Did Marlin Make a 1895 in 444 ?

[daisygordoninc]

I know a guy that is hunting for a 444, he believes Marlin made them in the 1895 model.
Does anyone know for sure ? Does anyone have one ?

[6pt-sika]

Not as such .

The action used for the 336 , 444 and present day 1895 are the same thing with some differences in ejection port size .

But they never made one that was called a Model 1895 chambered for the 444 .

I did have a 444 that was made in 1964 that was barrel stamped 444 Marlin Magnum .

[AJMD429]

Yep, what 6pt-sika said.

As I understand it, the 336 action was 'modified' to handle the 45-70 and 444 cartridges, by enlarging the ejection port opening, modifying the internals for proper cartridge feeding, and (the problematic part, as some see it) increasing the openings for the magazine tube and perhaps barrel attachment.

The problem being that the action is not as strong as the Winchester and pushing it past 30-30 or 375-sized cartridges give some the heebie-jeebies.

Having said that, I have Marlins marked "444 Marlin" and "45-70" that I shoot factory loads in with confidence. Like 6pt-sika said, the actual receiver is a 336, but I believe the 45-70 in at least the long octagonal barrel version was marketed as an "1895". I believe my 444 Marlin simply says 444 Marlin on it, but does not say "1895" (or "336") on it that I know of.

They made longer-barrrled, supposedly better-fitted versions (the "XLR series") in 30-30, 35 Remington, 444 Marlin, and 45-70 (and I think maybe 450 Marlin too), that I have read have a 'slightly different receiver' to 'increase strength' in the larger diameter cartridges. If I recall, the main modification seemed to be a different type of threads for the barrel.

[6pt-sika]

They made longer-barrrled, supposedly better-fitted versions (the "XLR series") in 30-30, 35 Remington, 444 Marlin, and 45-70 (and I think maybe 450 Marlin too), that I have read have a 'slightly different receiver' to 'increase strength' in the larger diameter cartridges. If I recall, the main modification seemed to be a different type of threads for the barrel.

Once upon a time I had the entire XLR accumulation 30-30 , 35 REM , 444 , 450 , 45-70 , 308 EXP and 338 EXP . While they were quite nice I gotta say I didnthink the fit and or finish was any better then the blued walnut versions as I had atleast one blued and walnut for all the cartridges mentioned as well .

The only ones with different threads were the 450 Marlin 308 Marlin Express and 338 Marlin Express . Those three all had V threads where as all the others or atleast I was told had square threads .

[marlinman93]

I'd have to argue about the Marlin 336 action's strength vs. the Winchester 1894. Even the 1894 had it's frame beefed up a bunch to handle the .375 Winchester. But the 336 version called the ".375 Marlin" was not beefed up at all to handle the same cartridge. So I'd assume Marlin felt it was adequate, but Winchester felt their 1894 wasn't without improvements.

[EG73]

I'd have to argue about the Marlin 336 action's strength vs. the Winchester 1894. Even the 1894 had it's frame beefed up a bunch to handle the .375 Winchester. But the 336 version called the ".375 Marlin" was not beefed up at all to handle the same cartridge. So I'd assume Marlin felt it was adequate, but Winchester felt their 1894 wasn't without improvements.

Unless he’s referring to larger cartridges and thus meaning the 1886 (like the .45-70).

But they’re apples to oranges.

[AJMD429]

What I meant to say was that the Winchesters that were sold in those larger-bore cartridges like 444 Marlin were stronger, because Winchester beefed them up for their "94 Big Bore" series. I kind of think Marlin should have done the same, but then again, I don't even play a firearms-engineer on television....

[marlinman93]

Saying a 1894 that's had it's frame beefed up is stronger than a 336 not changed, is kinda like saying your Chevy with a supercharger is faster than my Chevy without one. I still think that the 336 is a stronger action in standard form, and strong enough that Marlin saw no reason to beef it up.

[HawkCreek]

Saying a 1894 that's had it's frame beefed up is stronger than a 336 not changed, is kinda like saying your Chevy with a supercharger is faster than my Chevy without one. I still think that the 336 is a stronger action in standard form, and strong enough that Marlin saw no reason to beef it up.

The current 1894 is offered in .450 Marlin. Back in the 80's they experimented with chambering different levers in .454 Casull. The 336 failed first, then a handful of rounds later the "stronger" Winchester failed finally the pre-war Winchester 94 failed. If I recall none lasted to 100 rounds fired. So according to that test the Marlin is slightly weaker of the designs but they all are fairly close in strength.

[6pt-sika]

Saying a 1894 that's had it's frame beefed up is stronger than a 336 not changed, is kinda like saying your Chevy with a supercharger is faster than my Chevy without one. I still think that the 336 is a stronger action in standard form, and strong enough that Marlin saw no reason to beef it up.

The current 1894 is offered in .450 Marlin. Back in the 80's they experimented with chambering different levers in .454 Casull. The 336 failed first, then a handful of rounds later the "stronger" Winchester failed finally the pre-war Winchester 94 failed. If I recall none lasted to 100 rounds fired. So according to that test the Marlin is slightly weaker of the designs but they all are fairly close in strength.

I dunno about the Casull but I do know both Marlin and Winchester were "claiming" they were building a rifle in 480 Ruger / 475 Linebaugh . I had one of each on order . Winchester carried theres in the catalog for two years and they never saw the light of day in the retail market . I know this because I called them MANY times trying to get one .

A year or two after the USRA Winchester fiasco Marlin had one in there catalog and it was called a Model 1895RL I believe . It was in the catalog the same year they unveiled the 1894CB in 32 H&R MAG . I had the local dealer looking for one of each , took almost a year to get the 1894CB 32 and after calling Marlin two dozen times they finally claimed "the market was to soft to justify building" so they never saw the light of retail sales either .

[marlinman93]

Saying a 1894 that's had it's frame beefed up is stronger than a 336 not changed, is kinda like saying your Chevy with a supercharger is faster than my Chevy without one. I still think that the 336 is a stronger action in standard form, and strong enough that Marlin saw no reason to beef it up.

The current 1894 is offered in .450 Marlin. Back in the 80's they experimented with chambering different levers in .454 Casull. The 336 failed first, then a handful of rounds later the "stronger" Winchester failed finally the pre-war Winchester 94 failed. If I recall none lasted to 100 rounds fired. So according to that test the Marlin is slightly weaker of the designs but they all are fairly close in strength.

I remember those tests, but they were not performed by either factory, so I have no way to know if they were done under the same stringent testing the factories would have used? But I recall that even in those tests the failures between the two guns was so close that unless you repeated the tests with two more guns, you'd not have a base line to determine if one or the other would always fail first or second.