A buddy called up the other day. He was out trying some of his reloads (he's very much a newbie) and wasn't hitting a fairly large sheet of cardboard at 25 yards. Moving much closer, he started punching holes in random locations.......very much sideways.

He was using a commercial 200gr LRNFP which double-checked at .430" diameter, which was what he bought...so that's good. The bore is "clean enough" meaning, not smooth with lead or inhabited by small critters---a small amount of powder residue/whatnot a fella might expect upon looking into a fired gun.

My assumption is that the Micro-Groove rifling doesn't like that bullet design. To test that theory, he's going to load up some jacketed fodder and see what difference that makes. Assuming this works, he'll either stick with jackets or we may try out some other designs.

Any other theories?

Thanks as always.

I would guess it has to do with the Micro-groove not stabilizing that design and/or weight. I've had that happen before with Marlins - abysmal accuracy with one weight/style bullet, then superb with another, all due to the fussiness of Micro-groove rifling.

with a jacket. I shot a bunch of 240 LSWC through a couple marlin 44.

--
Of the Troops & For the Troops

Most Marlin .44s have oversized bores. Mine really likes bullets sized .432+. The accuracy is only so so with .430" bullets.

Check with Jim at Carolina Cast Bullets for his hard cast RanchDog-designed bullets, designed and sized specifically for the Marlin .44. Good guy to deal with.

We'll see what comes of it.