Giving up on Lee 6 Cavity Mold

[wv109323]

I have a Marlin 1894 that I have been trying to get a Lee 245 SWC GC bullet to shoot well. I have given up on the mold.
I have slugged the bore at .430. I can get the jacketed Hornady 240 XTP to shoot 1 1/2" at 50 yards with 18.5 grains of 2400. That is not pin point accuracy but adequate for no load development. I got a commercial Cast Boolit to shoot 1 3/4" at 50. That is with 9.0 Grains of Unique.
I load the Lee cast boolit with 9.0 Grains of Unique and can not hit anything. I mean at 15 feet the bullet strikes the target keyholed in a 12" group. I have tried the bullet at .429 , .430 and "as cast" or about .431. With gas checks and with out. I have weighed bullets to make sure there are no voids.
I have lubed and sized them in a RCBS. I have used Lee Alox with one coating and with two coatings.
I have bought a Cowboy neck sizing die to make sure I was not distorting the bullet when seated.
My alloy is mostly wheel weights with some range scrap mixed in. The same batch of lead has cast 180 grain .308 bullets with a gas check for a 1903 Springfield. I have shot the alloy thru it with 1" at 50 yards with a peep sight. I have used the alloy for 200 grain SWC, .45ACP bullets that give exceptional accuracy.
But the 245 .44 Bullet will not shoot. I am at the point does anyone want to buy a lee six cavity?

[runfiverun]

everything is working fine but the accuracy is poor you say?
try a 200 gr boolit.

[btroj]

Try a bullet design where the nose tapers into the body. Something with NO shoulder like a SWC has. My Marlin 357 doesn't shoot well with any SWC but does awesome with the MP359640.
I think some of these rifles have a throat that is steep enough for a shouldered bullet to enter off center giving poor accuracy.

I spent 6 months wondering why I bought a rifle that wouldn't shoot cast. Then I got the right mould. Made it a great little rifle to shoot.

[brstevns]

I have a Marlin 1894 that I have been trying to get a Lee 245 SWC GC bullet to shoot well. I have given up on the mold.
I have slugged the bore at .430. I can get the jacketed Hornady 240 XTP to shoot 1 1/2" at 50 yards with 18.5 grains of 2400. That is not pin point accuracy but adequate for no load development. I got a commercial Cast Boolit to shoot 1 3/4" at 50. That is with 9.0 Grains of Unique.
I load the Lee cast boolit with 9.0 Grains of Unique and can not hit anything. I mean at 15 feet the bullet strikes the target keyholed in a 12" group. I have tried the bullet at .429 , .430 and "as cast" or about .431. With gas checks and with out. I have weighed bullets to make sure there are no voids.
I have lubed and sized them in a RCBS. I have used Lee Alox with one coating and with two coatings.
I have bought a Cowboy neck sizing die to make sure I was not distorting the bullet when seated.
My alloy is mostly wheel weights with some range scrap mixed in. The same batch of lead has cast 180 grain .308 bullets with a gas check for a 1903 Springfield. I have shot the alloy thru it with 1" at 50 yards with a peep sight. I have used the alloy for 200 grain SWC, .45ACP bullets that give exceptional accuracy.
But the 245 .44 Bullet will not shoot. I am at the point does anyone want to buy a lee six cavity?

Something that worked for me when I was having this problem with a bullet in my 357 marlin was to drop the bullet straight into water from the mould. It will case harden the outside and make a much harder suface for the mirco groove barrel to grip. Do not see why this would not work in a 44cal as well. Just be careful not to let any water get into your pot of lead!!!!

[TCFAN]

My Marlin 44 mag shoot the best with .433 sized boolits. Any boolit smaller than
.432 is not very accurate.I had a custom expander made for my Lyman M die so the .433 dia. boolits won't be sized down in the boolit seat die.........Terry

[Larry Gibson]

If your Marlin has MicroGroove rifling then add 2% tin to the COWWs and let them AC for 7-10 days. There is no reason that bullet at .431 with a GC should not shoot well.

Larry Gibson

[geargnasher]

everything is working fine but the accuracy is poor you say?
try a 200 gr boolit.

Exactly. Or rebarrel with a 1-in-20" twist.

Gear

[Texasflyboy]

What do the fired boolits look like?

Therein lies the answer.

[fatelk]

I've had a lot of problems over the years with my 1894 .44 mag, only recently got it to shoot OK (not great, but useable). It sounds like your issue is different, but it does remind me of the first problem I ever had with mine over 20 years ago.

My dad bought a couple boxes of Miwall ammo at a gun show. It was 240gr JHP, but accuracy was nonexistent. They did the same thing you describe. I shot at a 50 yard target and a branch broke out of a tree above it! Tumbling, scattered groups at close range. I was a beginning reloader back then, but I pulled some apart, dumped out the 10gr (IIRC) of fast powder, and replaced it with a heavier charge of 2400 (IIRC):). Amazingly they shot much better, and no tumbling.

What did this mean? To this day I do not know. For some reason that particular combination of bullet and powder just didn't work in that rifle.

[MT Gianni]

What is the oal of that bullet vs the commercial cast that does shoot? What is your twist rate? This is why the answers to using a200 gr boolit were given.

[longbow]

My Marlin won't shoot well at all with any boolit under 0.432". The groove diameter is 0.4315" as best as I can measure (tenths are tricky small). I normally load as cast with 0.433" to 0.434" boolits with good results:

- Mihec H&G #503 (casts at 0.433")
- Mihec 434640 (casts at 0.434")
- Accurate #43-165B (casts at 0.433")

These are all plain base as well.

I generally use IMR4227 and load to "J" bullet velocities with little to no leading.

However, I did have trouble when I first got the gun. Accuracy with a Lyman 429421 was poor and leading tended to be bad. I found my groove diameter was 0.4315" and the boolit cast at 0.429" so bad fit. Also, I read about Marlins having tight spots under dovetails and roll printing and sure enough mine did so I lapped it out and now with good fitting boolit I get good accuracy and little leading.

If you can recover some boolits, check them for gas cutting. If there is any gas cutting then they are undersize.

Longbow

[shotman4]

Larry hit it alloy is to soft. Remember range lead is lead+?. All WW is not same too. I went to 1/2 ww and 1/4 linotype . didnt seem to need tin as they cast ok .

[leadman]

Drop your charge down to 7 or 8 grs and try it again. My SBH 44mag doesn't like 9 grs of Unique either.