Henry or Marlin

[DennisD]

I’ve narrowed my search for a new lever action down between four guns. Either the Marlin 1894SS .44 mag, the Marlin .45 cowboy or the Henry Big Boy in .44 mag or .45LC. The Henrys I have looked at all gave the appearance of being a higher end guns than the Marlins. Better grain in the stock (most of the Marlins didn’t even have matching pieces of wood on the stock and fore-end) and had a better fit of wood to metal. I have to say that I like the look of the octagon barrel. Marlin .44 has the advantage being stainless and that I won’t have to worry about corrosion. Henry plus: no crossbolt safety; Marlin plus: I’ve always liked the look of the side loading gate. No I can’t buy one of each at this time; I have to choose one.

I would like input from those that have had both Henry and Marlin; plusses and minuses.

I will be using the gun mostly for plinking (I know .44 or .45 is overkill for plinking but I might want to hunt feral hog also, so…). I reload my own so I can get the .45LC to the same levels as .44 mag but I can also download both for plinking. Any input on which I should go for? Decisions; decisions…

 

[bobn]

i own a marlin 45 cowboy. i consider it a lifetime type gun, maybe even two! dont assume though in either gun 45 colt can be loaded to 44 mag pressures. action strength on the henry is suspect and lack of barrel support where threaded to action on the marlin.
.....if i was to hunt hogs, deer, bear i would get the 44 mag. i like the looks of the henry including the wood but not the guts. going to be lots of personal prefences here....get both, lol. bobn

 

[45Marlin carbine]

tough call. you will do good to beat Henry's customer service, I know from experience. the Company Prez handles the correspondence. Marlin may have a very slight edge in the accuracy area. both will shoot as good as the avarage Joe is capable of tho.

 

[Baba Louie]

...lack of barrel support where threaded to action on the marlin.

Do ya figure that Marlin makes their .44 mag actions differently to allow for the extra pressure or is it that with the chamber for the .44 has more metal surrounding it when compared to the .45 bore?

 

[Dave P]

I don't like the reloading method of the henry - you have to stare down the barrel to do it. Not safe for topping off the magazine.

My Marlin 44 cowboy is wonderful!

 

[DennisD]

tough call. you will do good to beat Henry's customer service, I know from experience. the Company Prez handles the correspondence. Marlin may have a very slight edge in the accuracy area. both will shoot as good as the avarage Joe is capable of tho.

Yea, I like the lifetime warranty of the Henry vs the 5 year of the Marlin.

dont assume though in either gun 45 colt can be loaded to 44 mag pressures. action strength on the henry is suspect and lack of barrel support where threaded to action on the marlin.

So the .44 is a different gun than the .45 (the way it's made)? I thought they were the same gun, just different bore diameter and chamber length.

I don't like the reloading method of the henry - you have to stare down the barrel to do it. Not safe for topping off the magazine.

I get your point but I have had a Marlin .22 that loaded the same. I point the gun downrange but upside down then place the ammo in the slot. It is a little clumsy but much safer. Like I stated, I do like the loading method of the Marlin however.

 

[WhyteP38]

tough call. you will do good to beat Henry's customer service, I know from experience. the Company Prez handles the correspondence. Marlin may have a very slight edge in the accuracy area. both will shoot as good as the avarage Joe is capable of tho.

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you dealt with their customer service? I'm asking because I was thinking of buying a new Henry last year, but a friend of mine who bought a new one last year talked me out of it. According to him, he had his rifle repaired twice, but it broke a third time, and he just wanted to get rid of it. He was pretty bitter about the rifle and about the customer service. His view was that quality in both areas had gone down recently.

That's just one data point, so it might not be true of the Henry line in general. For me, the important part was that companies and their products change over time, and that includes their quality control and their customer service.

 

[bobn]

baba you guessed it. lack of metal on the 45....really thin there...bobn

 

[Jag351]

I have a Marlin 94 in .357 and love it… I don’t know how that translates to .44, but I would assume that the latter would be just as smooth and accurate.

 

[cohoskip]

At one time I had a Marlin .44 magnum. That sucker kicked like a 10 ga...

 

[CraigC]

I would choose the Marlin (or an 1892 replica) any day of the week over the Henry. Their .22's are cheaply built with pot metal frames and plastic barrel bands. The centerfires are just too ugly to even look at. Both my Marlin .44's are excellent rifles and great shooters.

Handloaders typically regard the Marlin 1894 to be a mite stronger than the Ruger sixguns. The modern Winchester 1892 .45Colt and replicas are another animal altogether. Withstanding a steady diet of 50,000psi loads. Custom five-shot Ruger territory. Can't speak for the strength of the Henry.

 

[DennisD]

I've been leaning towards the Marlin; you guys just made me lean a little farther. I think I'll stick with the .44 mag. That way I know what kind of pressures I can load to by staying with the standard loading manual recommendations (the .45LC section does give hot loads but warns they are to be used in Ruger and TC guns only).

Now the only question is; do I want the SS version or the Cowboy version. I clean my guns after every outing so stainless is not necessary but still has a little of an advantage but I don't like the checkerd stock. The blued version is more "old school" and I like the octagon barrel; I really wish they had a case hardened receiver. Higher price however for the Cowboy; can I justify it?

 

[625]

the .45LC section does give hot loads but warns they are to be used in Ruger and TC guns only

Hotter than these? http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunition/default.htm#45colt

I'd get the .45 Colt Marlin, but I am biased because that's what I chose. I'm biased against the .44 mag Marlin because they don't give the barrels a "proper" twist rate. It's way too slow to stabilize heavy bullets. Many folks own them anyway and report accuracy as good, so take that for what it's worth. I'd simply rather have a rifle that shoots all available loads nearly equally well.

 

[DennisD]

Hotter than these? http://www.buffalobore.com/ammunitio...ult.htm#45colt

Yea, I know about Buffalo Bore. The recipes I have are about the same (some are slightly and I mean SLIGHTLY hotter). I don't think I would want to shoot any of them in a revolver; talk about a numb hand. I've shot .357 mag loads in my 2.25 inch Ruger SP101 and after about 50 rounds I was ready to say "enough".

I'm biased against the .44 mag Marlin because they don't give the barrels a "proper" twist rate. It's way to slow to stabilize heavy bullets.

That is one thing I am thinking about. 1:16" for .45LC vs 1:38" for .44 mag.

Anyone have experience with the accuracy having shot both? I'm pretty sure either will be better than my ability for off hand shooting but why not start off with the most advantage possible.

 

[Bazooka Joe71]

I have a marlin 1894s in .44mag/spec and it has cycled everything I have fed it so far.

I usually shoot .44 specials at the range for cheap plinking, and I load up the speer gold dots for my camping critter gun.

The recoil is minimal at best with .44mags and non-existent with .44spec's.

I've never owned a henry, so I can't comment.

 

[DennisD]

I've never owned a henry, so I can't comment.

Funny, I was in a Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World on Sunday and the guy behind the counter (knowledgeable older gentleman that had several older Marlins; he said he rolled his own ammo also) stated that they sell more Henrys than Marlins but I haven't talked anyone that remarks they have Henry instead of Marlin.

 

[CraigC]

It's not all roses with the .45. True, the .44 does have a slow rate of twist and typically does not work well with bullets over 300gr but that's cool because they usually don't feed well without modification anyway. However, the chambers of the .45's are notoriously generous across the board, for all makes. That manifests itself in requiring more powder to reach the same velocities and decreased case life.

Both my Marlin .44's are excellent shooters. My microgroove "S" model piles the Speer 270gr under an inch at 100yds. It does almost as well with the 240gr Gold Dot and just fine with the 300gr XTP. My 20" Cowboy model does as well at 50yds with my favorite 240gr cast bullet load. The slow twist is only a factor if you intend to go over 300gr, for which there is limited application.

 

[JAXX]

Not to hijack the thread here, but I'm not understanding something here. If you are in the market for a new lever gun in a big caliber, why are you not considering the 45-70 Marlin? I understand if you have revolvers in those calibers that you carry while you are camping and want 2 guns that shoot the same ammo, that's a given. If that is not the case, however, why would you overlook the 45-70 for weaker guns especially if you reload and don't have to buy off the shelf ammunition?

 

[MythBuster]

It is this easy and simple. If you want a trouble free rifle that will last you a lifetime and one to pass on to your kids buy the Marlin. Your kids may even pass it along to their kids.

If you want something that looks pretty hanging on the wall buy the Henry.

 

[DennisD]

Thanks CraigC, that's the kind of input I wanted; actual experience.

Jaxx, I considered it, I just don't really have the need for the more powerful cartridge. I also like the larger magazine capacity of the two I'm considering because I intend on doing a lot of plinking. No I don't have a revolver in either .45LC or .44mag (yet) My revolvers are 22LR, 357mag & .45ACP (I load both .45AR & .45ACP for that however). I also have a couple of .45ACP bottom feeders.

Mythbuster, with a handle like yours, I guess I have to take your word as fact. Actually, I've been getting that same idea from most I've heard from.