Marlin 44 1894 Micro and Lee 200FP bullet

[smkummer]

Guys right now this bullet shows promise unsized. My load was 12.1 grs. 800X and at 25 yards and shot to the same point of aim as a hotter load with a 240 grain Hornandy 240 grain bullet. 9 shots in about 2 ins. I have to crimp this bullet on the second grove for it to not jam in my 1970's vintage Marllin. It feeds very smooth in my Marlin and makes working the lever fun. Anyone else with powder for this combination of rifle and bullet?

[smkummer]

Has any one else used this bullet in a micro groove Marlin? My 2 cavity mold is dropping them at .430-.431 so no sizing at all for the Marlin.

[Kraschenbirn]

I obtained pretty fair results from the 200 gr. Lee RNFP in my 1894 Marlin after beagling/lapping my mould out to drop .4315-.432 from a 50/50 alloy of range scrap and COWWs. I'm tumble-lubing (45/45/10) and loading them 'as-cast' over 11.5 gr. Blue Dot, using either Federal or R-P brass and W-W primers. 50-yd. iron-sight groups run consistently under 2" and, if I'm having a good day, I can keep all my shots inside 4"-5" at 100.

Btw, serial # says my 1894 was mfg'd in early 1971...'bout the same age as yours...and it's become just about my favorite 'plinker'. I use plastic one-liter Gatorade bottles, tossed out in front of our 50-yd berm for off-hand practice. Can usually nail 9 out of 10 on sitting targets and, maybe, 50% if I try to keep 'em rolling from shot to shot.

Bill

[blademasterii]

I tried the lee 200g swc in mine and it shot fine. Can't say how well as I only fired a few because I forgot the sight tool for the new sight. :D They were loaded over 22grains of 2400. Pretty good punch for sure. http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn276/blademasterii/IMAG01482.jpgMine was made in 71.

[wv109323]

I am trying to get an 1894 Marlin to shoot cast boolits. I have a Lee 6 cavity in the 245 gn. SWC with a gas check. Results so far are unbelievably bad. The results at 25 yards off hand were 20" with the boolits tumbling and going through the target side ways. The load was so bad that I could not hit a 20X24" target at 50 yards. I shot 10 rounds and missed the target all 10 times. I even thought the scope was not holding a zero and changed scopes on the rifle.
I am undecided about what is causing all this. The load with the 245 Cast was 9.0 of Unique.
Boolit was shot sized at .429 and also at "as-cast" at .432". I discovered that apparently one of the cavities in the mold is casting about .438". Boolits were double lubed with LLA.
I have bought some Hornady 240 gn. Jacketed HP's for a base line on accuracy. They are loaded with 18.5 gn.of 2400. I also have some commercial cast 240gn. that I will retry with 9.0gn. of Unique.
I am looking strongly at the neck sizing to make sure that boolits are not being distorted upon seating. I am going to fire some of the Jacketed boolits and commercial cast. I am also looking at getting a new mold or sort existing boolits by size.
Any over thoughts would be appreciated.

[smkummer]

Thanks guys, tommorow I am going to the range with 9.5 grains Unigue and unsized (.430-.431), as dropped into water, cast with wheel weights, Lee 200 FP bullets. Again I have to seat these out to the top lube groove to work in my mid 70's Marlin and I can still load 10 in the tube. They have about a 1.63 OAL. Wish me luck. My goal is to hit gallon milk jugs at 50 yards off hand standing with ease.

[smkummer]

Ok, this appears to be a boolit with potential. I was getting about a 3 to 4 in group at 50 yards with 9.5 grains Unique. And I could smack a 7 in. diameter plate standing offhand about 90% of the time. this is a night and day improvement over the Lyman 429360 bullet. But every now and then it would send a flyer to the left. I am guessing a .429-.430 bullet did this. Most are coming out at almost .431 and weigh 210 with water dropped wheel weights. If this mold would make the bullets at about .432 all the time, I feel it would solve the flyer problem. Again, for my Marlin I have to seat at the last lube groove and they feed so very well.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i have had good luck with my 270gr boolits sized to .432
in my 1894 that was made in 1973 load was 20.5gr of H110
& CCI 350