.444 Marlin. What ammo are YOU shooting?

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I'm a right handed gimp who cant wink his left eye. And my left is my dominant eye so I shoot lefty.
Because of that fact and partly because I've always been on a fairly tight budget when it came to guns, my first "serious" rifle was a 444 Marlin lever gun.

I love it. It's a small beast that will knock just about anything right off it's feet. A very serious big bore knock-out artist.

It's been a few years since I've shot it. I took a few years off from the pastime lately and just got back into shooting and hunting a few months ago.

Last time I was buying .444Marlin rounds the choices were pretty much limited to 140 or 265gr Remington ammunition but now there are a whole bunch of different offerings to fill the chamber of the 444 Marlin with.
I'm kind of interested in trying the Leverevolution stuff but from the little bit of research I've done, it probably wont work real well through my microgrooved Marlin 444S.
Almost seems like maybe the best performing stuff is still the 240grain Remongton ammo?

What are YOU shooting in your 444S with microgroove rifling?

Thanks in advance.
 
Hornady Superformance 265gr flat point. Great round at a reasonable price, good accuracy with Microgrove and Ballard barrels.

Hits like a freight train too.
 
Handloads only. My current .444 has the Ballard rifling but my previous one was a microgroove. The Hornady 265gr FP and the 300gr XTP were the two most accurate bullets in it. The Speer 300gr UC wasn't too far behind.
 
Thanks for the replies.
So the heavier (265+) bullets worked fine for you guys with the microgrooves?
Good to know. Unless I find some Leverevolution at a CRAZY price to try/play with I'll stick to some flatnosed units again.
 
You have more chances of having issues with the leverevolution not stabilizing than the 300gr XTP and UC.

Here's some groups shot at 100yds with a cheap 2-7x32 scope from the Microgroove I had. The second pictures is a group of six shots, 3x 300gr XTP and 3x 300gr UC. One of the 300gr UC slipped away. ;)


 
I love this rifle caliber combo too , I just cant say enough about the 280 grain Woodleigh under H4198 ,it has great accuracy plenty of punch for anything that walks in North America ,Yes that means the big bears too,,,Micro groove is great with 280 Woodleighs

Ken
 
Pretty much handloads , I have shot some factory but mostly300 gr Barnes originals over enough h335 to get 2050 fps over the chrono , killed a lot of deer with those . Shooting lee 310 gr cast now still haven't developed a full power load but I have a " plinking" load at 1600 fps , if you are going to shoot a 444 a fair bit ,hand loading makes a lot financial sense
 
More great stuff.
I wont be shooting it an huge bunch.
I used to handload 9mm back in the day. Maybe one day I'll get another rig and get back into it.
I've shot a few deer with mine too including some of the QCI Sitka Blacktails. Actually they were all Sitka Blacktails but not all on the Charlottes.
Man, you wanna talk about a basketball or medium pizza sized shock cavity. Would pretty much turn everything inside the ribcage into a big old pile of crimson jello.
Just a devastating round for sure.
My buddy would bring his .300 Weatherby across when we would go. I love me a quick moving, flat flying .30cal as much as the next guy but there's just something fun and special about a .444 Marlin.
Both calibers were WAY overkill especially for those wee blacktails but....man..

I have a cheap 3-9X40 on mine. It's pretty junky. I was considering yesterday taking it off and going back to the irons with this one. Thy kinda suit it. If a person can SEE a North American animal with the naked eye, they Marlin will pile it up.

Oh here's a funny one...
One day about 14 years ago a guy we were renting a room to and I went out hunting. After a morning of NOTHING we decided to do a bit of afternoon shooting.
I tacked a target to a ~10" dia Aspen tree and paced 100 yards off and let one rip.
We approached the tree to see whether the round had exited. It had. And it had exited the next tree behind the first. And the second. And the third and fourth and at that point we just couldn't find tree #6.
My memory might be playing a slight trick on me with the diameters. They may have been 8" only ...doubt it but even if they were...and even if it was only 3 of them...which it WASNT...hard to believe that a bullet could penetrate like 24-30" of hardwood but I swear!! And I even think it was more like 5 trunks but even I find that hard to believe and I was THERE!
 
GMC403 said:
Hornady Superformance 265gr flat point. Great round at a reasonable price, good accuracy with Microgrove and Ballard barrels.

Hits like a freight train too.
Click to expand...

265 Hornady reloads here, the Leverevolution rounds work well on deer though.
Where do you get the Superformance? Allways wanted to try it but can never find it. I run mine through an XLR.
 
I loaded a fair bit of rounds for a 444 Marlin my uncle bought back in the late 70's.The only factory loaded stuff fired in it was the standard 240 gr.RP offering at the time and that was only to get the brass for handloading purposes.I used Hornady 265gr flatpoints to load for it and they worked very well for anything that came within range.I can recommend these bullets without hesitation for the 444 Marlin,still have a couple boxes tucked away for a rainy day somewhere around here.
 
bjmurata said:
I loaded a fair bit of rounds for a 444 Marlin my uncle bought back in the late 70's.The only factory loaded stuff fired in it was the standard 240 gr.RP offering at the time and that was only to get the brass for handloading purposes.I used Hornady 265gr flatpoints to load for it and they worked very well for anything that came within range.I can recommend these bullets without hesitation for the 444 Marlin,still have a couple boxes tucked away for a rainy day somewhere around here.
Click to expand...

X2. Not much I could add as your experience and results mirror my own. After some initial questionable performance starting in the early 70's with the 240gr factory ammo, I started reloading with the 265gr Hornady FP and have never looked back.
 
GMC403 said:
The local small gunshops here (Victoria) usually have them in stock $40/box
Click to expand...

Lucky! At $40 a box that's not a bad price either!

Johnn Peterson said:
X2. Not much I could add as your experience and results mirror my own. After some initial questionable performance starting in the early 70's with the 240gr factory ammo, I started reloading with the 265gr Hornady FP and have never looked back.
Click to expand...

I always laugh when the old 45/70 vs 444 arguments come up and someone says that there is more bullits available for the 45/70 therefore superior. Like you my search for the perfect bullet began & ended with the 265g Hornady - it just doesn't get any more effective that that!
 
74monster said:
355 grain cast Beartooth bullet over 45 grains of Reloader 7 for around 2150fps.
Click to expand...

I have a couple of hard cast bullets I get from a friend locally. A 325gr and a 250gr, both Keith style SW's and with the micro groove rifling of my Marlin 444S, accuracy is good.





Accuracy is decent but I haven't tried them out in the field yet. There all I've used are the 265gr Hornady.
 
Here's my .444 Marlin and some of the bullets I've loaded for it. I haven't shot anything with it yet but its a cool rifle to shoot.


 
What rifles are you shooting this fine cartridge in, aside from the Marlin lever? H&R makes a single shot and I believe Ruger put out a single shot rifle in it at one point. Anything else currently manufactured?
 
I used Hornady 265's in mine. The hollow points didn't penetrate deep enough. The 265's dropped a problem grizzly in his tracks. Not a big one but a real problem. He charged one hunter who hit it with buckshot when it charged him sand as he was making a exit it was hit in a leg with a 9.3. But was a long way from dead. he went into a draw full of willows at dark and the hunters were told to stay in their bins until morning. sooner or later i went out they would be walking around so I went out at day light with another guide carrying shotgun with slugs. I was in the willows with my buddy up on the higher ground so he had more visibility. Soon I saw a patch of brown fur at about 10-12 yards working it's way towards me. I stood up on a larger rock and could see the bear enough to put one into him. He dropped in hid tracks and my buddy with the shotgun haas to put one in as he was still breathing but not moving.
No problems with renewable resources as the beast had an ear tag, It along with its mother a 2 siblings kept coming into camp to be chased out. Finally they darted them and moved them a few hundred miles away and this one found it's way back and was continuing on where she left off.
She was definitely making it's way to me anD THE $$$ WITH THOSE @^%"S PUT HIM DOWN REAL quick.I think that I have recovered bullets and the mushroom performance was excellent. It's since been replaced by a 45-70, A 350 RM and a 9.3 x62.
The 265 gr Hornady is a performer.

Neil
 
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