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Old October 12, 2002, 01:03 PM   #1
JL Hunnicutt
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Join Date: June 8, 1999
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Micro-Groove Barrels & Cast Bullets

Can anyone recommend a commercially-cast lead bullet that will work, without key-holing, in a Marlin 1894 .44 Mag lever-action carbine, with micro-groove rifling? Thank you.
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Old October 12, 2002, 06:47 PM   #2
Hal
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First off, are you sure it's Micro Groove?
The reason I ask is that according to their website, Marlin uses ballard rifleling on the 1894. My Cowboy II in .38/.357 is ballard, not Micro Groove.
I use a swaged lead Hornady 240 gr. over 2400 in my Winchester 94 Trapper with good results. 15 gr is a good acurate midrange load that doesn't lead and doesn't keyhole. W/out a chrono to verify it, as close as I can figure, I'm getting 900-1000 fps out of my Wichchester Trapper.

17 gr of 2400 works well also but isn't as accurate.
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Old October 13, 2002, 09:37 AM   #3
popbang
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I have a Marlin 1895SS with a Micro Groove barrel. I found that with most checked lead bullets it performs just fine. I would try soem hard cast bullets and see what happens.
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Old October 14, 2002, 12:06 PM   #4
Paul B.
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Rae. It depends on when his .44 mag. Marlin was made. The change to Ballard type rifling is a fairly recent thing brought about by the "Cowboy Shooters." Older marlins in .44 have Micro-Groove barrels.
I've found that the best way to handle Micro-Groove rifling is to cast the bullets myself and size them .002" over bore diameter. Make sure the bullet is as hard as you can make it.
If you must go with commercially cast bullets, contact the makers what diameter you need and see if they'll size them to that size.
There's one outfit that might work with you. I think it's called Dry Creek Bullet Works or some such. I don't remember the URL to his site, but I think you can search it our using dry creek. if not, E-mail me and I'll see if I can link it to you. I sent the owner some bullets I made to see if he wanted to order molds for them. he will send samples of the bullet you need, so you might give him a try.
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