Best so far in my 30-30 Marlin.

[44man]

Micro groove is OK as long as you have fit. I sold the stupid Marlin .44 mag because of the twist. Had Ballard rifling but measurements showed less lands and grooves but the same dimensions, .003" deep grooves and bore the same as micro groove. More lands and grooves of the micro groove is better. If Marlin would reduce the bore size so rifling is .006" in the Ballard, cast would be better.
A good round ball ML needs .010" deep grooves.
Many good revolvers only have .004" deep grooves and would benefit with deeper for cast. I would love to see .006" in a revolver.
I would rather have a micro groove in a Marlin. It affords more grip.

[44man]

All of you should never worry about hijacking a thread. All thoughts are welcome. It is learning.
We would never shoot cast like we do with shorts in a wedgie.
There are very few sites with common sense any more. Most have a King with draggers. Never dispute the King.
A new guy might have 50 or 60 years of work, Might have gold nuggets to share. Might be poor as a titmouse but actually had to work harder. The man with less money will win out. If you have a faucet leaking or a toilet that does not flush, do you call a plumber? If an outlet fails, do you call an electrician? lawn mower won't start, do you get it picked up from a shop?
Shooting is the same. Never run to a gunsmith for some simple thing.
There are guys that buy a new rifle with a scope, have it bore sighted with the thing in the muzzle and go hunting without ever shooting the gun first.
I have to leave, a neighbor dropped off a chipper that won't start. More money then I have but I know how to fix it, they don't.

[w30wcf]

All of you should never worry about hijacking a thread. All thoughts are welcome. It is learning.
We would never shoot cast like we do with shorts in a wedgie.
There are very few sites with common sense any more. Most have a King with draggers. Never dispute the King.
A new guy might have 50 or 60 years of work, Might have gold nuggets to share. Might be poor as a titmouse but actually had to work harder. The man with less money will win out. If you have a faucet leaking or a toilet that does not flush, do you call a plumber? If an outlet fails, do you call an electrician? lawn mower won't start, do you get it picked up from a shop?
Shooting is the same. Never run to a gunsmith for some simple thing.
There are guys that buy a new rifle with a scope, have it bore sighted with the thing in the muzzle and go hunting without ever shooting the gun first.
I have to leave, a neighbor dropped off a chipper that won't start. More money then I have but I know how to fix it, they don't.

+1

w30wcf

[44man]

Got the chipper fixed, one pull starts it now. got some good booze and a little money so eat your hearts out. Need to cast some boolits now, so will be away a while.

[Pb2au]

Remiel, i apologize if my response seemed a bit flip.

44man as usual hits the nail on the head! ^
Remiel,
With Marlin's, the rifling is simply shallow. So this is why getting your boolit fit spot on is so important here. (also read into this a bit further, booolit fit is the key to the kingdom in all cases. In Marlins, they simply can be more sensitive to it.)
In the beginning, we learned to slug the bore of a rifle or handgun, measure that slug and size at least 0.001" over that for our boollit diameter. In most cases, that will get you off and running without leading up the barrel.
Now to expand on that, we learned that understanding the dimensions of the throat of the rifle was indeed even more useful. This allowed us to size a boolit even a wee bit bigger to promote an even better fit to the bore, and to in addition to that, coincide the centrality of the projectile the best we can to the axis of the bore. Remember, our lead projectile doesn't have a copper jacket to deal with errors in loading technique, errors in machining in the firearm and so on and so forth. So we are rewarded with even better accuracy by removing as many variables we can.
So, to better answer your question from before, yes, you can absolutely shoot boolits from your Marlin with great success and without leading.
Again, I apologize for coming off a bit snarky. Please ask questions, we are all here to help one another.
I also bow my head for the thread drift.

[Remiel]

Remiel, i apologize if my response seemed a bit flip.

44man as usual hits the nail on the head! ^
Remiel,
With Marlin's, the rifling is simply shallow. So this is why getting your boolit fit spot on is so important here. (also read into this a bit further, booolit fit is the key to the kingdom in all cases. In Marlins, they simply can be more sensitive to it.)
In the beginning, we learned to slug the bore of a rifle or handgun, measure that slug and size at least 0.001" over that for our boollit diameter. In most cases, that will get you off and running without leading up the barrel.
Now to expand on that, we learned that understanding the dimensions of the throat of the rifle was indeed even more useful. This allowed us to size a boolit even a wee bit bigger to promote an even better fit to the bore, and to in addition to that, coincide the centrality of the projectile the best we can to the axis of the bore. Remember, our lead projectile doesn't have a copper jacket to deal with errors in loading technique, errors in machining in the firearm and so on and so forth. So we are rewarded with even better accuracy by removing as many variables we can.
So, to better answer your question from before, yes, you can absolutely shoot boolits from your Marlin with great success and without leading.
Again, I apologize for coming off a bit snarky. Please ask questions, we are all here to help one another.
I also bow my head for the thread drift.

No worries, I am used to snark(you should meet the wife), i work in a company that if you don't have a thick skin you wont last long. besides its better than getting whacked with a wrench. But correct me if i am wrong, i been reading and seeing that the lyman #311291 drops in .310 and works well in the 336's, what lee mold is recommended with the marlin, and whats a good alloy to pair with IMR4895?

[Pb2au]

I have used the 170 grain Lee 309 F mold with very good results. It is a gas check design.
My alloy is wheel weights, air cooled with Lyman moly lube.
I have not used 4835 IMR with this combo, but I believe you would be in good shape with WW alloy, water dropped to harden it up a bit. Honestly I would try both water dropped and air cooled and check. Are you planning on hunting or punching paper? If hunting, we need to think about performance on impact and that might change the alloy strategy.
I got Good results with the bullet sized to .309", but I got way better at .311" Check out a sticky that Goodsteel did on slugging (pound cast) the chamber of a rifle. That will help get you up to speed on sizing for throats in general.
I have never used IMR 4895 for 30-30 myself, but that is not to say it hasn't been done. I've used 2400 powder to great effect, as well as 335 (ok results) as well. For plinking, Trailboss is an easy win.
I hope this helps.

[44man]

I use plain WW's water dropped. I do not hunt with a rifle so don't know if the alloy is good for deer.
Might want a softer nose without softening the drive bands.
Best is going to be .311".

[Remiel]

as far as alloy i was given free reign and on friends bullet trap for scrap lead, and i had planned on doing some plinking and hunting, I have no issues doing up 2 different types of lead for the applications if i have to

[44man]

Free lead is good.

[hardy]

Well put.Sir....Self sufficiency Rules...Cheers Mike

[blackthorn]

Quote: "I would plan accordingly. In fact I put my money where my mouth was. Ten years ago I saw both retirement (meaning a smaller income) and the Liberals coming. I buckled down and bought, bought, bought. It wasn't easy. I sold some goodies to help finance it too. But the long ugly years of the Obama scare shortages affected me not at all unless I wanted to start up with a new caliber."


^^^^^ This (with a Canadian flavor)!!