429244 in a micro-groove Marlin

[looseprojectile]

Did I screw up again?
Just traded for a like new 1894s carbine with a Lyman peep. This means it has a 1 in 38 twist and MG rifling.
I loaded some, fairly soft for me, 429244 nice looking
boolits from the mold that I had previously reamed the GC rebate out of.
Little more than ten grains of Unique.
Sized to .429". They weigh 239 grains w/lube.
Leaded the first six inches of the bore. Got about nine inch groups at forty yards. Not good.
Am I going to have to use a gentler powder or harder boolit or what? What works well in these rifles?
I have considered sending the rifle back to Marlin and having a 1 in 16" ballard rifled barrel put on as I am not in it too deep.
I hope I can salvage this one by adjusting the hardness of the boolit and powder
burning rate.
I have near 150 pounds of linotype metal stashed and it may come into play.

The bore has 12 lands and grooves and looks like ballard rifling, not at all like the micro- groove I am used to seeing.

[VTDW]

I shoot nothing but hardcast (23 Bnh 50/50 WW/Lino) in my Marlin .444s. Both are microgroove barrels. Conventional wisdom calls for 2 to 3 thousandths oversized for cast boolits in the older Marlins. Both my .444s have .429 barrels and I shoot .432 boolits weighing 280 gr with outstanding accuracy. And I mean outstanding. You have a sweet rifle there.

Dave

[jtaylor1960]

I would have to think you need a larger diameter like mentioned above.Maybe slug the barrel and go a little bigger with the bullet.The leading tells me either the bullet is too loose or the load is too hot for the bullet/ alloy combination.Check out Glenn Fryxell's articles on the 94 Marlin.There is a lot of good info in them.

[Scrounger]

Did I screw up again?
Just traded for a like new 1894s carbine with a Lyman peep. This means it has a 1 in 38 twist and MG rifling.
I loaded some, fairly soft for me, 429244 nice looking
boolits from the mold that I had previously reamed the GC rebate out of.
Little more than ten grains of Unique.
Sized to .429". They weigh 239 grains w/lube.
Leaded the first six inches of the bore. Got about nine inch groups at forty yards. Not good.
Am I going to have to use a gentler powder or harder boolit or what? What works well in these rifles?
I have considered sending the rifle back to Marlin and having a 1 in 16" ballard rifled barrel put on as I am not in it too deep.
I hope I can salvage this one by adjusting the hardness of the boolit and powder
burning rate.
I have near 150 pounds of linotype metal stashed and it may come into play.

The bore has 12 lands and grooves and looks like ballard rifling, not at all like the micro- groove I am used to seeing.


1. Use bullet with gas check.
2. Size .432".
3. Use slower powder to reduce pressure.

[mtgrs737]

Go up on the diameter to .432" and you will most likely stop the leading dead in it's tracks. The next step if the larger boolit still has some leading is to try some gas checked boolits and then harden the alloy if need be. Too hard an alloy can be bad too. Just change one variable at a time so that you find out what the answer is to your leading problem. Good luck!!

[looseprojectile]

Alright, now we are getting somewhere.

These boolits are coming out of the mold at .4315. I'll just goop some up with some Lee liquid alox.
Have to cast some more and ream/polish out the sizing die if I want use the luber sizer. This is probably the only .44mag I will ever own and I will do whatever it takes.
Back in the day I was able to shoot the three screw super blackhawks with amazing accuracy. This Marlin is no better than throwing rocks as it is.

I will use all of your suggestions and will post the results in a week or two.

Thanks

[Thumbcocker]

429244 cast of air cooled wheel weights with gas check applied. Lubed with 50/50 bees wax lithium grease 18.0 2400. Sized .431. Weigh about 270 grns with check and lube applied. Shoot well under 2" at 100 off the bags. 4 out of 6 through one big hole. 429421's do better in .44 special brass with fast powder..

[dubber123]

Unless you have been lubing with very hard lube, you needn't necessarily go the Alox route. Alot of regular stick bullet lube can be applied with your fingers without too much difficulty. Honing out your sizing die is no big deal either.

[looseprojectile]

Thumbcocker;
Gonna have to check the alloy as my 429244 mold with the gas check rebate machined out drops a 239 grain boolit. I may be running pure tin:???:
Thanks for the heads up. Real purdy boolits though!

I will start out with a new batch of wheel weights.