On Christmas Eve with the wife working and the weather beautiful, I decided to head out to my new found box canyon a couple of miles from our campground and play a little bit with my 1894 Marlin and a chronograph.
Previously I've loaded about 150 rounds of 44 Special for this gun but fired very few of them myself. Most were fired by my daughter and grandson keeping them occupied while I loaded CB pistols.
So...off I go with a box of 50 and a Chrony. The load is as follows:
26gr 3f Swiss by weight
No filler
.030 Veggie Wad
.430 200gr Mav Dutchman RNFP
Gun: Modern 1894 Marlin 44SPL/44Mag with 15.5" Micro-Groove Barrel
Chronograph results:
Average MV - 1079
High MV - 1094
Low MV - 1054
Avg. Muzzle Energy - 517 ft. lbs.
I was impressed by a couple of items. First off, the velocity spread being only 40fps on hand loaded Black Powder cartridges. I've seen three times that spread on factory loaded smokeless ammo!! I attribute this reasonable velocity spread to uniform compression of the powder. I use a Compression Die from MidwayUSA that when set correctly for the bottom of the press stroke provides uniform compression.
The other thing that surprised me was the velocity attained with only 26gr of powder. I load my '60 Sheriff's model with 30gr and a round ball that weighs only 70% of the RNFP and get MV's of 300 fps less. There's a lot to be said about the longer barrels allowing more complete combustion of the powder before the bullet leaves the muzzle.
Now, on to the question: Are any of you loading 44 Special with Black Powder?? If so, what kind of powder charge are you using?? I pretty much settled on the 26gr 'cause that's what fit and compressed easily. As far as accuracy, she'll punch holes at 30 yards within a couple of inches, but as I said, I haven't fired too many of these yet because the kids grab the gun as soon as they see it. I'll have a better idea of the groups once I get to shoot it some more.
Previously I've loaded about 150 rounds of 44 Special for this gun but fired very few of them myself. Most were fired by my daughter and grandson keeping them occupied while I loaded CB pistols.
So...off I go with a box of 50 and a Chrony. The load is as follows:
26gr 3f Swiss by weight
No filler
.030 Veggie Wad
.430 200gr Mav Dutchman RNFP
Gun: Modern 1894 Marlin 44SPL/44Mag with 15.5" Micro-Groove Barrel
Chronograph results:
Average MV - 1079
High MV - 1094
Low MV - 1054
Avg. Muzzle Energy - 517 ft. lbs.
I was impressed by a couple of items. First off, the velocity spread being only 40fps on hand loaded Black Powder cartridges. I've seen three times that spread on factory loaded smokeless ammo!! I attribute this reasonable velocity spread to uniform compression of the powder. I use a Compression Die from MidwayUSA that when set correctly for the bottom of the press stroke provides uniform compression.
The other thing that surprised me was the velocity attained with only 26gr of powder. I load my '60 Sheriff's model with 30gr and a round ball that weighs only 70% of the RNFP and get MV's of 300 fps less. There's a lot to be said about the longer barrels allowing more complete combustion of the powder before the bullet leaves the muzzle.
Now, on to the question: Are any of you loading 44 Special with Black Powder?? If so, what kind of powder charge are you using?? I pretty much settled on the 26gr 'cause that's what fit and compressed easily. As far as accuracy, she'll punch holes at 30 yards within a couple of inches, but as I said, I haven't fired too many of these yet because the kids grab the gun as soon as they see it. I'll have a better idea of the groups once I get to shoot it some more.
