Marlin 1894 44M; what is your #1 cast bullet choice?

[Brother_Love]

I want to shoot cast in the my 1978 Marlin 44 with Micro-groove. What is your favorite bullet for this rifle. I want to try to get away with just one mold if I can. I will be plinking and harvesting venison.
Thanks for your suggestions.

[Outpost75]

Accurate 43-230G.

My "GoTo" bullet in two 1894S Microgroove Marlins, .44-40 and .44 Magnum, also in revolvers of those calibers. Double crimp groove design with 0.3" meplat. Slick feeder!

Rear crimp groove gives proper overall length in .44-40 or .44 Magnum brass to feed from the Winchester 1892 and Marlin 1894. Rear crimp groove lets you seat bullets out long in .44 Special brass to increase powder capacity, or to exploit longer cylinder length of Ruger .44 Magnum revolvers.

Ten-shot, iron-sight groups from my Micro-groove Marlins average around 3" at 100 yards.
My hunting load is a compressed caseful of RL7 or 4198 about 1350 fps in either .44 Magnum or .44-40 in 1:30 alloy which expands great, no leading, no gaschecks needed. The RL7 and 4198 loads shoot well in my revolvers to carry for hunting. There is some unburned powder, but if you are careful to elevate the muzzle when ejecting empties, and brush under the S&W extractor with a toothbrush once in a while, it lets you use one ammo in rifle and revolver for hunting, about 1000 fps in 5" barrel.

For general handgun and lowest cost recreational shooting 7.2 grains of Bullseye in .44 Magnum approximates the old Remington medium velocity police load, about 1000 fps. from a revolver, approaches 1200 fps in a 20" rifle. This charge in .44-40 exceeds factory pressures and shouldn't be shot in Colt blackpowder frames or the Winchester '73, but is OK in Post WW2 Colts, modern clones, the Winchester '92, S&W 544, Rugers and Marlins.

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[LUCKYDAWG13]

Outpost75 nice looking boolit what size and weight do they drop at is there any double clutching at all in your 1894

[Brother_Love]

Outpost75, great information! Many thanks. I have already visited the Accurate website. Do you have any trouble with leading with MG barrels. Several folks have told me it is bad. I use Lyman #2 alloy and I thought it would be hard enough to prevent leading.

Thanks again, BL

[6pt-sika]

I was rather partial to the Ranch Dog 432-265GC and his later RD 432-240GC .

[Outpost75]

Outpost75, great information! Many thanks. I have already visited the Accurate website. Do you have any trouble with leading with MG barrels. Several folks have told me it is bad. I use Lyman #2 alloy and I thought it would be hard enough to prevent leading.

Thanks again, BL

Most leading is caused by poor bullet fit and bullets which are too hard. Bullets in traditional blackpowder calibers were driven up to 1500 fps with soft bullets of about 8 BHN and without gaschecks. I use 1:30 tin/lead alloy from Roto Metals for revolver loads up to 1200 fps and rifle loads up to 1500. I don't use gaschecks. I use Lee Liquid Alox or LSStuff 45-45-10 up to 1350 fps in rifles. Above that I fill the lube grooves with a soft lube such as SPG, 50-50 Alox-beeswax, or 1 part Dexron ATF to 4 parts of beeswax, then give the entire bullet a light overcoat of Lee Liquid Alox or 45-45-10.

For rifle use using the slower suitable powders which give the desired velocity with a compressed caseful of powder will give best results. In the .44 Magnum and .44-40 you cannot get enough RL7 or 4198 powder into the case to get into trouble and the compressed powder charge gives firm base support to the bullet in the same manner that black powder does.

There are no leading issues with Microgroove if you load as above. No issues with black powder in a Microgroove either if you have a properly designed bullet to hold enough lube to prevent foul-out. Accurate 43-230EB cast 1:30 with SPG and 36 grains of 3Fg shoots well. In my .44-40.

[longbow]

Personally I like my Mihec 434640 RNFP. Casts at 270 grs. solid and 260 or so with large HP pin.

It feeds well and is accurate.

As for leading well, that is a longer story.

I started out with a Lyman 429421 which not only didn't feed well, it was inaccurate and I got lots of leading. Turns out the mould casts at 0.429" with wheelweights where my groove diameter is 0.4315". Soooo, I first made a larger diameter mould that cast at 0.434" and that pretty much solved the leading and now the moulds I buy start at 0.433" and go up by a couple thou which does pretty well.

So, slug your bore and buy a mould to suit (at least 0.001" over groove diameter). Note my "434640" mould. I also have an H&G #503 that casts at 0.434" and an Accurate #43-165B that casts at 0.433"+. I shoot mostly as cast.

Also, I read on the Marlin owner's site that many Marlins have constrictions in the bore under dovetails and roll stamping so I checked mine and sure enough. Ran a slug through it and found constrictions so I carefully hand lapped them out and now I get no leading at all using full "J" bullet loads and PB boolits... no gas checks for me!

The lapping is likely not necessary and even prior I was getting good accuracy and very little leading with the same boolits. Just make sure your mould casts over groove diameter so you can size back a thou or so and still be at least 0.001" over groove diameter.

My experience anyway.

Longbow

[Outpost75]

Outpost75 nice looking boolit what size and weight do they drop at is there any double clutching at all in your 1894

When you order from Accurate molds are cut to order for your specified alloy. My Rugers .44 Magnums have .432 cylinder throats and ball seat diameters in both Marlins are .433 at rifling origin with groove diameters .431. My S&W Model 544 .44-40 has .4285 cylinder throats and barrel groove diameter .429", whereas my Ruger .44-40 revolvers rechambered by John Taylor have chamber necks cut to .447" with .4305" cylinder throats to match their .429 barrels.

My 43-230G mold drops .432" and 230 grains in 1:30 alloy. I load bullets for the .44 Magnums as-cast and unsized. For .44-40s all bullets are sized .430". The S&W shoots just fine firing soft .430" bullets through .4285" cylinder throats and down a .429 barrel with a compressed case full of RL7 rifle powder. It shoots every bit as well as my Ruger Super Blackhawk which John Taylor made a .44-40 cylinder for, line bored with .4305" cylinder throats and .447 chamber necks to permit loading .430" bullets in Starline brass.

And no double-clutching the 1894, six plates in 4 seconds.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Simply chamfering the chamber mouth in a Marlin rifle will make any style boolit feed right. For the life of me I don't understand why they haven't made their chambering reamers with a .040-.050 radius at the back end. It would be so easy to do and be just one less problem to correct for these guns.

I advocated pretty heavily last SHOT to the Marlin Rep for the heavy tumble finishing of all of the interior parts and the levers of these guns. When I do an "Action Job" on one of my Marlins the whole process is nothing more than deburring all of the internal parts that they didn't do and a reduced power set of springs. I also chamfer the chamber mouth just so soft lead boolits don't get gouged as they are being stuffed into the chamber.

Just this alone takes these guns from generally speaking "Somewhat Rough" to "Smooth as Silk."

I have a 39AS, a 336, an 1894 ,and a 1895, and all of them have been reworked by me. All of them run smooth as silk, and the only one that took more time than <2 hours to rework was the 39AS. They all work the exact same way and the instructions on Leverguns.com are simple and easy to follow. If you can work sandpaper and a file you can do this.

Everyone who has handled these guns has remarked at how smooth they are.

My goto boolit is 429244SWC GC 260 gr. And with the Chamfered Chamber Mouth they feed as fast as you can work the lever.

Randy

[bichettereds]

Following this thread. I'm looking into getting my first mold for my Henry big boy steel in .44mag.

[fordwannabe]

Just my experience but I use the Lee 310 grainer in my 1894 (Marlin) shoots good grkups at 50 and 75 but does open up at 100. It is a pistol cartridge after all. When that slug hits backing board it sounds like somebody hit it with a ball bat. Works for me your mileage may vary. Tom

[shoot-n-lead]

I have shot a bunch of different cast bullets in mine over the years...I have finally arrived at a 180gr wadcutter at 1600fps...it does anything that I want to do...deer, hogs or plinking...and it is easy on the lead.

I am about to order a Rossi in 44mag, as I much prefer the Winchester 92 action over the Marlin, and I suspect that I will have to go heavier weight for it...but I will try the wadcutter first.

[Brother_Love]

I picked up the 1894 today. I shot it 18 times, 9 JHP and 9 with a RCBS Keith type 245 SWC. It functioned perfectly with no jams. I cycled all 18 rounds through the action before shooting them.

I then slugged the bore and ended up with .4245 lands and .430 grooves. I think I can stick to my .430 sizer or do some you suggest otherwise. Thank you, BL

[EDK]

Hard to beat RANCH DOG 432-265 GC AND NOE plain base lube groove version. Close is LYMAN 429640 and MIHEC plain base copy 434640. Sized to 432 for my MARLINS and ORIGINAL SIZE VAQUEROS.

[Fishman]

I agree with the NOE version of the Ranch Dog as well as the Lee 310 gr, both with a gas check. That is what I use in my 1894 and they work great. If you stick with the gas checks your .430 slug in a .430 bore will be just fine, and best with full pressure loads. Accuracy might be not quite up to par, but you don't know until you try it, mine works just fine with the measurements you state using full loads of H110.

[44man]

Good luck with the twist. 310 in the Marlin, WOW! Use the lightest boolit ever or a RB.

[beechbum444]

I have read alot of good things about the Ranch Dog 265 grainer and the 44 mag/Marlin

[beechbum444]

Glad to hear that SWC's function in the Marlin 1894's