Should I dual purpose a 444 Marlin

[RickinTN]

I shoot a load of 9 grains of Red Dot in my 444 with a 275 grain gas checked bullet and it shoots very well. Plenty of data available for the 444 with 240 to 250 grain cast. I"ll agree that when the velocity rises so does the recoil. For this reason the heavier 444 rifle will be softer recoil than a comparable load in the lighter 44 magnum. 44 magnum load data would be a good place to start for 44 magnum equivalent loads in the 444.
Good luck!
Rick

[OverMax]

Put the Dixie BOOMER {444} way back in the closet in-behind the lady's section. Those old shoe boxes of her's is a dandy spot. As said prior by whomever: "Out of site / out of mind."
Enjoy the little 44 mag until wanting yet another lever deer caliber for Alabama's speed beef. Then. Do grab a close look at >Henry's "Long Ranger!" 243. Toting a 243 thru the bush you're good to go be it North Or South of the Mason Dixon.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Like bikerbeans said the 'S' stands for Sporter and has NOTHING to do with rifling twist rate. The early 444 had a 24" barrel and a straight grip, the 444S has a pistol grip and a 22" barrel, the 444SS has a pistol grip, a 22" barrel, and the crossbolt safety, SS - Sporter Safety, most(all?) are microgroove. ALL 444's have a 1-38 twist that I know of, though rumor has the new ones will be faster. At 200 yards, my 444S will put 300 gr Speer UniCors into 3" or less. I do have a Limbsaver recoil pad installed on the cut-off/shortened buttstock (sacriledge horror horror). Recoil can be(is) unpleasant with 300gr bullets over 2000 fps. That is my elk load. Again, my 444 is much more accurate than my Marlin 1894 44 Mag with similar loads.

[jgt]

Well, I guess I'll jump in now that the water is so murky. Mostlyleverguns got the part about what the "S" stands for right. But, was mixed up on the twist rate. All marlin 44 magnum are 1/38 twist rate (microgrooves and ballards). Marlin 444's were 1/38 if they wore a microgroove barrel. In July of 1998, Marlin changed the twist rate and rifling from 1/38 microgroove to 1/20 ballard rifling. The new ones today are 1/20 ballard rifling.

There were all kind of myths and rumors about the microgroove barrels not shooting cast bullets. This was perpetrated by gun writers that did not know their subject and wrote their opinion based on false information. For example, bullets pushed too fast would "skip" the shallow microgroove rifling. Fact, in a slow twist, velocity is your friend. Next example, Microgroove barrels would not shoot cast bullets accurately. Fact, rifle barrels in 44 caliber had a larger spec for diameter than revolvers. To achieve accuracy one must slug the barrel to see what size bullet fits, then size the cast bullet .001 larger to get the most accurate fit. Next, ballard barrels had "deep cut" rifling compared to microgroove rifling. Fact, ballard barrels had six grooves, microgroove barrel had twelve and were slightly deeper than the ballard grooves. Rumor, you needed "hard cast" bullets to keep from leading the barrels. Fact, hard cast bullets were less likely to fit the barrels diameter correctly and would lead the bore due to gas cutting around the base. A softer gas checked bullet was a better choice.

Now to the OP's post. You have a 444S, therefore it wears a twelve groove microgroove barrel with a 1/38 twist rate. It will stabilize up to a 350 grain bullet. If you are an experienced reloader you may be able to go up to 375 grns, but you can shoot a 350 grain bullet for sure. Chances are good that you will want to size that bullet to .432 diameter, but you should slug the barrel to make certain. Also, the majority had tight spots under the roll marks and dovetails as well as barrel/receiver thread crush. The dovetails were broached rather than milled resulting in the tight spot under them. This can be addressed by fire lapping the barrel. Fire lapping is not chiseled in stone. Many of these guns will preform well without it, but if you want optimum accuracy I would highly recommend it.

For deer and bear a 240 grain bullet will do the job. A good mild but effective load could be something like 44.7 grns of IMR 4198 under a 240 grn bullet. Marlins have short throats, so, I would not recommend a Keith style bullet. The design of the driving band is such that it does not feed or chamber as well in a marlin. Bullets designed by J.D.Jones, Veril Smith, Ranch Dog, and others without the driving band shape used in the Keith design work better. A good mouse to moose design is the 290 LFN marketed by Beartooth Bullets.

In conclusion, I would encourage you to keep the Marlin you own in 444. It can preform well, deliver good accuracy, and you already have it in your lineup. If you decide to hunt boar, elk, or moose, you are already equipped and experienced with the gun beforehand.

Good luck with your decision.

[joatmon]

Do you have .44mag dies already? You could use your mag dies as long as loaded rounds chamber by neck sizing.
Good luck, Aaron

[rickt300]

Do you have .44mag dies already? You could use your mag dies as long as loaded rounds chamber by neck sizing.
Good luck, Aaron

Yes it is possible to use 44 mag dies but it is a pain in the **** to do so. The dies have to be set so high you only have a few threads in the press and even neck size they will size the open end of the case a bit too tight. Seating bullets is a pain also as the seating stem has to be set all the way out of the die once again being held by just a few threads. I really like my 444 and presently am loading the 300 gr. Nosler JHP at just under 1700 fps. Recoil is not bad and accuracy is very good. Powders used are IMR4227, 29.1 grains and Blue Dot at 21.0 grains and a standard CCI primer. At the same time I have a cast load that shoots very close to where the 300 grain load does using 16.0 grains of Blue Dot under the Lyman/Keith 429421 which weighs around 250 grains for 1500 fps. I only hunt feral hogs and deer and both bullets do nicely for this.

[quilbilly]

I have a 444 of similar age and have found that it loves and feeds a 255 gr. swc-pb nicely. The MV is about 1300 and is plenty accurate out to 100 yards and works well on both deer and smaller black bear (under 200#). Recoil is negligible and is a joy to shoot all day without tiring.

[Eddie Southgate]

Last .444 I saw for sale was priced at $1000.00 .

[Jeffrey]

Long story short: I downloaded 444 Marlin using Unique and 265gr Ranchdogs. From 10 to 15 grains Unique velocity tracked 100 fps for each grain Unique used (chronoed). My goal was to reproduce 44 magnum ballistics in a 444 Marlin single shot rifle for a friend's wife.

[BamaNapper]

I wish I could personally thank all of you who answered my post and talked me out of giving up the 444. I had to take a couple weeks away to welcome a new grandson into the world. I got the 444 dies 2 weeks ago and put together some rounds using 240 gr round nose over some Unique I had on the bench. I initially tried a 250 gr SWC, but feeding wasn't smooth so I pulled them and loaded the RN. Nothing special for bullets, just COWW from LEE molds. I know there are better bullets for the rifle, but I was trying to use what I already had cast for my 44 mag.

At 12 gr of Unique the recoil was minimal. I don't have a chrony and Santa is well aware of that shortcoming. I fired two shots at 50 yds, bumped the rear ramp up a notch, and put the next 3 in a 1" group about 1" low left of the bullseye. I had only put together 10 rounds, so I loaded the remaining 5 rounds and took aim at the 8" steel at 100 yds. I held on the top of the steel, 4" high of center. The guy behind the spotting scope said I hit pretty much center with the first 3 shots. I handed the rifle over to a young man who was watching and he easily hit the steel with the last 2 rounds. It was his first time trying a 'cowboy rifle'. The rifle shoots very nicely with the light loads, even with my old eyes and the original iron sights. I'll probably try 12-13 gr of Unique next weekend.

The next step is to find a bullet that will hit a little harder than the round nose, and shoot enough to get comfortable carrying the rifle for hunting season. Opener is 2 wks off. I hate to admit it but I'm considering a box of jacketed HPs I have on the bench. I'll have to ask around at the club to see if anyone is casting a 44 cal flat nose that might feed smoothly.

Thanks again to all of you for the advice and opinions. This thread is already in the ring binder on the bench for reference. There's a gun show next month and a jug of Red Dot is definitely on my list. Looking forward to trying it.

[Peregrine]

I'm just getting into 444 myself, i'm glad you kept it. Great round, one of my very favorites.

[jgt]

Red dot in a 444? I would recommend you buy some good reloading manuals with that money and spend some time reading them before going any further.

[RoyEllis]

Red dot in a 444? I would recommend you buy some good reloading manuals with that money and spend some time reading them before going any further.

Maybe you should take your own advice....Lyman Cast Manual #3 lists Red Dot in several .444 loads. And that's just one reloading manual it gets shown in.

[Peregrine]

Red dot in a 444? I would recommend you buy some good reloading manuals with that money and spend some time reading them before going any further.

That's all i'm using in it right now, and with exceptional results with next to no effort put into load development...like Roy said follow your own advice.
Also, even if you weren't sticking to published data Red Dot is easily one of the most versatile and meritorious powders for throwing cast boolits.

[jgt]

I stand corrected. The Lyman third edition does have it listed for bullets up to the 429244.