Marlin 1894 44 Magnum Leading

[Mike95]

Cheapest option is to fit some gas checks..Hornady do them in .44. Their purpose is to prevent leading. The rifle calibre H and N bullets have a "highspeed coating" and I have never had any copper fouling with them up to 2000+ fps. Not sure about the pistol calibre bullets.

Mike95

[dromia]

The purpose of gas checks is not to prevent leading per se but to resist shearing as the bullet enters the rifling, this can in some circumstances also lead to fouling. Gas checks are only really necessary in high velocity rounds not low velocity pistol rounds like the 44 magnum.

Also gas checks will have no effect if the bullet fit/alloy is wrong, in the vast majority of cast bullet applications gas checks are unnecessary expense and complication.

[TomH]

Success. Tried tumble lubing my boolits in Lee Liquid Alox and seating them as far forward as possible. Just got back from the range after firing 100 rounds and there is minimal leading in the throat which was easily removed with a couple of passes with a bronze brush and a couple of patches.

Two changes at once is obviously not good from a point of identifying what fixed it, but I think both had an effect. The previous incremental seating of the bullet forward had significantly reduced the lead ring, and I think the Alox had eased the boolits passage into the throat. I had read of some Marlins in the 80/90's that had a really steep angle to the throat and I think mine may be one. Certainly visually and by feel the angle of the throat is very steep. Must get around to a chamber cast.

[dromia]

Glad that you have got it sorted.

It is the seating out of the bullet that will have solved the problem not the Xlox.

As always bullet fit is king and filling the freebore, if it can be done, is an excellent way of doing this.

You are fortunate that you were able to do this as underlevers are limited in how long the cartridges can be due to the size of the lifter.

The Xlox will have not done any harm and will have added size to the bullet depending on how thick you use it, this will also help in taking up freebore space and centring the bullet with the bore.

Although we call it lube, lubrication is the least of its functions when it comes to cast bullets, most black powder loads use lube free bullets for instance with any lube only being there to soften the fouling, they all shoot without leading, lead is a lubricant in itself, that is one of the reasons why the softer alloys are usually better.

Bullet lube as of itself just like gas checks, does not stop leading, good bullet fit does.

[bradaz11]

out of interest, how did the previous owner find it with .429 bullets? leading?

[TomH]

out of interest, how did the previous owner find it with .429 bullets? leading?

That's a strange one. He supplied me with some of the GM bullets and they didn't seem to lead the bore that much just some in the first 3". There was a ring of hardened lead in the throat though, which was only really visible under torchlight. Cases were hard to extract and I think the lead ring was causing a pressure spike. Accuracy was in the 3-4" region at 50 yards (for me) and he seemed to accept that it wasn't a very accurate type of gun. As I went to 0.430" I found accuracy improved, with a greater leap in accuracy at 0.432" which would group into about an inch at 50 yards. I had also relieved the inside of the front barrel/magazine band so that the magazine from it's alignment wasn't tensioning the barrel, so some accuracy improvement may have come from this.

The gun ran like a champ today and was really smooth in operation both feeding and extracting flawlessly and smoothly.

[TomH]

out of interest, how did the previous owner find it with .429 bullets? leading?

Part 2, further thought. This gun was bought with pistol compensation money. I do wonder if a lot of ex 44 magnun handgun owners transitioned to 44 magnum Marlins and took their handgun accuracy expectations over to the rifle which 0.429" boolits in a 0.431 SAAMI specification barrel would have reinforced.

[dromia]

A lot of the handgunners I knew weren't getting much accuracy from their pistols either but they did get a lot of pleasure from the big bang and the recoil.

[TomH]

Glad that you have got it sorted.

It is the seating out of the bullet that will have solved the problem not the Xlox.

As always bullet fit is king and filling the freebore, if it can be done, is an excellent way of doing this.

You are fortunate that you were able to do this as underlevers are limited in how long the cartridges can be due to the size of the lifter.

The Xlox will have not done any harm and will have added size to the bullet depending on how thick you use it, this will also help in taking up freebore space and centring the bullet with the bore.

Although we call it lube, lubrication is the least of its functions when it comes to cast bullets, most black powder loads use lube free bullets for instance with any lube only being there to soften the fouling, they all shoot without leading, lead is a lubricant in itself, that is one of the reasons why the softer alloys are usually better.

Bullet lube as of itself just like gas checks, does not stop leading, good bullet fit does.

Thanks Adam.

So, I have a work around at least to use up my existing stock of boolits. But todays loads weren't crimped, but they were of the mouse fart variety. Until I start casting; and finding a boolit to fit that long freebore may be problematic, here's the plan.

Firstly buy as cast boolits from Shellhouse which drop at 0.433". These will not be lubed, so will be tumble lubed. Utilise the grease groove as a crimp groove, which now lines up perfectly with the top of the cases. To prevent any boolit shaving, buy a Lee Factory Crimp die for the 44-40 and shorten the collet so it will crimp 44 magnums.

[dromia]

Be sure and use a Lyman "M" style expander to properly expand the case necks and help seat the bullet squarely in the case, do not use the Lee taper style expander.

NOE do excellent "M" die style expander plugs that just drop into the Lee expander body, I always get one the right size with every mould I get from them.