavy. the rams had to be at the tipping point to go down using a heavy load. i have talked with many shooters that have tried to get the 44 mag to work for cla and they had the same problems as me. i would get the 44 mag now to start shooting and keep looking for the 357 mag. for cla get a 30-30 or 35 rem and be done with it.

[AMB]

Will it work, yes. Too much to shoot all day, not if you handload. Whether to buy it depends on deal, your objectives and what kind it is.

I had a 24" CB 1894 .44 Mag loved the gun, my objective was to win PC matches with a rifle easily capable of perfect scores with reduced velocity handloads. Was very hard to find a load to meet that criteria. Remington 180 fnhp's bulk bullets did, but they quit making them. I tried 180 Hornady's, but I got fliers... a common problem. I didn't want to go through the grind and spend the time developing a new load (if one even to be found) so I sold the gun. I now shoot a CL 1894 .32-20, it shoots great. But for me and my criteria a CB 1894 .357 would probably be ideal.
Al Bean