Chambered in 44 mag. List price $1279. They say the furniture is interchangeable with Marlin 1894 furniture. 19.25" threaded barrel. Somebody buy one of these and post a range report!!

https://www.smith-wesson.com/article/sm ... model-1854

IMHO, they should have started with 357 instead of 44mag. And it's just not... pretty!

Agreed. I thought 357 would have been a more natural choice. I'm curious what the rationale for 44 was. It's a more modern style than I'd prefer for sure. I like blued steel and wood.

They do offer it in a limited edition with high grade walnut, but instead of bluing the metal is black. I think probably still stainless, but blackened. I have a Wilson Combat barrel like that.

I guess there's a market for modernized lever rifles, but they have ZERO appeal to me. That rifle is butt ugly, but I'm sure its made well. Walnut and blue steel on my lever guns please.

FrontSight wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:30 pm I guess there's a market for modernized lever rifles, but they have ZERO appeal to me. That rifle is butt ugly, but I'm sure its made well. Walnut and blue steel on my lever guns please.

I'm just happy more manufacturers are making lever guns.

FrontSight wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:30 pm I guess there's a market for modernized lever rifles, but they have ZERO appeal to me. That rifle is butt ugly, but I'm sure its made well. Walnut and blue steel on my lever guns please.

I picked up one of the ugly black 357 levers for a ranch gun. It's nice not to have to treat it like an heirloom (it's already been in the rain and mud). And it's already proven quite handy on coyotes. So, there is a purpose for the ugly ones.

Could always pick up a beater Rossi to keep as a truck-gun.
The black & walnut rifle is a good looking rifle but priced horrendously.
And yes, the caliber is kinda overkill. Probably aiming to be a Alaska gun, which is too much gun for the lower 49. Especially for hunters when the intention is to harvest edible meat.

Bisbee wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 3:09 pm Could always pick up a beater Rossi to keep as a truck-gun.
The black & walnut rifle is a good looking rifle but priced horrendously.
And yes, the caliber is kinda overkill. Probably aiming to be a Alaska gun, which is too much gun for the lower 49. Especially for hunters when the intention is to harvest edible meat.

Quite a few Midwest states only allow rifle hunting with straight walled pistol cartridges. The beauty of .44 mag is its versatility if you roll your own. I hunt with saboted .44 slugs in my modern muzzleloader at velocities around mid range .44 mag loads and the meat damage isn’t too severe. I’d kinda like some sort of rifle to pair with my S&W 29 .44, but I’ve kinda sworn off buying guns.

cooper wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:34 pm

FrontSight wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:30 pm I guess there's a market for modernized lever rifles, but they have ZERO appeal to me. That rifle is butt ugly, but I'm sure its made well. Walnut and blue steel on my lever guns please.

I'm just happy more manufacturers are making lever guns.

On that we can agree. It always warms my heart to see new revolvers being made too.

featureless wrote: Wed Jan 24, 2024 2:25 pm I picked up one of the ugly black 357 levers for a ranch gun. It's nice not to have to treat it like an heirloom (it's already been in the rain and mud). And it's already proven quite handy on coyotes. So, there is a purpose for the ugly ones.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A stainless .357 in moist weather would be the cat's azz for a ranch rifle. When I lived in Arkansas I used a post-64 M94 Winchester in .30-30 just because I was able to get it really cheap. I happen to think .357 is the best of the best when it comes to pistol rounds in a light, handy lever rifle. Something like a the Puma Stainless .357 would be right up my alley. Since I'm just sick of stainless, I'd be hard headed and buy blued even if I were in a swamp (and Arkansas was a little swampy at times).

The .44 Mag's make more sense if you expect to encounter large things, but I have found .44 mag lightweight carbines to not be all that fun to shoot with full power magnums...I'd rather just have a .30-30 at that point. So I'm not much of a fan of the lightweight .44 mag lever rifles. This particular S&W variant is particularly uninteresting to me in that its made on a full length .30-30 rifle action, but its a .44 Mag. So its larger, heavier, and has a bolt throw that's much longer than it need be. Just picking nits. So given my choice of this ugly stainless 336 knock off in .44 Mag, or a used 336 in .30-30 or .35 Remington, I'd go for the real rifle rounds every time if I'm carrying a full length rifle action.

Getting out ahead of semi-auto bans, eh? I used to have a beautiful Marlin 336C in .30-30 that I bought in about 1979 or so. Blue steel, walnut hardware. I believe I eventually sold it since my thoughts of hunting at some point in my life never materialized. But it was a nice rifle.

Having shot both a Ruger 96/44 and Rossi 92, both in .44 Magnum, I can confirm that the recoil of even full-house .44M, while certainly present, isn't really horrible. I find it quite tolerable, though perhaps a rubber buttpad might help in some cases with some people. But really, it's not that bad.

A few other nice things about the .44M cartridge in a levergun are as follows.

1.) It's easy to reload, being a straight-walled, rimmed cartridge.
2.) It's powerful enough to take feral hogs and such, even moose, so certainly whitetail or mule deer as well. Within its effective range, it's even more powerful than the .30-30, though that power does trail off faster. I'd say 100 yards is the max.
3.) It works in your revolver, too.
4.) Should you ever find yourself in, say, a Superstorm Sandy or Hurricane Katrina situation with roving gangs, the .44M cartridge out of that rifle will be very effective--IF YOU MUST DEFEND YOURSELF--against two-legged predators as well.

I don't consider either form of this new rifle "ugly". Pretty is as pretty shoots, in my view, and it has a similar profile to a Marlin or that new Henry side-loader. I would be very surprised and even shocked to learn that this rifle, coming from S&W, isn't a good shooter. For those who want wood furniture, just get some aftermarket Marlin 1894 furniture.

Paul Harrell did a YouTube video on 44 mag vs 30-30, both in a lever gun. He shot both in the video and demonstrated what Cowboy said above. If you're within 100 yards or so, 44 mag should meet or exceed 30-30. They both shoot flat enough for hunting out to there, but the 30-30 has the advantage past 100 yards.

Also, like Cowboy said, 44 mag is easy reloading. I'm a novice and find it pretty easy.

I've posted elsewhere about the recoil of the Rossi 92 in 44 mag. It is fine, BUT ... because it has a crescent stock, bench shooting is problematic. Shooting standing, sitting, kneeling is fine. I sort of wish they shipped it with the padded stock they use on the 454.

In terms of self defense. The 92 is very light. It is a dream to carry in tough terrain. A 16" Rossi 92 in 44 mag holds 9+1. I tend to not think in self defense terms, but seems like a lot of firepower to me.