[Mark Van Scoy]

Been saving and am just about ready to order a 1894 Marlin from David Clements. I am planning on having the chamber throated for a BTB .432 250gr LFN. Was thinking of starting with 23 gr of H110 with this bullet and working up to 25gr by.5 gr increments. I'm pretty new to handloading, thought I would take advantage of the wealth of experience that presents it's self here in this forum. Your comments and advice will be appreciated.
Mark

(Edited by Mark Van Scoy at 8:45 pm on April 20, 2001)

 

[Bill M]

Hi Mark,
congrat's on the 1894.  It is a wonderful gun.  I got an 1894p last Nov and it's a hoot to shoot.  But back to the topic...

These figures are for the 16" bbl.  If you are getting the 20" bbl you could probably add about 100 fps.  Over this past winter I did some testing with Marshall's 250 gr .432 LFNGC bullet in the 1894p and some of my 44 revolvers.  In fact, I wrote an article in Tech notes that gives you a bunch of velocities for the 1894p.

Anyway, the short answer to your question is that I got to about 1900 fps before pressure got to be a problem.  That was with both H-110 and 'Lil Gun.  I thought 'Lil Gun gave better extreme spreads.  My opinion is AA-9 may be better than the other 2 powders since I've found it easier to work with in lighter bullets.  Problem is I lost interest and went on to test heavier bullets.  

I'll be happy to share any of my data with you if you care to e-mail me at  [email protected]
If you shoot for an accurate load at around 1800 fps you'll probably end up with the best of all worlds.  By the way, if you take my data, use it with a real caution since I shot these loads in 20 degree weather.  A 100 degree day can make everything different.  Happy to help Mark.

God bless......................  Bill M

 

[James Gates]

Mark.....By all means look over Bill M data on the BTB 250 LFNGC!!!! I have learned from Marshall and Bill that this 250 does not seat as deep as many other cast 250's. This causes a lower velocity than published data!!! But....I think this BTB LFNGC is one of best, if not THE best, game bullet going for the 1894's and revolvers. There were six deer and one hog killed this year will this bullet travaling around 1100/1200'/"...grave yard dead!!Bill M used various powder combos to really crank that baby up! I'm looking forward to testing some of the new BTB 265 grainers, but I can't see how 15, or even 30, more grains of lead is going to make that much difference as to whether meat goes down or keeps running. As for penetration, the 250 BTB already shoots lengthways through a deer or hog, how much more do you need?
Well, It's time to feed the bulldogs!
Best Regards, James

(Edited by James Gates at 2:41 pm on April 22, 2001)

 

[Bill M]

Hi Mark,
When I was responding to your post last night, I was hoping James Gates would jump in.  Like a lot of guys, I'm intersted in how fast a bullet can be driven.  Then I back down to more proper loads.  Where as I can tell you how fast some bullets can be driven, James can tell you what will put meat in the freezer.  His experience with this bullet is the best I know.  In my tech notes article you'll find James's favorite load as the one with 14.0 gr of AA-5.  The only change I made was James prefers WW primers instead of the Federal's I used.  James also sees higher velocities since I shot in very cold weather and he does not see that in "The Hammock".    The 265 gr bullet holds a lot of promise too.  If you do a search on the 250gr bullet, you'll pick up a lot of additional info.  

Hope this helps.

God bless.....................  Bill M

 

[James Gates]

Mark....When I first saw this 250 gr LFNGC, I asked marshall what he thought was the best load of AA5 to push it 1200'/". That's when we came up with 14 grs of AA5. While I was shooting the bullet I "felt" it was at least 1300'/" out of a 7 1/2" barrel...I was wrong. When Bill M ran them across thr clock he got 1165'/". Maybe with our temp in Florida they will run 1200'/" and I am happy with that. He shows 1410'/" from the 16 1/2" barrel on the 1894P. Let me tell you that bullet will group. With what I have seen ( and will anounce soon about actual tests to be done this summer on "meat") that bullet at 1200'/" ( or even at 1165'/") is a killer that can be controlled when things get "tight". It true, I favor test and results under actual killing conditions. That bullet at 1400'/" vs 1200'/" has 17% more "something" by the numbers?
However, I have never seen anything killed 117% dead!
Best Regards To All, James