1894 marlin 44mag micro groove poor accuracy

3

3#cannon

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
30   0   0
Location
in a tree stand waiting for whitetail
I'm not sure if I'm putting this in the right place..
A couple years ago I inherited a 1978 1894 marlin in 44mag . The gun has been hunted but is in good condition except for some finish wear on the receiver, the bore looks great (micro groove)and slugs at .430 with no tight spots ,wood is nice.
After trying to get this thing to shoot with the irons with no success I finally. mounted a scope.I've tried winchester , federal , remmington , american eagle , and hand loads with hornady xtp's. All ammo that I have fired has been 240 grain jacketed. The barrel has been cleaned many times and appears to be very clean ,best groups being about 4 inches at 25 yards.
I've tried adjusting the barrel band as I have been told that this can affect accuracy with no luck . I've been told that these guns shoot great and I've been told they shoot terrible .
anyone have any suggestions non getting this thing to an acceptable level of accuracy for hunting? ?? I'd really like it to be a shooter as it has great sentimental value.
 
Yes I have cleaned it for copper and lead fouling. Also I should add thst the crown looks good and it doesn't tumble bullets. ... they hit the paper straight.
I had a local gunsmith who is very reputable in my area check it over and he can't see any reason it doesn't shoot . He suggested that he could dress the crown just to see if that helped.
 
So why not try something else?
If 240's fail to perform why not try 200's, 225's or even 265's.
What powder(s) have you tried in hand loads.
Sierra lists bullets from 180 to 300.
Their accuracy and hunting loads list WW296 although they tested using a Winchester 94AE.

Accuracy Load: 296/ 21.7grs. 1600fps/ 1364ft. lbs.
Hunting Load: 296/ 24.0grs. 1750fps/ 1632ft. lbs.

Nosler list loads for 200, 240 and 300 bullets and show H110 as the most accurate powder from an 18.5" Ruger.
 
I'm getting good results with the Bullet Barns 200 weight bullets and using H110.
Don't have the amount here.
Mine is manufactured in 1984.
 
I've read that the Marlin 1894 44mag might not like the heavier bullets due to the slow 1:38" rifling.

I haven't been out to shoot mine as yet but I'm curious as well 'cause all I've got are 240gr loads. I should slug my barrel 'cause I've also read that some bores are oversized over others.
 
Dropped the gun off for a re-crown this morning. .my hand loads have been with 296 from lightest to near max charges.
I have also picked up some 300 grain projectiles with a box of 200's on order all at .430 dia. so it will probably be a couple weeks until I get to try again. If this doesn't do it I'm going to consider options for a re barreling. ..
 
It may have a barrel full of soft/too small cast in it already.Micro-groove barrels need hard bullets a thou or two over-sized to shoot well.Harold
 
It appears to be a known problem since they have changed from micro groove rifling to Ballard cut rifling. Jacketed bullets should still be ok, but like every gun you will have to tinker with the loads. Some guns are very specific about what loads they like, and unfortunately some guns plain just don't shoot no matter what you try
 
I have the same problem with the Ballard cut rifling in my 1894 cowboy 44 mag. There are many MANY posts on this issue. Just google it, and start reading, it will take you days. The best places to look are on the cast boolits forum, and on the marlin owners forum. Marlins have larger size bores than do Winchesters for the most part. Shooting most copper jacketed ammo is less than ideal considering most are .429, with a few (hornady being one as you've tried) at .430. I want to shoot only cast in mine, and have ordered molds from Boomer Molds Sask, and they come out to .432 and .434. They are exceptional moulds, but first I need to fire lap a constriction in the bore out. This can also help with jacketed accuracy.

Here is a great article on the marlin leverguns with microgroove: http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/marlin_1894.htm
They are no less accurate, just take more attention to the details.

Another fantastic resource for lead bullets is here: This is the LA shooting club website on cast bullets. It is a wealth of knowledge. Glenn E Fryxell has all of his articles on here, he shoots mostly revolvers, but the wisdom transfers over; http://www.lasc.us/

Commercial hard cast bullets will get you in trouble considering they are usually sized to .429 to .430. For best results you need a bullet that is .432 or .001 to .002 over groove diameter. I've also read many times, that if the gun won't shoot Winchester white box ammo decently, then there may be something wrong with the gun. Hope this is some help.
Barr
 
Last edited:
If you read all the info givin above I think the two main things are as I and others stated Big fat bullets and drive them as hard as you dare especially the heavy ones.
 
Thanks for the links and advice everyone ... I didn't have much interest in shooting cast but I guess I can give it a try and see if it helps.
I talked with the gun smith this evening and he said he would have it done for the weekend. ... said he bore scoped the barrel and was going to lap it a bit once it was crowned . He sounded confident that things would improve. ...
time will tell.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom