Marlin 1894 in 44 magnum Loading for a Lever Action

Welcome back to Handloader TV. This time the focus is a classic combination that is both practical and a whole lot of fun: a full load development for the Marlin 1894 Trapper in 44 Magnum. The 44 Magnum, the brainchild of Elmer Keith and the engineers at Smith & Wesson, hardly needs an introduction. It remains one of the great revolver and carbine cartridges.

The goal here is not to revisit its history. Readers who want background on the cartridge, along with a deeper discussion of components and pressure considerations, should see Handloader No. 359 and Brian Pearce’s “Pet Loads” feature on the 44 Magnum. This article complements that work by showing how one particular rifle behaved with a broad selection of handloads and a sampling of factory ammunition, and by providing a closer look at the Marlin 1894 Trapper itself.

The Rifle: Marlin 1894 Trapper

The test rifle is a current-production Marlin 1894 Trapper chambered in 44 Magnum. It has become a personal favorite for hunting, general carry, and as what many would call a “truck gun.” Lever actions travel well across state lines, ride easily in a saddle scabbard, and with a suppressor installed are very friendly to the shooter’s ears and, in my case, to the horse’s ears as well.

Stock, Metalwork, and General Fit

At the butt is a soft rubber recoil pad that fits the wood cleanly. After roughly 200 to 250 rounds through the rifle prior to formal testing, the pad had not shifted or crept under recoil. The fit where the stock meets the tang and receiver is equally tidy. Overall fit and finish are impressive for a production lever action.

Marlin’s acquisition by Ruger appears to have benefited quality control. Edges line up, gaps are minimal, and the rifle has the look and feel of a carefully assembled piece. Nothing has worked loose during several hundred rounds of shooting.

The stock and forend are described on Ruger’s website as “black laminate.” In person, the wood has more of a black-and-gray, salt-and-pepper appearance that suits the rifle’s utilitarian character. Machine checkering at the wrist and on the forend provides functional grip and looks clean.

The metal carries an even matte finish that complements the laminated stock. The combination gives the little carbine a modern, purposeful appearance while preserving traditional lines.

Action, Safety, and Sights

Cycle the lever and the action feels as a lever gun should: smooth, clean, and positive. The rifle uses a crossbolt safety in addition to the traditional halfcock notch. Pushed from right to left, the crossbolt exposes a red dot, indicating the rifle is ready to fire. Pushed back, it blocks the hammer.

Personal preference favors carrying the rifle at halfcock and ignoring the crossbolt, and that is how this carbine is usually handled in the field. The halfcock notch remains functional and provides a familiar, traditional safety position.

The rifle wears a set of Skinner sights. The front is a Skinner blade, while the rear is an aperture sight with replaceable threaded apertures. The rear is adjustable for both windage and elevation. Prior to testing, the rear aperture was changed to a smaller opening suited to target work. Elevation adjustment is simple: loosen the small set screw, turn the threaded aperture stem up or down, then snug the screw again. Windage is adjusted by loosening the screw atop the sight body and drifting it laterally. In practice there is more than enough adjustment for any reasonable 44 Magnum or 44 Special load.

Trigger, Barrel, and Suppressor

The trigger exhibits a bit of rattle and fore-and-aft rock, which is common with many lever actions. Once the trigger is pressed, it breaks cleanly. On a Wheeler Engineering digital gauge, an average of five pulls measured 3 pounds 10 ounces. There is a small amount of overtravel, although not enough to affect practical shooting in the field.

The barrel measures 16.1 inches in length with a 1 in 20 or 1 in 12 right-hand twist, depending on the specific Trapper configuration; this example is stamped 1 in 12. The muzzle is threaded 5/8x24 to accept a suppressor. The test rifle wears an Energetic Armament (or other brand as appropriate) suppressor that has proven both effective and durable. The device reduces recoil slightly, although the greater benefit is a significant reduction in muzzle blast, which is appreciated during long shooting sessions and when a quick shot is required in the field without hearing protection.

Overall length without the suppressor is 33.25 inches. The suppressor adds approximately 6.5 inches. The magazine tube holds eight rounds of 44 Magnum or nine rounds of 44 Special, plus one more in the chamber.

As configured for testing, with a leather cartridge cuff on the buttstock holding 10 rounds of 44 Magnum and the suppressor installed, the rifle weighs exactly 8 pounds. That weight, combined with the short overall length, makes the 1894 Trapper very handy on horseback, in the truck, or on foot.

Carry Gear

The butt cuff and sling come from Simply Rugged. Their leather cartridge cuffs are notably thick, roughly twice the thickness of some competing products. This raises the comb slightly, which in turn improves the cheek weld behind the peep sight and makes the rifle point very naturally. The Skinner sights clear the suppressor, and a six o’clock hold or dead-on hold is easy to use with the current sight height.

Handloading Approach for the 44 Magnum

The 44 Magnum requires a few special considerations in handloading, although the process is not complicated. Rather than walk through hundreds of repetitive loading steps, this section outlines the exact methods used so that readers can duplicate the results.

Components

• Cases: New, unfired Starline 44 Magnum brass

• Dies: Redding full-length sizing, expanding, and seating dies

• Shellholder: Hornady (Redding not on hand at the time)

• Primers: Federal 150 and 150M for standard loads, CCI 350 for magnum loads

• Powders tested: Hodgdon Titegroup, Accurate No. 7, Hodgdon H110, IMR 4227, and others during the full test series

• Bullets featured in this article:

  • 180-grain Hornady XTP

  • 200-grain ACME roundnose flatpoint, Hi-Tek coated, .430 inch

  • 240-grain Hornady XTP

  • 280-grain Swift A-Frame

Case Preparation and Assembly

All new Starline cases were first run through a full-length sizing die to remove any shipping dings and to establish a uniform baseline. Case mouths were then expanded using a Redding expander die. Expansion was adjusted so that a bullet would just start into the mouth and sit square without shaving lead or jacket material, yet remain held by neck tension.

Before seating bullets, each case mouth received a light chamfer and deburr. The slight bevel greatly reduces the tendency for soft lead or bullet coating to be shaved during seating.

Priming was performed on an RCBS bench-mounted priming tool, often called the Automatic Priming Tool. Powder charges were dispensed by an RCBS Matchmaster electronic dispenser and verified to within 0.04 grain.

Bullets were seated first, followed by crimping in a separate operation. Separating seating and crimping steps promotes uniformity and avoids pushing bullets deeper as the crimp is applied, a problem that can alter overall length when case mouths vary slightly in length. Roll crimp strength was adjusted to provide firm retention suitable for tubular-magazine use.

Primer Selection

Primer choice depended on the powder type. For medium-rate powders such as Titegroup, Accurate No. 7, IMR 4227, and similar propellants, standard large pistol primers were used. For slow, magnum-type ball powders such as H110, Winchester 296, and Alliant 300-MP, CCI 350 large pistol magnum primers were preferred.

The Alliant 300-MP and Accurate No. 9 family of powders occupy a gray area where some loads may benefit from magnum primers while others do not. Extensive research on primer choice for those powders can be found in Brian Pearce’s article in Handloader No. 359. His experience, combined with careful workup in an individual rifle, remains the best guide.

Range Setup and Zeroing

All testing took place at 75 yards. A Kestrel 5700 recorded environmental data. On the primary test day the conditions were:

• Temperature: 73 °F

• Humidity: 41 percent and falling

• Corrected pressure at 5,000 feet: 30.46 inches of mercury

Velocities were measured with a Garmin Xero C1 Pro chronograph.

The rifle was benched solidly. Initial shots used factory ammunition to confirm zero and establish feeding reliability. Three rounds of 44 Special factory ammunition impacted 2¾ inches high and 2½ inches right of the point of aim. Elevation was corrected by lowering the Skinner rear aperture one full revolution, using a 1/16-inch Allen key and loosening the small set screw. Windage adjustments were made by loosening the top screw and drifting the sight base as required. The Skinner design proved simple and robust.

The first factory load evaluated was DoubleTap Ammunition’s 44 Special 240-grain hardcast semi-wadcutter. The main purpose of this test was to ensure the rifle would feed 44 Special reliably. The shorter cartridge extracted but did not always eject when the lever was worked gently. Once the lever was stroked with proper authority, function became 100 percent. The lesson is a simple one: run the lever briskly and with a consistent cadence, especially when mixing 44 Special and 44 Magnum ammunition.

Representative Test Loads and Results

In total, more than 300 handloads and numerous factory loads were assembled for this rifle, accounting for roughly 500 to 600 rounds over the course of testing and filming. Space limitations prevent coverage of every load. What follows is a representative cross section that reflects the rifle’s behavior with both light and heavy bullets.

Factory Ammunition: DoubleTap 44 Special 240-grain Hardcast

• Bullet: 240-grain hardcast semi-wadcutter

• Average Velocity: 1,106 fps

• Standard Deviation: 6 fps

• Group Size (75 yards): 2.88 inches

Accuracy was acceptable for general practice and small-game or close-range defensive use. The primary takeaway was that the rifle fed 44 Special reliably when the lever was operated decisively.

Handload 1: Titegroup with 180-grain Hornady XTP

• Powder: Hodgdon Titegroup

• Charge Weight: 11.5 grains (maximum in this context; readers must work up cautiously)

• Bullet: 180-grain Hornady XTP

• Case: Starline

• Primer: Federal 150M

• Overall Length: 1.595 inches

• Average Velocity: 1,640 fps

• Standard Deviation: 14 fps

• Group Size: 1.32 inches

This load provided very mild recoil in the carbine and excellent accuracy. The light-for-caliber 180-grain XTP, combined with the fast-burning powder, produces a flat-shooting, pleasant load that would serve well for smaller game or medium game at moderate ranges. The XTP line continues to impress with its consistency and accuracy.

Handload 2: Accurate No. 7 with 200-grain ACME RNFP

• Powder: Accurate No. 7

• Charge Weight: 15.0 grains

• Bullet: 200-grain ACME roundnose flatpoint, Hi-Tek coated, .430 inch

• Case: Starline

• Primer: Federal 150M

• Overall Length: 1.575 inches

• Average Velocity: 1,586 fps

• Standard Deviation: 4 fps

• Extreme Spread: 12 fps

• Group Size: 2.47 inches

This bullet is a favorite in Winchester 44-40 lever guns and worked reasonably well in the 44 Magnum. Accuracy was not spectacular, yet remained serviceable. The low standard deviation suggests that further tuning of seating depth or crimp could yield improved accuracy. As tested, this load is representative of what the rifle often produced with midrange powders.

Handload 3: H110 with 240-grain Hornady XTP

• Powder: Hodgdon H110

• Charge Weight: 23.0 grains

• Bullet: 240-grain Hornady XTP

• Case: Starline

• Primer: CCI 350 large pistol magnum

• Overall Length: 1.600 inches

• Average Velocity: 1,745 fps

• Standard Deviation: 9 fps

• Extreme Spread: 24 fps

• Group Size: 0.87 inch

This was one of the standout combinations. The 1894 Trapper clearly favored H110. Several different bullets over this powder produced similar results. Even one “grade C” home-cast bullet load, using imperfect projectiles that normally receive little attention, grouped very tightly when paired with H110 in this rifle.

Handload 4: H110 with 280-grain Swift A-Frame

• Powder: Hodgdon H110

• Charge Weight: 19.0 grains

• Bullet: 280-grain Swift A-Frame

• Case: Starline

• Primer: CCI 350

• Overall Length: 1.600 inches

• Average Velocity: 1,427 fps

• Standard Deviation: 13 fps

• Extreme Spread: 40 fps

• Group Size: 1.54 inches

The heavy Swift A-Frame, combined with H110, produced solid accuracy and excellent velocity for a controlled-expansion hunting bullet. This load would be entirely at home on deer- or black-bear-sized game within the practical range of a peep-sighted carbine.

Overall Performance and Observations

After roughly 500 to 600 rounds, several patterns emerged. This particular 1894 Trapper is somewhat selective about what it prefers. Loads that performed very well in other 44 Magnum handguns and rifles did not always translate into comparable accuracy here. At the same time, a few combinations using H110 shot significantly better in this rifle than in others.

On average, with a “good” load, this rifle produced groups in the 1½- to 2½-inch range at 75 yards. Exceptional loads, most often using H110, could approach or slightly beat one inch. Considering the sighting system, barrel length, and intended role of the rifle, this level of precision is entirely adequate.

Reliability was excellent with both 44 Magnum and 44 Special, provided the lever was worked with proper authority. The rifle did not cycle shotshell loads, which is unsurprising and outside its design parameters. Feeding of conventional bullet styles and overall lengths remained trouble-free.

In practical terms, a shooter who is willing to handload and to experiment with a few suitable powders can expect hunting and defensive accuracy well within the capability of the cartridge. A well-chosen 44 Magnum load from this rifle is entirely capable of humane kills on whitetail or mule deer out to at least 200 yards in the hands of an experienced rifleman. For defensive use, especially in jurisdictions that restrict self-loading rifles, a suppressed 1894 Trapper with eight rounds in the tube offers a powerful, controllable option.

Closing Thoughts

This Marlin 1894 Trapper in 44 Magnum is not a benchrest rifle. It is a compact, quick-handling tool built to be carried, ridden, and used. With the right loads, particularly those built around H110, it delivers more than enough accuracy for its intended roles. The threaded barrel and suppressor compatibility add real value for hunting and home defense alike, especially where protecting hearing is a priority.

The testing described here represents many hours on the bench and on the range. The full set of loads, including combinations not shown in this article, is cataloged at LoadData.com under the Handloader TV section for the Marlin 1894 44 Remington Magnum. Subscribers can access complete data, including charge weights, while all readers may view the accuracy and velocity results.

The mission at Handloader Magazine and Handloader TV remains the same: unbiased testing, clear data, and practical field experience that help riflemen and handgunners make informed decisions. The Marlin 1894 Trapper is a fine example of what a modern lever gun can be, provided the shooter invests the time to discover what it likes.

If you would like, I can also condense this into a shorter sidebar “Load Notes” piece or expand the load-development section into a more technical how-to article.