Load for .444 Marlin

[xd shooter]

OK its time to start loading my cast boolits for the .444 marlin I have 2 Lyman molds.
The one I'm working on for now is a 429244gc The one for later is a 429650gc.

What would be a good start load using RL-7?

[6pt-sika]

Never used RL7 with either of those bullets .

I did however have very good results with the 429244 using H322 . In both the FP and HP versions .

With the 429650 I used H4198 and got acceptable hunting accuracy .

[6pt-sika]

Look in the Hercules freebie manual and see what they say for 250 and 300 grain jacketed bullets with RL7 . I generally use the jacketed bullet charge data for cast bullets . So for me that would be a good starting place .

[Lloyd Smale]

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/Default.htm threres some good articles here on the 444. Go to the contributing author section and my buddy al anderson wrote a good one on his 444 outfitter.

[Shuz]

OK its time to start loading my cast boolits for the .444 marlin I have 2 Lyman molds.
The one I'm working on for now is a 429244gc The one for later is a 429650gc.

What would be a good start load using RL-7?

45g of Rel 7 would be where I'd start with either of those boolits. I have not used them with Rel 7, but I did use tha same 45g load with H-4198 and found the accuracy and feeding to be less than desirable. At a later range session, I found 45g of Rel 7 and the Ranch Dog 265 and the MP-433-300HP gave excellent feeding and results on the target. I'm a newbie when it comes to the .444 Marlin, having just got my first .444 in September 2012, but my early experiments on mine have shown that it likes Rel 7 and big (.432) diameter boolits and designs of the RNFP best. Good luck with the SWC's; but if they don't feed or shoot well, consider some RNFP designs.

[helice]

I have used ReL-7 extensively in the 444. I now use only ReL-7 and fast shotgun powers for the 444. I have a 300 gr LBT WFN-gc, a 280 LBT LFN-pb, and the Ray Thompson Lyman like yours. I fire these from a scout scoped Winchester BigBore 94 which, I am told, will take a bit more pressure than the Marlin. A very comfortable, and superbly accurate load with the 429244 is 42 gr of ReL-7 for about 1900 foot seconds but I have gone quite a bit over that. The above mentioned 45 grain suggestion is well within the realm of good possibilities. I have articles, from those who claim to know, indicating use of a 45 grain ReL-7 load under a 300 gr Barnes, Hornady, Sierra and Speer j-word bullet. Frank Paco Kelly has gone quite a bit hotter in his articles. These heavy loads are a bit too abusive for me at the bench and thus have lost their appeal. Hunting with a 250, 280, or 300 grain slug moving at 1900 foot seconds is all I have need for.

[bigted]

for a true hoot and fun galore...load 60 grains GOEX cartridge powder behind a 325 grain 650 lyman boolit with a thin wad between the powder n boolit. this is a sure hoot and very fun!!!

[Clay M]

I have an old 444 from the early 70's, killed a fantastic buck with it last fall , but it has the micro grooved bore, so it isn't a great cast bullet gun .Wish I had bought one of the newer ones before they were discontinued.

[blikseme300]

The micro grooved barrels work just fine contrary to Internet myth. The secret sauce is to run boolits that are of the proper size as MG barrels need larger boolits than ballard rifling. Both my 444S and 30-30 with MG barrels shoot just fine with no leading.

[Clay M]

The micro grooved barrels work just fine contrary to Internet myth. The secret sauce is to run boolits that are of the proper size as MG barrels need larger boolits than ballard rifling. Both my 444S and 30-30 with MG barrels shoot just fine with no leading.

I have read you have to keep the velocities around 1600fps or less.

[blikseme300]

I have read you have to keep the velocities around 1600fps or less.

This is not true either as I found after some research and testing. Other members here and on the Marlin owners forum have done extensive development in MG rifles with cast and I am fortunate to have bought a number of the fine molds that Ranch Dog offered and use these to great effect in my Marlins and both work well with loads that exceed 2000ft/s.

[Newtire]

I have used that 429244 for a nice load but unless you seat the bullet to where it crimps over the top land, it won't feed in my rifle.

[hunter64]

Clay M : Actually you have to run the boolits quicker for success. Here is a 200 gn GC bullet that I had Mountain Molds make up for me a couple of years ago and I size it to .432 as all my other boolits that I feed my Microgroove barrelled .444's.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/1964bigfoot/IM002126.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/1964bigfoot/media/IM002126.jpg.html)

Here is from a group buy with about the same results.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/1964bigfoot/IM002127.jpg (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/1964bigfoot/media/IM002127.jpg.html)

[Clay M]

I am not sure I have any moulds that will cast a bullet to .432

[Starrbow]

Marlins Micro-Groove 444"s shoot cast boolits excellent if you do your part, .002 over bore diameter for boolit size is the first step, second is the mantra we live by "Velocity is your friend" (this is were the gun rag writers failed and the myth started) and last as with any gun shooting hardcast boolits the barrel must be free from obstructions! For those of you starting out you must read the 3 articles that Mr Stanton has written about the 444 and cast bullets, there at beartooth bullets under the tech notes. You can keep all the ballard rifled 444's, I'll stay with the Micro-Groove! Thank You!

[Clay M]

This is great to know. I have owned the old gun for forty years.It was a Christmas present from my father.The next question is whether it will stabilize the RCBS 300 gr gas check bullet . I would prefer to use the heavier bullets.

[blikseme300]

Clay, I can send you some RD 265gn. PM me if interested.

[helice]

ClayM,
Let's kill another myth.
Those 300 grain boolits will work fine if they have the proper diameter. The idea that the biggest bullet for the 444 is the 265 grain has been proven very wrong long ago.
You can thank your dad for a very versatile firearm.

[hunter64]

I have gone up to 350gn and no problems stabilizing as long as they are sized .431 or .432 and pushed hard. If you powder puff them then they will go out of whack and minute of 4' x 8' plywood will be the result.

I have a couple of moose than can attest to the hammer of thor hitting them and putting them down quickly. Both animals fell to the 300gn hollow point, one was hit in the heart and literally exploded and it was if someone turned out the lights and the other one was hit in the back of the head with the same results.

[Shuz]

I have gone up to 350gn and no problems stabilizing as long as they are sized .431 or .432 and pushed hard. If you powder puff them then they will go out of whack and minute of 4' x 8' plywood will be the result.

I have a couple of moose than can attest to the hammer of thor hitting them and putting them down quickly. Both animals fell to the 300gn hollow point, one was hit in the heart and literally exploded and it was if someone turned out the lights and the other one was hit in the back of the head with the same results.

What 300g hollow point did you use?

[Starrbow]

I shoot 350gr Hardcast bullets, Accurately, with the MG and 1-38 twist, my pet 350gr bullet is the Ranch Dog, I do not use tumble lube, I do pan lube those bullets. The Ranch Dog 350 shoots excelent! there is one other thing you need to be aware of with Marlins in 444, and that is fill the throat, thats why bore ride bullets seem to work great and why Ranch Dogs bullets shoot so great when they are at least .432.

[hunter64]

What 300g hollow point did you use?

Mihec 44 mag/ 444 Marlin bullet , it has three crimp grooves for different applications and works great. I will second the Ranch Dog 350 gn recommendation, nice and accurate.

[6pt-sika]

This is great to know. I have owned the old gun for forty years.It was a Christmas present from my father.The next question is whether it will stabilize the RCBS 300 gr gas check bullet . I would prefer to use the heavier bullets.

It'll stabalize 375 grain bullets if you make uhm big enough , water quench the wheelweight alloy and push uhm hard with H322 or IMR8208 or RL-7 !

[Canuck Bob]

Veral at LBT speaks highly of micro grooves as excellent cast bullet shooters in his forum. He accredits this to all the rifling edges and minimal distortion. Veral likes hard bullets in the big bore and warns that proper fit is critical at all times.

It was a real education to realize that my 444, used for decades, would be an outstanding rifle with cast bullets for hunting not just plinking. The large flat meplat and mass of big bore cast bullets works very well at big lever gun velocities. I used 265 Hornady's for years, with fine results, but they are getting hard to get up here. Casting for my 444 got me setup for casting and now my bullets cost pennies and 444 premium bullets are made in the garage. With the runaway in the US gun market supply up here really sucks.

[Shuz]

Mihec 44 mag/ 444 Marlin bullet , it has three crimp grooves for different applications and works great. I will second the Ranch Dog 350 gn recommendation, nice and accurate.

I now have that mould in my stable. Yesterday I fired a few groups with 45g of Rel 7 and the MP-433-300HP and got 2.2" accuracy at 50 meters from a rest. Velocity was 2158 fps with an SD of 5. I'm a happy camper!

[helice]

Hey now that's what we all like to see. Happy campers, strong loads and good results.

[Neo]

I can only get lee molds here in Australia in .429 so I'm not sure how I go with cast bullets in my 444ss M/G that I picked up yesterday.