TargetAcquired
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- S. Ontario
Hello - not sure if this is something to be concerned with or not, but I'll pose the question regardless.
I have close to a dozen different projectiles for my .444 Marlin, its a gun I really enjoy shooting so I want to find a load that is the perfect mix of accuracy, economics, and fun. This weekend I loaded up a batch of 300gn hard cast round-nose rojectiles (with the very tip flattened) and experienced an issure i've not had before - when I feed a round in and lever it into the chamber, the last 1/4" or so of closing the lever takes some extra muscle to accomplish. It does not close in a single-movement fashion, it gets to that last point and then needs to be squeezed harder to snap closed.
The gun is a 1969 Marlin medallion, and it has not done this with other projectiles I've loaded. Most notably, I also have some 300gn copper projectiles that are round nosed (fully rounded) and are almost identical to the 300gn casts I tried this weekend, but I did not have this lever-closing issue with them.
The casts in question do have a cannelure, but I did not seat to it - I seated probably less than 1mm under the cannelure in order to get an OAL that the gun really liked with the 300gn copper projectiles. I put a light crimp on them where they sat. I did fill the tube mag with them and fed a mag through the gun, and it cycled just fine, aside from the hard to close lever. When I fired them, I only loaded one at a time, as this is a new load and that's just my process until I work out a load I can trust, then I'll fill the mag when I shoot.
I thought maybe even though the OAL is what the gun liked, that with this projectile maybe I needed to seat a little lower; maybe I was pushing the round into the rifling when chambering, but I have my doubts: again, the OAL matches that of another almost identical round I have had, and after feeding a round and then ejecting it a few times, I can see no evidence on the cast round that it has been touching anything: they are hard cast, but still easy to mark, and I don't see when it might have been pressed into anything. I have not had time to try and seat one a little further to the cannelure to see if that will fix the problem, but it would be confusing if it did - like I said, I've got 1mm or less to get to the cannelure, and the lever needs an extra squirt of mustard to close at around the 1/4" mark - thats a big delta between the 2, and seating the bullet an extra 1/4" makes no sense - nothing would be left exposed.
I did fire the rounds, and they shot fine. I have targets set up at (approx) 40, 70, 100, and 150 yards, and I hit them all with decent grouping. I fully inspected the brass and gun after firing, no signs of any trouble - I used brand new never shot brass, once fired it was fine (no stretches, scratches or marks, or crushed mouths), my barrel looked great and no leading or other signs of concern.
Closing the lever does not take a jarring action, 2 hands, or any silly amount of force. I just have to squeeze it harder to get it done. I'm only asking because I have not had this happen with opther projectiles, so I'm a little stumped and just wondering if there are some out there with more experience that can suggest something else to look for or try.
I have close to a dozen different projectiles for my .444 Marlin, its a gun I really enjoy shooting so I want to find a load that is the perfect mix of accuracy, economics, and fun. This weekend I loaded up a batch of 300gn hard cast round-nose rojectiles (with the very tip flattened) and experienced an issure i've not had before - when I feed a round in and lever it into the chamber, the last 1/4" or so of closing the lever takes some extra muscle to accomplish. It does not close in a single-movement fashion, it gets to that last point and then needs to be squeezed harder to snap closed.
The gun is a 1969 Marlin medallion, and it has not done this with other projectiles I've loaded. Most notably, I also have some 300gn copper projectiles that are round nosed (fully rounded) and are almost identical to the 300gn casts I tried this weekend, but I did not have this lever-closing issue with them.
The casts in question do have a cannelure, but I did not seat to it - I seated probably less than 1mm under the cannelure in order to get an OAL that the gun really liked with the 300gn copper projectiles. I put a light crimp on them where they sat. I did fill the tube mag with them and fed a mag through the gun, and it cycled just fine, aside from the hard to close lever. When I fired them, I only loaded one at a time, as this is a new load and that's just my process until I work out a load I can trust, then I'll fill the mag when I shoot.
I thought maybe even though the OAL is what the gun liked, that with this projectile maybe I needed to seat a little lower; maybe I was pushing the round into the rifling when chambering, but I have my doubts: again, the OAL matches that of another almost identical round I have had, and after feeding a round and then ejecting it a few times, I can see no evidence on the cast round that it has been touching anything: they are hard cast, but still easy to mark, and I don't see when it might have been pressed into anything. I have not had time to try and seat one a little further to the cannelure to see if that will fix the problem, but it would be confusing if it did - like I said, I've got 1mm or less to get to the cannelure, and the lever needs an extra squirt of mustard to close at around the 1/4" mark - thats a big delta between the 2, and seating the bullet an extra 1/4" makes no sense - nothing would be left exposed.
I did fire the rounds, and they shot fine. I have targets set up at (approx) 40, 70, 100, and 150 yards, and I hit them all with decent grouping. I fully inspected the brass and gun after firing, no signs of any trouble - I used brand new never shot brass, once fired it was fine (no stretches, scratches or marks, or crushed mouths), my barrel looked great and no leading or other signs of concern.
Closing the lever does not take a jarring action, 2 hands, or any silly amount of force. I just have to squeeze it harder to get it done. I'm only asking because I have not had this happen with opther projectiles, so I'm a little stumped and just wondering if there are some out there with more experience that can suggest something else to look for or try.
) of your case...it's free...always loved .444...you're a lucky man to have one!
