Here's the hook photo, yep that's a centerfire Marlin:
Backstory: I bought a 24" Chiappa SS 44mag a while back - stunning looking gun, I added all the bells and whistles to try get her to group (tang, front sight, trigger job). It was destined for pistol cartridge silhouette. In a nutshell, sadly it turned out to be far from adequate. By definition, after those 3 opening shots it would open up to no less than 5moa at 50m (and this was the optimal load). On top of that, I came to realize a sporter 44mag is just a bit too much gun for target shooting (if you can get away with less rifle that is). Over a match, the 44mag gets hot - so the heat mirage affects your sight picture. Perhaps this is actually exaggerated by the SS barrel; it seams to get hot faster than my blued rifles? Furthermore, it seems the steel is actually softer than blued, so one can imagine the whip is probably also increased when it heats up (which ironically is probably also exaggerated by the long, thin barrel). The pills are also heavy (so not good value for money), and powder consumption is significant. The action is sloppy and prone to jamming, and it has a tendency to light primer strike. So out of much frustration, I turned to something a little smaller (and more appropriate, yet expensive I might add).
Introducing the JM stamped Marlin 1894CB chambered in the rather fleeting, 32H&R Magnum:
That's right, a tube loaded centerfire Marlin. Actually this was a limited release manufactured in 2006, unusually based on the 39 action. And WOW, now do I see why people complain about the quality of Remlins (I have a Remlin 336 to compare against). The quality of this rifle is utterly incomparable to my modern Remlin junk.
And lets talk about accuracy, holy s**t can it shoot. Without a doubt, the most accurate lever rifle I've ever seen (excluding BLRs, 88s etc ofc), and it's a pistol cartridge to boot! Cheap, 32cal 115gn cast lead pills over a mild 10gr 05 load consistently group into sub 2moa, we're talking consistent, long shot string groups. Barrel heating is nice and slow. recoil virtually non-existant. Check out some groups:
(4x) Scoped:
And with a William's Peep sight + Lyman tunnel:
And that was literally my first test load! If one was chasing benchrest accuracy, a high powered scope and more load development would get it down even further. For me, what makes this rifle so desirable is the ease and cost of reloading associated with pistol cartridges. Admittedly It's only a 20", but I'd rather sacrifice four inches of sight radius for crazy good mechanical accuracy. That sort of accuracy will do me any day of the week! Like my Tikka, this rifle is more accurate than I am.
Moral of the story, yet again, aim for just “enough gun” and buy once, cry once. Leave the replicas for for fun and hunting.