Henry 44Mag Load Help?

[Handgunr]

Been gone for years....glad to be back....

I had an older used 3x9 (Japan) Weaver that was laying in my gun safe so I tossed it on my .44 Henry BB to build loads with.......probably gonna leave it scoped because at 64, my eyes aren't the best. Anyway, my first outing with XTP factory loads and both jacketed & cast handloads were pretty dismal.......I mean all over. My cast GC hand loads actually shot the best at 4 inches.....but that ain't bragging either. None of it was great........and I'm pretty sure the scope guts are loose......after all, it was used on various guns for years. I swung by my local dealer's and grabbed a 2x7 Sig to replace the old Weaver with so who knows.......
I'm addicted to little bug holes with my bolt guns and although I obviously don't expect that from a lever gun, I do expect better than 4 & 5 inch groups......something inside of 2 inches would be acceptable I'm thinkin'..

We shall see

 

[Scrumbag]

My 1:20 twist Chiappa 44 mag rifle did not like 180 gr bullets.

Try the XTPs, JHCs or Nosler JSPs in 240 gr.

Scrummy

 

[FrankenMauser]

loaded up some good 180 HP bullets, with 20 gr of AA #7. Accuracy testing.

This is very close to a load that I shoot in my Marlin 1894 (1:38" twist).
Does fine. Muzzle velocity is high. (I've chrono'd, but don't remember exact number.)

The first time I took it out, I had a prototype sight on it. It was ringing steel (half IPSC) at 390 yards without issue, with that load and a 790 fps 240 gr Hornady swaged SWC. That's ~4 MoA or better with two vastly different bullets and velocities.

How were you resting the rifle?
Some of these levergats don't like pressure on the fore-ends for best performance. You need to rest them on the bottom of the action. -Which is annoying, since the rifle has to be reset for each shot. But that is what many like.

I have a Marlin 1894 20"bbl with a 1:27 twist (44 Mag). First, I find 1:27 to be a crazy slow twist. Not sure what they were thinking. Yes, I get that being a large caliber, there's lots of centrifugal force. Yes, I get that the gun is designed to shoot handgun ammo, so the bullets aren't built as strong as rifle bullets. But 1:27?? Jeeze, that's slooooow.

LOL.
You should try the Micro-groove 444s. They're 1:38".
Even at full .444 Marlin power levels, many of them won't stabilize 300 gr bullets, let alone heavier/longer.
But Marlin's eventual knee-jerk fix for all the complaints was 1:20" twist with standard rifling ("Ballard" rifling, to the Marlin guys).
1:20" is too fast, and causes issues with initial engraving.
1:27" might seem slow for .44 Mag, but the .444 Marlin guys would love to have it.

That being said...
I believe you are mistaken.
The whole reason for the 1:38" twist rate in the 444s is because that is what Marlin was using for .44 Mag -- which was a vestigial twist rate from .44-40.
Winchester used a 1:26" twist rate, and other manufacturers used twist rates between 1:24" and 1:32". But Marlin used 1:38" and 1:20" for 1894s in .44 Mag.

(The change to 1:20" happened in 1998 for Model 444s. I assume it was the same for 1894s, but do not know for certain. I do know that my '93 1894 is 1:38".)