44-40 in a Marlin 1894s (circa 1990s)

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I replied to an old thread about this topic in another part of the forum, but got little response, so I thought I'd start a new thread here.

I have never loaded 44-40.
I think I have everything to do so...but I don't have possession of the Rifle, a Marlin 1894s bought new in the early 1990s, rarely used, I assume it's in like new condition inside and out.

posted 08-05-2014, 06:58 PM in that other thread

snip...

In a min. .44-40 SAAMI chamber the neck diameter is 0.445" where it joins the shoulder and 0.4435" at the mouth. Typical case mouth wall thickness of Starline brass is 0.007," so .445" minus twice neck thickness (0.014") = .431", minus another 0.0015 to allow for safe neck expansion and fouling = .4295" max. bullet IF you have a minimum chamber. The normal allowed tolerance for a sporting chamber is +0.002" on diameters, so IF your chamber neck casts as large as .447", which My Marlin 1894S does, you can load a .431" bullet in that Starline brass! Try a dummy round for fit first!!!!
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?249746-44-40-cast-bullet-size&p=2881653&viewfull=1#post2881653

Can I assume the chamber of the gun I will be using is similar to Outpost75's gun ?
It seems I've read Marlin 1894s chambers/bores in 44mag are oversized, but they are a consistent oversize. So can I assume the Marlin 44-40 are consistant?


I have cast some of the Lee 200gr RF and sized/lubed them .430
and plan to crimp them into the crimp groove.
http://leeprecision.com/images/P/90285.jpg
http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-429-200-rf.html


I need to load these for a trip, for use in the gun, at the destination. I'd like them to chamber and not create lead fouling. I have NEW vintage 'winchester' brass, never used/never sized. I also have some mix HS used brass of unknown history.


Any thoughts?

[bikerbeans]

JonB,

I bought a "new" marlin 1894 44-40 barrel from Numrich and installed it on a 336 frame. Cerro safe casts have the groove diameter at almost 0.430". Using new starline 44-40 brass I can load, chamber and fire a 0.429 jacketed or 0.430" cast bullet. I have tried to shoot commercial cast 44-40 bullets, 0.427", and was rewarded with buckshot groups at 50 yards.
Based on visually comparing sized brass with fired brass I would call the chamber generous, especially in the shoulder area. I call the barrel "new" because with numrich one never knows for sure what you are buying.

BB

[Mk42gunner]

Assuming is dangerous, but if I had to bet on it; I would put my money on Marlin using the same barrel specs for the .44-40 as they did for the .44 magnum.

I would load a few of your .430" boolits as dummy rounds to make sure they cycle once you get the rifle in your hands, then load and try a few for real.

I think they will work, but I too have never loaded any .44-40's.

Robert

[northmn]

I laoded a few 44-40's for a revolver but not for the rifles. Most of what is said about fragile cases is true. My recommendations would be to go to the Marlin Forum site as they have several 44-40 fans. One individual even did a bit of research on BP loads. There are a few CB shooters on this site that shopuld be able to help also.

DEP

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

snip...

My recommendations would be to go to the Marlin Forum site as they have several 44-40 fans.

DEP
great idea, I should have thought of that.


edited: I see they have a whole sub-forum: Team 44-40

[6pt-sika]

I had a pair of Marlin's in 44-40 one was an 1894CB with the 24" octagon barrel and checkered , the other was an 1894CCL which was pretty much the same thing except the octagon barrel was 20" and the wood wasn't checkered . I shot the same diameter cast bullets in these I fired in my 44 MAG's and 444's . And I got decent accuracy .

[Outpost75]

My 1894S .44-40 was made about the same time as yours. I also bought one of the Numrich barrels and had it installed on another gun. Both are .429-.430 and I use .430 bullets in them. The Hornady 200-grain XTP .430" JHP bullets shoot wonderfully with 24.5 grains of RL7 or 22-1/2 grains of 4198 and approximate the velocity of older "pre-SASS" factory loads from a rifle. The same charges also shoot well with Accurate 43-230G cast from 1:30 and sized .430.

[Harry O]

I have a Marlin 1894 in 44-40 that was made in the early 1990's. The barrel has microgroove rifling. I understand that they went to "Ballard" rifling after that batch.

I tried some factory CAS lead bullet loads and got BAD leading. The bullets were 0.427" and the barrel was 0.430". I tried shooting out the leading with jacketed factory loads, but it just spread the leading down the barrel. After several days of scrubbing to get the lead out, I did a bunch of measuring. Luckily, the chamber was large enough to take a 0.430" bullet to match the barrel. Of course, the case is straight sided when it comes out of the rifle. That means the case is worked a lot every time it is loaded and the life is not very long.

Accuracy is pretty good with 0.430" lead bullets or 0.426" jacketed bullets (I have a lot of them). Accuracy is terrible along with bad leading with a 0.427" lead bullet.

[Outpost75]

My Microgroove .44-40s shoot well with SOFT bullets which fit, at velocities which approximate the original blackpowder loads.

My favorite cast bullet is the Accurate 43-230G, which is a double-crimp-groove design which enables the bullet to be seated out in the rear crimp groove for use in the .44 Special or .44 Russian to increase powder capacity, or to exploit the longer cylinder length of Ruger .44 Magnums. The rear crimp groove is used to maintain SAAMI overall cartridge length to feed properly in the Winchester '93, 1873 or Marlin 1894 rifles, or in Colt Single-Actions or clones.

I use 1:30 alloy from Roto Metals and size bullets .430 for the .44-40s, and .432 in the .44 Magnum.

170235

This is a 10-shot group fired at 100 yards from my Marlin.