Best lead bullet for 1894 c

[flounderjig]

The Kieth 168 grain SWC, did not cycle as well as I thought, so what is the best lead bullet for all around use in .357 cases? You all's expertize would be appreciated.

[Charles]

The Marlin 1894s for 44 Mag and 357 Mag are very picky about the over all length of the round which can cause feeding problems with some cast bullets.

The best way is to modify the carrier by filing the rear of it to create more space for the round. I don't remember where, but there are some nice instructions with photos on the web. Google is your friend.

If you don't want to do that Lyman 358156 will feed well in unmodified rifles. It is a good all around gas check bullets that weights about 155 grains. It has a fairly short nose.

I have modified both my 44 and 357 Marlins and they will feed a wide assortment of cast bullets.

[Terry Murbach]

THE KEITH BULLETS IN ANY CALIBER WERE NOT DESIGNED FOR LEVERGUN USE.
THERE IS NO BEST, AND THERE IS NO ALL AROUND; SOME DO ONE THING, SOME DO OTHERS.
GENERALLY SPEAKING THOSE GUNS FEED BEST WITH ROUND NOSE-FLATPOINT BULLET DESIGNS SUCH AS SOLD BY LAZER CAST AND OTHERS. MOST MARLIN BARRELS SHOOT BEST WITH BULLETS .002" OVER GROOVE DIAMETER, PARTICULARLY IF IT IS A MICROGROOVE BARREL. THE BALLARD RIFLES BARRELS USUALLY DO ALSO.

[Wind]

Hey there flounderjig - I'm a huge fan of the Laser-Cast 158 grain round nose flat point bullet. They are pretty much my all around .357 bullet and I've shot them by the tens of thousands. When I lived in Seattle, I would really pee the UPS guy off cuz he would have to pack 5,000 to 10,000 up the stairs to my apartment with every order. He'd retaliate by stacking them in front of the screen door so I would have to move them all before I could open the door!! But they were up the stairs!! Anyway, with the Marlins, experiment alittle with the over all cartridge length and you'll get slick, reliable feeding. Hope this helps. Best regards. Wind

[66GTO]

I found out the hard way that Keith style bullets and lever guns don't go together. They are now relegated to revolver use.

I have been buying 158 gr., RNF, .360" from Stonewall Bullets in Stonewall, LA. The guys name is Robert and he casts using wheel weight lead. I don't know what mold he uses, but they cycle like butter and are fairly accurate in my 1894. I believe he lubes them with alox. I use a little Cream of Wheat filler and haven't had problems with leading using reasonable loads.

[flounderjig]

Thank you Gentlemen for the informative information. I will put it to good use. Thanks again from coastal Texas.

[O.S.O.K.]

If you like the accuracy of the keith bollit and it does cycle but hangs up on the top of the chamber mouth, you might do what I did with my M94 Marlin 44 Mag and slightly (I emphasize slightly) radius the top of the chamber mouth - just enough to remove the sharpness. I did that to allow smooth feeding of Lee's 310 wfn gc boolit in my carbine and it worked like a charm.

Again, it was cycling fine accept it would hang up on the chamber mouth every third round or so... now it's slick as a whistle. The mod causes no troubles and no discernable change in full throttle fired brass.

If the issue is in the feeding out of the mag, I would just go to a different boolit as already advised.

[Charles]

Not to beat a dead horse, but one a 94 has the carrier modified for longer rounds, it will feed all sorts of SWC bullets, including the Keith bullets.

[fordwannabe]

I don't know if you cast your own or not but I really like the lee 180 gr rnfp in my marlin. Good luck Tom

[SFRanger7GP]

I have a Marlin in 44 mag and 357 mag. The 44 will feed Keith bullets in 44 special cases and the 357 will feed Keith bullets in 38 cases. Forget it if I try to use magnum cases. Everyone tells me just I'm lucky. They will not feed the Speer Semi Jacket bullets in any case. I love that bullet but I can't get it to feed in my Marlins no matter how hard I roll crimp it over the bullet shoulder.

[the telegraphist]

Gday all
I Gotta go with Terry on this one, my Marlins with deep cut Ballard style rifling shoot great with 240g round nose flat points,
they being 44mag cal. Sized 431/432. I maybe terribbly wrong here, but SWC are strictley handgun bullets in my book. Never had much luck with them in a lever. Poor feeding/jamming. They were designed for handguns, not levers.

[J Miller]

In my experience with the one Marlin 1894 in .357 I had was that SWCs in either 38s or 357cases are problematic. If I held mine at a certain position and worked the action in a certain way they'd feed. Otherwise they'd hang up and I would have to jiggle the lever back and forth to get them to feed.
Round noses in either 38s or 357s fed perfectly as did most any jacketed bullets. Almost everyone who has tried them have reported this.

The owners of the 41s and 44s have reported the same things only to a lesser degree.

The odd thing out is that owners of the Marlin 1894s in .45 Colt, (myself included, thankfully) have reported no such fickleness. For instance my current 1894 Cowboy will feed anything of any shape I can feed into the magazine. Others have said the same thing. I've had two previous 1894s in .45 Colt and one of them was the same way. The other I didn't keep long enough to find out about.

About bullet shapes, well I prefer SWCs. When they feed through the action they work very well from rifles. However when they don't I like a good flat point on what ever type of bullet I use.
I do not like the typical over the counter RNFP bullets we've come to know as cowboy bullets. They are too round, not enough flat.
If you can find a bullet with a really truly flat nose on it that is a good percentage of the bullet diameter use it.

And that's the way it is Saturday October the 17th 1909.

Joe