favorite 44 lever for pigs

[bigrich]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

[Shootermick]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I’ve got Henry’s in 22mag, 243, 357, and 44mag. I really like them a lot. None have the side gate though. Cleavers and The Barn have a heap of Henry’s landing soon, including the X model. I was very keen to order one in 30-30. But I already have a BLR in 308, which I’ve convinced myself will do whatever the 30-30 will do, plus with the convenience of a box mag. Twist my arm otherwise and I still might grab one. I think the X model look great, but I’ve never handled one as I don’t think they’ve been available here before now.

[deye243]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I gather this is short range 50y or so . anyway was in the local one day I was handed I'm positive it was Rossi but all I will say his finish was outstanding Highly Polished and blued and the action was silky Now I don't know whether this was a cowboy action gun previously or whether it was brand new as there was no tags on it but it was as if somebody got one and tricked it up unless they have a special model above what they normally make I would not hesitate on 1 of those

[bigrich]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I gather this is short range 50y or so . anyway was in the local one day I was handed I'm positive it was Rossi but all I will say his finish was outstanding Highly Polished and blued and the action was silky Now I don't know whether this was a cowboy action gun previously or whether it was brand new as there was no tags on it but it was as if somebody got one and tricked it up unless they have a special model above what they normally make I would not hesitate on 1 of those

i have a older 357 rossi 92, 24" octagonal barrel . i had a smith fit a spring kit from brownells and did some smoothing of my own to the action . it's a very slick accurate bit of gear . the smart money would be to get another one with 20" barrel in 44mag . but red dot scope mounting on the henry x sounds more attractive . the 44mag actually has good knockdown out further than folks think . the issue is accurately hitting what your aiming at

[bigrich]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I’ve got Henry’s in 22mag, 243, 357, and 44mag. I really like them a lot. None have the side gate though. Cleavers and The Barn have a heap of Henry’s landing soon, including the X model. I was very keen to order one in 30-30. But I already have a BLR in 308, which I’ve convinced myself will do whatever the 30-30 will do, plus with the convenience of a box mag. Twist my arm otherwise and I still might grab one. I think the X model look great, but I’ve never handled one as I don’t think they’ve been available here before now.

how do you find the henry BB in 357 and 44 ? do they cycle well, is accuracy good ?. i've actually heard the henry's with their 1-20 twist rate in 44 are very accurate

[Blr243]

I had a marlin 44 much heavier to carry than my 357 rossi but thats to b expected.... before u get a too excited remember the henrys could hav a long wait ?

[Shootermick]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I’ve got Henry’s in 22mag, 243, 357, and 44mag. I really like them a lot. None have the side gate though. Cleavers and The Barn have a heap of Henry’s landing soon, including the X model. I was very keen to order one in 30-30. But I already have a BLR in 308, which I’ve convinced myself will do whatever the 30-30 will do, plus with the convenience of a box mag. Twist my arm otherwise and I still might grab one. I think the X model look great, but I’ve never handled one as I don’t think they’ve been available here before now.

how do you find the henry BB in 357 and 44 ? do they cycle well, is accuracy good ?. i've actually heard the henry's with their 1-20 twist rate in 44 are very accurate

I actually don’t shoot the 44 much. It’s a big boy brass, octagonal barrel. Nice to look at, but heavy and not very practical. Definitely not suited to hunting. The 357 is a big boy steel, round barrel, a bit lighter and shoots well. I think it’s a 20” barrel, but they make a shorter barrel as well. Cycling is fine, smooth, ejects, no problems, accuracy is good.
The X model in 44 has a shorter barrel than the 30-30 I think. I don’t think you could go wrong with either a big boy steel, or an X.

[bigpete]

Get a rossi

[bigrich]

I had a marlin 44 much heavier to carry than my 357 rossi but thats to b expected.... before u get a too excited remember the henrys could hav a long wait ?

the big C has a shipment in a couple of weeks

[bigrich]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

I’ve got Henry’s in 22mag, 243, 357, and 44mag. I really like them a lot. None have the side gate though. Cleavers and The Barn have a heap of Henry’s landing soon, including the X model. I was very keen to order one in 30-30. But I already have a BLR in 308, which I’ve convinced myself will do whatever the 30-30 will do, plus with the convenience of a box mag. Twist my arm otherwise and I still might grab one. I think the X model look great, but I’ve never handled one as I don’t think they’ve been available here before now.

how do you find the henry BB in 357 and 44 ? do they cycle well, is accuracy good ?. i've actually heard the henry's with their 1-20 twist rate in 44 are very accurate

I actually don’t shoot the 44 much. It’s a big boy brass, octagonal barrel. Nice to look at, but heavy and not very practical. Definitely not suited to hunting. The 357 is a big boy steel, round barrel, a bit lighter and shoots well. I think it’s a 20” barrel, but they make a shorter barrel as well. Cycling is fine, smooth, ejects, no problems, accuracy is good.
The X model in 44 has a shorter barrel than the 30-30 I think. I don’t think you could go wrong with either a big boy steel, or an X.

yeah , looking at specs , the henry are heavy . the x weighs 7.3lb , which is the same weight as my 6.5x55 t3 , with scope
on a possitive , out of the box i think the x is a great lever scrub gun

[bigrich]

Get a rossi

yeah , my own 357 is a great rifle . i've thought a rossi stainless 44 with a red dot would fit the bill , they often need a little work though . i think the henry x out of the box looks the goods but

[bladeracer]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

Never seen the Henry. I would be hesitant to use the Marlin for mobs of pigs as I've had several stoppages with mine where the round falls off the lifter and gets stuck in the action. I haven't seen this with the .357 Rossi, but I also haven't put as many rounds through the Rossi. The Winchester 94 in .30-30 seems very reliable for me so that might be a better bet, but finding one in .44Mag is an issue. And it might be that the shape of the .30-30 is what makes it reliable, I don't know if the .44 version has issues.

[bigrich]

hey fellas, another discussion topic . i'm thinking about a 44mag lever for pigs , probably with a red dot . cause i'm over 50 and wear glasses
there's a few favorites, marlin and rossi , but i'm curious about henry . henry only appear to do the 44 in a very heavy octagonal barrel , or the one that interests me is the henry big boy X . any feedback on henry rifles

Never seen the Henry. I would be hesitant to use the Marlin for mobs of pigs as I've had several stoppages with mine where the round falls off the lifter and gets stuck in the action. I haven't seen this with the .357 Rossi, but I also haven't put as many rounds through the Rossi. The Winchester 94 in .30-30 seems very reliable for me so that might be a better bet, but finding one in .44Mag is an issue. And it might be that the shape of the .30-30 is what makes it reliable, I don't know if the .44 version has issues.

i had a remlin in 44 a few years back. did a bit of work to slick it up. but it wasn't a shooter. when pushing a patch through , you could feel tight spots in the barrel . exactly where the marlin name was stamped and where the barrel was dovetailed for the fore end attachment
SOME win 94's in 44 have feed issues . their known for breaking the end off the cartridge lifter also apparently . good luck finding spares ....

[mickb]

Hi Bigrich, its a great calibre, my main gun is a 44 mag rossi as most of my shooting is 150 yards or less. I have owned 4 rossis, three 357 and the current 44. The 44 was the newest and a level up in fit, finish and action smoothness from the 3 older 357's. Below is my full blurb and thoughts behind getting a 44.

No experience with the other types personally but I did a lot of research at the time before I went to Rossi. Main reasons were the 92 is the strongest of the actions( though the Henry and Marlin are still plenty strong) and cheap. Marlin was having some quality issues at the time too. Comments regards which action type feeds the best and particularly which will feed wide bullets and the shorter special rounds( 44 special) will vary on every thread. One thread will have blokes favouring marlin, the next will say henry, or rossi, or winchester 1873's etc. basically its gun dependant but I can say is all my Rossis fed the shorter specials( 38 and 44 respectively) as well as full length ammo so out of 4 guns all were great feeders and thats a pretty good statistic. What I like about 44 is you can run subsonic pistol bullets which still have decent thump for quieter shooting all the way to full house loads. Subsonic loads can run off as low as 4-5 grains of powder. There are a couple of former cullers posting on different forums who did most of their shooting with a 44, including big game neck shooting brumbies, donks and bovines in large numbers with 44 mags.

People compare 44 to 30-30 for power, but with handloading the 44 mag is a decent margin more thump, in my opinion anyway. Another thing most people dont realise is some 44 bullets actually have similar ballistic coefficient to 30-30 pills. The 30-30 shoots flatter due to its higher starting velocity of course.

Regards bullet choice, some are fairly hard designs and at range they may not expand as well. Everything will flog pigs at reasonable ranges though, a 44 cal hole is big to start with .The best I have found are the Hornady XTP's. They both open up easily in the nose area but then penetrate well. The 180 and 200xtp will both expand subsonically, the 240xtp needs about 1100fps impact to expand, the 300 XTP is a much tougher bullet and needs 1250fps+ impact. The 300 grain nosler is softer and expands at around 1150fps. The lowest velocity expanding bullet is the speer gold dot 200 grain designed for short barrelled 44 special pistols. It will expand as low as 800fps. Great bullet for low noise shooting at close range out of a lever, I bodyshoot small/medium pigss over baits at night with this bullet under 40 yards at about 1000fps. The noise isnt much worse than a 22mag, they sometimes fall right over, sometimes run a short way and I find them in the morning. Also the barnes XPB in 200 grain expands just under the speed of sound.

Regards factory ammo I ran some tests and basically it went like this
Blazer was grossly underpowered., 1200fps in the carbine.
Federal Hydrashok, geco, PPU were all decent level, 1700fps or so from the carbine with 240 grain bullets
Magtech 240 grain had slightly more oomph on the chrony, closer to 1800fps but I havent tried them in game and heard they may be a tougher bullet.

The most powerful factory loads I have tried are the Hornady custom 200XTP. These chronied over 2000fps from the Rossi which is over 1700ftlbs.
Looking at the charts, if they are accurate enough you could zero your gun at 120 yards, they will only be 2" high at 75 and 4" low at 150. Velocity will still be 1400fps and expanding to 60-70cal. Roughly 44mag revolver power at the muzzle. Anyone claiming 44mag is a 100 yard trajectory gun needs to look at that load.

The most powerful handloads I have seen on the net push 1900fps with 240 grains or around 2000fltbs from a 92 action.

I also wear glasses, bad astigmatisms, so I mounted a red dot and shoot with that. My bubba-fied gun shown below. Bushnell red dot. Osram 1400lumen torch, remote tail switch and yes that is genuine black eleccy tape.