1894 Marlin .44 Mag Loads and bullet

[04hunter]

Hello all,
I am in the process of acquiring an 1894 Marlin in .44 Mag with Ballard rifling. What cast boolits and loads are you using for general plinking and fun? I am looking for loads and bullets that are reasonably accurate and will feed well. Thanks in advance.

[Nobade]

Once you get it, pour a chamber cast and slug the bore to see what you have. Everything is going to depend on the dimensions of your actual rifle.

Mine lives on either the NOE big lube 215gr. boolit loaded over a compressed load of FFFg for normal shooting or the RCBS 240 SIL paper patched to .433", seated to engrave the rifling, and loaded over all the IMR4227 I can get in the case if I want something really powerful. But my barrel measures .433" across the grooves so it won't shoot normal 44 boolits too well.

[bobthenailer]

With the ballard type rifleing .430dia will probley do you may not need bullets sized to .433 dia as is the case with the Micro groove barrels .
also the twist of 1 in 38 rate is for bullets from 200 to 250 grs and will not usually stablize bullets in the 300 gr range . you would need a 1 in 20 twist for best accuracy with them.
You will need a TC of a RNFP type bullet for good feeding ,Ive had excellent results with the Saeco# 420 200gr TC , loaded in 44 mag brass with 7.0gr of BE or Tightgroup powder im getting 980 fps from my revolvers and 1,130 fps from a rifle and with 13.0gr of HS6 1,200 fps from revolvers and 1,425 from a rifle

[x101airborne]

You will love the 44 mag rifles. They are more addicting to me than most anything else. Now I own 5 44 mag rifles. My first marlin had ballard rifling, not the micro grooved. BUT... The bore measured around .4335. Nothing really worked. Not till I got with RanchDog (now out of the group buy game). I got one of his molds that cast a 44 cal slug at 300 grains gas checked and rolls out at .434. For light loads I don't size them. For heavy game and gas checked over a max load of H-110, They work really well and my oldest son took his biggest (and first) hog with that combo. I now am either the proud owner or am on most of the group buy lists for any 44 mold that casts .434 or any larger.
Good luck and don't hesitate to ask me for help or samples.

[Indio]

I slugged a friends new 1894 .44MAG (ballard) a week ago after he got poor groups and leading with a cast load using .430 bullets... Turns out his has a .433 bore so I'm going to get him a mold that drops .434-.435 from Accurate molds. It always pays to slug your gun

[Keyston44]

I use the Ranch Dog 432-265 that I had 3 cavities cut plain base. I use 9.0 gr of Unique with the plain base bullets and sized to .433.

Key

[winelover]

I use the Ranch Dog 432-265 that I had 3 cavities cut plain base. I use 9.0 gr of Unique with the plain base bullets and sized to .433.

Key

With NOE's version of same boolet, I use 16.5 grains of 2400 and WLP primer or 16.0 grains with a CCI Magnum primer. YMMV

Winelover

[longbow]

My 1894 did not like SWC's at all. I started with the Lyman 429421 not really thinking about OAL and such. it fed poorly and didn't shoot any better. The accuracy issues were mostly due to the boolit casting at 0.429" and my groove diameter being at almost 0.432". Fatter boolits at 0.432" or better give good accuracy and no leading. Mine is 1:38" microgroove.

I wound up with a Mihec H&G #503 mould that casts at 0.433" so really wanted to be able to use it. Loaded single they shot very well accuracy wise but the SWC did not want to feed even when seated deep.

I worked on the cartridge stop to allow longer OAL and also on the carrier to line up the incoming round better. After much work it now feeds the H&G #503 which is also accurate.

TC and RNFP boolits always fed well so I recommend picking a TC or RNFP and you will likely have no problems as long as OAL is good. Mine feeds and shoots the Mihec 434640 and the Accurate #43-165B very well.

My go to powder for .44 has been IMR4227 with charge to suit boolit weight ~ up to 24 grs. for boolits to 245 gr. and that kicks some in the light gun.

I have been having a lot of fun with the Accurate #43-165B (165 gr. PB) over 10 grs. of 700X. It is a peppy round and shoots quite well with no recoil ~ like a .22 on steroids. A pound of powder goes a long ways too!

Longbow