1895 Marlin & The LBT 400M

[GSaltzman]

I had Veral make this mould for me to use in my Marlin 1895ss. I'm having accuracy troubles with it. I have a supply of boolits that were cast for me some time back from a Lyman 457483 mould that was hollow pointed. It will shoot the heck out of this boolit. I'm going to have to slug my bbl because I do not remember the measurement. The old Lyman boolit measures in at .4585 to some going .4590. My LBT are sized at .4580. Hardness for the Lyman is 10 BHN and the LBT is 11 BHN. Both boolits are gas checked. IMR 3031 usually gives me the best accuracy with the Lyman. Both boolits are chrono'd at an average of 1830 fps. Lyman Orange Magic is used for the LBT and the Lyman was a home brewed lube. Other than maybe trying a slightly larger diameter any thoughts or suggestions? Thanks.

[GSaltzman]

Forgot to mention it is a Micro Groove Bbl.

[Topper]

I did web some research on Micro Grove barrels and there were several post on not pushing cast above 1700fps.
I tested several powders and in my 1895, 52gr of H4895 worked well with 360gr bullet cast from a Ranch Dog mold.
I tried bumping the velocity, but the accuracy dropped so I settled for the most accurate load.
Don't know if this will be helpful for your situation or not since other cast pills you've used performed well.

[Gunslinger]

My advise is to visit his forum at Graybeard outdoors:

http://www.go2gbo.com/forums/index.php?board=114.0

Veral will have a solution to all your problems....

[crabo]

What kind of sights do you have on your gun? Is recoil beating you up? You might want to put a new reoil pad on and also add a slip on recoil pad for bench shooting.

[GSaltzman]

This gun is scoped and wears a Pachmayer Decelerator pad plus I was using a lead sled so recoil is not bad at all. After shooting a five shot group with the 400M at an average velocity of 1810 fps, I shot a group with the Lyman 385 H.P. which averaged 1836 fps. This rifle with the Lyman boolit on several occasions has put two shots close to the same hole while the third will be about an inch off. If I could get decent groups with the 400M I would be happy but will not settle for groups in the 4" range.

[BABore]

Based on all of the Marlin's I've slugged, and knowing the MicroGroove rifling likes, IMO your boolit is about 0.002 to 0.003" too small. Most shoot 0.460 diameter or bigger boolits very well. Really surprised Veral would sell you a mold that size knowing what the gun was. Marlin's are also notorious for having bbl constrictions which will give you a false reading of a full pass bore slug. Push one all the way through and measure. Then, push one in flush with the muzzle, then back out the way it came. Compare the two slug diameters and this will tell you if you have any constrictions. If the second (muzzle only) slug is more than 0.0005" bigger than the full pass one, then you will have to remedy the problem before real cast accuracy can be expected.

[softpoint]

Often finding a load for a cast boolit is not as easy as a jacketed. If your rifle will honestly AVERAGE 2" at 100 with a cast boolit, there is nothing wrong there, for a lever 45/70. Try backing off your powder charge a bit first and see if that helps. Sizing at .460 may help. Hardening your alloy might, too.