Accuracy of the .44 Marlin carbine

S

snowhunter

CGN frequent flyer
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Loading and shooting the scoped, "Micro Groved" Marlin 1894 carbine with 240 grain Hornady "XTP" bullet in front of 24.7 grain of W 295 showed fine accuracy at hundred yards, with a triangle groups spreading from 0.3 to 0.6 inches.

At 200 yards, the same bullets dropped about 12-13 inches, which should make this handy, light and short, fast shooting carbine, an effective 150+ yards deer gun.

I also talked with an former Alaskan resident, who claimed that he had seen one shot kill on moose with this, .44 caliber Marlin 1894 carbine.

I have had less succes when shooting shot gun pellet capsules from this .44 carbine at grouse, since the rifling make those capsules spin, and spread out to fast to do any good on grouse.

I am looking forward to hunt with this nice, little and handy, 10 shoot carbine this season :)
 
Have you compared the penetration between the XTP and a hard cast flat point bullet of heavier weight? For big game with the .44 you need all the penetration you can get as most bullets have low BC, combine a short bullet with early expansion and you get limited penetration. I am talking about game larger than deer, animals that have heavier bones and hides, and can really stop bullets.
 
Yeah, the key to big game hunting with a .44 is non-expanding wide-meplat (SWC) bullets (so I hear).

A better solution, IMHO, is to get a bigger gun for the bigger stuff
 
The FMJ Speer 240 grain should be ideal for large game. However, the very sharp point of this particular bullet should make it dangerous to be used in a tubular magazine ? If used as the first round, and the the rests of the bullet are for example the Hornady 240 grain "XTP", it should be safe. Also the 240 Speer FMJ bullet shoot about 1-2 inch higer at 100 yard than the 240 grain Hornady "XTP"

I have shoot deer with 265 jacketed bullet, and find that they do not expand at .44 magnum velocities.

Without doubt, the hard lead solid bullet would penetrate deeper than a soft pointed, jacketed bullet, which might be slowed down a bit by the expanding front of the bullet ? Or are we just splitting hair :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom