hornady xtp for 44 40

[Ruts]

i have a model 1894 marlin 44 40 that shoots .427 bullets well. i drove a bullet through the bore it came out .420 with .423 grooves. is a .430 hornady jacketed bullet too big for this rifle? my cast loads with cowboy 200 gr bullets are slightly subsonic i dont know if i can get a bullet to go 1600 or so for 200 meter rams, not my cowboy bullets anyway.

[Jedman]

I don't think you got a accurate measurement of the true bore and groove diameter. The groove would certainly be more than .003 larger.
I have read of early original 1894's that had .427 groove barrels but the Marlins made in the past 35 years or so have barrels with .430 groove.
You should be OK shooting the Hornady bullet in your rifle.

Jedman

[evoevil]

that may be a little tight. email Hornady and ask them to see what they say. I cast 426/427 for my cousin 44/40. Never tried XTP in it. Have you tried using creeosafe to get a good measurement. The slug in the barrel didn't work well for me

[Outpost75]

Is your Marlin 1894 an older pre-1900 production or a recent post 1980 one?

Dimensions don't sound right in either case. Older rifles with conventional or Ballard rifling I have slugged run .425-.428 and modern Microgroove ones .430-.432 and modern so-called Ballard rifling .429-.431"

I use the Hornady XTP in modern Marlin .44-40 and .44 Magnum rifles of either rifling type with excellent results in full-charge loads with RL7 or 4198.

IF your barrel groove diameter is smaller than .429" I would hesitate to use the .430" jacketed bullets in full charge loads and would see no point to doing so in reduced loads where a cast bullet would be more appropriate.

[Ruts]

it was made in 1910 the rifling looks very shallow but is sharp. the bullet measured .426 before and .420 after. i know its definitely smaller than my miroku 73 which engraved the bullet but i could tell the bullet was not touching the bottom of the grooves and it leaded badly i had to switch to .429 bullet. i know the bore measurement sounds way out but i think my measurement is accurate. i may forget about the jacketed bullets i just had it out to the range and found that sight notches 1,3,4,and the last one 6 correspond to 50 100 150 and 200 pretty close unlike my miroku which shoots ok to 100 meters and is unpredictable after that

[Outpost75]

If your barrel has an odd number of lands and grooves, you might try measuring your slug again, wrapping it carefully with paper, measuring over the single-wrap and then subtracting twice the measured paper thickness. This mitigates the biased land-to-groove measurement of an odd-number groove barrel.

[Ruts]

If your barrel has an odd number of lands and grooves, you might try measuring your slug again, wrapping it carefully with paper, measuring over the single-wrap and then subtracting twice the measured paper thickness. This mitigates the biased land-to-groove measurement of an odd-number groove barrel.

its not odd number. 6 grooves

[Outpost75]

its not odd number. 6 grooves

OK. Hmmm... would be tight then if the mic is right by gage block.

[gwpercle]

The Hornady Handbook of Reloading 8th Edition the 44-40 handgun section has a warning about the 200 grain HP-XTP being .430 in diameter and should not be used in 44-40 guns designed for .427 bullets , use the Hornady 205 grain lead Cowboy Bullet . In the rifle section the 44-40 is shown loaded only with their lead Cowboy Bullet .
If the bore is .423 (that's tight )...I wouldn't be loading the .430 XTP jacketed bullets in it just to be safe. Cast boolits can be made to work !
Gary

[9.3X62AL]

I have two firearms in 44/40 WCF caliber--an 1873 carbine (made 1897) that has .429 throat and grooves at a "fat .428". the other arm is a 2012-made Uberti Cattleman, with throats at .4285" or a couple tenths each direction. Dunno the groove diameter. I run bullets sized at .429" in both with decent accuracy, usually SAECO #446 atop 14.0 grains of Alliant 2400 or a full case (24.0 grains) of Re-7.

One needs only recall the throats of Ruger single-action revolvers in 44/40 WCF or 45 Colt to believe that variation in dimensions does exist. A cottage industry emerged to finish building these arms.