Any good loads for the 444 Marlin single shot rifle?

[Camba]

I had recently bought a new H&R single shot break open rifle in 444 Marlin from Bass Pro-Shop and to my supprise, the rifle is a tack driver with factory Remington 240gr load.
After I finished shooting the 20 factory rounds, I decided to make some of my own loads. I was able to get good resulds using 25gr of 2400 powder under a 200 gr JHP Speer Gold Dot bullets and CCI-200 LRP. Great accuracy and smooth to shoot (no shoulder busting/bruising).

Next, I use the Lee TL 240gr SWC, GC cast bullet with the same amount of powder 25.0gr 2400 and used FED GM155M and CCI-300 LPP.
The 50 yds 1st group was 0.76" and then I moved the target to 100 yds for the same load and shot the 4th group (warmer barrel) and I ended up with a 3.5" group.

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I don't know what velocity I am getting with the 25.0gr of 2400 powder but I would love to get an accurate load between 1800 to 2000 fps if possible with the Lee SWC GC boolit mentioned above. Any recomendations?


Camba

[Ben]

If you gave the diameter of your cast bullets I missed it.

What diameter cast are you shooting ?

Some Handi rifles in .44 cal. don't shoot well until they are fed a .432 - .433 dia. cast bullet.

[GhostHawk]

I have one of those that I bought shortly after H&R closed up shop.

In mine I have had my best luck with the Lee .430 310 grain gas check wide meplat round nose.

I am not very fond of recoil so I will admit I have never pulled the trigger on a factory round.

I am shooting the big 310s over 13 grains of Red Dot and it is a tack driver.

My very first 3 shots gave me a cloverleaf at 50y while I was sighting in my scope.

I would have had another at 100y but I pulled one 3/4 of an inch high and left.

I do not shoot mine a lot, but she is one great little tack driver for sure.

If I was to go looking at a different powder I would probably start with a low load of 4895.
But the Red Dot is so accurate, and inexpensive so I feel no reason to experiment.

[Camba]

My 240gr Lee TL GC boolits are between .43 and .4305"
Camba

[tdoyka]

i was messing around with my tc encore and i discovered trail boss works great with 250gr mihek hp and 275gr ranch dogs. it also works with unique.

[Ben]

My 240gr Lee TL GC boolits are between .43 and .4305"
Camba

That may work , Mine likes a .432" cast bullet.

[Kevinakaq]

Will watch this thread closely. Have a NIB 444 Handi just like the OP that I may work up some loads for soon...was going to Powder Coat my Lee 430-310 to get a bit more diameter...

[dh2]

I have a handi rifle in 444 Marlin I got when it was still in production, I did slug the bore and come out with .432 a bit larger than most 44 cal molds.
I cast with a RCBS Mold 44-240-SWC 44 Caliber 240 Grain Semi-Wadcutter Gas Check I did cast them with a bit of super hard in the mix to get the antimony up which increases the cast boolit size by about .001 and push it with IMR4198 giving me 100 yard groups of less than 2 inches, but this boolit is much to hard and brittle to hunt with.
With a group buy I found on here I got a Mihek .434 mold 250gr, that has seem to be the answer for cast soft to expand.
now I have noticed that NOE is now offering molds dropping .432 it is worth a look.
you will need to get up to the bore dia. and in my experience Lee molds cast small

[Camba]

I do have an rcbs 250gr keith swc but it is plain base. The lee 240gr gc does not lead the bbl. I had also noticed that I don't need to resize the empties to reload them. I have not slug the bbl to determine actual size.

[dh2]

http://noebulletmolds.com/smf/index.php/topic,1144.0/topicseen.html
I was just checking NOE Forum and thought this might be what you are looking for

[rrob692326]

405 grain LBT cast with Varget for 1500 fps in 14 inch bbl. Lots of recoil, real attention getter and not your everyday load, but fun to touch off once in a while. Not for micro groove barrels.