1894 marlin, 44 mag, accurate cast bullet loads

[rp85]

hello;

have a marlin 1894, micro grove, 44 magnum. going to shoot cast bullet in this rifle. mold is an ohause, swc keith style bullet, cast weight is 258-259 grains, bullet sized to .432". o.a.l. 1.700".

speed is not important to me, accuracy is. suggested loads for accuracy???

powders on hand are green dot, ww231(hp38), and accurate #5. do not wish to increase powder inventory.

not mad at anything, just want to make holes in paper.

thanks for any input.

rp

[DistRifle]

I've used 6.0 of W231 behind the 429421 Lyman SWC keith (cast 260gr with my alloy). Really fun to shoot at 70 yards.

[Az Rick]

I also have an 1894 that I cast for.

I have a Ranch Dog 265gr. mould that I got from a forum member. I shoot 15grs. of No. 7 behind it and it's mild and accurate. It's a RNFP
I also shoot a 250gr. Keith but in a .44spl. case. I'm still experimenting with this one.

One thing I might suggest is to load up a dummy round or two and make sure they feed and eject in your rifle. I'm just wondering if the OAL might be too long. Keiths have that long nose.

The .432 is right on,... your rifle will like them.

I know I wasn't much help but don't use No.5 and haven't tried HP38/231 in mine since I had the No. 7 and could find a starting point. Hopefully I'll learn something too.

Have fun experimenting.

Rick

[Shuz]

Try 8 to 8.5g of Green Dot. I use this load a lot in my Smith 629's. 8g with 429421 and it's similar buddies and 8.5 with 230g Hollow points in the same designs.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i too have a 1894 44 mag made in 1973 i shoot a 270gr G/C cast boolit
20.2 gr of H110 works for me sized .432

[white eagle]

there are alot of things that go into making a gun shoot cast boolits accurately
charges and styles of boolit vary from gun to gun ,shooter to shooter so what works for me may not necessarily work for you
but that happens to be the fun part as long as you give yourself the time to do all you need to.

[Ole]

10 grains of unique with the 200 grain Lee RNFP bullet.



I shoot a lot of these in all my 44 mags.

[runfiverun]

any of those powders will work.
i have used the 231,titegroup,700-x,800-x,unique,herco,2400,red dot,steel,clays and at least a couple of others i can't recall right now in the 44.
if those boolits don't feed from the tube, seat them to the drive band, or single feed them.
i have a couple of 44 lever's that won't feed the 429421 but will easily chamber them and shoots them well.