Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting Getting the 44 mag on paper at 100

Howdy i have been trying to get a rifle to be constant at 100 yards but so far no matter what i have done it still sprays all over the place.

Bullets have been cast by me out of wheel weights with some 95/5 for fillout.

The weight has been from 200 to 260 grains,both with hollow points and solid,plain base bullets.

They will tear up a target at 25 to 50 yards but just flat suck at 100.

I use 2500+lube and have sized .429 and .430.

I also have tried all of the powders that most manuals say are the best to use.
So far it does not make any difference if shooting slow or fast.
With jacketed bullets it shoots lights out at that range.

Any ideas?

What kind of rifle? Have you slugged your bore? Not uncommon for Marlin 1894s to require bullets well over .430 to shoot well.

It showed that .429 should work when pounding pure lead in the chamber lead area.
It is a Marlin 1894.
Might look into a larger sizer and maybe a mold with a gas check.

It just been a problem child,my 41 mag and my 45-70 were easy compared to this thing.

1894’s in 44 and 45 have been reported to have tight spots where the dovetail is due to the thin barrel wall. I’d do like you plan and try a GC bullet. Maybe try some of your PB bullets unsized depending on how big the mood drops them.

I use the lee tl 240gr mold 2/3 lead 1/3 wheel wt tumble lube and don't size them

I measured both heavy and the lighter bullets and made some dummies.

They won't chamber in the rifle.
The lighter weight is .4325 and the heavier weight is .4332.

Measured a sample of the 200 grain jacketed i have on have and they measure .4295.

And so it goes.

How does it shoot jacketed bullets?

It shoots them about 2 inches.

All of the cast bullets so far shot shotgun patterns.

No shots are repeatable with cast.So far.

What charge are you using?

Might be your alloy is a tad hard for starters. Might be you will do better with a gas check bullet.

Working on this now Boss.

Seat them until they chamber with a wee bit of snug, throw on a MILD roll crimp, enough to prevent set-back in the tube, but don't deform.

This assuming they aren't being shaved during seating.


Use a 94 with 265 Keiths and LBT 300 WLN's; the WLN's are checked, but not necessary. I size, nose first, .431.

Both loads smack the hell out of the 8 inch gong at 300....

OK, you do that, and while you're at it consider that I have experience only with a one Marlin, an ancient 94 chambered in .25-20. So that counts for nothing I reckon.

I do have some history of shooting lead thru a 77/44 and here's how it looks. All of the targets below where shot with a Millett SP-1 red dot sight.

300 grains of pure lead, 18.0 grains of Lil Gun with a taper crimp and the loads are 9 years old.





320 grains of alloy mix that is roughly 75% pure pb, 25% clip on wheel weights and enough tin to go 1:30 for the total. It has a BHN of about 9 which lets it obturate properly for the pressure levels I'm working at for subsonic loads. Alox lube and a taper crimp.





The gun shoots pretty well with jacketed bullets, about 1 MOA at 100 yards, but it does better with lead.

The .30-30 Model 94 likes a gas checked bullet(180 gr) and does well in the mid 2200 fps range, BHN in the 13-14 range.



Your post gives no clues about what your fiddling with and makes it difficult to give a meaningful response. Your reports on the jacketed bullet ammo sound good, but you might need to do a little fine tuning on the lead. I have NEVER found a gun that shoots well with straight wheel weights, either because I'm fartin' around with low velocity or much higher than WW will function with. Full house loads with wheel weights in a .44 mag is a non-starter in my book.

Take a look at the website linked here: http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletNotes.htm

Scroll down a bit to where it says "BHN - minimum chamber pressure for lead alloys" There's info there and additional info directly above re: Max pressures. For what it may be worth, CoWW have arsenic in the mix and experience tells me it hardens higher than the 12 BHN suggested in the CB Notes linked above. If cold quenched it will harden even more.

Have some sewer pipe lead joints and some flashing ,pipe and other pure lead.

Have not given up but this is a first time not getting anything to do right.

You have enough experience for me so no problem.

never had a reason to quench cast yet so have not tried it on anything.

About the fiddling:having tried load found in a 1973 Lyman as well as number 3 and 4 books as well as load books from Alliant and IMR and Hodgon.

Loading from start load to the max and the 2 sizes but not doing more than one thing at a time.

Your results are not surprising since you're trying to load nearly pure lead in 44 mag. Unless you're working with very mild soft loads, you won't have much success.

I am with dd I started casting straight ww for my 44 thinking harder was better was not. I think 25/ww to 75/pure lead is what I will try when I need some bullets. I need to take time to try cast in my 77/44 . my 94 in 44 shoots my cast loads better than jacketed . I use 23gr h110

Good news,seems that while looking over the whole setup (ie dies and such)it seems that the crimp was not as good as believed.

With a 250 grain gas checked hollowpoint it does what it should have done in the first place.

I guess that the crimp was not holding on long enough for a good burn.

As a side note for the first time since last August i got to shoot my AR that i have been building.

Testing loads with different powders and 75 and 77 grain bullets ,it was a hoot.

Thanks for all of the things to look at.

The Marlin is a 1 in 38" twist and will never shoot other then a RB. They used the Greenhill formula for twist. Marlin made the same mistake with the .444 and changed it to 1 in 20" but never fixed the .44. Sorry you have a losing game.

start with a round nose flat point or a trun cone bullet of about 240gr, add a little antimony in your melt so you have some hardening taking place, try that first.

are the bullets keyholing at 100yds?

This is. Marlin 1894? Ballard or micro-groove? If it is a Marlin 1894, the SAAMI spec for their barrel is .4315" ish. Your chamber throat may be .432". Maybe dounle check your measurements? Calibrate measuring tools? Calipers or micrometer?

For jacketed bullets, consider Zero bullets from Roze Distribution ,. 240 grain,. .431" diameter, about $14/100, but min order is 500 bullets.

For cast, try NOE or Arsenal molds , with a 250 grain .433" or so ( size to match your chamber throat-with an accurate measurement).

May need to firelap your barrel to eliminate tight spots and put some taper /choke into the bore for cast bullet shooting.

Quiet, you. This is hogwash.

Bullets around 300gr shoot the best in my Marlin with a 1:38. I can certainly put three into an inch at 100, though five rarely fall into that same inch. Hasn't mattered, since I end up head-shooting everything.