Marlin 44 Mag with Lyman 429421 ?

[Jimmy10mm]

I've got my eye on a Marlin 1894 in 44 magnum. Has the Ballard rifling and is in pretty good shape. I had been considering a 30-30 instead but I already have dies and molds for the 44, and of course a couple of revolvers in that caliber. So in doing a heap of searches on the 44 vs the 30-30 I decided to stick with the 44 since I'm not a hunter and will only be using it for target at 50 and 100 yards.

Now I'm wondering how the Keith 429421 will perform in a 20" barrel ? Anyone using that combination who can give me something to go with ? Thanks.

[Shuz]

You'll need to find out what diameter of your 429421 your Marlin will shoot best. Most folks find that the Marlin rifles, whether Ballard or Micro-Groove, like really fat boolits such as .432 or .433.That was my experience as well with Marlin rifles in .44 mag. I also found that my guns preferred boolits with a RNFP like the Lee 200 or the Lyman 429667 more than the SWC style of the 429421. Some of that MAY be attributed to the fact that all Marlin rifles chambered in .44 mag are 1:38 twist which tends to be easier to get to shoot lighter for caliber boolits than heavy ones. Good luck with your quest.

[Larry Gibson]

That Marlin should shoot the 429421 just fine. However many have accuracy problems simply because they use top end revolver magnum loads which shoot excellent in their revolver and expect it to shoot excellently in the rifle. They are disappointed when it doesn't and we see all sorts of suggests to cure the problem which usually doesn't and then the rifle owner sells the rifle thinking it is poorly made. The loads are fine.....in the revolver and the rifle is most often fine also.

The problem is the magnum load is probably just pushing the PB'd 429421 too fast in the unvented longer barrel of the rifle. Velocities with top end magnum loads using 2400, Blue Dot, AA#9 and H110/296 often push the velocity upwards of 1600+ fps out of 20" barrels. That is just too much for most PB'd cast bullets to hold decent accuracy. I'v used the 357 and 44 magnums in numerous rifles over the years with barrels of 16 - 24" and the result is always the same; very seldom will a top end magnum revolver load shoot well in the rifle with any PB'd cast bullet if the velocity is over 1500 fps. I recommend you ork up the load in the rifle for accuracy using and staying within revolver data. When you have an accurate load in the rifle then, if you shoot the same load in a revolver, you will find it pleasently accurate in the revolver also.

The alternative with cast bullets is the GC'd cast bullet which is an excellent alternative BTW. I recomment Lyman's 429244 or the 429640HP which are excellent in both handgun and rifle with top end revolver magnum loads.

Larry Gibson

[1Shirt]

My Marlin w/microgroove shoots well with that blt, has to be seated deep to function thru action however. Mine requires .431. However I prefer 429421, but both are accurate.
1Shirt!