Rechamber .44 Mag to .444 Marlin???

[Typecaster]

I'm fiddling with one of my dad's project rifles…an original Winchester Highwall that I had a .44 Mag barrel put on when he retired in the mid-70s. It started with a 28" non-tapered barrel, which he kept shortening as he got older. Now it's probably 22-23", and to be honest I don't remember the twist.

I'm contemplating rechambering it to .444 Marlin, mostly because I'm thinking of the day when one of my sons could put a hot .44 Mag load in the SBH Bisley instead of the rifle. (Now I use nickel-plated brass for rifle loads.) This rifle would be for cast boolets only.

Recoil is not an issue—this thing still has a LOT of weight in the barrel and carries a 12x Unertl 2-in. scope to balance things out.

I have .444 brass, dies, and moulds already, so reamer rental would be my only cost.

Any experience/input on this kind of rechambering project?

Richard

[leadman]

I had a 14" Contender barrel that was originally a 44 Mag. Had it rechambered to 445 SuperMag, then to the 444 Marlin. To say it was a hand full is an understatement!

Since your rifle is much heavier recoil would be manageable. The 444 brass is very strong and lasts a long time. I found that the 44mag and 445SM did much better with cast boolit loads. Seemed like the 444 did not like to be downloaded. Could just have been my barrel.

If you just shoot paper I suggest the 445 SuperMag as this is long enough to not fit in a normal size revolver like a 44mag super Blackhawk. You can load this with 44mag dies.

If you didn't like it you can still rechamber it to 444. Once you do this you can't shoot either of the shorter 44s in it due to the larger base of the 444. If the twist is quick enough you could shoot heavier boolits than a 44mag.

[EDG]

I once had one of the 1 turn in 38" twist 788 Rem rifles.
When I tried loads down in the 44 special velocity range they were either very inaccurate or they tumbled.

[swheeler]

I'm fiddling with one of my dad's project rifles…an original Winchester Highwall that I had a .44 Mag barrel put on when he retired in the mid-70s. It started with a 28" non-tapered barrel, which he kept shortening as he got older. Now it's probably 22-23", and to be honest I don't remember the twist.

I'm contemplating rechambering it to .444 Marlin, mostly because I'm thinking of the day when one of my sons could put a hot .44 Mag load in the SBH Bisley instead of the rifle. (Now I use nickel-plated brass for rifle loads.) This rifle would be for cast boolets only.

Recoil is not an issue—this thing still has a LOT of weight in the barrel and carries a 12x Unertl 2-in. scope to balance things out.

I have .444 brass, dies, and moulds already, so reamer rental would be my only cost.

Any experience/input on this kind of rechambering project?

Richard

No personal experience with this rechamber job, but should be pretty straight forward. You'll need a 444 reamer(that would be a rental for me) a way to yurn the reamer, I use a reamer T-handle, some cutting oil and gages. About 1980 I sent my TC super 14, 44 mag barrel to JD Jones to do this conversion, it shot great in 444 Marlin. He rechambered, etched the new caliber on barrel and recrowned the barrel, IIRC the total with return shipping was 80.00. The only problem I ever had was the forend screw sheared off a couple times, I fixed that by replacing the walnut grips and forend with Pachmyer rubber, much more comfy to shoot with them.

[John Taylor]

A gunsmith I worked for a long time ago used to rechamber the T/C 14" barrels to 444 and then put a screw on choke on the end. He would load 444 brass with 410 equivalent loads and use it on grouse. If he wanted a finish shot on elk he would take the choke off and use a factory loading.

[runfiverun]

go for the 445 supermag you can get brass from starline and use your same dies.
there ain't no way you'll get one of them into a regular revolver.
and you will see an increase in performance and can still shoot 44 mags in it.