marlin 1894 44mag questions

[glockky]

Tonight I did a chamber cast and slugged my 1894. Barrel slugged at .4325"

So heres my questions those of you who size 44 bullets to .433 or .434 how do you get the gas checks to crimp on? My accurate mold that cast a .4335 bullet doesnt want to hold onto the gas check very good when I size to .431 for my super blackhawk.

Did you get a bigger case expander to take such a big bullet?

Where did you get a .433 or .434 sizer die?

Thanks for the help. Maybe I can get this thing to shoot now. I know with bullets sized at .431 my groups looked like shotgun patterns at 75 yards.

[Hickory]

What brand of gaschecks are you using?

[glockky]

Hornady

[glockky]

Anyone else? I have 3 different 44 molds and have this problem with all of them. The gas checks crimp on great when you are sizing to .430 but the bigger sizing die I go to they do not crimp on good.

[parson48]

I had a Marlin 44 mag that had a bore of almost .433. I beagled my Ranchdog mold to drop a pretty fat boolit. I used the head of a stove bolt to flare the gas checks and ran them through a Lee push through die that I had enlarged. This method worked well for me and the crimps fit well.

[crappie-hunter]

I have a small craftsman metal lathe so I made my own sizer die .435, I am no accomplisher machinist but it works. Now for the gas check, my wife is retired from a local university where she was the secretary for the art dept. and one day she brought home some scraps of .006 sheet copper that the students were using for art projects. I have Pat Marlin plane base 44cal checkmaker and after seating a regular gator check I then seat a .006 plane base check over the top of the regular check, the checks are good an tight and the finished product seem to shoot very good.

Someone on here will make you a sizer of your choice,but for the rest of my procedure you will need a plane base checkmaker, and some thin stock for making checks. I see no reason they need to be copper,I believe aluminum beverage cans would work fine.

Long drawn out procedure but the only one I could come up with.

[TCFAN]

I shoot .433 dia boolits in my Marlin 44. The mold came from Accurate and it drops boolits at
.434 from my COWW metal.My lyman lube die for my 450 sizer i had made by lathesmith a member here. I use it to lube only and the dia. for the die is .4345. I size the lubed boolits with a .433 dia Lee push through die.I have never slugged my barrel. I just started with .429 boolits and went up in size till I found the best accuracy...........Terry

[glockky]

Thanks for the responses

[Nobade]

I either shoot plain base for black powder or light smokeless loads, and paper patch for full power loads. Works for me and it's cheaper than gas checks.

-Nobade

[longbow]

Maybe not much help but I have never used a gas check in my Marlin. I shoot all PB boolits and have shot with loads right up to book max with no problems.

I find smaller bores like my .308 and .303's very unforgiving if PB boolits are pushed at anything past mild but my .44 and .45-70's all shot PB boolits just fine.

I am a bit confused about your question too. Are you saying that when sized 0.433"/0.434" they are okay but when sized to 0.431" the GC's don't stay on? If so maybe springback? Try annealing your gas checks if that is the case.

As for larger sizer, I have not had a problem with my .44 and my Lee carbide sizing die does size brass down a lot. It doesn't seem to hurt my .44's but in my .303's I found the RCBS die sized necks so small that the boolits were being "re-sized" at seating so had to go to a larger inside neck diameter. Maybe more lead bearing surface on the .44's or thinner brass? I am normally loading 0.433" to 0.434" with no problems and standard dies.

Not sure that was any help at all.

Longbow

[Slow Elk 45/70]

I have a pair of Marlin 44 mag model 1894's and I played with them for a bit , until I settled on .434 boolits , no more problems...the Marlins I have around like FAT boolits , no matter the caliber.....works for me...I haven't had any check problems , I also don't use them very often. If the boolit is fat and the alloy is right.....I can't see using them at 44 mag speeds. IMHO:cbpour:

[glockky]

Longbow The checks don't hold on good when I size to .431 so I figure at .434 it will be worse.

What velocity have you been able to push the plain base bullets too Slow Elk?
What alloy are you using?
which bullet?

[FergusonTO35]

Anybody have experience with the Ballard rifled 1894's? I guess I got lucky in that my .357 with micro groove likes boolits just fine.

[Shuz]

Anybody have experience with the Ballard rifled 1894's? I guess I got lucky in that my .357 with micro groove likes boolits just fine.
FerusonT035--Yes, I have had experience with a Ballard rifled bbl in a Marlin 1894. I bought one new, several years ago, thinking that Marlin had changed the twist rate when they went to Ballard rifling. Wrong! The gun still had the 1:38" twist, and I couldn't get my gun to shoot cast as well as my Winchester 1894 Trapper, so I sold it. I tried various boolit styles, weights, hardness's and diameters, and was always disappointed. I never tried j-bullets in the gun; perhaps it would have handled them well. I dunno; but I shoot cast in most of my guns, and I am not interested in a rifle that won't shoot cast if that's what I want.

[TCFAN]

Anybody have experience with the Ballard rifled 1894's? I guess I got lucky in that my .357 with micro groove likes boolits just fine.


In my post #7 above I failed to mention that my Marlin has the Ballard rifled barrel. Also I failed to mention that my mold is a gas check and I use aluminum home made checks made with a freechex III. No problem with them coming off or seating loose..............Terry

[FergusonTO35]

So, the 1:38 is used in the .44's, right? Would the .357 still use the 1:16?

[glockky]

I have a pair of Marlin 44 mag model 1894's and I played with them for a bit , until I settled on .434 boolits , no more problems...the Marlins I have around like FAT boolits , no matter the caliber.....works for me...I haven't had any check problems , I also don't use them very often. If the boolit is fat and the alloy is right.....I can't see using them at 44 mag speeds. IMHO:cbpour:

What velocity are you able to push the plain base too in the 1894.
What alloy are you using?