I know nothing about lever guns (or 44 mag cartridge) but looking to learn.  

My Grandfather is starting to pass along his guns to the grand kids and one is a lever gun. I believe this is the first centerfire rifle I shot and I remember shooting it as a child at the farm. He helped hold it up obviously. I remember the recoil hurting quite a bit. Ha

What can you tell me about this rifle?

Model 1894 Microgroove Barrel Cal 44 Rem Mag

I called Marlin and per the serial it was manufactured in 1981. 

Wood stock, leather sling. And an old Tasco Scope. I think the scope will come off as lever guns need to be open sights in my opinion.  

Questions:
1.  Are there any springs or parts I should replace given it's age (magazine spring, trigger, hammer?) or is this not a concern
2.  Any cleaning or lubrication advice?
3.  What sort of accuracy can you expect at 100Y?  What's the practical distance of the 44 mag?

thanks 

In.

Lever guns are American classics. I'd expect 3-4" groups at 100 yards. The 44 mag is a fantastic woods hunting round for a variety of game.

With all the hoopla about hunting with an AR, you may just find that this classic lever gun is exactly the right tool for the job.

Damn, you were evil.

I have read about accuracy issues with the microgroove 44 mag marlins. Overbored barrels and chambers I think.

Slug the barrel and find out how tight it is.

I'd like to get one. Don't minimize having a scope on it,  although a Trijicon RMR would make and awesome combination too.

I have one just like it and I love it.
Mine also has the micro-groove barrel (which I hate).
The micro-groove barrel in mine doesn't like cast bullets much as far as accuracy goes and makes it a bitch to clean afterwords.
Even though it will shoot .44 spcl I don't just because don't see any reason to, if I want light loads I just download the .44 mag rounds (I reload).
Accuracy on mine isn't all that great 3" - 4" at 100 yards with iron sights and cast boolits - it shoots better with jacketed soft points.
I really love the rifle it's fun to shoot and I don''t feel under-gunned out hunting with it.
I also have a Ruger .44 Mag Super Blackhawk revolver to accompany it.

Oops 

Unless it has been beaten and abused, there is nothing on that 1981 rifle that should be worn out.

I regularly use a Marlin 336SC 30-30 from 1953 that is still accurate as it was decades ago. Realistically is will shoot 1.5" groups at 100yds with reloads.

One of mine has the Marlin Jam.

Nice!
Although you didn't ask, a Skinner Express aperture sight would be an awesome replacement for that Tasco, which everyone will agree needs to come off.
Most .44 Mag Marlins will also shoot .44 Specials, but some are finicky about cartridge OAL. This can be easily remedied by reloading (see below).
No need to automatically replace springs. A 1981 rifle is not particularly old; the springs are likely to be good for another 40 years or so.
It's an easy rifle to disassemble, which should definitely be done to clean out the old gunked up lube, etc., as well as familiarizing yourself with the guts of the rifle. Your favorite gun oil and grease will work fine.
Figure on 3 MOA, which is probably as good as you can hold with irons. The .44 Mag is certainly plenty for deer-sized critters within 100 yd; many will say 150 yd. Elmer Keith would say 400 yd, and proved it.
Microgroove rifling is quite shallow, so tends to do better with jacketed bullets, but can be equally (or even more) accurate with properly-sized cast bullets.
This rifle is a very good excuse to begin reloading and casting. The .44 Mag is a very easy cartridge to work with. It can be loaded to power levels ranging from kid-friendly "cat sneeze" loads up to OMG level.
We have a Lever Action forum, and the Marlin Owners website is the ARFcom of leverguns.

1. Not really, unless they break.
2. Mag tube can rust underneath the forestock if you get the rifle wet.
3. 1.5"-2.5" and 150 yards.

The peppy recoil is what I remember about mine, but not a problem.  Very solid carbines, and I doubt that you need to do anything other than a patch through the bore.  The scope detracts for the looks, but makes the thing more useful.  A Williams peep sight is what I put on mine.

Read up on the safe way to carry it loaded, as a few people have had problems over the years through no fault of the gun.

If you wanna go 100yd or more, leave it scoped, moreso if it is a 20" barrel. I would expect ~2MOA, depending on accuracy of load and your abilities/eyes.  Unless it has been fed a steady diet of HOT loads, I doubt you will need to do any replacement maintenance. Clean it, oil it and shoot it often.  Start reloading because you will burn through ammo and have a permanent smile on your face.

Make sure you don't use .44 pistol rounds!

I love my Marlin .44, bit it's not very accurate past 100 yards.

That's what almost surprised me the first time I shot mine with the hot 'Elmer Keith' loads, I thought "Wow, that's more recoil than I would expect from a pistol round".
It's not a bad recoil, just more than you would expect from a pistol round.

Tagged because I just put a Marlin .44 Magnum on layaway.  Should get it the first of March unless I pay it off sooner.

I believe all the current .44 Mag Marlins have Ballard rifling instead of Microgroove. Ballard rifling loves cast bullets. One could argue that there's absolutely no need for you to "pollute" your barrel with a jacketed bullet (to paraphrase W.D.M. Bell).

I love mine....im planning to cut mine down to 16", shorten the stock a little and thread it for a suppressor.  

Attached File

 So do I need to stick with jacketed bullets with the microgroove barrel? 

Agree with all- everyone should have one of these.

those microgroove marlin .44 marlins shoot best with 240 gr ( maximum) jacketed bullets.

That's a keeper!  goto castboolits.com and read the arguments.   micro groove and cast "boolits"....

there are two tyoes of jacketed bulets, rifle and pistol suited, I use the rifle version (Hornady) for my 444, I'll run anything through my jm44 (ballard rifling)

those old JM's are like land, they quit producing it a while ago.

You don't have to stick with jacketed bullets, but in my experience with my micro-grooved rifle it will shoot more accurately with jacketed bullets.
Also the micro-groove barrel in mine leads up very badly when shooting cast bullets and it's a pain in the ass to clean the lead out of the grooves.
That said, I still shoot a lot of hard cast bullets just because it's less expensive for plinking - but for serious work I use jacketed soft points.

A Marlin 44 can be a great gun. One thing about all 44 carbines is they are light and fire heavy bullets. That means you have to hold them really firm when you shoot them to get good accuracy. Lever guns for the most part don't like to shoot off bags. Many times they will do better if you hold the forend and have the back of your hand in between the gun and bag.

I have a 1978 model collecting dust. 
It's neat, but I haven't shot it in years. It's in great shape,  what's it worth?

I'll give you $50 for it.  I'll even pay shipping!

Don't worry about springs and such , age doesn't wear them out.

Micro groove is good to go with jacketed bullets , Cast goes with the Ballard cut rifling (which you don't have)

Factory loads or equivalent handloads will likely run nearly 1800 FPS in your gun with 240Gr. This is nothing to sneer at , the issue is not lack of power but a highly shaped trajectory that makes hitting at longer distance more difficult

Aperture sights are the way to go (I think) .If you decide on a scope I recommend medium to low power and keep it mounted as low as possible because that is what works best with the stock shape of a lever gun . Some of the compact shotgun scopes might work well .

Great gun  and more so because grand dad put it in your care