I’m wanting to use a hand cast bullet in my Marlin micro groove rifles. I was wondering if y’all have a favorite bullet y’all use or if y’all can recommend a bullet/load combination that will work for deer and hogs within reasonable distances. I typically try to shoot bullets that are on the heavier side for caliber. The calibers are .375 Winchester, 30-30 Winchester, and .35 Remington. Thanks

The Lee and RCBS 200gr FPGC bullets both work great in the 35 Remington. You'll want them a little larger and harder for the micro groove barrels than would be necessary for standard rifling. Powder coating helps too but that's kind of a side note.

The Saeco #452 (IIRC?) 245gr FP works pretty well in the 35 Remington as well; I've killed a couple things with it cast from clip on wheel weights and pushed to ~2,000 fps and was satisfied.

Go to NOE's website and pick your poison

You might find this article of interest http://www.lasc.us/FryxellMarlin-MicroGroove.htm As stated the Marlin rifles with the shallow lands and grooves need a larger dia. bullet that completely fills the grooves and cast from an alloy that is at least 12 BHN or higher to prevent bullet slippage on the shallow lands and grooves, a gas check bullet is always a plus with the Marlins that have Microgroove rifling.

NOE, Accurate as well as Arsenal Molds all make excellent molds. NOE and Accurate are about on the same price level depending on the number of cavities you want, but Arsenal molds are a great bang for the buck I can get a 4 cavity .311 170 gr. FN 30-30 bullet of the Ranch Dog design which is a great hunting bullet shipped for the price of the NOE or Accurate mold in a 2 cavity.

I plan on purchasing this mold in a couple weeks for my Savage 170 30-30 pump gun http://arsenalmolds.com/bullet-molds?product_id=84&limit=99999999999 As far as the other two cartridges I'm not much help on the favorite bullet design usually what I do when I start casting for a new rifle i do lots of research on what other are shooting in that particular rifle and just go from there.

A lot of good information here! Thank y’all very much!

The Ranch dog designs sold now by NOE were specifically made for lever actions. They should work great in your micro groove rifles if you size large enough.

A throat cast of each rifle would be a great asset before ordering any mold. The Ranchdog designs have yet to fit any Marlin rifle I have, and I have and have tried several. Tom at Accuratemolds.com is my go to guy for a mold, but you have to know what kind of throat and bore you are trying to fit. Marlin bores, specifically micro-groove, but not limited to them tend to run on the large side. A little fatter than normal and a little harder than normal is the prescription for success in micro-groove barrels.
Good Luck,
Rick

Thanks Rick

Ballpark guideline: keep final lubed/gaschecked cast bullet diameter .002” -.003” over groove diameter.

Just looked at the Arsenal Molds product line up. Looks great. Many great designs, and it appears their starting diameter is good/full, but looks like they can customize diameter. Great pricing. NOE makes nice molds, but they don’t have many molds in stock ( have to wait for product runs. Uggh).I have three NOE molds. All good. But I have to admit that I think my next mold ( for a Ballard rifled Marling 1894 44 mag with a .4315” groove diameter, will be an Arsenal Mold at .434”).

Castboolits.com has a lot of good info, and good reading.

Not the best for hunting but I have the old standby Lyman 173gr RN 30 cal mold and it shoots fantastic in both of my 336 30-30s. One is microgroove and the other Ballard. I size them to .311 and usually launch them with Trailboss but have used other powders for full power loads and they were still accurate. Be sure to slug your bore and keep the bullets a little over bore diameter with the microgroove barrels. Veral Smith's book has some good info on shooting cast in Microgroove barrels. He even preferred them over many other rifling forms.

The ballpark guideline is to have bullets that fit the throat as close as possible and the ability to make them work with your dies without shaving or swaging/deforming.

One can increase bullet diameter as cast by using alloys with less lead, more antimony and tin. Linotype can add .001 to bullets that are normally used with WW or tin-lead. The hardness also helps.

Check out Night Owl Enterprises ( NOE) or Arsenal molds.

“Ranch Dog” designed cast bullets work well in Marlin lever guns- were designed with them in mind.

Shoot a lubed bullet .002-.003” over groove diameter ( .003” may be better for microgroove rifling. Slug your bore first. Arsenal molds with adjust cavity diameter for a design at NO COST. Them them what you are shooting for for final lubed diameter, and they will go for it. Then get the prober lube/size die. You may not need to size them at all, just pan lube them.

The Lee 358-200 6 cavity will be hard to beat. Shoot them checked or unchecked. Soft or hard these bullets perform. I suggest trying them powdercoated over traditional lube.

Bluejay

I have measured both Ballard and Micro groove barrels and there seems to be no difference in rifling height. All have measured .003" high and the only difference is the number of grooves and lands.
The advice to use a larger diameter bullet holds true for both. Seems they bore the barrel with the same tools and pull a button through. I have yet to see a Ballard except originals that have deeper rifling.
I made my 30-30 molds to be .311".
When I had the .35 Rem, cast never shot good since the molds were not large enough. Lyman mostly. At the time I did not know about larger diameters. Close to 60 years ago. Now I wish I still had the Marlin. .357" was too small so a .360" could fix it.
Old original marlins had deeper rifling.
Same is true for the 45-70 where a .457" or .458" is too small and most need .460.

Should have included this in my earlier reply.

Get the best data possible on your chamber throat, and groove diameter. Throat dimension is very important for selecting bullet mold and sizing.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...roat-for-proper-cast-bullet#Post13204545

I just picked up a couple Molds for my 375 Marlins.

I agree look for Ranch dog style from NOE. Good molds!!

I have a 310/178 RD mold & a 358/190 RD. I also shoot allot of the 210 RCBS in the Remington. The 190 works nicely in my Maximums too!

Good advice and I agree shoot the biggest bullet that chambers well.

Good luck,

CW

SnS Casting has a 200gr powder coated bullet

Great service, outstanding quality, shoots very well in Micro Groove barrels.