Been working with what may just be the ultimate camp rifle, a new Marlin 1894SBL in 44 Magnum. Thought some of y'all might be interested in the project too. The rifle is an All-American cowboy rifle, perfect for 50 state legal travels. It is reliable, accurate, holds up to 9 rounds and hits like a sledge hammer.

The set-up
New production Marlin (Ruger) 1894 SBL with the following mods: Rick Lowe Leather stock cuff with 1" cheek riser for proper cheek weld with optics, Ranger Point Precision trigger and safety delete, Skinner forward light mount, Sure Fire Micro Scout light, Burris 2.75x Scout Scope in RTZ rings, Holosun EPS 2 MOA microdot on Midwest Industries throw lever mount.



Skinner mount, SureFire Micro


RLO Stock Cuff


Holosun EPS Microdot in Midwest Industries mount. This is the lightweight, low light camp optic. Also works great for early season scouting and walking hunts.


The gun shoots amazingly well with a variety of loads. Today I zeroed the Burris Scout at 100 yards with a load consisting of a Zero 240JSP over 24 grains of Hodgdon H110 and a Winchester WLP primer. It was in new Winchester brass and runs just north or 1700FPS out of the short, 16" barrel.


The results... 100 yard final zero group fired over my Dillon range bag (handheld, no rear rest). A straight up 2 minute group is tight enough to do some pretty field work...


All in all, this is a fantastic rifle. It is smooth cycling, accurate and fun to shoot. Ruger really upped their game on the new Marlins. One thing to watch for is loose screws. Loc-Tite them and that problem is solved. The Ranger Point safety delete was something needed because I inadvertently actuated the stock crossbolt several times when hunting with the rifle early on. That isn't something I'd care to experience in the middle of the night with a bear (or meth head) in camp, LOL.