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- - 444 Marlin (https://www.huntingnet.com/forum/reloading/38924-444-marlin.html)

Just happened into the MarlinTalk site and found some load info for the 444. Worth the surf.

Go to Bear tooth bullets and type in 444 marlin in their search. They have a three part writing entitled " 444 marlin, Americas most versitile big bore" Excelent read on the 444. I heven' t started reloading for my 444 yet but I can assure you that I will be buying my bullets here.

http://beartoothbullets.com/

If you want pre loaded bulets then go to Corbon.com or buffalobore.com. These two companies load them up right.

Rodsmith, Max in my old hornady book is 45.3 gr of IMR 4198. I had shot this load thru a chrony several years ago and the average was 2165fps this was out my first 444 which had a 22 inch barrel.it would be a little less out of the 18 inch outfitter which i have now.

I' m loading the Hornady 265 gr. with 46.0 gr. of H4198 @ 2,198 fps, & muzzle energy of 2,844. Max load for this is 47.0 gr.

just picked up 2 boxes of the Hornady Light Mag 444 in 265gr. Interlock. The seal on the box list the round at 2325fps (nice) +4.1" @ 100yds......0" at 200 yds and a whopping -18.9" at @ 300yds. Good thing my intent was 150 & under! Cant wait for the new scope (Aetec 2.8-10 X 44) base and rings to arrive. Also ordered the Simms recoil pad (pre-fit)

Let me know what you think of that scope setup I have been looking at those for a while now. Thanks

James, I had this scope on the 35 Whelen/Mauser custom that I built. Awesome scope for the money and the Whelen could not kill it. Very clear optics and the 44 bell sucks in alot of light. Check Midway for the price, best I found (outside ebay) was Midway for 140 even

Rod,

I like this load: Powder--- 45.0 gr IMR 4198
Bullet------240 gr Nosler JHP

Make sure and crimp the bullet in place.

This is not a hot load, this load is very accurate in my gun. LOL, NBH

I have been toying around with buying the 444 Marlin Guide gun since hunting in Maine this fall. I' m told it kicks about the same as my 30-06 and just wondering if this is true or not. I know that we lost a bear my daughter shot using my 06 and I put three slugs from my 12 gauge while he was running at me. She is fourteen and I think she held the gun on him to long before she shot and we hit him good where we knocked him down three maybe four times but we never found him. I am sure the result would have been dfferent if I would have took the first shot using my rifle but this was her first hunt so I let her shoot it and followed up with my shotgun when I saw he was up and moving. We looked and found blood,bone and fat but after some time we lost the trail and thus no bear. I plan on returning next year and think this gun may replace my shotgun since my daughter will be using my 06 again. This has been a good thread for me to follow.

I kicks pretty good, not sure about your 06 but is has more recoil than my 270 rem pump and less than the 35 Whelen Mauser refit. I put the Simms Limbsaver recoil pad on the gun prior to the 1st shot so its difficult to gage as it is one nice pad (prefit fits " good" but not perfect) I also shot the gun with the Hornady 265gr Light Mag loads which appear to be " hot loads" based on the ballistics of 2325 fps, for reference sake your 06 is pushing a 250 gr jacketed bullet at 2234 with a max load according to the Lee book. I found interesting reading over on www.chuckhawks.com here is another comparison taken from his pages. They do not have the 250 gr 06 listed so I used the 220gr at 2600fps being fired from an 8lb gun will result in a felt recoil of 26lbs. Now the 265 gr 444 zipping along at 2200 fps (not the hornady load I guess) from an 8.5 lb gun (444SS or 22" barrel) has a felt recoil of 22.1 lbs. Check out his site it has a ton of info for a big bore enthusiast. I traded away the 35Whelen and got the 444SS as the Whelen was to long, heavy and powerful, got what I want and am very happy with the gun, it shoots REAL well and is fun to boot. There are convincing arguments that the 45/70 or the 450 marlin are better but they are all so similar it is a matter of preference. For me the 450 got ruled out due to ammo availability. I agonized over the 45/70 due to the vast amount of available loads,bullets and information on the round but the 444 just grabbed me the right way. Just go out today and buy the thing, you wont be dissapointed