Hi, this is my first post on this forum.

I would like to buy a lever action rifle in 30-30, 44 mag. or 357. The rifle will be used as a stand alone camp rifle and long term survival rifle for food gathering.

I have hunted all my life with a 30-06 with 3 x 9 scope, so I am learning about lever action rifles. I do hand load and could hand load hard cast bullets for the 357 or 44.

What manufacture and cartridge do you suggest? What size game and effective range can these cartridges shoot up to effectively?

Thanks for your help.

Geoff Massa

Hi, this is my first post on this forum.

I would like to buy a lever action rifle in 30-30, 44 mag. or 357. The rifle will be used as a stand alone camp rifle and long term survival rifle for food gathering.

I have hunted all my life with a 30-06 with 3 x 9 scope, so I am learning about lever action rifles. I do hand load and could hand load hard cast bullets for the 357 or 44.

What manufacture and cartridge do you suggest? What size game and effective range can these cartridges shoot up to effectively?

Thanks for your help.

Geoff Massa

First off WELCOME to the board I have learned a lot from the great guys here and I hope you have the same good luck!

I would choose the Marlin 1894PG (44mg/spcl) Here's why:
You have a 30-06 for hunting past 100yds, if you bought a 30-30 you would have some overlap. What I mean is your 30-06 will cover anything past 100yds so why not buy something that is geared more towards short range work. You said you needed a camp/survial gun this means close to semi-close shots ie <100yds. This leaves you choosing between the 357/38spcl or 44mg/44spcl. I would choose the 44 because it has the ability if loaded right to produce more knock down power than the 357. One advantage of the 357 is that you can shoot 38s in it as cheap plinking rounds. If you have a pistol in either 357 or 44 it might be better for you to choose a rifle in like cailber. I have a ruger sbh in 44 thats why I bought a 1894PG. they make a really good pair. The 44 would handle some stuff the 357 wouldn't like black bear or large hogs out to 100yds or mabyee out to 125 max. The 30-30 would do all this and more, but you get twice the mag capicity with the pistol calibers and in a camp/survial gun I see that as an important factor. All being said any of the three would be great guns, "I" just would choose the 44. good luck and tell us what you get.

Nice to have you here!

Would be hard to go wrong with any of them. If you anticipate needing to carry a lot of ammo on a remote trip, then the smallest, lightest one (that includes both gun and ammo) is probably your best bet. Otherwise, see what feels best in your hands.

I think it's a reasonable thing to say that the .357 and .44 Mag in a rifle are 125-150 yard cartridges for deer, and the .30-30 extends that perhaps 175-200, depending on conditions of course.

For a cheap plinker, you won't do better than the .357, unless you want to get a .22 rimfire.

Hope this helps.

Nice to have you here!

Would be hard to go wrong with any of them. If you anticipate needing to carry a lot of ammo on a remote trip, then the smallest, lightest one (that includes both gun and ammo) is probably your best bet. Otherwise, see what feels best in your hands.

I think it's a reasonable thing to say that the .357 and .44 Mag in a rifle are 125-150 yard cartridges for deer, and the .30-30 extends that perhaps 175-200, depending on conditions of course.

For a cheap plinker, you won't do better than the .357, unless you want to get a .22 rimfire.

Hope this helps.


Mike, not trying to start a flame, so please take this as me asking to learn something. Have you had experience with either the 44 or 357 at the ranges you mentioned (100-150yds) on game animals such as whitetail. How much bullet drop do you experience at 150yds and how much energy would the 44 in particular still have at that distance. The reason I ask is I shoot a 1894 in 44mg and don't have anywhere to shoot past 100yds to see for myself so I'd like to hear some first hand reports if I can.

I would get the Marlin 336 in 35 rem. Now that throws a real kink in the works don't it!

I have read articles that say if you use a .357 mag rifle for deer, keep the ranges under 60 yrds. Alot of big game was taken years ago with the 44-40 cal lever action. Compare the ballistics with that cartidge and the modern .357 and .44 mags. It will make the old 44-40 deer cartridge look very inferior, but to the folks back then, it worked just fine, probably out to over 100 yrds.

The reason that I would buy a .357 or .44 lever gun is around where I live there are only indoor ranges and they won't let you shoot rifle calibers at their range, but you can practice with rifles of pistol caliber. Alot has been written about the .357 lever rifles as survival tools. You could use it as home defense, if you live somewhere where handguns are banned. And it's not an assault rifle, so you don't draw all that attention.

If I was buying a .44mag rifle, I'd have to look at the Henry Big Boy. Nice looking gun, and it's coming out in .357 soon. Marlin might be my second choice. I have heard that the Winchester 94 sometimes has trouble in the .44mag caliber since the action was designed for a longer cartridge. But I've also heard from others that they have one and it works fine.

The 44 is a fine rifle, it just kicks hard when loaded with full power reloads. It's good for whitetail deer to 125 yards, black bear and hogs to 100 yards. The 357 is the lightest rifle to carry and best plicking rifle. It is good to 80 yards for whitetail deer and 50 yards for hogs. The 30-30 can handle black bear, hogs, or deer out to 150 yards.

Chief RID was right. With the right reloading recipe and 200 grain hard cast gas check bullets, the 35 Marlin will take black bear, whitetail deer, hogs and elk at 200 yards.

Mike, not trying to start a flame, so please take this as me asking to learn something. Have you had experience with either the 44 or 357 at the ranges you mentioned (100-150yds) on game animals such as whitetail. How much bullet drop do you experience at 150yds and how much energy would the 44 in particular still have at that distance. The reason I ask is I shoot a 1894 in 44mg and don't have anywhere to shoot past 100yds to see for myself so I'd like to hear some first hand reports if I can.

Sure, no problem.

.357 mag handgun on deer to 25 yards or so.

.44 mag handgun on deer to 50 yards or so.

Now..... add 300fps, 400fps, or even a bit more velocity to a rifle, and you've added an easy 100 yards to the effective range. If a muzzle velocity of say 1300 fps from a handgun works at short range, then how far down range is the rifle bullet traveling 1200fps.... make sense? Deer doesn't know what gun the bullet came out of.

You'll have to check the ballistic tables (any reloading manual should have them) to see what sort of zero you'll need at 100 yards. Gut feeling is about 2" high at 100 .... that should keep them in the vitals to 125 yards, at least. For a heavy cast bullet, figure a B.C. of at least .2 or so.

I use hard cast bullets so the 'energy' part of the question is moot.

Haven't had time to check the actual bullet drop at 150 yards, but planning on doing so with my .45 Colt rifle (marlin) and that will help answer some of the questions.....

Sure, no problem.

.357 mag handgun on deer to 25 yards or so.

.44 mag handgun on deer to 50 yards or so.

Now..... add 300fps, 400fps, or even a bit more velocity to a rifle, and you've added an easy 100 yards to the effective range. If a muzzle velocity of say 1300 fps from a handgun works at short range, then how far down range is the rifle bullet traveling 1200fps.... make sense? Deer doesn't know what gun the bullet came out of.

You'll have to check the ballistic tables (any reloading manual should have them) to see what sort of zero you'll need at 100 yards. Gut feeling is about 2" high at 100 .... that should keep them in the vitals to 125 yards, at least. For a heavy cast bullet, figure a B.C. of at least .2 or so.

I use hard cast bullets so the 'energy' part of the question is moot.

Haven't had time to check the actual bullet drop at 150 yards, but planning on doing so with my .45 Colt rifle (marlin) and that will help answer some of the questions.....


Thanks mike, let us know how she does at 150. :D

You betcha..... and don't underestimate the .357 in a rifle, Marshall's killed tons, literally, of deer with depredation work.....

Here's a little more book info, now that I've had time to look it up.

The Sierra reloading manual shows a B.C. of about .23 for their .44 cal 300 grain bullet. I'm using a 280gr. WFNGC, from Beartooth, which is going to be real close.

My handgun loads get about 1350fps from a 7.5" Blackhawk. At 50 yards, figure they are still moving along at 1200fps, plenty of thump for a whitetail. Even down to 1,000fps impact velocity, I doubt you'd ever recover one, and should have a pretty good wound channel.

Let's say the rifle brings this load up to 1650fps at the muzzle, for the sake of argument. You might get another 50fps but it won't many any significant difference in trajectory. At 150 yards, the velocity is still a bit over 1200 fps. So you can see that the rifle extends the range over the handgun, just about exactly 100 yards, on the basis of impact performance.

Sight in - they don't show exactly what I'd suggest, 2" high at 100, but a 100 yard zero gives 7 inches of drop at 150 yards. Move up 2" at 100, should just about move up 3" at 150, for about 4 inches below line of sight at 150.

The high point of the trajectory would appear to be around 75 yards, about 3 inches over the crosshairs.

There's plenty of trajectory calculators so you can get a bit more exact than my example..... however it should be close.

Anyway that seems pretty reasonable, for deer hunting.

Hope this helps.

I hunted with a 44 Marlin rifle for close to 25 years. The first 23 years I used 240 grain factory ammo. I started reloading trying to get more range for the 44 Marlin. Of course, this increased recoil and I traded the 44 for another rifle. The main problem with a 44 rifle is slow bullet speed. This creates two problems. The problems are bullet drop and the amount of time that it takes for the bullet to get to the target. Just for fun, shoot a target at 125 yards using 240 grain factory ammo. If you listen, you can hear the bullet hit the target. It takes a long time for the bullet to get there (compared to a rifle cartridge). If the deer is standing still, no problem. If the deer is walking through the woods at 125 yards, you have to lead the spot that you intend to hit. Depending on how fast the deer is walking, the lead could be two foot. Again, I am talking about regular factory ammo.

My advice is, don't try to make a pistol cartridge perform like a rifle cartridge. If you need rifle distance, get a rifle. If your shoots are going to be close and you have a 44 pistol, get a 44 rifle.

You betcha..... and don't underestimate the .357 in a rifle, Marshall's killed tons, literally, of deer with depredation work.....

Here's a little more book info, now that I've had time to look it up.

The Sierra reloading manual shows a B.C. of about .23 for their .44 cal 300 grain bullet. I'm using a 280gr. WFNGC, from Beartooth, which is going to be real close.

My handgun loads get about 1350fps from a 7.5" Blackhawk. At 50 yards, figure they are still moving along at 1200fps, plenty of thump for a whitetail. Even down to 1,000fps impact velocity, I doubt you'd ever recover one, and should have a pretty good wound channel.

Let's say the rifle brings this load up to 1650fps at the muzzle, for the sake of argument. You might get another 50fps but it won't many any significant difference in trajectory. At 150 yards, the velocity is still a bit over 1200 fps. So you can see that the rifle extends the range over the handgun, just about exactly 100 yards, on the basis of impact performance.

Sight in - they don't show exactly what I'd suggest, 2" high at 100, but a 100 yard zero gives 7 inches of drop at 150 yards. Move up 2" at 100, should just about move up 3" at 150, for about 4 inches below line of sight at 150.

The high point of the trajectory would appear to be around 75 yards, about 3 inches over the crosshairs.

There's plenty of trajectory calculators so you can get a bit more exact than my example..... however it should be close.

Anyway that seems pretty reasonable, for deer hunting.

Hope this helps.


Mike as usuall your reply was just what I was looking for. I currently have my 1894 set dead on at 100yds, I think I'll move it up to 2 inches high so I won't have to try to compensate to much IF i get a shot around 150yds. I don't think moving up 2 inches at 100 should have too much of an effect at 50 and 75yds. I'll check that this week when I'm breaking in my BLR. Again, thanks for the reply.

Mike as usuall your reply was just what I was looking for. I currently have my 1894 set dead on at 100yds, I think I'll move it up to 2 inches high so I won't have to try to compensate to much IF i get a shot around 150yds. I don't think moving up 2 inches at 100 should have too much of an effect at 50 and 75yds. I'll check that this week when I'm breaking in my BLR. Again, thanks for the reply.

You can calculate the change at 50 and 75 yards if you already know the impact point... it will be close to half and three quarters of the change that you make at 100, respectively. So only about another inch at 50 and inch and a half or so at 75.

Good luck with your hunting!

Hi, this is my first post on this forum.

I would like to buy a lever action rifle in 30-30, 44 mag. or 357. The rifle will be used as a stand alone camp rifle and long term survival rifle for food gathering.

I have hunted all my life with a 30-06 with 3 x 9 scope, so I am learning about lever action rifles. I do hand load and could hand load hard cast bullets for the 357 or 44.

What manufacture and cartridge do you suggest? What size game and effective range can these cartridges shoot up to effectively?

Thanks for your help.

Geoff Massa

GM, this is my first post on this forum too. I'm not an expert, but I've done a little hunting and shooting.

For a long-term survival rifle for food gathering I would pack a "poacher's special", a .22 mag rimfire. Mine is a Winchester 9422M with a Williams receiver sight. Much better for groundswatting birds, spotlighting deer, possum-popping, and squirrel/rabbit hunting than a bigger rifle. Also, visualize 1,000 rounds of ammo in your pack and a rifle that carries like a baton!

The others will work fine, of course. Even the .30-30 is a good small game rifle with low velocity handloads.

Anyway, that's what I would do.