I just recently acquired an older model 1894 in 44 Mag. It's the old round barrel model with microgroove rifling. I generally shoot hard cast in all my 44's, both rifle and revolver, but I understand that these older models don't do well with cast. Would a barrel change be prohibitive? I got this rifle for free from a relative, so I feel an investment of $300-$400 wouldn't be too much.
Nice avatar...Paladin ( Have Gun Will Travel ) As far as your question...is that what price a new replacement barrel goes for ?
By and large I have found that most the fears of micro groove rifling are unfounded. What will happen is that the effects of fouling will occur quicker. So clean it more often. They shoot just about as well for all but the dedicated cast bullet shooter. There is also hard and soft cast boolits making things less black and white. I agree, definitely try cast! Try different makers bullets and hardness's too! CW
I have an old 336 SC in 35 Remington that was my Dad's. It has the microgroove rifling. When he got older and more recoil sensitive I started loading it with some 158 gr semi wadcutter bullets, that I had been casting for my .38 Special. The worked fine, were very accurate, at least at moderate range with the Lyman receiver sight we were using. Later I got a mold for a standard 200 gr gas check bullet for it, and have had good results for it. I am not going to say it was shot a lot like this, maybe 20-40 rounds in a session, rather infrequently, then clean. We never had a problem with leading, and probably were hitting higher velocities with the 35 than you will with the 44 mag. Like cwlongshot said try different levels of hardness, and velocities and if you can get a gas check bullet try those. I have a Ballard rifled 1894 Cowboy in 44 mag that leads easier than the old microgroove 35 Rem. Each gun is a story of it's own.
Thanks for the info fellas. I'll go ahead and try it with some hard cast at low velocity and experiment a little with bullets and velocities.
