444 marlin with 385 gr Boolit

[mdevlin53]

I have a 444 marlin built with a greener martini action and a douglas barrel that i bought from a member here. I also have a mold for my 43 spanish that can be sized down to betweeen .430 and .432 that could work in tis rifle. problem is there is a scant amount of load data for a bullet this large. Most of the rifles for this cartridge are lever guns and shoot much smaller weights. I have had some good sucsess with a 310 GC boolit but i would like to try the heavy boolit just to see how it performs. I can find a few loads with reloader 7 but not much else. I have 4759,3031,2400 and Black powder. At this point it's just a thought but i figured i would throw it out there and see what the collective wisdom has to say on the subject.
Thanks
Michael

[nekshot]

about a year ago there was a bloke over on the marlin forum in their 444 section doing alot of work with real heavy boolits and getting astronomical speeds. He was cagey about his exact loads for public consumption but I learned alot from him simply following his thread. Paco Kelly has very good info on the 444 also at levergun forum. Maybe someone with computer know how can link you to them. I know the 444 in my winny 94 is a screamer and it could only get better in a good bolt or single shot. My body won't take the recoil anymore so reduced loads are my journey for now.

[mdevlin53]

There is a lot of information from beartooth bullets to be had but he has powder that I do not currently stock and the supply is still sketchy. what I was looking for was a load with 3031 or 4759. seems you can pretty much fill a 45-70 case with 3031 and still be safe so I figured it might work with the 444. if I cant find some reliable data I will just try it with BP. fill the case compress a bit and see how she shoots.

[nekshot]

I like the bp thought. I would love to find a barrel and build a single shot for the 444 just to play with bp. I am a wuss at shooting bp in my timber rifle and having to clean it.

[Marlin Junky]

I have a 444 marlin built with a greener martini action and a douglas barrel that i bought from a member here. I also have a mold for my 43 spanish that can be sized down to betweeen .430 and .432 that could work in tis rifle. problem is there is a scant amount of load data for a bullet this large. Most of the rifles for this cartridge are lever guns and shoot much smaller weights. I have had some good sucsess with a 310 GC boolit but i would like to try the heavy boolit just to see how it performs. I can find a few loads with reloader 7 but not much else. I have 4759,3031,2400 and Black powder. At this point it's just a thought but i figured i would throw it out there and see what the collective wisdom has to say on the subject.
Thanks
Michael

I worked with a 390 grain boolit and AA2520... got 1800+ fps from my 18.5" carbine. Tell me what your goal is and I'll see what QuickLoad can come up with. All I really need to know is case volume in grains of water, (my fired formed cases hold about 73-74 grains) boolit length, boolit weight, and COL, powder, desired pressure and velocity.

For example: 48.5 grains of 3031 behind a 390 grain boolit that's 1.105" long, loaded in a cartridge that's 2.839" long overall (2.22" cartridge case) will produce 33K PSI and 1812 fps from a 18.5" bbl.

MJ

[mdevlin53]

i was just rolling this over in my head and had not done any real work on the combination so last night i loaded up a dummy round. the bollit is 1.091 and 385 grains the max OAL that will chamber is 2.628. I did not measure the case volume. the boolit seats in the case about .790 so it cuts down on the available volume for powder and i do not think i could fit 48 grains in under the seated bullet. barrel length is 22 inches by the way.

[Marlin Junky]

i was just rolling this over in my head and had not done any real work on the combination so last night i loaded up a dummy round. the bollit is 1.091 and 385 grains the max OAL that will chamber is 2.628. I did not measure the case volume. the boolit seats in the case about .790 so it cuts down on the available volume for powder and i do not think i could fit 48 grains in under the seated bullet. barrel length is 22 inches by the way.

Well, you didn't tell me what your goal is so I'll just provide the following:

COL: 2.628"
Boolit length: 1.091"
Boolit weight: 385 grains
Boolit diameter: .432"
Groove diameter: .430"
Powder charge: 41 grains 3031
% Density (in a case that holds 73 grains water): 99.3%
Pressure: 26,509 PSI
Velocity from a 22" bbl: 1687 fps
Amount of propellant burn: 92%

Have fun,
MJ

[mdevlin53]

Well my goal is to see what I can do with this boolit in this gun. There is a real scarcity of molds and powder out there and I have what I have, I figure I would try this combo and see how it performs. MJ your 41 grains is just about all that will fit into the case with the boolit seated so it will chamber so I michr back off to say 35 grains and walk up to 41. I would like to see what the point of impact is at 50, 100, and 200 yard is. I have no doubt that this would be a real effective load for most NA game.I started with a 310 grain boolit and next is the heavyweight, when I can get a mold I might try something in the more traditional weights down the road.

Thanks everyone for the help once I get a range trip in I will report back the results.
PS
I am still going to load up twenty with PB and see how that works as well.