Marlin 1894c - Where do I start?

[awaveritt]

Well I finally decided to ask Santa for the 1894c 357 Marlin. Thanks to all who gave advice here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?p=721552#post721552

Now I'm wondering about loads. With a month before I get the rifle I'm like a kid in the candy store and want to load up some rounds appropriate for cast 357's.

I have the TL-358-158-SWC and have read on this forum that 2400 is apparently the holy grail of powders for getting the most from the 357 - especially in the carbine barrel. Right now I only have Bullseye and HP-38 on hand but am thinking I should rush out and grab a lb of 2400. Also, does 2400 have to have magnum primers?

My current stock of alloy can produce 100% WW down to 70/30 WW/Pb. I'm guessing many of you will suggest water-dropped or oven treated, maybe not?

My question is will the Lee style Tumble Lube SWC work well with this powder/rifle/boolit combination or should I look for a GC version like the one from Lee or the venerable 358156?

Or should I just be patient and start load development with Lee Tumble Lube SWC and go from there.

Like the kid says in the Disney World commercial: I'm too excited to sleep!

[Wally]

As mentioned I've had mine for 25 years+...you don't need loads that shoot at over 1,500 FPS unless you want to hunt with it.

Two weeks I used mine with the 359156 and 8. grains of Unique--I got 1,500 FPS with this load and it was superbly accurate. Using 2400 one could more velocity, but the additional powder cost is substantial... I have also use 7.0 grains of W-231 with a 158 SWC bullet and had great results.

This summer I was most impressed with a wacky load--the 356402 TC bullet with 6.0 grains of bullseye--it was superbly accurate and offered a 1,460 FPS MV...it was remarkably good at 100 yards.

[beagle]

I've had one for about 20 years and I've shot a LOT of .38 Specials in it with +P loads. Mine's not picky ar all about what you feed it. I use a 38-158-CM RCBS hollowpointed in my mag cases and also a lot of .38 Special cases. The 358429HP or 358439 Lymans are hard to beat in .38 cases but may be a little long to feed in mag cases.

My most accurate load was 11.8 grains of 2400 in a mag case with the 358429 deep seated and crimped on the edge of the driving band. That gave me 1 5/8" at 100 yards.

Great little guns./beagle

[Three44s]

I think you'll want to run the Tumble lubed bullets slower than you'll get good ignition with 2400.

Unique at a mild charge will likely be the upper limit.

Three 44s

[ReloaderFred]

My wife and I both shoot Marlin 1894C's for Cowboy Action, and we put a whole ton of .38 Specials through them. I've found for best feeding, a minimum OAL of the loaded round should be at least 1.480". I prefer Round Nose Flat Point bullets for smooth feeding, or even a Truncated Cone Flat Point.

For Cowboy loads, I load with Bullseye, but for Magnum loads, I use either Winchester 296 or Hodgdon's Lil'Gun, and 180 grain cast bullets, with a gascheck. Very, very accurate with the latter, and hard hitting to boot. With Lil'Gun and the 180 grain cast, I'm getting 1,710 fps at the muzzle. This makes the little carbine a serious short range deer rifle.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Char-Gar]

I have had one of those for years and here is my opinion for what it is worth.

1. You will want a gas check bullet when shooting magnum loads. 358156 is just the ticket.
2. With mag cases, the rifle is picky about which bullet it will feed, due to bullet length. Again 358156 is just the ticket.
3. Magnum Primers not necessary with 2400 powder.
4. With a gas check bullet like 358156 air cooled wheel weight alloy works just fine. No need to water drop or temper in the over up to all the speed you can get out of that round in that rifle. Harder won't hurt but isn't needed.
5. I don't shoot 38 Specials in the rifle, so I can't be of any help there.
6. My load is 14.5/2400 (Alliant)/358156 either solid or hollow point from ACWW.
7. The 357 Magnum round in a rifle is a whole new world from the round in a pistol and thinking needs to change. In a rifle, the round is in the 30-30 class of effective rifles.

Best of luck with Santa's new toy! Santa brought mine 13 years ago.

[Blammer]

I'd get 2400 or W296 I've found they both work well in my Win94.

I use a variety of mag and regular primers, I really can't recall any specific difference in the accuracy.

I shoot WW air cooled boolits mostly, either GC or plain base.

I've had no leading in my rifle with plain base boolits loaded up to 1500fps in my 357mag.

I like the Lee 358-158 RF for a good plain base shooter and I like the 180gr GC for a hunting boolit. I also would not have any qualms about recommending the Lee 358-158 for hunting as the meplat is good and the velocity of 1500 is good enough.

IMO if you want a really cheap plinker, get some bluedot and the Lee mould above, load around 9gr and load and shoot all you can!

[fecmech]

This summer I was most impressed with a wacky load--the 356402 TC bullet with 6.0 grains of bullseye--it was superbly accurate and offered a 1,460 FPS MV...it was remarkably good at 100 yards.

Thanks for the tip Wally--I have a Braztech Rossi 92 which has the 30" twist. I have had good results with 231 in .38 cases and the Lee 121 tc 9MM bullet. My loader was set up for Mags and I put a bushing in that throws 6.0 of Bullseye and loaded some up. I went out back and tried 5 in the Rossi, they went into 11/8" @ 50 yds. Also ran 5 through my Win 94 and they went into an inch! Loaded up 10 more for the Rossi and shot this group.

[Bullshop Junior]

Try Alliant Steel.
I shoot 10gr in 357 Mag cases and a 7gr in spl cases, using a 158gr HP

[excess650]

There are some interesting combinations listed to try.

My favorite load in a pair of 1894C Marlins and a Browning Lowall is the Saeco #354 185gr GC over H110 with F205 primers in Starline cases. I've shot these to 300m in the Marlins and 385m in the Browning, and had to stop because I ran out of sight adjustment. The Browning would stay on a turkey silhouette at that distance!

The Marlin 1894C is a surprising little carbine. Mine are more accurate than I would have expected (both are Microgroove) and pleasant to shoot even with what would be considered heavy loads for the caliber. I wouldn't hesitate to hunt deer with my handloads.

I size and lube in a .360 die which just touches parts of the bullets.

My Saeco's feed perfectly through both 1894C without modification.

[crabo]

What size are you sizing at? I saw a lotta loads but no sizes.

[imashooter2]

I like the SAECO #353 180 grain plain base over 10.5 grains of 2400 and a standard primer for my regular bum around load. This is good for 1,349 fps average in my 1894C.

For more serious use, one of the various 180 grain group buy gas check boolits would get the nod. 12.5 grains of 2400 gets a Lee group buy going at 1,568 fps average. 14.5 grains of Lil' Gun is good for just over 1,700 fps average. Both of those loads are standard primers as well.

FWIW, my rifle much prefers heavy boolits. I've never achieved the same sort of results I get with the 180's from these other molds I've tried:
Lyman 357446
Lyman 358477
Lyman 358311
Lyman 357156
Lee 358-150-1R
Lee TL358-158-2R
and various commercial offerings from 125 grains through 158 grains.

I should also note that my rifle needed to get the carrier mod in order to feed the long SAECO boolit reliably. Others report that their rifles feed it just fine without modification, but if I'm going to make a recommendation, I want to lay out all the facts. The carrier mod is easy to do and is described here:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=7750

[imashooter2]

What size are you sizing at? I saw a lotta loads but no sizes.

My rifle likes .359.

[prs]

There is a very nice custom boolit called the Snakebite 357 available from Big Lube boolits in Lee's 6 hole blocks. Fairly easy to cast and yields correct 357mag OAL when loaded in a 38SPCL case. This boolit was designed for Cowboy Action competition with real black powder and performs superbly with that, but Pards also shoot it with modern propellants. I have the mold, but not a rifle for it, but others tell me they feed throguh the action like warm butter.

prs

[crabo]

Anyone finding their rifles shoot better with waterdropped or air cooled WWs? I am particularly looking at 100 targets. That next 50 yards really shows the limitations of an accuracy load.