.444 Marlin Screamer Tested

[hunter64]

I finally received my 2 cavity mold from Mountain Molds and by coincidence I also received the 434-207GC bullet from GLL. These bullets just plain work in the .444 Marlin. So I had a little fun the last couple of days loading them with 5 different powders and in .444 Marlin they were singing a happy tune. I tried some in my 629 that wears a scope and with Unique powder it was just fine, about 2.0" at 25 yards. Tried some with 2400 powder and minute of paper was all I could get from them, both bullets did not respond very well with 2400, I will need to do some more experimenting with them but I am sure it is because I had hard bullets sized to .431 which my 629 usually loves.

I melted some hard shot and added a little bit of tin for cast-ability and they cast just beautifully, almost jumping out of the 6 cavity mold and with my Mountain Mold I had to persuade them a bit until the metal mold was up to temperature. All were water dropped right from the mold. I sized all the .444 Marlin bullets to .432 and lubed them with LAR's Red which has always worked great in my rifle bullets. All the same Remington Brass and were all sparked with Winchester Large Rifle primers.

Bob's 434-207GC group buy bullets weighed in at 211 grn lubed/sized/checked and the Mountain Molds bullets were slightly less at 205 lubed/sized/checked.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/1964bigfoot/IM002127.jpg
Here we see the best group for the 434-207GC bullet with H322 powder, didn't like IMR3031 or H4198, H335, Benchmark.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/1964bigfoot/IM002126.jpg
Mountain Mold 433-200GC bullet loves IMR3031 but none of the other 4.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/1964bigfoot/IM002125.jpg
Here with a little more IMR3031, notice the point of impact change.

With all the groups I fired, and there were 7 different weights of each of the 5 powders with 5 shots fired at each target, none were any worse than factory 240 GN .444 Marlin Ammo. Worst one was on the order of 3.5" which is what my rifle will do with Remington factory 240gn ammo.

Point of impact was moving all over the place depending on the powder and load, as much as 4 inches difference .

As you can see Pandora was with me for the customary flier from no where. I shot one 5 shot string at the target, then wait 10 minutes for the rifle to cool down after which I ran a bore snake down the barrel in between each firing to clean out any residual powder. Never found any signs of leading and no pressure signs on the brass at all. Very pleasant to shoot considering I shot 350 rounds.

Santa was supposed to bring me a Chronograph last Christmas but some how he missed the house, not sure how fast they were traveling but I would imagine about 1900-2100fps somewhere in there.

[6pt-sika]

I have the 434-207GC mold but have yet to use it !

I also have some of these bullets a friend cast from 50/50 Lino/WW's last year and I had them sighted in to use for deer in one of my older 444's .

I only used XMP5744 with mine however this summer before hunting season I think I just might try some H322 with 100% WW's water quenched .

Your 200 grainer looks intresting I would like to see a picture of just the bullet as cast !

[6pt-sika]

You made mention of your POI changing alot powder to powder .

This happens alot in my experience .

When I take one rifle with several loads of different bullets and powders I normally take a known good load and get it centered on a BIG piece of paper and then I put up a new center aiming point . Shoot a group of the new loads go out and cut it from the paper and replace the whole with new paper and repeat until I get done !

Now if the group just plain sucks I take masking tape and tape over the holes without removing them and go on . With the 444 and the 320 grain plus bullets it's been my experiance so far that 50% of the loads I try are acceptable .

[hunter64]

What I did was cover the whole 4x8' plywood board with paper. I go to one of the newspaper printing warehouses and ask for end of the roll paper and usually I walk out with as much as I can carry. I haven't measured one but they are about 30" wide and there is usually 20-30' or more left on the roll and boy do they work perfect for covering the whole back board. When I put up 15 targets on the board I know exactly where I am hitting. The range is open sun up to dusk so I get there really early at 7am and then I usually have the range to myself for at least 2-3 hours. I went yesterday and didn't see a person till almost Noon which worked out great. It is a private range with only a few hundred members and we have all the way to 700 meters for backstops so it is great to sight in at 100 meters and then actually see what your load/gun will do at 200/300/400 meters.

I would like to try and find some lino and heat treat the bullets and see if I can push them even harder, no real reason other than to say I can. I have sent off the mountain mold to buckshot for hollow pointing so I will see if I have some extra bullets that I cast from it before it was sent so I can take some family portraits.

[6pt-sika]

I've been water quenching bullets 320 grains and over for use in the slow twist Micro barrels and they do very well pushed as fast as I can push them .

Now for something in the 200 grain range I don't know if "just" water quenching WW's will do the job .

[GLL]

hunter64:

How about a photo of your Mountain Mold 433-210-GC bullet ?

Jerry