tips for accuracy? marlin 44mag

[bmortell]

i have a newer 1894 44 mag a few years old with ballard rifling. i cant seem to break 4 moa. ive tried 3 different mid weights 240-260gr and 300gr wfn, tried them from expanding soft to heat treated ww hard, been powdercoating them and trying sizes from .431 to .433. people said size to the throat but they dont have throats. the bore slugs .431 at the front and .432 in the beginning. and im testing accuracy with a leupold vx3 4.5-14 mounted with wheeler fat wrench, so it should be a gun problem and not an aiming problem. anyone been here before?

[Wally]

I had one years ago and never could get it to shoot accurately with any cast bullet that I tried. I tried oversized bullets and pan lubed them; loading them unsized...that didn't work either. Have an old .444 Marlin; it does well with a non HP 429640 sized to .431".

[Static line]

Been there done that with a Ruger 77/44 and a Henry lever BBS in 44 magnum. I tried a lot of combinations for accuracy without shooting " J" bullets, of course. The best I could count on for a long time were 3 and 4 inch groups and sometimes more. It took free floating the barrel and trigger work to get it to shoot well and Lil Gun, (though I don't like the powder), with my 275 gr. WFNGC bullets got me the best accuracy with 1-1/2" to 3 inch groups at 100 yards. This accuracy is done with both the Ruger and the Henry. To me, the 44 mag isn't as inherently accurate as with bottle necks. Both rifle shoot my heavier bullets better then my 240 gr. bullets, go figure. I now have a Marlin in 45 Colt that I would love to get 3 inch groups with at 100 yards if I could but like the 44 mag,it will take more work getting there. I think with these pistol cartridges, one has to work at it to get satisfactory hunting accuracy, at least with cast bullets, of which there is a lot of possibilities and options for alloys, powder and lubes which can make or break ya.

[Bazoo]

Jim Miner says he gets better accuracy with Felix lube vs all the others he has tried. In a 44 magnum handgun, he told me (paraphrase) just a change in lube cut his groups in half. Now, I've not tried Felix lube yet but I noted his results.

You might try firelapping.

Another thought, it could be your hold if you're benching the gun like a bolt action. With a lever action you get better results holding the forearm when testing from a bench.

[Static line]

This from the Bazoo is good advice. I found this out the hard way after shooting bolt actions from the bench for many years but found out the hard way , and just lately too, that if I hold even my Marlin 45 Colt like my old 338 magnum was going to knock my hat off when I pulled the trigger, I cut my groups literally in half. I don't know what it is but you have to hold that forearm and pull that baby back into your shoulder tight like you are hugging your old high school sweetheart and you don't want to let her go.

[sghart3578]

If you are shooting 4" groups routinely at 100 yards I would say that is pretty good.

If you read any of Glen Fryxell's articles on accuracy testing Marlin leverguns he considers 2" at 50 yards to be very good. And so do I.

I have sent thousands of rounds down range in Marlin 357's, 44 mags and 45 Colts. 2" at 50 yards is good. I am not saying that you can't do better but for me, with peep sights and/or low power scopes, I am happy to put them into a 6" Shoot-n-See with regularity.


Steve in N CA

PS I should qualify my comments in that I don't use a lead sled, I shoot off of a rolled up jacket or a similar set up to mimic hunting conditions. I see some testing results of the new Marlins that are shooting 1 1/2" groups and frankly I am skeptical. And I am a die hard Marlin fan.

[osteodoc08]

What powders have you tried? With cast in my 41 and 44 Marlin, I’ve found 4227 and #9 to give me the best accuracy. For whatever reason, I never could get 296/H110 and Lil Gun to shoot well with cast.

As Steve noted above, I’m happy with a true 2” group at 50 yards for 5 shots.

[Ozark mike]

Wonder if ya just have too much primer. It has been documented that sometimes a standard primer can help accuracy

[bmortell]

i use imr4227 and h110. both same group size just h110 hits high right and often has some vertical stringing while 4227 groups are round. tried 2400 and unique a bit but they didn't seem as good for my application.

and I've used standard and magnum primers but i don't think I've directly compared them against each other so that's something i could test.

[Shawlerbrook]

Check out MacPherson’s book on accurizing leveraction rifles. But like said above, 3-4” groups at 100 yards is about what you would expect from a levergun.

[indian joe]

Check out MacPherson’s book on accurizing leveraction rifles. But like said above, 3-4” groups at 100 yards is about what you would expect from a levergun.

Shooting offhand guns from a rest can get interesting - we had our BP club shoot sunday - 100yard benchrest muzzleloader (just ordinary percussion guns - nobody has special target stuff) I started in and had a couple of decent shots - scope showed a couple of extras - the bloke next door is a decent shot and had just shot a very nice offhand target at 50 yards, hes fired three shots at 100 and nothing hit the paper - I quizzed him and he was pretty frustrated - suggested to him "maybe that thing is bouncing off the rest - try a couple offhand?" -- he did that and back on paper - its a long barrel full wood 58 and resting that gun midway down the forend had thrown it most of two feet sideways - likely something out of whack in the barrel channel if you pulled it down ...............................................

[Martin Luber]

i use imr4227 and h110. Snip...t.

What charges please for a lead 240 boolet? Castpics is down and I would like to test some this week.
Thanks

[bmortell]

guess my expectations were too high and some people just have a lucky gun that can do better. i can easily hit a 6inch gong at 100yds every time with several loads so practically its fine for my deer range in the woods. just mentally seems stange to accept 4-5 inches from a modern scoped rifle on sandbags

[bmortell]

What charges please for a lead 240 boolet? Castpics is down and I would like to test some this week.
Thanks

i mostly use 23.5 gr imr 4227, or 22.5 gr h110 for my mid weights.

[Bazoo]

It's not a modern scoped rifle, it's a modern made scoped old type rifle. 4" at 100 was touted by winchester for the 73.

You might check to see first round from a cold bore accuracy. It may be, that itll group tighter that way and only opens up with subsiquently shots.

Another thing I thought of is (and don't take this the wrong way) maybe your damaging the bullets during sizing. I found that I get better results with a fitted nose punch rather than the generic flat punch. With careful inspection I noticed bullets sized a titch more on one side with 44 bullets. Now for handguns at close range it makes little difference.

With a rifle and at 100 yards you are also working with barrel harmonics. It may be youll find a sweet spot.

You might try a very fast rifle powder like AA 1680. I believe I've seen data for 44 mag with it somewhere.

[Norske]

My 1894 has Ballard rifling, but it's not very deep. It shoots jacketed bullets better than lead, likely because of the shallow rifling. the preferred powder/charge is 20 grains of 2400 under a 240 grain bullet. My 100-yard accuracy is like yours. It helps to rest the receiver on the sand bag instead of any part of the fore end. Or use a rolled-up sleeping bag for a rest.
Forget the 300gr bullets, the twist rate is too slow,similar to the old 44-40. If you really want a "hunting" 44 mag rifle, Chiappa may be your only choice because it has a twist rate similar to my SBH revolvers.

[dogmower]

anyone been here before?
yup
that's why I sold the marlin and bought a rossi 92.

[Static line]

guess my expectations were too high and some people just have a lucky gun that can do better. i can easily hit a 6inch gong at 100yds every time with several loads so practically its fine for my deer range in the woods. just mentally seems stange to accept 4-5 inches from a modern scoped rifle on sandbags

I wouldn't give up on it . You just haven't found the right combination yet. The only Marlin lever I can speak for is my 2017 Remlin in 45 Colt. I have some loads that are quite satisfactory and even at nice 1-1/2" to 2 inch groups at 75 yards with my 255 gr. cast bullets. There is that gremlin getting in the way between 75 and 100 yards that slings my bullets to open the groups to 3 and sometimes 4 inches.It's relatively new so I am still experimenting and have a few more tricks up my sleeve. My Henry 44 mag,seems to shoot fairly well and with some loads,can get between 1-1/2 to 3 inch groups at 100 but it took a little heavier bullet to do it.I would get flyers with my 240's but the 275 just tightened things up a bit. Throw in the fact that different holds on the rifle did different things and now you have the human factor introduced . These levers sure aren't as forgiving as a good bolt action rifle but for a nice light weight pistol cartridge rifle for short range work in a straight walled only state for deer hunting,they are sweet.

[winelover]

Try a lighter bullet. Somewhere between 200 and 220 grains. I'm using a 210 grain by Accurate with a GC. I size them large (.433) with my Star using Carnuba Red. I have the best results with 2400. BTW, I neck size my brass using RCBS Cowboy dies.

267419

Winelover