I took my 1894 .44 out a couple days ago. The loads I had with me were not overly impressive, so I did not take pics. I am going to load up some powder coated bullets next, along with some jacketed. I know it likes jacketed loads. I will also take some hard cast loads with H110 rather than my standard Unique I normally shoot and see how it does with those. It has been a while since I fiddled with this carbine and I am questioning my memory on which non jacketed loads I recall it liked. I really need to start taking notes, as I just cannot remember things apparently due to getting my brain rattled overseas a few times, or I am a tard.. .
Anyways, I also took out my 336 16" LTS "Marauder" 30-30 and it while it did not like a cast bullet handload I made for it, I understand why. I loaded with Varget, and was pushing it too fast, which often will cause the projectile to skid down the bore instead of catching the lands and grooves. The 165 grain bullets needed to either have gas checks attached to the bullets or choose a powder that provided a slower velocity. I figured the load was in the 1800 fps range. That particular part of load development was a no-go, but it was good to know. The next batch I will likely just load 10 grains Unique and see what kind of results I get.
The factory ammo for that particular rifle shot very well. I had some really old Rem Core-Lokts and some newer Federal stuff, both 170 grain. Both shot very well. While I did not bring a Chrono with me, it was obvious using highly technical equipment (my shoulder and the muzzle blast) that the Fed stuff was quite a bit hotter. I only had about 10 rounds of Remington and it was pretty soft shooting and it shot a nice cluster. The first time I touched off one of the Federal rounds the recoil was significantly more and even in daylight I could see an orange ball of flame from the muzzle. They are quite a bit warmer. Just a guess, but I bet there is a solid 150-200 fps between the two.
The Federal shot very well. I was shooting over the hood of my old Land Cruiser using an old folded up blanket and this is the result at 150 yards.
I ended up adjusting and zeroing for 150. The interesting part is there was pretty much no significant drop between 100 and 150.
I figured from about 175 yards or so and in, it is pretty much a "point and shoot" type gun for deer size objects.
CHEERS Friends!