Marlin 44 shootin yesterday

[pull the trigger]

So My 14 year old cousin came up this weekend and man does he love to shoot! Can't blame him though. Anyhow We were shooting at some filled up bottles and I was shooting the 44 marlin, man I love that thing. If I could only have one rifle I think that would be it. I was burning up some jwerds, I would like to try some 300 grainers in it sometime. Not that I need it around here. Is anyone putting the powder coated stuff thru these? Sorry about the ramble.

[longbow]

Before you go to 300 gr., is the twist 1:38" microgroove or faster twist Ballard?

I have an old Marlin with 1:38" twist and I could not get it to shoot anything over 270 grs. accurately past about 50 yards. In fact 300 gr. "J" bullets were keyholing by 100 yards. Out to 50 yards they shot okay but by 100 yards had totally lost stability. 300 gr. cast boolits in a variety of styles didn't do much if any better.

If I keep weight under about 270/280 grs. it does well.

Also, if you are not aware, Marlins tend towards "fat" bores. Mine is 0.4315" groove diameter so standard .44 moulds are not big enough. I need at least 0.432" so order moulds at 0.433" to 0.434" and have one I lapped to 0.435". All provide good accuracy with little to no leading. Prior to getting "fat" moulds, leading was a way of life.

YMMV

Longbow

[pull the trigger]

I have a ranch dog 265 grain but have yet to try it. And it is an older presafety microgroove gun. Thank you very much for the advice.

[longbow]

That RanchDog 265 gr. should do well in your gun. I have one of his old mould but have not shot it much. Mostly I have been shooting the H&G #503 SWC and the Mihec 434640 (Lyman 429640 clone).

Another bit of advice is if you are leaning towards an SWC design you might want to buy some commercial cast boolits before buying a mould. My Marlin required quite a bit of "tweaking" to get it to feed an SWC. Only reason I bothered is that I have a Mihec H&G #503 mould and wanted to use it in the Marlin. I had to modify the cartridge stop and follower to get it to feed without jamming.

And another tidbit... I read on the Marlinowners forum that many Marlins have tight spots in the barrels under dovetails and roll stamping. I had chronic leading problems so slugged the bore very carefully and found that sure enough I had tight spots so hand lapped them out. A bit unnerving with microgroove rifling but it worked.

So after getting "fat" moulds, modifying the cartridge stop and follower and lapping the barrel the gun feeds and shoots well without leading.

Longbow

[izzyjoe]

I've had good luck with the Lee 310gr loaded up with W296, I size mine .432 and lube with Ben's red lube. I think all the 44's have the slow twist, it's a love/hate relationship.

[longbow]

RanchDog claimed his 300 gr. flatnose remained stable to 300 yards IIRC when shot form 1:38" twist. Another fellow told me to try WFN's as they worked fine in his Marlin to at least 100 yards if pushed hard.

In the end I decided I was happy enough with 270 gr. so didn't pursue it further. Hah! In fact I kinda went the other way lately. I had Tom at Accurate Molds make me a 165 gr. TC design which I have been having fun with and shooting more than anything else lately. Since I am mostly plinking and punching paper I decided 300 gr. boolits were a waste of lead and the extra powder to push them. Shooting the 165 gr. boolits is like shooting a .22 mag but it makes really big holes. Well, probably doesn't have the range of .22 mag... but it makes big holes!

But then I digress.

300 gr. boolits certainly have their place. I would rather be carrying a gun loaded up with 300 gr. boolits than 165 gr. boolits in bear country.

I have read several comments about that Lee 310 gr. and since Lee moulds are inexpensive I should just buy one to try it. If it works then I have a heavyweight. If not, no big investment in a mould. I think I will do that.

Longbow

[pull the trigger]

I have a 200 grain Lee to beagle and try as I would like to conserve lead also. I still need to shoot the ranch dog to and see how it does. I also want to try the powder coat stuff in it.

[smkummer]

I am cowboy actions shooting the Lee 200 FP tumble lube bullet in a vintage 1975 1894 Marlin 44 mag.. I don't size as it appears to fall out at about .4315. Very minor leading to none with 4.5 grains 700X (maybe 900 FPS ?) and pure plinking fun. I was shooting also with an unique load going out at 1200 FPS and very minor leading. This would be my normal load if it were not for cowboy action shooting of which the lower recoil 700X load gives me a faster time.