I recently bought both within about a month of each other. Both were impulse buys at the time. I already had a Rossi in 357 mag which I slicked up using Steve's video and replaced the sights with Skinner peep. I enjoy shooting that 357 Rossi but I hadn't taken it out to shoot for a couple of years. I don't know why I decided to buy the 44 Mag recently other than it was purely impulse since it was the first time I saw a Rossi back up for retail after our recent dry spell of the past few years. It did reignite my interest in levers and when I took it out to the the range to test I took the 357 with me. About a month later I saw a used JM stamped Marlin 336 with a scope already mounted and fairly scratched up stock at a local gun store. It was priced at $549, so I thought why not.
My problem is that both the 44 mag and the 30-30 aren't that much fun on my shoulder when I went to sight them in. The price of ammo for them isn't fun either. Both are going to need their sights replaced with Skinner peeps if they stay in my collection. The action of both are pretty smooth and about equal. So I'm thinking of getting rid of one of them. I can't decide which though. The price for ammo, which would have been the biggest factor, is about equal for both. The Marlin would be a different style and make gun than what I already have in the Rossi 357 mag, so has that going for it in appealing to me as a gun hobbyist/hoarder. But it feels heavy and a bit unwieldy for me compared to the Rossi. As far as actual real world use of 44 mag vs 30-30, I have to be honest and say that I'm unlikely to use either caliber for any real shooting application since I don't hunt (too much work and planning needed for that). Which then leads to the fact that I'm not likely to shoot either of them much since it'd be cheaper and more enjoyable for me to just shoot the 357 Rossi when I feel the itch to shoot a lever.
You all have way more experience with levers than me. Which would you keep?