444 marlin 280gr lfn gc in medium loads?

my 2nd dad has an old tc encore with a virgin valley custom guns( i had to look her up, found out match grade machine barrels makes them) in a 444 marlin. it shoots my 280gr lfn in about an inch at 100 yards, but it goes roughly 2300fps. its way too much for an old man, its way too much for me!!! i tried taking rel7 down to 40 or 41gr(around 2000fps) but it still kicks him a little too much. i am going to try a 1700-1800fps in 280gr lfn in the hopes that it doesn't kick as much. i have several pounds of 2400 that will do the trick. does 25.0gr of 2400 under a 280gr lfn gc seem a good place to start? he wants to shoot at a deer, 100-125 yards away.

i have unique, hs-6 and trail boss too.

6 to 13 grains of Red Dot is what I shoot in my Handi rifle.

220 grain to 310 grain boolts.

13 grains of RD below the 310 gr Lee RCBS clone gave me cloverleaf's at 25 and 75. Almost at 100, but I pulled one half an inch up and left.

6 grains I almost don't feel going off. Essentially a moderate .44mag load in .444 brass.

You can go quite a bit lower than 2000 in a 444 and still be good for elk. My muzzle loader with sabots and a 429 -265 gr SWCpb was very effective on elk at an MV of 1600. It was so effective, in fact, that I matched the load in my 444 should I ever decide to do anymore elk hunting with a modern firearm. That same boolit at 1300 fps is just plain fun to shoot in that rifle year around with no leading and would be fine for deer out to 150 yards (best I can do with iron sights and aging eyes).

If you are shooting deer at under 150 yards, you could drop bullet weight down to 240-260 grains, 1300-1500 fps should give plenty of power for deer. Bullet weight can really raise recoil, do you have a nice soft recoil pad on the rifle. The slip-on LimbSaver (Walmart - about $25) can make a big difference in pleasure. I replaced the Marlin original pad (age hardened) on my 444 with a LimbSaver, made a big difference.

MostlyLeverGuns, he got a slip-on limbsaver pad about 2 months ago.

i tried taking the load down to 38.5gr of rel7(280gr lfn gc), but he likes the 25.5gr of 2400 over a 280gr wfn gc more.

theres no chrony, but i have shot them.

280gr lfn and wfn gc
24.0 - 26.0gr of 2400

280gr lfn and wfn gc
38.5gr of rel7


i'm going to try 26.5 - 28.0gr of 2400 just to see what happens.

does anyone have a load that uses 300-325gr boolit and 2400?

I have a load with the lee 310 at 1600 FPS I am shooting out of a marlin It is powered by win 571 ( just using up some old powder ) while it doesn’t compare to full house loads it is still snappy enough . I think slower powders would be better if you stick with the heavier boolits, I think lighter boolits are the way to go to reduce recoil ,

Just go to a load with Unique and if you have use some pillow ticking for filler that will keep thing consistent.

Unique you can get that gun to nice 1400-1500 FPS range Lyman cast book has several loads for that.

example ; 17.0 grains of Unique over a 240 grain cast bullet will run 1661 from a 24" bbl.

So a starting load of 12.0 grains of Unique and work you way up .2 grains at a time.

I have run some of my most accurate loads using cast bullets and Unique. Economical and easy on the shooter.