Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Express Rifles and Big Bores Only 444 Marlin--heavy loads

I need some help brewing up some heavy loads for my 444. BUT, it's got the Microgroove barrel, so jacketed bullets are a must. The 300 gr Hornady and Speer are a bit "soft" for my tastes. The same weight Nosler might be too soft in the nose as well. I'm considering the Swift A-frames, but don't have any load data. I'm open to any suggestions, so long as they don't involve trading it for a 45-70 or 450. That'll happen soon enough. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Cast bullets will shoot just fine from a microgroove barrel.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech_notes/archive_tech_notes.htm/28

The 330 grain Beartooth or 320 grain Cast Performance are great bullets in the 444 Marlin when sized properly.

In addition, the Speer 300 grain UniCor is an excellent bullet in the 444 Marlin.

Jackfish~Thanks for the tipping me off to Beartooth. I went through their sight and learned a lot about cast bullets in the 444. In the past I'd made an awful mess of the barrel with cast bullets, but they probably weren't hard enough and didn't have gas checks. I'm going to have to try out those heavyweights and see what they'll do. 355gr @ 2150fps sounds like the ticket!

Generally, cast bullets sized .001" to .002" over groove size will shoot well in a microgroove barrel. You could try slugging your barrel or just experiment with .430" to .432" sized bullets. Gas checks are usually necessary for cast bullets pushed much over 1700 fps.