444 Marlin
 

Just aquired a new 444 Marlin and was curious as to opinions + or - on reloading this cartridge. Anything that I should pay special attention to. Any good recipies from the knowledge base out there?

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Having recenlty aquired the 444 Marlin, I have been surfing the various mfgrs sites looking at available options of bullets. The only mfgr. that does not specifically call out the bullets as " Pistol" is Sierra. What bullets are you guys using out there and can one assume that the construction of a pistol bullet will hold up with the increased velocities of the rifle load although they are not that much higher. I would rather ask the ? and air on the side of caution. Relatively new to the reloading field so please bear with my questions. I am the curious type.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Try the hornady 265gr flat pt. It is made for the .444. Pistol bullets will not work as well. It looks like this year hornady is offering this bullet in loaded ammo. It might be worth a look.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Barnes Makes two X bullets for the 444. A 200 and a 225 grain. These are just what the doctor ordered for the 444 Marlin.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Thanks for the scoop, I was beginning to think that the 444 was a jinxed cartridge by the lack of response on the board. I looked at the Hornady 265 and like the heavy bullet. Gotta surf over to Barnes and see what they have. Could not find at Midway??? How bout some recipies for the reload bench with the 265 jacketed and the 225 Barnes? Any 444 reloaders out there?

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Go with the 265 gr hornady. I have been using this bullet since I started loading for the 444 and that was in the mid 70s. It shoots good and works real well on deer.I use IMR 4198 powder.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

.444 Marlin.....RL7, 47 grains...Hornady 265 grain bullet....about 2200 f/s.

This is a MAX load.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Thanks Sam444 and Vapo for the info. Sam what is your load grain of the IMR4198

RE: 444 Marlin
 

That' s an easy one to remember 44.4gr of IMR4198

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Yeah, I guess that is pretty easy to remember. Would that be a max load? Have you run it thru a chrony? Thanks again for the help. I just missed a 3 die set of Hornady Custom Grade 444 dies on ebay for under $25.00....*&^&*^^%$

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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)

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

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

RE: 444 Marlin
 

I am new to this forum, having found it by making an error. I have had a .444 for over 30 years and handload for it. My pet load( deer) is a 240 gr Rem corelok with 52 Gr. IMR4198. This gives me a MV of 2550 fps and a whopping 3400 ft-lbs . It' s Thor' s Hammer up close.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Welcome to the forum Big Guy! I have yet to take a deer with this triple 4 but it absolutely disintegrated a fat proky! Had quills for 20' in every direction and stuck in the trees 6' up. I did not notice the 1 1/2" sappling a foot from the rear end when I shot. The bullet hit that prior to the porky and it was devistating! Our south zone season opens next week so I will be back out to fill the freezer with my son for his 1st year.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

I have had a good year so far, I shot a bull moose with my .300 win , Took a nice doe bow hunting in Oct., and shot 2 deer with my .444 last week. Just one more season to go, and I hope to connect during owr ML season in 3 weeks.

RE: 444 Marlin
 

you must have a garage full of chest freezers!

RE: 444 Marlin
 

Yep I got a 23 and a 25 cuft chest freezers and a sxs refrigerator freezer in the kitchen. They are almost full.:)

RE: 444 Marlin
 

I use 46.0g of H4198 with a 265g Hornady FP and 48g of H4198 with a 240g Remington SP. Both have stomped anyting that I have shot at

RE: 444 Marlin
 

I used the Hornady 265 gr. bullets for the first time this season with great results. I took three deer this past weekend, all shot broadside behind the shoulders. The bullets made a complete pass thru on all, and other than making a half dollar size hole both entrance and exit in the ribs, did not damage any of the meat. My hunting buddy used 240 gr. Speer bullets I believe, and although he shot his deer behind the shoulder as well, the bullet did not hold together and did quite a bit of damage. He is changing to the Hornady bullets.;)