The never ending quest for a 44mag rifle load!

[Skip Sackett]

Are you tired of hearing about these ventures into 44mag rifle loads yet?

I did shoot them out of my M629 Classic with a 5" barrel too!



At any rate, I have run the gamut trying to find a lead load that works well in my Marlin 1894CS. My cast bullets seem to have a hard time with the shallow type of Ballard rifling these rifles have in them. I have used slow powder with hard bullets trying to get top velocities from those combinations. What I got was leading beyond belief and inaccuracy galore! I did get some pretty astounding velocity though! Well over 1800fps from a 250gr H&G #503 (Elmer Keith bullet)with my homemade lube.

Today I decided to take some of the commercially cast 200gr RNFP bullets and run them around 1600fps and see what happened.

The powder I used was AA #7 and just a tad below maximum from the Lee #1 manual for this weight of bullet. I had a pleasant surprise! I got coffee can accuracy @ 100 yards and just a little more velocity than what I planned. (I did hit the coffee can once with my M629 @ 100 yards too. Must have been luck with open sights!)

I am going to have to work on this load just a bit and see if it can be improved. At any rate, here are the results:
From the M629:
Low 1329fps
High 1431fps
Avg 1400fps
ES 59fps
SD 23fps
Not great but acceptable spreads.

From the Marlin 1894CS:
Low 1714fps
High 1754fps
Avg 1725fps
ES 40fps
SD 16fps

The difference in velocity that I was aiming for is due to using Wolf Magnum primers, I believe.

The best thing about it is that I got out to shoot today!

The only thing that would have made it better is if I would have been able to ride a horse too!

p.s. I think slowing them down a bit helped with the leading issues as well.

 

[Frank237]

Several years back I loaded for a pair of 16" Win M-94 Trappers. One in .45 colt, the other in .44 magnum. NOT Marlins I know but I have a little experience with loading for Carbines.

#1....WHAT are you trying to accomplish? A moderate to heavy weight big game load? A plinking load?

The .44 mag had a somewhat oversized bbl and I used some AS CAST Keith slugs at .432" which gave me great accuracy and zero leading. Previously with .430" slugs accuracy was poor and leading pretty common.

I did notice one of those "rule of thumb" deals....90% of any pistol load fired in the Carbines gave me exactly +300 fps over what it did in my 5" or 6" pistols. Nice for planniing purposes.

FN in MT

 

[S/W - Lifer]

I seem to recall a well written article on this issue, though it was many years ago. The solution was to cast bullets very hard, although I do not recall the suggested alloy. You might try casting some bullets using the Lyman #2 mix. Another option is to water quench the bullets as they come out of the mold. This is a good technique to harden bullets inexpensively. I used it with good success.

Soft cast bullets are just not going to work in your rifles, IIRC. This is all from memory across a lot of years. Hope it is accurate and helpful.

 

[Dale53]

SmithCrazy;
I suggest you slug the barrel on your Marlin. I suspect it is another oversize Marlin. I am a Marlin fan, but the bullets will need to be sized to fit the chamber throat as well as the barrel. Marlins CAN shoot really well but they DO require bullets that fit...

In addition, you might try some "premium lube" (LBT Blue or White Label Carnauba Red).

My experience with rifles show that maximum accuracy with plain base bullets ends about 1500 fps. I also suggest a gas checked bullet for max accuracy at the full velocities possible in a rifle.

Just a thought or two...

Dale53

 

[Engineer1911]

Back in the mid 1980's I had a Marlin 1894, a Ruger SBH 44 Mag, traded for Redhawk 44 Mag and was astounded at the Redhawk's accuracy. My Redhawk loads, and about 17 other powder and bullet combinations produced minute of buffalo accuracy in the Marlin. I got so mad one day I fired 11 shots at my 5 gallon range bucket and missed every time, scored 6/6 with the Redhawk.

Finally solved the Marlin accuracy problem. Traded the Marlin + $50 in early October for a Remington XP-100 in 223 Rem. The XP put 5 shoots in a dime at 100 yards with Federal mil spec ammo. 20 years later the XP shoots great and I don't miss the Marlin.

The Marlin wouldn't shoot any lead bullets in a group smaller than a refrigerator box and jacketed bullets produced real tight 12 inch groups at 100 yards.

 

[Skip Sackett]

The Marlins that I have had have been exceptionally accurate with jacketed bullets. Exceptionally that is for what they are. They aren't a target rifle and I don't expect them to be. I have an AR that will shoot MOA groups all day long, that's not what I am looking for from this lever gun.

With jacketed bullets @ 100 yards it is "clay pigeon" accurate, that is, with a rest, I can hit a clay pigeon every time. For me, that is pretty good with this girl.

I just want my home cast bullets to be that accurate too.

I am going to have to reduce the charge to get into the 1500fps area, I guess, like Dale said and give that a try.