444 Marlin

[white eagle]

Does anyone have one?
Does anyone hunt with one?
I am getting the 444 bug and was curious how it performed in hunting
deer sized game or bigger
thanks

[Moleman-]

Only ever shot deer with mine. It'll put the thump on em.

[Winger Ed.]

Its sort of one more step going up the ladder from a .44Mag on your way to a .45-70.

[versa-06]

- I know all about that 444 bug, I had it. It should be a Texas heart shot specialist with a heavy boolit. I finally went with an 1885 454 casull due to powder consumption with the lighter loads, & also I would want a faster twist than most older 444 rifles had to offer. It would be costly to re-barrel an already expensive levergun.

[todd9.3x57]

i have a tc encore with a 23" MGM barrel in 444 marlin. i have killed deer with the 250gr penta hp, 255gr Kieth, 280gr wfn and lfn gc and 300gr fn gc, not to mention the 265gr hornady fn. its a good, if not great cartridge. i think it was 60-65 yards was my furthest kill with the 300gr fn gc and 2400/tuft of dacron. the furthest i tracked a deer was about 30 yards(and furthest kill). they mostly go 15 - 20 yards or they are drt.

[Moleman-]

I had a doe take a couple sideways steps, drop and then slide down a hill about 80yds. It was about a 120yd shot with a 265fn Hornady and Imr4198. Most drop right away or very quickly

[BamaNapper]

Personally, I like the 444. I was going to trade it a couple years ago and downsize to a 44 mag to save my shoulder. Thankfully the folks on here talked me out of doing it. Since then I've seen just how versatile the gun is. As they told me, you can load the 444 from mild to wild, and I tend to spend most of my primers down in the mild range. This year my deer stand is in the woods and I'll be shooting 60 yds tops. A full-up 444 load is not needed for these small Alabama deer so I'm using a load that's right at, or a bit north of 44 mag. I'm shooting a 250 gr SWC over Unique. I've had good luck with this bullet and velocity in 44 mag but have yet to have an opportunity with the 444. When deer season is over I'll probably bump the load up a bit and try for some of the bigger hogs on the property. Maybe average 150 lb deer (live weight) and 250 lb hogs.

As for cons with the cartridge, I have two. First is that the length of the case requires a serious swing of the lever, at least on the Marlin rifle. I had the Marlin in 44 mag years ago and it had a nice short swing. The second con would be the same with any rifle using a tubular magazine. To unload the rifle and climb out of a tree stand safely you need to empty the magazine by cycling the rounds through the chamber. It's a challenge every time to not drop more than maybe one round into the leaves and pine straw below.

[quilbilly]

I have taken both deer and elk with mine which I have had for well over 25 years. It is a grand cartridge. At the risk of offending our 45/70 enthusiasts, I bought mine all those years ago because I considered it to be more versatile than the 45/70 given all the .429 jacketed and cast boolits available for it. Nowadays I hunt with muzzleloader because the seasons are more pleasant here. After my experiences with muzzleloaders on elk, I actually downloaded the 444 a bit to be just slightly hotter than my 50 cal ML which has been so "definitive" on elk. Surprisingly (or maybe not), my microgroove 444 really likes both the 310 gr Lee at hunting velocities (1700 fps approx. for me) as well as 255 gr SWC-pb at fun-to-shoot velocities (1200 fps approx). Both feed well. Worth noting, however, is that in my neck-of-the-woods, a long shot on deer or elk is less than 100 yards and occasionally bayonet range.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I've shot one elk with the 444, a 6 point at about 55 yards in timber. Hit point of shoulder angling to go out rear edge of opposite shoulder. Wobbled, start to run and went down after 40 yards. Used 265 Hornady and max load of H322. This load is under MOA in my rifle, might be my most accurate at 100 yards except for a Savage 99 .243. I would not use the 265 Hornady on elk again, came apart with about a hundred grain chunk of lead under the hide. I've shot elk with the 45-70 and .358 Win, I like either one a little better. My 45-70 and .358's are all 1/2 to 1 pound lighter and might kill better due to better bullets available. I do get good cast bullet accuracy. Probably a good 300-325 grain gas checked bullet would work very well for stuff bigger than deer. H322 gave remarkable accuracy, better than Reloder 7, H 4198 or 2015 in my rifle. For black bear or deer the 265 Hornady or most any of the 250 to 300 grain bullets would work fine.

[white eagle]

I have a 27" MGM barrel that I have sent to Jes to rebore
depending on the depth of the screws for the forearm he is going to make it a 444
or if they are to deep for that a 35 Whelen
I really want the 444 though so I hope he can do the rebore for that

[Cast_outlaw]

I have one I use for dangerous game defence it’s a ruthless beast with the 310 lee and big charge of rl7 at 2000fps it’s in a winchester model 94 it’s accuracy is good enough for what I want at 100 yards at under 4”

[todd9.3x57]

I have a 27" MGM barrel that I have sent to Jes to rebore
depending on the depth of the screws for the forearm he is going to make it a 444
or if they are to deep for that a 35 Whelen
I really want the 444 though so I hope he can do the rebore for that

what caliber barrel do you have(that you are sending to JES)?

i like the 444. thats why i did sooooooooo much reloading for it. most of my loads are mild(i'm disabled), although i have shot her wild!!!!!

[white eagle]

I had a 22-6mm or a 224 Texas Trophy Hunter as it is otherwise known as
didn't like it in the Encore platform and it's my belief that they should not
chamber that round for it

[versa-06]

w e; What barrel length & twist rate are you going for?

[Moleman-]

My 444 Marlin is 1:38 and I wish it was a faster twist to work with heavier bullets. It'll shot the 310gr Lee's ok if run at the upper end, but slow then down and they don't shoot well. I have several wildcat 44's that match the 444 velocity up to 270gr bullets with twists from 1:16-1:20 that can shoot the 310's accurately at a lower velocity than my 444 can.

[Gundogx2]

I’ve got the short 444 with the faster twist and Ballard rifling shoots everything great bang flop short 18 in barrel handy and fast
only down is the porting but I’ll put up with it buy how it shoots


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[white eagle]

The barrel is 27" and I hope I can get a 1-20 twist
but don't know if he has that available

[Lee-fan]

Great caliber. I have an early Marlin .444 that has been my go-to since Ohio allowed it for gun season...devistating on deer. I have a Handi-rifle in .444 for my 10 year old boy. I have him practice with a lee 240 swc and Trail Boss all summer, then switch to the Lee .430 310gr. Over 2400 powder for the season. He's killed a small buck and 2 does so far. It's an accurate and versatile cartridge if you handload. It can go from cottontail to whitetail to T-rex. Absolutely love the .444!

[todd9.3x57]

Great caliber. I have an early Marlin .444 that has been my go-to since Ohio allowed it for gun season...devistating on deer. I have a Handi-rifle in .444 for my 10 year old boy. I have him practice with a lee 240 swc and Trail Boss all summer, then switch to the Lee .430 310gr. Over 2400 powder for the season. He's killed a small buck and 2 does so far. It's an accurate and versatile cartridge if you handload. It can go from cottontail to whitetail to T-rex. Absolutely love the .444!

just gotta luv that 2400 powder!!!!! i use 2400 with a tuft of dacron in my 444 and 35/30. dacron makes it shoot better. i forget exactly, but my 444 would go 1 1/2 - 2" at 100 yards(5 shots/bench) without dacron. it would go 3/4 - 1" at 100 yards(5 shots/bench) with dacron. that 300gr fn gc and 2400/dacron going 1624fps has killed some deer. my friend's late father(dad #2 to me) used(444 marlin) 280gr wfn gc and 2400/dacron that i loaded up for him. it does kill deer too!!!

[tmanbuckhunter]

444 has become one of my favorite cartridges. I push a modified Accurate 43-300FG out of mine, which matches XTP nose profile. The meplat is a little small and next year I'll be designing something else for my short throated Marlin 444P with a much wider meplat, but dead is dead. There is nothing I have shot with that rifle that wasn't dead within 50 yards or less.