Newbie with an oldie.

Hi all. I recently picked up an early Marlin 1894 Carbine chambered in .44-40. While I've loaded for this cartridge in the past, it was for a modern rifle with a .429" bore.
This one was made just after WW-I and has a rather snug bore. My bore slug came out measuring .425" at the grooves and .418" for the bore itself. I have not produced a chamber cast to see what the throat has to say.

Just going off the slug info, I'm wanting to look at starting with a .427" boolit. Does that sound like a logical decision?

I'm thinking a "typical" 200gr flat nose will be fine, as the Carbine will be used for enjoyment... ringing steel and busting water jugs out to 900 yards (I know, I know... but the Carbine's ladder sight says I can! Lol).

Ok. Now with all that being said, I'm about to ruffle some feathers. While I've been reloading since 1989 and have loaded cast boolits in most of my guns for years, I do NOT cast my own. Nothing against it, it's just nothing I ever set myself up to do.
My normal boolit supplier retired last year, so now I'm looking for a good boolit source.

If any of you folks had to buy your boolits... who / where would you buy them from?
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There is a myriad of good bullet casters. Here in Montana 2 seem to cover the broadest spectrum and both will cast to your specs as to hardness and diameter in any of their designs. Montana Bullet Works and Rim Rock Bullets. Both companies are very good and give a good product at a reasonable price. Google their names.

:Drusty, nice new to you gun.
Welcome to the forum.
And good luck with it.

Looks darn nice i just love the older guns.

Thanks all. I have a few of these old Marlins that I load for. I'm working on the .25-20 WCF cartridge now for my Marlin 27-s pump rifle, and I just finished getting loads for my Marlin Model '92 in .32 Colt dialed in. THAT was a fun project! I wanted to stay with the original heel-type boolits for both the Long and Short versions, so I sourced those, along with some reformed .32 S&W brass from Tenmile on GB (great guy to deal with BTW). I also had found some original .32 Long and Short brass to use.

Without getting into particulars (I'll start a new thread if there's any interest, or feel free to PM me), I got the little rifle singing right along, and it's rare special-order 28" barrel likely shoots a lot better than my eyes can see!

Now, back on topic on my .44-40... it seems a few here are pretty adamant that bore dimensions play 2nd fiddle to throat dimensions when it comes to selecting the right boolit size. How relevant would throat dimension be to just a fun-day plinker? I'm I really missing something by not checking the throat size on a Carbine that will be lobbing 200gr pills at a leisurely 1200 - 1300 fps?

Here's a few pics of my '92 in .32 Colt, along with my Short and Long loads, and my Long results @ 50 yards.

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Bear Creek Bullets have what you want. https://www.bearcreeksupplybullets.com/44-40-205
Tell them what size you want. These should go 1350 fps depending on your rifle.

If it were me I would start at .430, you can always size down if needed.

Basic rule with lead -if you can chamber it shoot it. Get some boolits of increasing size and let them determine what you order in bulk. Load up a series and see when you have a problem chambering. It is only a problem if the barrel is larger than this size. Then you look at soft alloys and powders that bump up your boolit.

For heeled boolits look up Old West Bullet Molds. He alters a Lee crimp die to crimp heeled boolits. I use the 41 Colt.