A bit of a flipside for me! I own over 20 .44 mag or special revolvers and 5 rifles in .44 mag. But no 444's anymore. I only hunt game up to elk and the .44's have handled that easily for many decades for me. That being said, I've cast for and loaded for at least 3 different 444's of family members, so I've shot thousands of 444 rounds. All of my family members use a 360gr cast at 2050fps and it also does a bangup job on elk.
I don't take a side on 444 vs 45-70. But I do love my '86's in 45-70 and 45-90I am also an advocate of the 45-70 which I happen to hold in higher regard then the 444 . However the 45-70 with my cast handloads is not quite as pleasent to shoot . But that could be more due to the buttplates on my old 45-70's then anything else .
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