1894 Marlin 44 Mag.

[Gtek]

Just picked up nice used one. Any of you kind people want to throw out your pet load
in PB or GC. Plan on hunting with now and then down here in marsh/swamp land.
Thinking somewhere in 240ish gr. area. Have not pushed hole yet, no problem correcting sizer to needs. I was leaning toward 240 Kieth pb with 22 gr of 4227
1300 fps or so using Javelina cause I have a ton of it for Schuetzen pills.
Any thoughts pro/con?
Thank you for your time, Gtek

[Bass Ackward]

Get'er done if it will feed.

[felix]

Yep, go for it just like you say. Make sure boolit is large enough. ... felix

[robertbank]

Just picked up nice used one. Any of you kind people want to throw out your pet load
in PB or GC. Plan on hunting with now and then down here in marsh/swamp land.
Thinking somewhere in 240ish gr. area. Have not pushed hole yet, no problem correcting sizer to needs. I was leaning toward 240 Kieth pb with 22 gr of 4227
1300 fps or so using Javelina cause I have a ton of it for Schuetzen pills.
Any thoughts pro/con?
Thank you for your time, Gtek

FYI I found 22 gr iof 4227 under my 245gr Lyman boolit hurtfull to say the least. It maybe a bit tamer in the Marlin but somehow I doubt it. I dropped back to 20 gr of 4227 and the Rossi was a lot easier on the shoulder. I only lost 125 fps by dropping down. Boolit was still zipping along at 1350fps. 9 gr of Unique gave me similar results as was pleasant to shoot as well.

Take Care

Bob

[Snapping Twig]

Here's mine...

Lyman 429244 (265g from WW) sized to .431 over 22g W296/H110. That's my go-to load.

For a light load, Lyman 429421 (250g from WW) over 7g W231/HP38.

They shoot to different POI, but you'd expect that from such varied velocities.

The light load shoots like an old BP load, but with @ 1100fps of downrange thump.

When you shoot the 429244, you'll find @ 1700fps+ at the muzzle and a round that not only shoots accurately, but one that can take any game in the lower 48 and beyond.

[EDK]

Feeding semi-wadcutters can be iffy in some MARLINS. I'd suggest getting a RANCH DOG TLC 432 265 two cavity mould for hunting rounds...do some searches about it here or go to RANCH DOG'S site shown below. For casual target work, the 429421 MIGHT feed in your gun, but I'd recommend a round nose flat point of some sort...I have LYMAN 429667 and the NOE clone of the RANCH DOG with lube grooves and plain base. NOE will cut your mould with both plain base and gas check designs. The gas checks ain't cheap and I don't need them for my pistol rounds!

Conventional wisdom on MARLINS is oversize boolit, hard alloy, gas check and higher end velocity. Go to lasc.us and read Glenn Fryxell's article on 1894 MARLINS and the rest of them too...you can gain years of experience with reading what Glenn has to say. Lots of info over at marlinowners also.

I've had one or more of the 44 MARLINS for almost 40 years. They ain't bench guns and I shoot 99% off hand, but better sights (LYMAN #66 receiver sight) and some trigger work help a lot. Mine did "minute of coyote/feral dog" when something was harassing the calves...or the calves' owner.

:Fire::castmine::redneck:

[W.R.Buchanan]

Ditto snapping twig; On the 22gr of H110 and the 429244 bullet WITH gas check.

You will need to put a .030-.040 chamfer on the back edge of the chamber so these stepped bullets feed smoothly, otherwise they will hang up on the step.

Also these bullets seated to the crimp groove are about 1.665 OAL which is a little long. They still will feed in a Marlin,,,, At least they do in mine with the chamfer on the chamber.

You do need the chamfer on the chamber. This is one of the things that makes these guns function right.

Randy

OH,,, and I would highly recommend a Pachmayer Decelerator pad for that gun. these are 250-260gr bullets so that equal and opposite force thing is in effect. Seriously about 10 of these with no pad is about all the fun you'll want to have in one day.

[Ole]

10gr Unique with the Lee 200 grain RNFP, sized to .432" and pan lubed is what my 1894 likes.

I've also used the RD265 and 22-23 grains of H110. Bigger bang, more lead downrange- Mostly stick with the lighter loads for plinking.

I can usually hit a pop can @ 75 yards off a rest within 5 shots with this load. The rifle shoots at least as good as my eyes can see.

[doubledown]

18.8 grains W296 CCI 350 WW brass. With an Accurate mold 300 grain gas check WFN TL boolit.45/45/10 using WW alloy air cooled. Velocity is 1425 fps. This 1894 shoots better than it should.

[Gtek]

Seems to lean toward 429244. I am looking into dies and trying to figure out path into new unknown. With GC bell case and push it home? M die? And how much crimp is needed? With GC would not think one would need to get real crazy. Thanks, Gtek

[chaos]

My kids have taken quite a few wild swine with my 1894. The gun likes the keith bullet, but she hangs in the action sometimes.

Mostly we now use a RCBS-44-240-SWC cast about 252 out of WW's. Its a gas checked design and we load it over a middle of the road charge of Win 296.

Works plenty good. Recoil is about the same as a 30-30

[mustanggt]

I also have an 1894 in 44mag. I haven't worked up too many loads for it but the one I have shot shoots very well in my Ruger SBH Bisley Hunter too. It is 300gr Ranch Dog mould. It has a Skinner sight on it and shoots 2" +/- at 50yds. Haven't gone to 100yds yet. Shooting the Keith bullet in it feeds real hard but is accurate out of both guns. The RD load is 18grs of H110. The load only has a 1gr difference between min and max, max being 19grs.

[ia1727]

Ditto snapping twig; On the 22gr of H110 and the 429244 bullet WITH gas check.

You will need to put a .030-.040 chamfer on the back edge of the chamber so these stepped bullets feed smoothly, otherwise they will hang up on the step.

Also these bullets seated to the crimp groove are about 1.665 OAL which is a little long. They still will feed in a Marlin,,,, At least they do in mine with the chamfer on the chamber.

You do need the chamfer on the chamber. This is one of the things that makes these guns function right.

Randy

OH,,, and I would highly recommend a Pachmayer Decelerator pad for that gun. these are 250-260gr bullets so that equal and opposite force thing is in effect. Seriously about 10 of these with no pad is about all the fun you'll want to have in one day.

WR--

How does one go about chamfering the receiver--need a gunsmith to do this ?

I was also thinking about the Pachmayer to increase the LOP--another inch would be great.

Steve

[Four Fingers of Death]

Ditto snapping twig; On the 22gr of H110 and the 429244 bullet WITH gas check.

You will need to put a .030-.040 chamfer on the back edge of the chamber so these stepped bullets feed smoothly, otherwise they will hang up on the step.

Also these bullets seated to the crimp groove are about 1.665 OAL which is a little long. They still will feed in a Marlin,,,, At least they do in mine with the chamfer on the chamber.

You do need the chamfer on the chamber. This is one of the things that makes these guns function right.

Randy

OH,,, and I would highly recommend a Pachmayer Decelerator pad for that gun. these are 250-260gr bullets so that equal and opposite force thing is in effect. Seriously about 10 of these with no pad is about all the fun you'll want to have in one day.

I have one of these sweet rifles.

How do you go about putting that chamfer on the chamber?

[W.R.Buchanan]

4 Fingers, ia1727: There are several ways to do this process, and if you can work basic hand tools you can do it yourself easily.

The first way is to make an extension rod for a countersink. You need to use the multi Fluted type of countersink as you are going to be rotating it back and forth by hand. It needs to be about 6-8" long.

You take the bolt out of the gun like you are cleaning it , and go in thru the rear of the action. Since you have no choice but to take your time doing this you don't have to worry too much about over doing it. Just don't chuck it up in an electric drill and go at it unless you know what you are doing. 1-2 seconds with the motorized CSK, 5-10 minutes by hand.

I used the other method, and literally scraped the chamfer (which looks more like a radius) into the chamber with a small triangle file which has about 1/2" of the file teeth ground off all three sides. It makes a very good little scraper. Believe me these barrels are not that hard, and the material moves easily.

You start by knocking the sharp edge of the chamber mouth off with the scraper and just keep at it until you have a nice smooth rounded edge about .030-.040 wide and long. You could polish it with a Cratex burr if you had a long enough extension, or a piece of rolled up Wet or Dry sandpaper will work as well.

My radius is actually a little stronger on the top portion of the chamber, as that is where the boolit will hang up as you cycle the action. WFN or SWC bullets will actually get caught on the sharp edge of the front of the boolit as will be gouged by the sharp chamber mouth. Obviously removing the sharp edge allows the Boolit to literally bounce off the chamfered or radiused edge, as there is no longer a sharp edge to cut into the boolit.

The extractor groove on a .44 cartridge is .060 wide, and the internal web of case is about another .060 above the extractor groove, so you are not weakening the chamber at all by doing this. The chamfer is only half way up the extractor groove when you are done. The chamber still fully supports the case.

Believe me this is not a new thing to do, it is standard practice for revolver cylinders. I watched an S&W master gunsmith do it to one of Jerry Mickelek's guns.

My gun will cycle SWC's , round nose FP's, and LBT WFN's smoothly and as fast as you can run the lever.

While you've got the gun apart it is a good idea to smooth out the rest of the action, and the complete instructions on how to do this is on Leverguns.com so I won't go into it.

Suffice to say, my gun works pretty smoothly, and is nearly effortless to operate. There is alot more to the complete action job, but if you can follow instructions and operate sand paper and a file you can do all of it in 2 hours. believe me it is night and day difference.

Here's a pic of all of the dummy rounds I use to test function on my guns. They all go thru interchangably as fast I can cycle the lever. They are from left .44 Magnum 250Gr LBT WFN, 250gr Lyman 429244, 240Gr Lee SWC, 200gr RNFP, .44 Special 250 gr 429244, 200gr platedrnfp, 190 gr Magma .44-190 SWCPB.
Randy

[44 flattop]

Well shoot (pun intended), since I already shoot many of the loads and bullets listed, I'll list one that I haven't seen and is my main .44 rifle elk load these days.

The RCBS240-SIL weighs 260grs from 60/40 WW/lead and with 23grs W296 it does 1740fps and 1 1/2" at 100 yards. Does a really good job on elk.

44

[Four Fingers of Death]

Thanks, WRB! Very helpful.