Best round for a pistol caliber carbine?

what about range, the 375 is they key in terms of range, 150yds is a chip shot with my pistol, 250 should be a chip shot in a carbine, and still PLENTY of energy downrange for massive destruction.

where-as the 357 falls short, the 44 has the BC of a brick (still a fan though) and same with the 10mm

me being in Ohio, near Indiana; we have plenty of flat ground with many distance opportunities. Why not equip yourself for them with the 375?
 
This is possibly the best example of "there is no best". All of the available cartridges have advantages and disadvantages and will get the job done within the uses of lever action, pistol caliber carbines. None are long range, some have more power, some are less expensive, all will get the job intended done.

Personally I like the .357M in such platforms. If I need more power and/or range than it gives me, I need a rifle cartridge.
 
I would be concerned about 45 Colt performance on large game. I would not think of it as 100% reliable at range. 44 Magnum would be worry free for the most part with proper ammo selection.
 
Tnx fer comments Dark.

Lots of trees here, and low rolling terrain. Even a 100 yd shot would be unusual/uncommon. The longer I think about it the more the .38/.357 appeals to me. Brother-in-law has a nice selection of revolvers to pair it up with. The larger pistol calibers don't match up to anything we have locked in the closets, or that either of us would really like.

The 9mm carbine hunt may be -temporarily- suspended.
 
I'm a huge fan of lever-guns. I like mine in .45 long colt, but they tend to be very expensive to feed. Not so much a problem if you reload.

I'll add my vote to one in either .357 (cheapest ammo), .44 (best factory ammo performance), or .45 LC (for the cowboy in all of us.)
 
only two

There's really only two choices if you want a combo plinker and hunter; .357 or .44 mag. The .357 will be cheaper to shoot, but the .44M will have more punch. The .45 l. Colt is a good round but not commonly enough available to qualify as a plinker. The newer .454 and .480 are not common or plinker candidates at all.

I like the old pre-safety Marlins.
 
I would go with the 44 mag(which can shoot 44 special) for this scenario. it fits every scenario/situtaion no matter how you look at it(including but not limited to legalities, an example being some hunting/state regs make 44 lowest caliber allowed).
 
I'd go with one of the .44 Magnum Marlins...one produced before that wonderful company was taken over by Remington...they're available on one of the gun auction sites...I've had good luck with gunbroker...Rod
 
I am not 100% sure why the semi-auto Pistol caliber carbines dont gain near as much velocity as the revolver caliber carbines. Though a 10mm Carbine would work pretty well in my book.
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Its a matter of the type of powder and size of powder charge normally used.
A revolver cartridge fired in a revolver loses some velocity due to gas escape at the cylinder gap. When that gap is eliminated theres an immediate benefit. Then add that the otherwise wasted gas will continue to expand in the increased length of bullet travel.

Autopistol cartridges are loaded with efficiency in short barrels in mind, and generally smaller case capacity which means more powder is burned in the first few inches of bullet travel, with coresponding increased chamber pressure compared to similar sized revolver cartridges. A loose comparasion with be the .38 S&W compared to the 9mm Luger.
Generally the auto pistol will use lighter bullets, which means faster acceleration in the shorter bullet travel.

In short the autoloader cartridges are more efficient in the shorter barrels.
The revolver cartridge is not used to full efficiency in a short barrel with cylinder gap.
Add to that heavier bullets making better use of increased length of bullet travel.

Early 9mm SMG specific loads sometimes used slower burning powders to take advantage of the increased bullet travel of the longer SMG barrels of the day, this allowed significant increases in velocity.
A modern 9mm load , or handload, using slower powders would produce a significant increase in velocity from the carbine length barrels.
Such a load would not be efficient in a normal length pistol barrel. Increased muzzle flash and reduced velocity would be the result.
 
44 vs 45

My comments on this:
I would be concerned about 45 Colt performance on large game. I would not think of it as 100% reliable at range. 44 Magnum would be worry free for the most part with proper ammo selection.
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While I can agree that the 44 magnum is the better choice for most people than the 45 Colt; it's for other reasons..... Like saying the 270 Winchester is better than the 280 Remington. Actually, What the one will do, the other will do just as well. The modern 45 Colt is the ballistic twin to the 44 magnum. As with all twins, one twin is almost always just a little bigger than the other. All hunters should be concerned about about their weapons performance on game and choose their ammo appropriately regardless of caliber. All of the different possible calibers can be substantially improved if you load your own ammo. I don't see a huge difference between the 44 and the 45; it boils down to personal preference. They both beat the 357 magnum hands down for power. Yet the 357 has some real plusses going for it over it's big brothers: First of all, lower cost of ammo. Secondly, better availability and selection of ammo. Thirdly, the ammo weighs about half as much as 44 or 45 ammo. If you've done much backpacking with a firearm you know how important that can be. You can either lighten your load where every ounce counts or pack twice as many rounds at the same weight. My personal choice is the Ruger Vaquero and the Marlin Cowboy in 45 Colt. My buddy has duplicates except in 44 magnum. Having run into bears at close quarters several times here in Oregon, I'm willing to pack the weight of a 45 vs the 357. Fortunately I haven't been forced to shoot any of those bears; but I felt confident if it should come to that. I would have felt less confident with a 357.
 
X2 on either a 44 special/44mag or .38/.357

Personally, .38/.357 is tops for me. but then I'm biased towards .38 so take that FWIW.
.357 with 158 grainers will take a deer at short to medium range out of either a pistol or a lever action.
 
I have a Marlin 44 mag lever gun converted to 50 A.E. ... yes, it can be done, & turns a sweet lil carbine to a BEAST...

if you're thinking a lever gun, finding someone who who could set up one for 357 Remington Maximum would be really cool ( hm... might have to do that :) ) otherwise with an off the shelf gun, a 44 mag lever would be more "practical" that a 45 Colt because most will feed the 44 specials as well... if you wanted a semi, one in 10mm would be my 1st choice for hunting, 9mm for normal cheapest ammo, but a 40 S&W might have the best factory ammo availability through thick & thin...
 
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