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.

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That straight stock is absolutely seXXXy

That SBL is sexy as hell too! I’d love one set up w/ a ghost ring sight

The stock SBL ghost rings are great, but the short sight radius and older eyes aren't optimal. The front is tritium fiber optic... Nice Ruger!

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Thinking about one of these for the SBL. Would be fun. Fly 45

Fun fun fun.

I don’t actively use any of mine for ranch use, only plinking or hunting, those guns are sighted in specifically with the hearing protection.

If I could only have 2 rifles, one would be a stainless 44 mag levergun and the other a stainless Hawkeye Hunter 308. If I had to drop it to one, the Hawkeye hands down.

See RidgeRanger, we ain’t too far apart 😂🤣😂🤣

All those rifles are fantastic

Everyone in the gun press talks about how Ruger stepped up the quality when they bought Marlin. All of the rifles I have handled bear that out. My 1894 has exceeded my expectations. It really is a fun little rifle.

For fun, we've been running a drill on the Alaskan State Parks bear target. I think its maybe 1/3 scale. Anyway, the drill is done at 15 yards with the shot timer set to a 3 sec par time. The shooter starts at low ready. At the beep you put as many rounds in the kill circle as possible. So far, a good run with the 44Mag 1894SBLs (with the Holosun optic) is 4 hits in the 3 seconds. Its also fun to do with the Ruger SFAR. I've proven that I can shoot it far faster than I can accurately get hits... LOL.

We plan to shoot the drill at night with the scout lights. The target would get bright eyes tacks in the eyes for some realistic eye shine. That would be fun.

They are great looking firearms and I have a pre-Ruger 1895 SBL and definitely won't part w/ it for sure. Nowadays would tend to gravitate to the Marlin dark series in same caliber, but already have a Henry Big Boy X in 44 mag. Liked it so much I picked up it's brother in 45-70. What I really like is the tube and side reload option. You can carry tube speed loaders and drop 8 rounds down the tube a lot quicker than trying to load one at a time through the side gate. Recently picked up a ranger point precision stock w/ m-lok and really like that combination. Debating on installing an XS sight system. Marlins are definitely easier to do a complete strip down as my only complaint w/ the Henry is finish and would prefer a good cerakote over stock finish.

The Dark Series 1894 does look great and functional. Love me some laminated wood furniture though... lol. I'm with you on the Henry rifles, they are nice guns. I do like the mag tube setup now that they also have a side loading gate. Think the new S&W 1854 has that setup too. Lots of cool lever guns on the market now. Whodathunkit in 2025?

My 1894 Stainless 44 Mag with Laminate Stock is a great looking gun, and great shooter!

I'm with you on laminate, love the look. I took a new plain jane 1895 picked up at clearance price and tricked it out. SBL stock and forend. Stripped and cerakoted black, stock finish was horrible. XS sight system. Wild west happy trigger, Ranger point precision med loop and accessories. Almost too pretty to take to the woods and shoots MOA w/ 250 gr Hornady monoflex bullets.

Ruger did good on that front sight. Been a fan of the truglo TFX pros and thought they made a lot of sense for a guide gun front sight, especially in alaska. Straight fiber is useless at dusk and dawn but that tritium lights it right up.

That sounds like a great project. Would love to see some pics of your rifle.

This weekend I was working the ranch. A situation arose with a sounder of pigs specifically the lead sow. I’m just as guilty if not more than most of you of being on the quest for the “ultimate camp rifle”.

I busted my red dot, almost got my azz eat up and had to pull my handgun. Even with that, 9mm 147gr +P+ sucked !

I have bought, used, and given away so many red dots rinse and repeat because I’m hard headed, my family loves the free gifts. 😂🤣😂

My conclusion, red dots of all types and ALL PRICE RANGES are slower than Ghost ring sights outdoors. Red dots are not even as good in brush as ghost rings, no more accurate in the open than ghost rings, they can break or die. My lenses are always nasty and I hate flip up covers, and I find myself babying the rifle worrying about smacking the lense.

Red dot in urban environments, heck yeah.

Don’t get caught in a bad situation, get rid of permanent optics on rifles (ranch & camp) you have to depend on in the field. If you really want a red dot, have backup irons and a QUICK RELEASE LEVER RED DOT MOUNT !

I think Irons for GP use with a setup for mounting a Quick release return to zero scope you can put on for a hunt. Basically, setup for I need to save my azz now, put the scope on when calmly hunting.

We’ll see what Aimpoint does with this ACRO 😂🤣😂

Which 9mm load were you using? 147gr +P Ranger SXT is my EDC round of choice

I like ghost ring sights but the red dot works better for my eyes, and in more lighting conditions. That's why I went that route.

Also, my preference is for big bore "outdoorsman's" handguns for that very reason. My 5.6" ported M&P45 shoots Buffalo Bore 255s at an honest 1000FPS and will shoot slap thru any hog on the planet. My 629 is all that and + more. I have very little use for a red dot on a handgun... That said, to each their own and opinions vary.