Do all 1894's have micro groove rifling

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glockky

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I have a 1894 and i was wanting to shoot lead in it but i hear if you have micro groove rifling they wont shoot well at all. I am not sure how to tell if i does or not.
 
The Marlin 1894 in .32-20 WCF and .41 Magnum still have the 12-groove Micro-Groove rifling, all the other calibres have 6-groove Ballard rifling.
 
Nope my .44 has Ballard rifling.

It's the octagon barrel Cowboy Limited model.
 
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most of the 1894's have micro grove rifling, there are a few that were made with ballard rifling. go on over to a lever forum and ask about the cast shooting but im 99% sure you will find that micro grove shoots fine by most people, i believe you just need to slug your barrel and uses an approate sizer.
Best of luck and shop around for a used one.
 
"I have a 1894 and i was wanting to shoot lead in it but i hear if you have micro groove rifling they wont shoot well at all. I am not sure how to tell if i does or not. "

Look down the barrel - gun empty, of course.
Count the grooves. Conventional is six groove (I am not sure the advertising agency would know a Ballard barrel if it bit them on the ankle, even though Marlin owned Ballard about a hundred years ago.)
Microgroove is 12 - 20 depending on caliber.

But there is no reason not to give even Microgroove a try. It calls for larger diameter bullets than conventional, so you will have to look around if you buy bullets and don't cast your own.
 
Microgroove will shoot lead just fine.....as long as it is hard cast, at least groove diameter and not "too" fast. I have a 336 in 30-30 and the Trail Boss loads with 160s work fine as do some GC 115s. My 444 works fine as long as I don't go over 1400 fps and my Winchester which has what looks like a microgroove barrel (from about 1968) doesn't like lead over 1200. My 94/44 is picky (micro) but will shoot lead up to about 1400 fps as long as it is hard.
Each is a law unto itself. My old M70 30-06 will shoot gas check bullets into sub 2" groups at about 1900fps on good days (my good days...my eyes aren't as good as in the sixties).
 
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