New to Cast and 44Mag. Recommendations?

[drew23]

My father-in-law has a Winchester 94AE in 44 Mag that I would like to start loading for. I'm new to loading cast bullets and the 44 Mag. It has the Microgroove rifled barrel if that matters.

I have a set of RCBS Carbide Dies and will probably go with Starline or once fired brass for now. Looking for something to plink with but, possibly deer hunt later on.

I've read around on bullets but, not sure where to start. Saw the BTB 250 WFNGC is a popular choice. Any others? Options I can buy in small qtys to try possibly. Any recommendations of a size up start with?

Justin

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[NuJudge]

My father left me a 94 in .44 magnum. I have not shot it a lot, but I have learned that it does not feed Keith-type large nosed cast bullets. They do not feed out of the tube magazine into the barrel. It likes bullets in its cartridges which are small nosed like those on most jacketed bullets.

My experience with cast bullets in Microgroove type barrels is that these barrels like their cast bullets to have gas checks, be cast a little on the large size, and be cast hard. You will find a lot of threads here on cast bullets in Microgroove barrels.

[drew23]

My father left me a 94 in .44 magnum. I have not shot it a lot, but I have learned that it does not feed Keith-type large nosed cast bullets. They do not feed out of the tube magazine into the barrel. It likes bullets in its cartridges which are small nosed like those on most jacketed bullets.

My experience with cast bullets in Microgroove type barrels is that these barrels like their cast bullets to have gas checks, be cast a little on the large size, and be cast hard. You will find a lot of threads here on cast bullets in Microgroove barrels.

Thank you. Seems I need to do more digging.

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[DougGuy]

When you get to loading, make a dummy with a .432" boolit but don't crimp it, single load it and see if it fits in the throat. If that one fits like a little bit too easy, move up to a .433" the important part is size to fit the throat.

As mentioned earlier already, some of the wide meplat boolits won't feed BUT they would work great as dummies seeing what will fit in the throat. Poor man's pin gage if you will.

You just might find the answer to the throat question already discussed in the leverguns forum.

[gwpercle]

For the 44 Magnum Lever gun you probably want to start with a Round - Flat design
(RF) ... the Round part helps with feeding and the Flat part is nice for boolit to primer safety when ammo is loaded in a tubular magazine .
Slug your barrel and be sure to buy a mould with a large enough diameter ... I know the Microgroove barrels are different than conventional .
NOE Bullet Moulds sells some larger than standard designs .
I do know that an undersized boolit isn't worth a hill-o-beans .
Gary

[kungfustyle]

Get this https://www.midwayusa.com/product/101683339?pid=781382
https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...34-298-fn-av2/ or https://noebulletmolds.com/site/prod...432-267-rf-z4/
I got the 298grn mold for my Rossi 44 if I had to do it over I would have gone with the RD 267.
The 44 mag rifle has different Sami specs, why I don't know, but they do. The sami spec is .432 on the grove diameter so you'll need to get a .433 size die for or polish out a Lee push through die. NOE sells sizer inserts that will work. Total you are in about $250 to $300. or you can go to https://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchan...Code=ZBJ-44MAG buy 1000 bullets for $181 shipped to your door and you are up and reloading.

[Bazoo]

I'd start with one of these for flat based.

https://rimrockbullets.com/xcart/cb-...p-per-500.html

https://oregontrailbullets.com/xcart...&product_id=53

I'd go with this for gas checked.

https://www.mattsbullets.com/255-Gra...430_p_184.html

[mehavey]

Consider the Tried & True Classic:

[Thumbcocker]

This month's Handloader magazine has 200 loads tested in .44 magnum rifles. Mostly jacketed but some cast.

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[drew23]

This month's Handloader magazine has 200 loads tested in .44 magnum rifles. Mostly jacketed but some cast.

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Dang, I need to check that out.

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[THE_ANTIDOTE]

These all work fine for me in my Citadel Levtac and my Henry X. RCBS 44 250 K, LYMAN 429421...I personally prefer the MP 44-250 Wide Flat Nose. I can choose flat nose, shallow hollow point or go deep.

[drew23]

These all work fine for me in my Citadel Levtac and my Henry X. RCBS 44 250 K, LYMAN 429421...I personally prefer the MP 44-250 Wide Flat Nose. I can choose flat nose, shallow hollow point or go deep.

That's a good looking assortment you have there.

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[Pereira]

I did not know that Winchester ever used the mirco-groove rifling I thought that was strictly a Marlin thing.
Here's what I shoot in the ole Henry of mine.
Lee 90343, 240 gr Smasher of Missouri bullet, Lee's 310 and the Lyman 429650.

[725]

kungfustyle beat me to it. One of the most puzzling things about the .44 mag is that the pistol barrel spec. has a slightly smaller diameter than the rifle barrel spec. Gave me fits for a long time before I learned the difference. Bottom line: not only do you have to find a boolit that feeds through action, but also a boolit that fits the barrel. Too small and you'll never get good accuracy. I have had good luck with the Lee 310 mold, but that's just me. I think the advice above for a round nose/flat point boolit is good advice.

[THE_ANTIDOTE]

Here are a couple more molds manufactured by MP molds that I use that have worked great too although we don't rapid fire, we are deliberate and have not had any issues shooting these bullets other than user error.

[PapaG]

Mine sure has way more than the normal four, five or six grooves. From the sixties, IIRC. Was my dads. Shoots j-stuff like a bolt gun, lead, not good.

[drew23]

Mine sure has way more than the normal four, five or six grooves. From the sixties, IIRC. Was my dads. Shoots j-stuff like a bolt gun, lead, not good.

Do you reload jacketed or just store bought?

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[THE_ANTIDOTE]

In my Marlin 94 with the microgroove I run bullets powder coated and sized to .433-.434.

[gunseller]

In my Rossi 44 levergun I shoot the same load and bullet I shoot in my revolvers. A 240 grain SWC over 2400 powder. Bullet is hard cast plain base sized .429. it shoots very well in all my 44s. As for micro grove I only have a 45-70. A hard 400 grain flat nose over a very heave charge of IMR 3031 going around 2000 fps. The bullet is sized .458. I have shot deer at over 200 yards with this load. Yes slug your barrel no matter what type of rifling you have. If bullet is too small it will never shoot well.

[Larry Gibson]

I didn't know any Winchester M94s were made with "microgroove barrels"? All I've ever seen, including the M94 44 magnum have standard lands and grooves.

If the barrel has the older 38" twist then I'd recommend a GC'd cast bullet in the 215 - 250 gr weight for best accuracy with top end magnum loads. If keeping the velocity under 1400 fps out of the rifle then the Lyman 429360, the Lee TL 430-240-SWC or the Lee 429-200-RF or any similar bullet will work well. I never had any of those give feed issues in the M94 I had. I also found those bullets to perform extremely well with the fast powders such as Bullseye, 700X 231, Titegroup, etc. when the velocity was in the 100 - 1200 fps range. Very comfortable shooting too.