1894 marlin 44 magnum p/b bullet poor accuracy

[rp85]

hello;

rifle is a marlin 1894 in 44 magnum, micro grove barrel.

using a ohause duoble cavity mold for a 258-259 grain plain base bullet, swc cast bullet, sized to .4325".

speed not an issue for me, just accuracy. powders used are 2400, ww231 and green dot. accuracy not good at all, 10-12" groups at 100 yards.

any suggestions for a fix??? any suggestions for a lee mold??? any suggestions for a powder?????

thanks for any input.

rp

[Wally]

I had one awhile back and could never get it to shoot accurately no matter what i tried. My .444 marlin with MG shoots well with any cast bullet that I use--light to heavy--I cannot explain why. Bought a Browning B92..not much better. Have a USRA94AE--worked very well.

[Shuz]

I suggest you keep working with the 2400 first. If you get it to shoot well, try the others.
I have had several Marlins in .44 mag. My currant Marlin .44 mag. has Ballard rifling. With this gun, I have to put about 5 to 10 rounds down the barrel before it starts to group. Even tho yours is Micro-Groove, perhaps it, too, needs to develope a "wash" before it groups.
You don't mention the alloy used and whether or not the boolits are heat treated. Boolit hardness may be your problem. Generally speaking, a .4325 boolit should be large enuf for most Marlins. I'd work with boolit hardness and the number of shots per trial before I'd do anything else.

[imashooter2]

Have you slugged the bore?

In my experience, microgroove barrels like hard bullets well over groove diameter.

[edler7]

I've got an 1894 in 44 mag, but no microgroove. It shot so-so with .432 boolits. I started sizing at .433 and the accuracy improved quite a bit. 2400 was an OK powder, but it shoots better groups with IMR 4227.

Have you tried a different profile than SWC ?

This is still an ongoing project, but I'm getting there. It likes the Mihec 265 grn RNFP with a gas check. They load and shoot like there's no tomorrow.

[Nobade]

Same experience here - boolits need to be at least .433" to shoot well with smokeless. My rifle shoots way better with black powder though. Must bump up and seal the barrel better.

[runfiverun]

see post number 4.
if that don't work give up.

my browning 92,needed a ,432 and a pretty hard [4/6/90] alloy too.
it gets a steady diet of swaged jaxketed instead of interrupting my casting routine.

[sisiphunter]

I have the same rifle. Same make model.caliber as yours with micro rifling. Ive had horrible luck with 245ish grain bullets. Either cast or jacketed. I get so so results with jacketed 240gr and no luck with the 245gr keith swc with all kinds of alloys sizes. Powders etc.

The best loads i have found for this rifle are with 50/50 ww/pure mix water drop. This is with thr lee 200gr rnfp and the lee 310gr rnfp gascheck. Im not much for gaschecking these so i paperpatched them. The 200 gr works at very low velocity 44spl loads with unique powder. The 310 worked best with hotter loads. I think 18-18.5gr of win 296/h110 with mag primers. This 310gr load is a thumper in the pistol but easy to manage in the rifle with devastating results on the receiving end. You do have to watch your coal in the 310gr boolit it will hang up in the receiver and not want to load if too long.

Pm me and i can send you a handful of all kinds of 44casts from mostly lee molds to try out and actual recipies after i confirm them in my notes. I have been working with this rifle for a few years now with cast with a few good results and alot of bad results. I just refuse to let it win. Matt

[longbow]

My Marlin .44 was a problem in more ways than one but I got it shooting and feeding in the end.

Mine has a typically large Marlin groove diameter of 0.4315" so wants a boolit of 0.432" or larger. Anything under 0.432" does not shoot well. The fat boolits shot much better but I still got a bit of leading.

I found that mine had tight spots in the barrel. I found out about these on the Marlinowners forum. Apparently it is a common issue with Marlins and the tight spots occur under dovetails. When I slugged my barrel I found three noticeably tight spots so hand lapped them out. Mine is microgroove so I was very careful about lapping.

That cured remaining leading issues and accuracy improved dramatically.

FWIW

Longbow

[Ole]

I have the same rifle. Same make model.caliber as yours with micro rifling. Ive had horrible luck with 245ish grain bullets. Either cast or jacketed. I get so so results with jacketed 240gr and no luck with the 245gr keith swc with all kinds of alloys sizes. Powders etc.

The best loads i have found for this rifle are with 50/50 ww/pure mix water drop. This is with thr lee 200gr rnfp and the lee 310gr rnfp gascheck. Im not much for gaschecking these so i paperpatched them. The 200 gr works at very low velocity 44spl loads with unique powder. The 310 worked best with hotter loads. I think 18-18.5gr of 231 win with mag primers. This 310gr load is a thumper in the pistol but easy to manage in the rifle with devastating results on the receiving end. You do have to watch your coal in the 310gr boolit it will hang up in the receiver and not want to load if too long.

Pm me and i can send you a handful of all kinds of 44casts from mostly lee molds to try out and actual recipies after i confirm them in my notes. I have been working with this rifle for a few years now with cast with a few good results and alot of bad results. I just refuse to let it win. Matt

Please check the bolded part of this post and correct if you meant WW296.

I don't think I'd be shooting 18.0-18.5 grains of WW231 in any 44 mag case, no matter what the bullet.

[Nobade]

Yeah, that would solve accuracy problems - no more rifle to worry about!

[44man]

I never got mine to shoot past 50 yards with ANYTHING. I even made a .433" and a .434" mold.
The 1 in 38" twist is wrong for a .44 and Ballard rifling in the Marlin is the same depth as a micro groove at .003".
I cured it by selling it.

[sisiphunter]

Sorry just got off work when i posted. Ill ammend that post yes definitly win296 or h110............231 would make a big bad bang.

[centershot]

IMHO, bullet diameter is the key here! My 1894 slugs .432" groove diameter, my best accuracy with lead boolits is wit .433 - .434" diameter. Jacketed bullets shoot great, no problems whatsoever, but cast need to be .001-.002" oversize for best accuracy. Velocity doesn't seem to matter much, anything from 900 fps and up shoots accurately, diameter was the key for me!

[finishman2000]

i sent my microgrove rifle back to marlin and they rebarreled it with a cowboy buttoin rifle barrel.