I first off want to say this is one heck of a fun sport. I just shot my first pistol cartridge match yesterday and had the time of my life. I have never owned a lever action nor shot one until 3 weeks ago. I found a new marlin 1894 cowboy in 44 mag and brought it home with a couple boxes of ammo. I love this gun, there is just something differant about this gun compared to the rest of my guns (in a great way). I realized i needed a reloader so im set up for 44 mag now. now to the point. i have loaded a 200gr hc with 4.5-6gr of clays, 200gr with 5-6.6gr of tight group and keep getting really black casings on one side. well, it didnt bother me i was just happy with the way they were performing but the asst. dir. of the match said that wasnt good on the gun or the brass and i needed to load them hotter. What are yalls oppinions? i shot a 25 and a 26. i was thrilled! i got a cool 5 ram pin and a 5 pig pin. are there better loads? thanks in advance!!!!

Steelbuster9, Welcome to the sport. As for the black cases, you may need more crimp. cslcal Al Foust

Thanks for the info. I tried a tighter crimp this afternoon but got the same results. The black rubs off but there is kind of a little burn on the exterior of the brass. Will this damage my rifle or casings? I clean all my rifles after every time I shoot them! If not I like the load I'm shooting. I just don't want to hurt my rifle.

I am also shooting a 44 mag. I shoot 7.0 of unique with a 240 hp shoots great. As for your cases i agree with Al you need a heavier crimp. I went through the same thing with the 357. Welcome to the addiction. Mike

Does the blacking actually hurt my rifle?

No it will not hurt your rifle; but you are not efficiently burning all the powder.

I shoot a light load of 231 with a 180JHP and get the same blackening. All that's happening is that there isn't enough powder to expand the case tightly in the chamber and you're getting a LITTLE blow back. You'll build up a little carbon in the chamber but that's about it. To me it's worth cleaning the chamber to avoid beating up me, the gun and the targets.

That's great news. Thank u guys. I keep all my guns very clean. After everytime I shoot I atleast swab out the inside with mpro7 on q tips and run some wet patches through the barrel. I just like knowing they are clean and ready for whatever so whichever I grab I know is good to go. I am glad to know someone else loads light too and has this result with no I'll effects. My softest shooting load I've shot yet and the most fun for 75yds and under is 5.2gr of clays under 200 rnfp. Not real accurate at 100 though but a real pleasure to shoot out to 75. I love this game. I have another match tomorrow. They said this one is 60 animals. I can't wait. The last match was over by 2pm. I was thinking man we could shoot 2 more matches before dark. I think I'm hooked,bad. Thanks everyone for the knowledge. Good luck to all

steelbuster9....welcome to the addiction, it only gets better.

Innocent Mary