Lever action Rifle .44 mag or 45-70?

THAT would be awesome.

I have both, for 98% of the population the 44 mag is far more functional. A44 mag in a handgun is a formidable weapon, it in a rifle it's substantial!!!

A new Marling 1894 would be my choice

I like both

WOW

I know the choices are 44 mag and 45-70.
I am also looking for a big boomer lever gun, and the 454 keeps poking its head into the mix.
It seems to cover everything I would ever do with a lever gun. I do reload, and I am also in the market for a Blackhawk, so the 45 colt option is very attractive.

I am really looking at a lever action. I can sure use some input. I am used to .44 mag but the 45-70 is also calling me. I cannot purchase both.

41Dude said:

Any if you have an opinion?

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A lot depends on your situation.

Do you reload for either? Do you plan on shooting it a lot? If you already reload and / or cast for one and will use it more than having a safe queen then get that one.

In my case when I got my Marlin 45-70SS (not stainless) I did not plan on shooting it a lot and I did not reload or cast for it but I did load and cast for the .44 magnum. My reasons were... I always wanted to own a 45-70, it was at a closeout price point, and it had nice wood. I'm not sorry I did get it.

Had em all. 86 Win Marlin 45-70 too. Had an original 92 made into a 44 Mag 1894 Marlin 32-20 41 357 44.The 44 will be more fun and I guess you have a 44 Handgun. The 44 is a hundred yard deer rifle. The 45-70? I sold em all...even the 444 and 356 and 375. You are li.it's with the big boomers. He'll I live in Wyoming and I didn't need the 45-70s I even sold my 71 Win in 348.. If you want a fun shooter you want the 44. The 45-70 is a beast in anything and painfull. A suggestion if you can find a Marlin 44 in Cowboy version(longer bbl).get it. A little more velocity and prettier than the carbine. The only pistol caliber lever I have left is a kinda,rare Win 94 357 . It is a rifle length not a carbine...and it do shoot. I just found a local fellow with the Cowboy Marlin in 44. I'm gonna make it mine. 44 ammo is much easier to find and cheaper to reload if you do reload. Buy the 44

45 Colt/454 Casull would get my vote.

Wyandot Jim said:

All are great. If you reload and only can get one rifle I would go for the 45-70.
The reason is you can download the 45-70 to 44 mag but you can not upload the 44 mag to 45-70. The 45-70 downloaded to 10 Grs. of Unique and a 300Gr. LRNFP is very accurate to100+ yards and a blast to shoot.

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Has anyone reloaded .45-70 with a Lee hand press? If someone is not yet into reloading, that's a good option to keep things cheap and most of all compact. When I started with one caliber I had EVERYTHING for reloading (except the manual) in one cardboard box the size of a smallish boot box: press, dies, 100 cases, Lee Ram Prime tool, cheap scale, pound of powder, powder dippers, bottle of case lube, brick of primers, powder funnel, two boxes of bullets, kinetic puller. It was really handy. The process is slow, but for magnum revolvers it's OK. Very demoralizing for auto-pistol cartridges, though!

I've used the hand press for .44 Magnum and it's OK, although brass from really max loads are best resized with case lube even if you use carbide dies. Not only is it hard to do "dry," but the force required to pull the case out of the die can damage the rim. Luckily they didn't rip off completely and leave me with a stuck case, but I have some .44 brass that's hard to use because of the deformation.

Just wondering if the hand press is practical for resizing .45-70.

I love the 45/70 but if I had to pick just one for hunting it would be the 44 Magnum. When I reminisce about all my past hunting I realize everything but one moose could have been taken with a 44 Mag. I shot one whitetail with a 45/70 and as John Wayne said in True Grit about the turkey that Glenn Campbell shot with the Sharps carbine, "too much gun."

A 41Dude needs one of these:

It depends on whether you want to kill a Buffalo or simply annoy a Grizzly.

My 357 has killed everything I ever fired it at.

Which includes?

Mostly targets and game much smaller than bears.
Bottles and cans try to hide.

NC FNS said:

If capacity matters, you'll probably get more with the .44 mag.

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"Spray and pray"

I have the 45/70 that's on top. The 44 Magnum in the middle and the 357 Magnum that's on the bottom. All three are great rifles and calibers.

The big difference is weight and range. Here in Ohio, the 44 Magnum gets the nod most of the time when I go deer hunting. It's light and anything within 100 yards has a chance of dying. It could probably stretch to 125 yards but I try not to take chances when I hunt.

The 45/70 has a range of around 200 yards but it has some weight to it. So if you walking be aware of that. It packs a punch with hunting rounds for the big game but it can be loaded with a 300 or 350 grain lead cast bullet and a dose of unique for paper punching at the range.

The 357 Magnum wasn't on your list, but I just had to throw it in. It's fun for everything from short range deer hunting to picking of pesky ground hogs. Virtually no recoil and a great plinker for kids too.

It's hard to go wrong with any of them so good luck.

Nice looking rifles. That's some interesting grain on the butt stock on the .357.