Marlin 44 mag lever action rifle

Shannon

I bought this rifle new in the 70's. I never hunted with it much or shot it much. I guesstimate less than 300 rounds have been fired through the gun. Probably much less. My son was shooting the gun some time back and noticed several of the cases split down the length of the case. I am wondering if it is the rifle or the factory loaded ammunition. Someone I was talking to asked me if it was pistol ammo. I didn't know there was a difference. I also don't know how to tell by looking at it. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Zinderbloc

Marlin rifles are good quality guns.

I'd be inclined to blame the ammo. Buy another batch and see what happens.

SP45

If the rifle never split cases prior to this and there are no modifications I would guess it is the ammo. Are you sure the ammo is factory and not reloaded? There are times (although very few) where the brass has not been annealed properly and it is brittle. Other than that I would look at the chamber.

TWalker

I also would suspect the ammo. Buy a new box and your problems will probably be over. If not, you need to send your rifle to Marlin for inspection/repair. The 44 magnum rifles and pistols use the same ammo because the 44 magnum is a fairly recent development and no weak firearms were made to shoot it. Some older handguns in calibers such as 44/40 or 45 Colt used lower powered ammo in the pistols because they were made over 100 years ago to black powder pressures. They won't handle smokeless powder pressures generated by rifle ammo made to be used in strong modern rifles.