Loading for a Remlin 1894 and 629 Classic

[Buttonbuck]

Wondering if anyone loads for a 629 Classic and marlin 1894 I slugged the bore both are at .429. Any particulars on this combo. Ideally I'd like to be able to use the same bullet. In a perfect world one bullet 2 guns, but reality please. Hopefully for my Inline muzzleloader with a sabot as well. This is my first foray into reloading centerfire. I have been reloading shotgun slugs for a while. I figured this was something I can hunt with the revolver in Illinois and the muzzleloader. The lever gun I can go to any surrounding state to hunt. Thanks for suggestions on starting. I have a bunch of lead and Linotype. I will be using a cast turret press lee dies.

[waco]

I have a Smith 29 and an 1894 Marlin in .44 Mag.
Both do well with a .431" Lyman 429421 lubed with BAC and loaded over 8.0gr of Unique.
Very mild load and YMMV. Attachment 200843

[Buttonbuck]

Maybe I can clarify my question and not make it a statement. What is a good mould for these 2 firearms I was hoping for at least 240 grains. Something I can target shoot and hunt with.

[waco]

Maybe I can clarify my question and not make it a statement. What is a good mould for these 2 firearms I was hoping for at least 240 grains. Something I can target shoot and hunt with.

This is a 250gr mold. A good RNFP from Accurate or NOE of the same weight may serve you better as some 1894 Marlins won't feed the 429421

[Buttonbuck]

Simple novice question but should the bullet fit the note exactly or be slightly oversized? I.e. My bores were .429 but cast 430?

[pietro]

.

Most rifles are happy (and safe), shooting plain lead boolits as much as .002" over bore size, and some are positively elated with even a larger over-size (say, as much as .005" over).


.

[Buttonbuck]

I assume you all are using wheel weights and mix it into a Lyman # ? Alloy. I noticed no gas check. I was hoping to hunt out to 100 yd with the rifle. 50 with the pistol. I've taken 2 deer with reloads from the pistol hornady XTP 240 g under an 18 he charge. They fell the same as it I'd hit them with the 12 gauge slug or 54cal roundball. I get a lot of satasfaction from harvesting deer with things I cast with

[waco]

50/50 pure/COWW is a good hunting mix. Others will voice their opinions....

[longbow]

I use my old Marlin .44 mag with full "J" bullet loads under plain base boolits (no gas checks) with no leading. 1:38" twist and microgroove rifling.

waco is right on with his comment that some Marlin 1894's (I'd be inclined to say "most") don't feed SWC's well and particularly the Lyman 429421 which has a long nose and exceeds max OAL if crimped in the crimp groove. I had a lot of trouble with my 1894 and SWC's. I gave up on the 429421 but managed to get it to feed the H&G #503 (group buy on now for a Mihec mould) after some modifications .

So far my favourite boolit is the Mihec 434640 (Lyman 429640 RNFP clone). waco is right, RNFP's feed well in my gun... at least all those I have tried.

I would be surprised if your groove diameter in the Marlin is 0.429" since the SAAMI spec calls for 0.431" groove diameter in rifles. Marlins tend to be at or larger than the SAAMI spec. They tend to have fat bores. Mine is 0.4315" and it likes boolits of at least 0.433" and up to 0.435".

The slow twist is also not friendly to heavy (long) bullets or boolits. I find that up to 270 grs. seems to stabilize well in my gun with my loads but 290 and 300 gr. bullets and boolits were keyholing at 100 yards. Out to 50 yards they did okay so lost stability somewhere past that.

My experience anyway.

Longbow

[Buttonbuck]

Thanks I slugged the bore using 54 cal roundball son the 629 and Ballard rifled marlin 1894. I can see how beating a ball into the muzzle could be off by a couple thousands of an inch. I will look into the proposed mounds. I had read this morning Elmer Keith was all about the HG mould but didn't endorse the Lyman. I have this 5 year plan to get down to 20 accurate firearms. Most are shotguns, muzzleloaders and rim fires but want to cast for 3 rifle calibers and 3 pistol calibers.

[Jack Stanley]

I had the same idea with a Marlin and a model twenty-nine . The bullet mold I chose was made by LBT uses a gas check and weighs just over two hundred fifty grains . The nose of the bullet is rounded somewhat like the Remington soft point ammo and has a meplat about as big . Ammo works good in either fire arm , the Marlin never skips a beat with this bullet .

Jack

[longbow]

I found that the H&G #503 wouldn't feed reliably either until I worked on the carrier some. Main reason I wanted it to feed is that I was given a mould and it is a beautiful mould so wanted to put it to good use. Otherwise I would have stayed with RNFP boolits. Now it feeds both.

I also modified the cartridge stop to allow longer OAL so now that isn't a problem.

I am getting some issues with the "feeding two through" though which is frustrating. I like the Marlin but it has been kind of a "kit gun" I've had to tinker with to get it to work. Almost there.

Longbow

[Buttonbuck]

I like the idea of having one bullet 2 guns but at this point I think I need to move so I can have a proper range to use the moment I have an idea. I bought this firearm because my oldest son is living in Wisconsin and will be taking the 30/30 with him. Illinois will hopefully follow Indiana's lead and allow hunters to use rifles chambered in pistol calibers for deer. I also just enjoy shooting a lever action the cost of rimfire for the henry lever action make shooting cast pistol loads more appealing.

[Shuz]

The MP-434640 or the MP-432640L are both great boolits for dual purpose rifle and handgun. The "L",prolly for lighter, weighs about 225g whereas the original is about 250g. Same basic design. I use both in my Winnie 94 and Rossi 92, as well as my Smith and Ruger revolters.

[W.R.Buchanan]

OK guys, I've posted this about 15 times here but I'll suffer thru it once more.

All you have to do to get the Marlin to feed anything smoothly is to chamfer the chamber mouth about .040-.050. This is easy to do by hand with a countersink with an extension. Don't use a drill motor on it! Do it by hand, only takes a few minutes.

What happens without the chamfer is that the sharp top edge of the chamber digs into the boolit and stops it from feeding . By simply chamfering that area you completely eliminate this problem, and the gun will feed anything as fast as you can run the lever.

You will also find these guns will reliably feed longer OAL's than are advertised.

My goto boolit is Lyman .429244 GC over 22.0 gr of H110 sized .432 (my barrel is .431) OAL @1.675 and once again, it feeds as fast as you can run the lever. I also shoot 429421's in this gun over 8.0 gr of W231

That's all there is to it, and these loads will work just fine in your 629 as well.

Hope this helps

Randy

Attachment 201428

[EDK]

Mihec 432640 or original Lyman 429640. Ranch Dog 432 265 and NOE clones. Size to 432 if you can. Lube of your choice.

[danmat]

W.R. Can you you tell us what tools to buy to ream these 44 chambers with.
Thanks