New Marlin .444.

Has anyone bought the new Lever Action Marlin .444 rifle? I want one and will be going to my LGS to get them to order me one in a couple months,still need a few more dollars to buy one.

Have you read about the "Remlin"? There have been many stories about the quality of the Marlin rifles since Remington bought them. I suggest you go over to the Marlin site and read what they are saying. I have several older Marlin's with the JM stamp on the barrel and they all work very well.

Marlin Firearms Forum

I think you'll be fine with one of the new Marlin's. They had some problems with fit/finish early on with the Remington takeover but that was 10 years ago or so. Marlins I've looked at the last couple years seem to be fine. I would opt for an older JM marked gun if I could find one at a reasonable price but if not, wouldn't hesitate to buy one of the new ones. Good luck.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

I read somewhere that they changed the rifling from the old Microgroove to the deeper Ballard pattern and also increased the rate of twist. Be sure to post a report if you do buy one. BTW, I also heard that the recent products are good quality, made on modern machinery, not the old equipment they salvaged from the CT plant, which was the problem on the early Remlins. Now if they would only ditch that silly lock . . .
Edit: I knew Marlins didn't have a lock. Poor choice of words. I was referring to the cross-bolt safety.

Not too long ago, I took some time and looked over about a half dozen new Marlin lever actions at the local gun shop. The actions seemed fairly slick, and the rifles well made.

Closest I have is a 45/70 guide gun version, JM, with the cross bolt safety. It can be a kicker with the hotter loads. I would think the .444 would be a reloaders cartridge, as anything but full power factory loads seem like slim pickings. If Marlin has increased the twist on newer .444's, then it should be able to handle heavy for caliber bullets, and give the 45/70 a good run for the money in versatility.

I think its Speer or Hornady who makes a heavier constructed 265 grain bullet for this rifle, as full power loads with the usual 240 grain .44 mag bullets have a reputation of expanding too fast at .444 velocities for deep penetration. With Ballard rifling and a faster twist, it would be a great rifle for shooting long, heavy cast bullet loads.

Larry

I bought a new Marlin 45-70 rifle last year. I looked it over carefully before making the purchase. While the finish on the wood and metal is different than that on the original JM-marked Marlins there is nothing wrong with the fit, finish and function of the recent so-called "Remlin" guns. (It is true that some of the guns made in the transition from the old North Haven Marlin plant to Remington facilities were pretty ugly from a workmanship standpoint).

I only have one Marlin in my collection - an 1894 lever carbine in .357 Magnum that I'm quite fond of. I got very lucky and bought it BNIB for $500.00 a few years ago. It is a JM stamped rifle, and has the cross bolt safety. A few months after I bought it, the market went crazy. I've been offered $1,000.00 for it when at the rifle range, so I tend to leave it cased, and shoot it last to avoid having to tell people "No" to their offers to buy it.

I've read a couple of sources that reported the Remington buyers didn't do a good job of evaluating the tools and dies at the Marlin factory prior to buying the company. Apparently the Marlin tools and dies were worn out, and Remington spent quite a bit of money to retool. Further, I read that Remington had to hire former Marlin employees to get their quality to an acceptable level. Everything I've read about the new "Remlins" - at least during the past 5 years - is that they are good rifles.

You didn't state what you intend to use the rifle for, but for something in the .40+ caliber, I would imagine it is for hunting. Depending on what you plan on hunting, I'd probably consider an 1894 in .44 Magnum for medium sized game like deer or hogs, and a .45/70 for larger game. I think finding either .44 Magnum or .45/70 ammo would be much easier than finding .444 Marlin ammo. If I had a need for either, it would be a hard choice between them.

Best of luck,

Dave

Squarebutt said:

I read somewhere that they changed the rifling from the old Microgroove to the deeper Ballard pattern and also increased the rate of twist. Be sure to post a report if you do buy one. BTW, I also heard that the recent products are good quality, made on modern machinery, not the old equipment they salvaged from the CT plant, which was the problem on the early Remlins. Now if they would only ditch that silly lock . . .

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Marlins NEVER had a lock. They DO have a cross bolt safety. Marlin put "Ballard"(1 turn in 20") rifling in the 444's before they sold out to Remington. My 2 have Ballard rifling. The micro groove was 1 turn in 38". I shoot 310 gr cast GC bullets in mine pushed by H4198. 1908 fps avg(Oehler 35P). Mine have 18" barrels and are ported and will shoot lengthwise through a deer.
Contrarily to what some think you can get get good accuracy with Micro Groove rifling with cast bullets if you size the bullet 1-2 thousands over bore diameter. Remington has announced the 444 before and didn't come through.....So I'll believe it when I see new ones.

Does anyone think it should be "Marlington" instead of "Remlin"?

I want one of the new 444s also but I don't have my hopes up that they'll be coming out soon. This was a shot show release from last year.

I have a "JM" Marlin Guide Gun in 45-70, early enough to have the factory porting. I don't believe any of the production guns came out before the Cross Bolt Safety was introduced.

Even the Cross Bolt Safety JM Marlins still had the traditional "Half Cock" safety as part of the hammer. On the 1894 and 1895 models with the Cross Bolt button, you can "freeze" the safety button in place (either "On" or "Off" safe) by removing the butt stock (just remove the tang screws) and running the factory installed set screw tight against the cross bolt. This way you can't accidentally (or some unscrupulous other person purposely) mess with your safety! all my Marlins so equipped have been locked this way, it takes less than five minutes when cleaning. Someone was making a replacement plug, but it requires a complete tear down, and you've "removed factory safety parts" as opposed to just employing a factory set screw.

Ivan

Maddog 521 said:

Have you read about the "Remlin"? There have been many stories about the quality of the Marlin rifles since Remington bought them. I suggest you go over to the Marlin site and read what they are saying. I have several older Marlin's with the JM stamp on the barrel and they all work very well.

Marlin Firearms Forum

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I did not take the time to read about QC issues with Remlins, but I would not be surprised. Remington is not the company it once was. It is run by bean counters, and skating by on their name.
Personally I own fine older Remingtons, but I have had a personal boycott of any of their products for reaching near 3 decades. Ever since they closed the Lordship club with out issue, closed the ammunition plant in Bridgeport, and then later on the shot tower. IMO they were unfair to the sportsmen, clay target shooters and generations of workers that worked for them.

You could always count on seeing Remington men at large clay target shoots, and get your 1100 rebuilt on the spot for nothing. This was when the company supported its' customers, and the front office was run by gun people.

If i wanted a Marlin, I would find a beauty from 30 years ago, but that is just me

I had an interest in 444 at one time. However, I've concluded that the 444 and for that matter the 39, will be a long time coming, if ever. The 444 because of the overwhelming popularity of the 45-70, and 39 in it's original design is too expensive to make to be competitive with Henrys etc.
Interestingly, CVA makes a break top single shot in 444. Probably could have it in hand for $300 so if you want to dabble with the cartridge there is at least one option.

Sold my JM 444 Marlin last year as I don't hunt anymore. It was in perfect condition too. This I'll say, living in VA with lots of woods and brush this cartridge will cut right through all that and find its target with little to no deflection. Personally I would look on GB for an older JM version rather than the new ones from R.

Mike0251 said:

Sold my JM 444 Marlin last year as I don't hunt anymore. It was in perfect condition too. This I'll say, living in VA with lots of woods and brush this cartridge will cut right through all that and find its target with little to no deflection. Personally I would look on GB for an older JM version rather than the new ones from R.

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Really? No one has ever made a cartridge that will shoot through brush without deflection. Brush busting cartridges are a myth.

MCorps0311 said:

Has anyone bought the new Lever Action Marlin .444 rifle? I want one and will be going to my LGS to get them to order me one in a couple months,still need a few more dollars to buy one.

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Years ago I had one in .444. Had the longer barrel, sort of Monte Carlo stock and beautiful bluing. It shot well with the 265 grain Hornadys. Can’t recall the load it used. The one deer I shot with it wasn’t fond of the load, as I remember.
Finally someone who needed it worse than I did, made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.

I have an older Marlin 444 that started out it's life as a rifle. A previous owner cut the barrel back to about 20" and remounted the front sight. I think the short barrel suits the cartridge and rifle much better. The rifle is well worn finish-wise. Bore is good. I think it was hunted a lot. Shortly after I got it, I put a suitably worn Redfield receiver sight on it. It shoots quite well and is an easy-handling thumper. Definitely a handloading situation as I'm too cheap to pay the price for factory ammo.

Indications are that Remington/Marlin has at least gotten to the point where their final product usually works, but there is no way the quality of the ones they are making now will ever equal what Marlin was producing in the '50's and '60's. Having said that … if I wanted a new .444, I wouldn't walk away from a new one, but I'd sure want to be able to look it over first-hand before shelling out my money. Many of the flaws that the Rem/Marlin production has shown were things that could and should be spotted in a pre-purchase examination, at least by anyone familiar with the Marlin design and in some cases by anyone who bothered to look (like horribly-fitted wood and sights severely misaligned)!

Pisgah said:

Indications are that Remington/Marlin has at least gotten to the point where their final product usually works, but there is no way the quality of the ones they are making now will ever equal what Marlin was producing in the '50's and '60's. Having said that … if I wanted a new .444, I wouldn't walk away from a new one, but I'd sure want to be able to look it over first-hand before shelling out my money. Many of the flaws that the Rem/Marlin production has shown were things that could and should be spotted in a pre-purchase examination, at least by anyone familiar with the Marlin design and in some cases by anyone who bothered to look (like horribly-fitted wood and sights severely misaligned)!

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True. Remlins have been long noted to have barrels crooked to the receiver. Which causes crooked sights. Like you I'd not buy a new one before checking barrel alignment and function with a dummy cartridge.

The .444 Marlin is an excellent stopper. It has a high-moment thumping factor and very desirable knock-down ballistics. I'd buy it, great whitetailer or oinketer.