Lighter loads for Marlin 44 magnum

[6thtexas]

I have been playing with my old Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum. For years I shot a 429215 sized .431" and 18.0 gr. 2400. With the peep sight, it would keep 5 shots in a silver dollar sized group at 50 yds., but would not group at all at 100 yds. The 429215 mold I have drops bullets at .431. I recently bought a NOE 432-265 Ranch Dog mold and these I can size at .433. I finally got a load that will stabilize at 100yds. (BTW, I found that using the larger RCBS Cowboy expander helped with these larger bullets.)

Unfortunately, the only way I can get these larger NOE bullets to shoot well at 100 yds. is to push them walls to the ball with H110. What I would like is a lighter load, something like a slightly hopped up 44/40 load or ballistics similar to a full charge .44 magnum fired from a revolver that will be accurate at 100 yds. My old 429215 and RCBS 245-KT bullets just don't drop as large a diameter as I could wish with this rifle.

Any suggestions? I am not looking for a load that will go MOA, but 2-3" would make me happy. A plain base bullet would be good, too.

[Outpost75]

I use 7.2 grains of Bullseye, as metered by the Rotor #13 from my RCBS Little Dandy powder measure, with 200-240-grain lead bullets in my Marlin 1894S .44-40 and .44 Magnum rifles, and my Ruger revolvers. It is a pleasant and accurate load approximating .44-40 or .45 Colt energy. This group was fired at 50 yards and while 2" at 100 with these rifles is a bit optimistic, 3" ten-shot groups are certainly doable with peep sight or hunting scope. I prefer Accurate 43-200QL and 43-230G

166148

[TCFAN]

In my Marlin 44 mag. Cow Boy I use the Accurate #43-230C which is a gas check boolit that drops from my mold at .434 and I size and gas check to .433. I use 10 grs. of Unique in a 44 mag. case. I am going to give the Bullseye load mentioned by Outpost a try and see how it shoots in my rifle.
I like gas check boolits so I make my own so that there is no extra expense in using gas checks.......Terry

[6thtexas]

Thanks for the help! I was thinking about an Accurate 43-230B. Outpost75, you have no issues with that bevel base on the 43-230G?

[ironhead7544]

I would try a max load of Trail Boss.

Also would try working up a load with Unique. I have seen very good groups with just a little increase/decrease in powder charge. Use the start load and go up in 1/2 gr steps to max. Find the best load and then go up/down a little to tune, unless of course it is the max.

[Shuz]

You may want to try 7g of Trail Boss and a 230 to 250g boolit. That's what I use in my Winchester 1894's in .44 mag and my Rossi 92 in .44 mag. The boolits I use are a custom Lee 225gRNFP that looks like a scaled down version of Lyman's 429667, or the MP-432-640L which is a scaled down version of Lyman's 429640. This load chrono's about 1050 fps or more, depending on bbl length and I've found it to be quite accurate. I shot a little buck with this load this past fall at a distance of about 45 yards.

[gilgsn]

You might with to try a softer alloy...

Gil

[W.R.Buchanan]

The problem you run into trying to shoot light loads in these rifles is the 1:38 twist. The only boolits you will get to have any accuracy at all will be very short fat ones and those won't be that good.

The Gun will perform well with 240-260 gr boolits like 426244GC but it is usually too long for the action. A quick session of moving the step on the lifter back .060 will allow those longer cartridges for feed perfectly. Also Chamfering the chamber mouth so it doesn't cut into the sharp edges of SWC boolits work wonders for all lead boolit cartridges.

You can also load those longer boolits in .44 Special Cases and they will feed well without modifying the Lifter.

There are many RN and FN style boolits that will also work well in these guns but you still will need to run them up to at least 1400 fps to obtain any accuracy from a rifle like this.

Keep in mind that Revolvers that shoot .44's have 1:20 twist barrels and will stabilize boolits at slower speeds. Decent accuracy can be achieved in revolvers from about 800 fps up, which is about the same boolit RPM's as 1600 fps in a 1:38 twist barrel.

there's a good article at Beartooth Bullets about 250 gr bullets and the .44 Magnum. Seems it was designed around that weight bullet.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/open_sight/index.htm

Randy

[shoot-n-lead]

I shot a lot of 250gr bullets in mine for years...but, recently, I have gone to a 180gr wadcutter over 9grs of Unique...shoots lights out, conserves lead and is wicked on GA deer. So, in reality, it is all I need and actually it is the only thing that I load now.

[44man]

My .44 marlin went down the road. I see the 1894 in .45 Colt is also 1 in 38". Then they get good with a 45-70 with 1 in 20, still slow but decent. Why is the .357 1 in 16" when they blow larger calibers into the dump full of rotten fish?
Look see, guys give loads for other makes of guns with better twist rates. Seems the Winnie has a 1 in 26" and the Rossi is not the same as Marlin so why pull those guns in to compare the worst twist ever of the Marlin? I assure you loads for other guns will NOT shoot in the Marlin.

[Outpost75]

Thanks for the help! I was thinking about an Accurate 43-230B. Outpost75, you have no issues with that bevel base on the 43-230G?

None whatever. I use LSStuff 45-45-10 for lube. Bullet is coated all over anyway.

For blackpowder with 43-230EB I use 50-50 Goya Manteca and beeswax, pan lubed, and have no issues with that either.

166789

[ironhead7544]

Any levergun can be fussy about ammo. You will have to work with it some.

The 1 in 38" twist is a holdover from the original 44 WCF. All my Marlin 44 Magnums did well with bullets up to 265 grains.