I’ll start with the things everyone loves about these carbines. Short, light and handy; these little six pound thunder sticks practically jump to the shoulder. They swing fast and if you’re not careful, you’ll forget they’re hanging on your shoulder, even after a decent hike. This is what the firearm is meant for; constant carry. It is a great companion and at a total length of 3 feet, it is handier than a walking stick. It is a versatile wonder for the mobile hunter, trapper or hiker alike. It can easily be strapped to a backpack or ATV and quickly deployed at a moment’s notice. It fits very easily behind a truck seat and its short overall length makes it quick to maneuver out of truck in a hurry (longer barrels and big scopes have a habit of hanging up on upholstery, steering wheels and door frames). These same fast handling qualities make the 1894C great in the thickets as well.
The carbine holds 10 cartridges and the lever action is both faster and more intuitive than a bolt action for most folks. This thing seriously puts the fun back into shooting. The muzzle report and recoil from this combo are so light that range sessions find me waking from a euphoria filled cloud wondering, “Where did all my ammo go and how long have I been here?” For target practice and small game you can always slip some .38 specials into the magazine and blaze away while the front sight barely moves. I cannot think of a better trainer and first deer rifle for the smaller framed and/or young hunter. Kids love them and so does every adult that has ever asked me for more ammo after shooting all of mine!
So why doesn’t everyone have one these carbines? The answer is caliber envy. This little workhorse is chambered for the .357 magnum. For most guys reading the latest hunting and shooting magazines, the .357 magnum simply isn’t “enough gun” for deer hunting. It amazes me how many hunters will instantly proclaim the .357 inadequate for deer having never fired one at deer or even witnessed one in action.
Out
of a carbine, the .357 magnum will produce as much velocity and energy at 100 yards as a handgun will at the muzzle. Additionally, you now have a weapon you can shoot much more accurately than any handgun and its report and recoil are an afterthought. Not to mention you have a magazine of ten cartridges instead of six. Such a man is well armed indeed. But what about longer distance shots? Ask yourself, when was the last time you shot a deer that was over 100 yards away? Let me say up front this is not a long range deer hunting platform. But then again, most hunters are not long range hunters either. If your hunting routinely involves shots over 100 yards I would look for a .270 Win or the like. While hunting with the 1894c, I am confident out to 100 yards, but no further. It will kill further out, but bullet expansion starts to suffer. Without expansion, thin skinned medium game such as whitetail deer normally take a little longer to expire than I like. Admittedly, there are so many factors that can affect terminal ballistics that one man’s experiences could never offer a comprehensive review of a cartridges killing power. However, common sense is common sense and I will attempt to convey just such an argument for the .357 carbine as a deer rig. Bullet performance is the key here.
For example, I once shot a snowshoe hare right behind the shoulder with 9mm HP ammo. He showed no response and hopped off to later be finished with a .22 bullet in the head. I once shot a 40 pound young feral pig behind the shoulder with a 338 Win Mag firing 225 grain bonded bullets. I almost lost that pig. There was almost no sign of a hit and 150 yards later I found her with two 33 caliber holes on each side just above the heart. Based on these examples, shall we proclaim that 9mm 124 grain bullets are inadequate for snowshoe hare and conclude that 225 grain 338 magnum loads are no match for young hogs? Certainly not! They both had ample bore size, energy and velocity and were placed perfectly. Why then did they not perform well? The answer is bullet performance. The 9mm Hollow point needed a little more resistance to mushroom properly. It is not designed to expand in the 3 inch think rib cage of a rabbit. Similarly, the .338 Winchester Magnum slug, though extremely powerful, simply did not encounter enough tissue to upset and expand in the vitals through which it was placed. Both animals perished, but not quickly or cleanly. Assuming central nervous system shots are out, for a clean kill on medium game, an adequate bullet must expand and fragment during its transit through the vital organs. An entry and exit wound is preferable but not mandatory.
With the above in mind, remember that most .357 bullets are designed to perform at handgun velocities, not carbine velocities. This means for optimal carbine performance, you need 158 grain pills or heavier. My primary bullet for deer and hogs is the 180 grain Hornady XTP hollow point. This bullet has the hollow point needed for lower velocity expansion and the mass needed to hold together on high velocity (read close in) impact. My handload of Hodgdon Lil’ Gun and magnum primers push this bullet right to 1800 fps out of the little Marlin. Believe me, they are potent deer killers. My field experiences average 60 to 70 yards and were all heart/lung shots. No deer has traveled further than 50 yards after impact, with most dying within 20 yards. I have yet to recover a bullet from a deer.
During range testing I set up a milk jug full of water in front of stacked wet news print. At 50 yards I needed 18 inches of news print to catch one of the bullets, which after destroying the milk jug, created a .6 to .7 inch diameter cavity in the wet news print. The recovered, expanded hollow point XTP looked like a poster child for a Hornady catalog. Try this same test with your .270 or 308; I think you will be surprised at how they compare to the .357. This load usually groups around an inch at 75 yards from a carbine with a 2x scout scope. I ask you, how is this not wonderful deer medicine? The internal damage these bullets cause is incredible. Let’s not forget, this is a 180 grain .35 caliber bullet designed to expand and kill within the velocity envelope to which I am pushing it. Put in laymen’s terms, it is a big chunk of expanding/fragmenting lead that routinely completely penetrates a broadside deer and destroys the vitals in the process.
How is this not adequate for deer? You can quote energy figures and ballistic charts all day but the fact remains they are still just numbers on paper. Remember, on paper, aeronautic engineers can prove a bumble bee cannot fly! I have yet to see a deer hit with this combination suddenly leap up and run off into the timber when it realized it was only hit by a .357 magnum. I realize that someone will say that a .22 will kill deer as well and that doesn’t make it an adequate cartridge for deer and I would tend to agree. However, one look at the terminal results of this combo of carbine and .357 and you’ll agree this ain’t no .22!
Let’s review. The Marlin model 1894C is 6 pounds, 36 inches long, has a 10 round capacity, is a fast lever action and is equally fast handling. Recoil? No. Muzzle blast? Minimal. Price? Reasonable. It is extremely versatile with uses including target practice, training, ranch needs, home defense, small game and deer hunting. A large amount of ammo is easy to carry without much weight or bulk making it a great “bug out” gun. Ammo could also be shared with a revolver and it can be topped off without taking the gun out of action. Its action is tried and true and extremely reliable even in bad conditions. Few firearms are as versatile and exhibit such a long list of favorable traits as the 1894C. Give one a try and you’ll be glad you did.
The author with a doe he shot using his Marlin 1894C chambered in .357 Magnum. The load used was a Hornady 180 grain XTP hollow point over 15.0 grains of Hodgdon Lil’Gun for a muzzle velocity of 1800 f/s. The doe was hit behind the shoulder at a range of 65 yards and ran approximately 40 yards before expiring.
The photo above shows the entry wound made by the XTP.
The inside of the ribcage on the entry wound side of the deer. The bullet punched through a rib and continued through the animal.
No comments:
Post a Comment