444 marlin
- Thread starter bigcountry8530
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12gaugeman
Member
Low velocity so you don't kill a farmer.
12gaugeman
Member
Low velocity so you don't kill a farmer.
motrapper
Well-Known Member
I own a 1965 first year made then a 1967 a 1990 and a 2006 444xlr
Load with a 290 Hardcast Beartooth bullet over R7 Punches straight thru Deer DRT Elk at 158 yds DRT thru both shoulders. and you can eat right up to the hole.
Great site for the 444
www.shootersforum.com
Load with a 290 Hardcast Beartooth bullet over R7 Punches straight thru Deer DRT Elk at 158 yds DRT thru both shoulders. and you can eat right up to the hole.
Great site for the 444
Marshalls .444 loads
264MHC
Well-Known Member
I load 300 grain Sierra sports masters at 2222 FPS over H322 in my 22" 444 marlin lever gun with the old 1:38 twist microgroove barrel. I can hold 2" at 100 pretty easy with iron sights and shot a 4" group at 200 the other day. First I've shot it on paper at that range. Not too bad considering my sight covers about 6 Moa. That bullet is very tough and did very well in the bullet tests on the marlin forum a few years back. I think it stops opening up around 1700 FPS and punches right through. Haven't shot anything with it yet unfortunately. Could probably get it close to 2400 in a bolt gun.
watersfam
Active Member
My experience is that the 444 Marlin is a fine lever action rifle. With my 444 Marlin (w/ 24 inch barrel), I took down a very large blue Wildebeest at 130 yards with one shot using the Hornady 265 Leverevolution ammo. It grunted once and fell over dead. I hit a kudu at 175 with it the next day. The bullet hit the gut, knocked it down. The giant antelope got up and ran for about a mile through the savannah before it succumbed to the gut wound. Had to take my Vortex Crossfire II scope off and use iron sites because the gun was too much for the scope mount (keep shaking loose even with locktite). Shot much better with the iron sites. I wouldn't recommend anything further than about 175 yards though. Perfect big game brush gun.
