I don't get it either...

The 45 Colt loaded in a M92 action will flatten most critters within 100 yards or so. It is one heck of a hunting cartridge and lots of fun to reload.

However, no lever guns were produced in .45 Colt. I have always found that odd.

actually, the .357 or .44 mag either one out of
a rifle as opposed to a 6" barreled handgun is a
great shorter range deer round. i've taken deer
with both rounds in marlin rifles and H&R handi
rifles. i've only used .357 and .44 mag and either
one had plenty of soup to kill the deer i shot with
them. one shot each. i'm sure .45 colt or the others
would be adequate as well.

Well, the 45 Colt properly handloaded makes an excellent pig and deer rifle. I'm not talking about the anemic factory loads that are designed to be fired in older guns.

The 44 special can be loaded up close to the 44 magnum. The 45 Colt is the same way. After I was given a Winchester 94 in the 45 Colt I bought a Ruger Blackhawk with the changeable cylinder and also bought a Magnum Research BFR in 45 Colt. Both revolvers are capable of stout loads.

I am a fan of the revolver cartridges in a handy carbine such as the 1894 Marlin or Winchester, Rossi makes some good 92s or Henry makes some real slick ones as well.

I have tried several over the years and my favorite one is a Marlin Stainless 1894 trapper in 357 Mag. I am not sure how many hogs and deer it has accounted for and is my #1 favorite truck gun. Inside 120 yards it is as effective as any other rifle I have owned on deer and hogs with recoil only slightly more than a 223.

In lots of places I hunt you cannot see 100 yards so that handy little rifle works well in those places. I also have several different 44 Mags 1 lever, 2 bolts, one semi-auto and one single shot. Like the 357 mag let me within 125 yards and the 44s will put the hurt on deer and hogs with authority.

When carrying the revolver caliber carbines I sometimes carry a handgun but most of the time not, as the carbines are handy enough as they are. If I am handgun hunting I just have the handgun most of the time, them most often it is a 357 Max, 44Mag or 7-30 Waters.

I have a .480 Ruger Redhawk with a 7 1/2" barrel. I have only shot 2 deer with it and they both just lurched and fell.

I'm told Rossi made a lever carbine 92 in .480 Ruger for a short time. This thread may cost me.

NP, I think Ranch Dog might have one of the .480 Ruger Rossi 92s. Of course he will be able to shed lots of light on this subject if he joins in as he probably has more experience with revolver cartridge chambered carbines than most of us combined.

I say go for it the 480 in a carbine would be a thumper for sure.

A 480 would be awesome in a 92, which is a strong action as far as levers go. NP, your collection won't be complete without it.

What little reading I just did tells me they are hard to come by and pricey.

That won't stop ol' NP. Just sell some others.

What, everyone doesn't have one? Anyone that asks the question of what's the attraction, has never shot one. They are amoung the funnest if not THE funnest class of firearm to shoot - and as is the case with my Ruger 44 Mag quite capable and practicle. The others (IMI Uzi A, HK94, Zenith MP5k, CZ Evo "mini K" well they are just fun as hell...and if I was a bad guy I wouldn't want to be within 100 yards of one loaded with 30 or more modern 9mm hollowpoints.

Because it's fun. My .357/.38 marlin cowboy is my favorite rifle. It's just a ton of fun to shoot and works pretty well.

Sorry this one is a little bloody but a 180gr partition through a pig quartering away made for a bit of a mess. Rifle is a Marlin 1894LTDSS one of 250 made, stainless with a 16 inch barrel. Handy little gun.

^^^^^ That's one fine looking little rifle. The one above it too.

Love me some .45 Colt in a handy lever action.


Besides, it's commonality of caliber with my revolver.

Got a bit behind here as I've been busy running a waterline across my place.

Yeap, I got a thing for pistol cartridge leverguns and have a bunch of them, one of them being the Rossi R92 chambered in 480 Ruger. If you see one, buy it. There was only 100 made by special order.

I live on a ranch at the top end of South Texas and I find a levergun in 357 Mag, 44 Mag, 45 Colt, or 480 Ruger well suited to the typically ranges we shoot here. You could throw the Ruger 77 in both 357 and 44 Mag into this or any other rifles chambered in these cartridges, I have a 77/44. Over a decade and a half, I've recorded all kinds of stats concerning the hunting done here. The average distance that deer are killed at is exactly 70 yards. What is funny is the 300 Win Mag holds the closest distance, 30', and the 444 Marlin the farthest, only 168 yards. My place is typical South Texas brush country that I've kept thick and the deer stick to the cover.

I have a 454 Casull levergun as well, but it is a bit of overkill on short range whitetails and I consider it more of a short range nilgai rifle. I have used it on mule deer hunts.

I feel the levergun shines in these cartridges with a heavy, hard cast bullets that have at least a 72% meplat. Considered it a cookie cutter, they cut a huge hole through a critter.

My Rossi 92 357 Mag uses a 190-grain bullet. I have a Marlin 1894P (Guide Gun), R92, and Winchester M94 Timber Scout in 44 Mag, I use a mix of 250, 275, and 300. My 45 Colt is an R92 and shoot a 290-grain bullet. My 480 Ruger uses a 375-grain bullet.

Thanks for the info RD.

Wow. 100 only? No wonder I didn't find any on the usual websites. This may take awhile.

Pistol cartridges are low recoil, cheap (well standard pistol round), tolerate a short barrel, and many can be run subsonic without significant drop in performance.

I'm assembling a 9 mm AR and plan on a 7" barrel. A .223 would lose most of the velocity, be loud and very bright.

I like the .357 options.. low recoil lots of rounds to run through.. and fun with irons

Ever since the .500 S & W came out, I've wanted one in a 16" carbine. They are prosuced, but they are way out of my price range.

I love my Marlin 1894C in 357. It's quickly become my favorite rifle. I can punch paper with 38s and load 180 grain 357s to hunt. I recently shot a sow with my 357 and ended up chasing her through the brush. It was a blast running and gunning with the lever gun.

One of my favorites is my 1894P. It was part of the Guide Gun series but on the 1894 frame and chambered in 44 Mag.



I have the XS Scout system on the rifle and is a heck of a South Texas hunting rifle. I use a 300-grain hard cast bullet with it.

Another one I did not mention is the 41 Mag. Love my little Marlin 1894FG and shoot a 265-grain hard cast with it. For years I used it as the "guest" rifle here on the ranch as I never had a deer or hog run away for from being shot with it. All DRT. When the value went over $1500, I stopped letting others use it.

I would like to get into the Henry short cartridge rifles on the Big Boy Steel frames but I already have too many others and shooting them is a full-time job!

They have never held any appeal for me. I have never shot one either. Maybe if I did shoot one my opinion would change.

Maybe so, the people who do a little shooting or hunting with mine fall in love with them. As a reloader, there is nothing not to like about them. Here are the cartridges I'm shooting.



I started keeping detailed records on my hunting 13 years ago, and these cartridges have accounted for just shy 900 feral hogs. Not shooting them in traps, spot & stalk, still, and standing hunting, day and at night. The longest shot I've made on a hog was with the 45 Colt, my R92, and the 290-grain bullet at 197 yards. That is pushing the visibility on my place, corner to corner on a food plot. There is a lot of drop on a large, relatively slow bullet but their trajectory is very predictable. I use the Weaver K4 Classic Scout on all these cartridges, and the math works out where you can use the horizontal crosshair and/or the tip of the lower post for any distant shooting. In the case of the food plot hog, the horizontal crosshair was on her back and the tip of the post on her heart, I knew that I would cut a 1" hole through her immediately above her heart. I was shooting uphill; the hole is the exit. The bullet picked her up and dumped her.



My load with for the 45 Colt produces 1775 FPS with the 290-grain bullet. That ought to make the 6.5 guys laugh but the predictability of trajectory and killing authority of a heavy cast bullet was well demonstrated on the plains of our country while the buffalo was exterminated.