.444 in Marlins Accurate????

The 265gr Hornadys handloaded are a vast improvement over the 240gr factory loads. I don't cast anymore as a local guy does a good job for a reasonable price so I get all my cast bullets from him. The cast bullets I got for the 444 are a 250gr GC & a 325gr GC. Both are hard cast, sized about 0.001" over the bore daimeter and seem to work well with the micro groove rifling.
 
Testing a .444 Marlin w/heavy cast bullets turned in an interesting result....using .328gr. Wide flat nose G.C. bullets cast hard, in a microgrove barrel, velocity was over 2000 fps. and accuracy was excellent.....when we tried the same bullet with dry moly lube(something we usually recommend) bullets were all over the target!!! Couldn't get any accuracy until we lowered velocity to 1500 or less!! I guess the shallow rifling couldn't grip the super slippery bullets!!
 
Girls like Guns too said:
All I can find around here is Remington 240 grain soft points , and they are $49 per box and not easy to find....any advice on where else I could get factories? Not ready to reload yet.
Click to expand...

Hornady's Lever Evolution I believe is in .444 as well. Someone will correct me if it's not available yet
 
dw said:
Hornady's Lever Evolution I believe is in .444 as well. Someone will correct me if it's not available yet
Click to expand...

Hornady also makes a "heavy magnum" load for the 444 with their 265gr. that is clocking ~2300 fps. I have taken a fair number of deer over the years with the 444; it is my favorite lever round, but use the 265 hornady's as they are designed for the 444.

I have been loading the 265's for a buddy with 44.4 grains of IMR 4198 that will group under an inch (not bad considering the bullet is almost 1/2 that wide), it shoots better than his 700 rem in 300 Weatherby.:D

Cheers.
 
my 444 will string five shots in .75" if i'm doing my part. i've found 300 gr bullets to be especially accurate in my micro-groove bbl. don't worry about that lack of penetration bs spouted earlier in this post, that's nonsense if you use 265 grain bullets and up.
 
Last edited:
The lack of penetration "spouted" earlier has been proven time and time again by tests into bone box done by M.T. Chambers as well as B.Mitchell, test data is avail. and it shows 240gr. and 265gr. Rem. and Horn. bullets shedding jackets and breaking up early and delivering less then half the penetration of heavy bullets in the .45/70, Heavy hard cast bullets in the .444 easily outpenetrated the jacketed bullets! Same as in the heavy .45/70 loads!
 
ben hunchak said:
The lack of penetration "spouted" earlier has been proven time and time again by tests into bone box done by M.T. Chambers as well as B.Mitchell, test data is avail. and it shows 240gr. and 265gr. Rem. and Horn. bullets shedding jackets and breaking up early and delivering less then half the penetration of heavy bullets in the .45/70, Heavy hard cast bullets in the .444 easily outpenetrated the jacketed bullets! Same as in the heavy .45/70 loads!
Click to expand...

who cares, it gets in far enough to get the job done. ok, the hard cast bullets penetrated farther, thats not surprising. so are you telling us that the 265 or 300 grain bullets are inadequate for moose?

keep spoutin' :p
 
It's not that they are inadequate it's just they're not as effective.....Short, fat, thin jacketed, low SD, jacket shedding, soft lead exposing, at high speed bullets makes for mixed results if you hit the front shoulder of a moose or a large bear!! Hard cast, heavy for caliber, wide flat nose slugs, is what I'm "spoutin'" 'bout!!
 
ben hunchak said:
The knock against the .444 ,has always been its lack of penetrtation when using pistol bullets with thin jackets and low SD. Some factory loads still use pistol bullets and it hampers the .444 on large game.....Heavy cast bullets with flat points and gas checks cast hard should increase penetration on moose and big bears....I don't think accuracy was ever a problem in the .444!
Click to expand...

ben hunchak said:
The lack of penetration "spouted" earlier has been proven time and time again by tests into bone box done by M.T. Chambers as well as B.Mitchell, test data is avail. and it shows 240gr. and 265gr. Rem. and Horn. bullets shedding jackets and breaking up early and delivering less then half the penetration of heavy bullets in the .45/70, Heavy hard cast bullets in the .444 easily outpenetrated the jacketed bullets! Same as in the heavy .45/70 loads!
Click to expand...


I used 240Grn JHP by speer in mine for 4 hunting/guide seasons and took 4 moose with it, complete passthroughs @ 140 yards and 3 black bears just exploded on impact under 75 yards, I relise there NOT ideal bullets for the caliber but there is NO lack of penetration either IMHO, if you can shoot they will kill no problem, and 1 of the moose was through the shoulders, exesive meat damage hell yes but busted that shoulder and took down the bull no problem
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom