444 Marlin loading

[mstarling]

Guys,

I am kinda new with the .444 Marlin. Made up some slugs with a Lee 430-320 mold w wheel weight alloy, sized them to .430 with Carnauba Red w Hornady gas checks.

Wrote a note to the ballistician at Accurate asking for a loading range with AA5744. As the rifle is to be used by someone who is not that recoil resistant I stopped at 35 gr with Remington primers. Good solid load estimated at 1950 to 2000 fps, or just north of the energy of a 30-06 w 150s.

Loaded them to just at the far end of the furthest our crimp groove.

On closing of the action the last 1/16" of the lever throw does mark the projectiles on the lands of the rifling. No hard to close ... just noticeable.

At 50 yards, first round was 1" high, and 1" right shooting from sticks.

Next two cut each other 1" right.

I think the load is good enough to hunt with. Any thoughts?

[leadman]

If you loaded at the crimp groove closest to the base and the bullet was marked by the rifling you may want to change this. For a hunting load it may not be good to have the boolit started into the rifling. There is a possibility that the boolit could be pulled some when it is extracted but not fired. More of a concern would be fouling or lead preventing the boolit from chambering all the way.
I would back off the powder charge some and seat the boolit deeper in the case and work your load back up. Also the Accurate website does not show a 310gr boolit, but does show a 240gr with a max of 36gr of 5744 so you are at or beyond a max load probably. What data did the guy give you with that bullet? That should be the Lee 310, not 320.

[mstarling]

Powder range of 33 to 38 grains of AA5744 was suggested by AA's corporate ballistician and there is no pressure sighn at all ... primers are still rounded and cases show no measurable expansion. Have more than 40 years of reloading behind me and am VERY conservative abt max loads. Not concerned abt this one.

Was not happy abt the bullets hitting the rifling so took a round and chambered it and ejected it a number of times. Had no problems with the bullet moving.

Was suprised that this bullet hit the rifling and will back it off some ... but that will put it in beyond the crimp groove. Wish I had a factory crimp die for this one.

[swheeler]

"Wrote a note to the ballistician at Accurate asking for a loading range with AA5744." Johan has always given me good advice

[roysha]

My experiences indicate that none of the lever guns had any leade /throat in them. I have had to throat my 444, 32 WS. and an acquaintance's Jap reproduction "86" in 45-70.

The chances of pulling the bullet are so slim as to be non existent because of the poor mechanical advantage of the lever action when it is in the closed position.

However, the other side of the coin suggests that the added stress of forcing the bullet into the lands may damage the linkage ofter a bit of time, not to mention the inconvenience/unreliability of having to crush the lever closed.

I suggest either having the throat opened by you or someone that has the reamers or seating the bullet deep enough not to hit the rifling with throating being the first choice.

If your bullets are cutting each other at 50 yards, as far as I'm concerned, that is venison in the freezer at just about any range the 444 is able to reach.

[mstarling]

You can just barely feel a little resistance at the end throw of the lever. Will try to seat the slugs just a bit deeper and see what happens. May have to acquire a Lee Factory Crimp die for this cartridge to make sure the crimp is solid enough.

Oh well.

This rifle is doing pretty well ... but has a way to go to be my best cast bullet rig. I have a .376/.416 Steyr Improved (.376 Steyr necked up to .416 and blown out) built on an FN Mauser action that is shooting clover leaves at 100 with a 400 gr bullet cast from an NEI mold. Love it when things work out!

[Beerd]

I have to load that bullet way deep to keep it off the lands in my Marlin. I wind up putting a roll crimp on the nose.
..

[Duckhunter]

If you can get a supply of the Hornady 444 brass that was used with the flex tip bullet, this should correct the problem. This Hornady brass is shorter than standard 444 Marlin brass to give the ogive of the FTX bullet room to chamber in lever guns and to accomodate the longer ogive of the FTX bullets.

[quilbilly]

I am also using Lee molds for my 444 as well as 5744. My practice loads are 19.5 gr with a 240 gr plain base giving an MV of about 1200 which is fun to shoot all day. My elk load with the 320 gr GC is 28 gr for an MV of 1700. That may seem light but it is almost identical to my muzzleloader 50 cal. with the sabotted 429 - 260 gr CB which has taken several elk. Since I hunt Roosevelt elk, all shots are well under 100 yards with most under 40 yards.