I'm seriously considering purchasing a Marlin 1894, and am looking for opinions about the .44 mag vs. the .45 Colt. It would be primarily for deer hunting. I may be able to get access to hunt some farm land in southern Indiana (open cornfields) and I have access to wooded land in northern Wisconsin.
I have a friend who reloads the .45 LC and is willing to help me out. If I went with the .44 mag, I'd likely be buying commercial ammo. With the reloaded .45 I could do some custom loads, but the .45 LC 1894s appear to be made mostly for the cowboy action shooters and I don't need fancy octagonal barrels all that. The .45 LC version is a couple hundred more (e.g. roughly $800 vs. $550 for the .45 mag.) It's also tougher to find a .45 LC on the used market because they haven't been around that long.
I'm also wondering about experiences with options for alternative sights on these, what people have had done to improve over the factory stuff. I'm ambivalent about putting a scope on it, but would consider it if I can't get my groups together at 125 yards with sights.
Let me know what you think.
-ski-
I have a friend who reloads the .45 LC and is willing to help me out. If I went with the .44 mag, I'd likely be buying commercial ammo. With the reloaded .45 I could do some custom loads, but the .45 LC 1894s appear to be made mostly for the cowboy action shooters and I don't need fancy octagonal barrels all that. The .45 LC version is a couple hundred more (e.g. roughly $800 vs. $550 for the .45 mag.) It's also tougher to find a .45 LC on the used market because they haven't been around that long.
I'm also wondering about experiences with options for alternative sights on these, what people have had done to improve over the factory stuff. I'm ambivalent about putting a scope on it, but would consider it if I can't get my groups together at 125 yards with sights.
Let me know what you think.
-ski-