Hello, all. Has anyone found a lead-free .44 Magnum ammunition that will achieve pig-worthy accuracy and reliability in a lever gun, such as the Marlin 1894? I think the main concern is that copper bullets are less dense and therefore longer than lead bullets, so they might not feed reliably in a lever gun, whereas in a revolver, they'll work fine. I think there also may an issue with the 1:38 twist ratio not stabilizing the longer bullet, though I may be confusing that with heavy bullets such as Buffalo Bore and Garrett Cartridges (which also have the long cartridge issue). Other than moving out of California, is there a way for me to hunt pigs with a .44 lever gun? Thanks.
Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Lead-Free Ammunition
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CraigC
Sixgun Nut
The Barnes 225gr should work fine.
bocefus78
Member
This. I used the xpb thru an 1894 on deer with great success.
I loaded them in Starline cases to the cannelure and had no issues with feeding or accuracy.
Finding load data for them using the powders I had on hand was the hardest part.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
The all copper slugs tend to work best with odd powders like Power Pistol. They don't allow powders like H110 to pressure up like it needs to.
Jason_W
Member
They're more expensive, but there are lead-free .44 cal options from Lehigh Defense and Cutting edge. I have not experimented with those myself.
Gotta hand it to California, they've made a refined science out of making all aspects of life more expensive, more convoluted, and just generally joyless.
Gotta hand it to California, they've made a refined science out of making all aspects of life more expensive, more convoluted, and just generally joyless.
Varminterror
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HP-38 under the XPB has done well for me. Won't win any drag races, but the pigs won't notice the difference at typical hunting distances.
PaFrank
Member
You can cast bullets out of zinc or bismuth if you can find it. I think they used to call bismuth bloc tin in days of old. It was expensive 50 years ago when I was a kid and made my money scrapping... It paid more than copper back then as I recall.. And if I remember my table of elements, bismuth is a tad heavier than lead, so it should be the perfect bullet material.
Jason_W
Member
There's this stuff which seems similar to what you describe.
https://www.rotometals.com/lead-free-bullet-casting-alloy-88-bismuth-12-tin/
I wonder about wear on the bore as well as bullets cast from it being brittle.
Thanks, all. I thought I had heard that Barnes said the 1:38 ballard-type rifling won't stabilize their XPB, but maybe I misheard or maybe it's worth a try anyway. Cor-bon's DPX says 'handgun only' on the box, but I wonder if that would be worth a try as well. I emailed Winchester and they said their new Razor Boar .44 should work in anything chambered in .44. So, maybe not all hope is lost. I'm not a reloader at this point, but maybe someday I will try making my own loads. It's too bad there isn't a Hornady Leverevolution type lead-free ammunition. I'll further research all your suggestions. Thanks again.
Also look how hard it is.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
People make too much of the Marlin's 1-38" twist.
Do you have the rifle yet?
Do you have the rifle yet?
Not yet. California has a 10 day waiting period. It doesn't seem like a big deal until after you've made the purchase; then, it's a looong 10 days. I do know that it was built in October 2016, according to Marlin; I'm hoping they've redeemed themselves after that rough patch when they were bought by Remington. It looked good enough, like the ones I saw before the rough patch.
CraigC
Sixgun Nut
I was going to say that if you have not bought it yet, there are options for rifles with a faster 1-20" twist. I didn't realize some of those Barnes bullets were so long.
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