Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 444 Marlin & Elk

Are you going to count the infamous azz-shot "8 year old" deer? If not, are you ruling it out due to the use of a golf-cart?

George

Im gonna be fair and include anything he can hang a pic of... golf cart or not...

You're just going easy 'cause he's a Floridian .

George

That's the reason why im bustin his azz bout comenting on elk hunting... WTH do we Floridians know about elk hunting?

Probably about the same as I know about hunting 'gators...

Agreed... I've never even seen an elk...

I saw an elk once......

Zoos, ranches and "from behind" don't count.....

Oh.......nevermind.......

Whoa!... I lied I've actually seen a couple tame ones on a ranch, butchered one for a man. I meant real Elk though...

No you aren't....your opinion means less than nothing...period.

Wow...I guess that puts you in your place Podunk....


What a fuggin' tool...

Well as one who has worked with a 444 since 1980...your above two comments conflict with ANYTHING I have ever seen....

one does NOT need a heavy cast bullet to "work its magic"...

you just have to match your MV to the bullets design parameters that you are using..

so your statement about they only work with "heavy cast bullets" is wrong, which would also negate your ego motivated comment about " knowing a lot about bullet design and shooting large animals with them" theory.....

evidently your knowledge isn't as vast as you give yourself credit for..

A HP is not necessarily a bad thing - especially at .444 downrange velocities - unless you're shooting elk in the azz and then I'd prefer a 300g hardcast.

When it comes to FTX and Core-Lokt, I'd much rather hunt elk with a .444 Marlin and a 265g FTX @ 2325fps than a Remington 240g SP @ 2350fps. Using Hornady and Remington loads, the FTX has more velocity and energy at 300 yards than the Core-Lokt has at 200.

Once again, the FTX bullets aren't worth a $hit. For big game, you need a real hunting bullet.

Remington only offers the .444 in a 240 grain Core-Lokt which is ok for deer. It's not suitable for big game.

The FTX is a great marketing ploy. It catches plenty of hunter's wallets, but it was an answer to a question that was never asked.

Swampy you shhooorree told me... . azzclown.

Do you have a point?

Do YOU have one?

I mean besides the one athe top of your pointy litle head....

To the OP - I've killed 5 elk with the 444 at 150 yards or less. Four were one shot kills, the elk just stood there or took a couple steps then got wobbly and fell over. One was quartering to and shot through the front shoulder joint, put another one in him because I didn't like the angle on the first shot. First shot destroyed the knuckle joint, penetrated both lungs, and was found just under the skin on the off side.

All were taken with a Barnes XPB 225 grain bullet over H4198 or H335 (too much muzzle flash with H335). I did some wet news paper and water filled milk jug penetration studies and found the XPB slightly out penetrated the Hornady 265 grain flatnose, and no worries about it staying together. The four one shot kills were broadside with pass throughs, as was the insurance shot on the fifth elk.

Just an annecdote from a local hunter I spoke with that used a 444Marlin on Sambar over hounds ... so shots were on moving deer around the size of elk. For years he used the 265gr Hornady in factory and reloads. Excellent performance, 7 out of 10 deer were stopped emphatically, with maybe 3 out of 10 travelling a tad further upto 50 yards, but never lost anything. When the 300gr Speer appeared, he bought x100 projectiles to try and loaded them up and kept hunting over the hounds as he always has. The bigger slug dropped them just as well ... over the course of a few seasons however he came to realise that the 2-3 that used to move on weren't happening anymore. At that point he became a 'believer' and when I spoke with him it was a near 100% performance from the 300gr projectile.

Now me personally ... I haven't pointed them in anger ... but I like to split the difference and load the 280gr Woodleigh as they're 'soft', bonded to open wide without losing weight and stubby enough not to take up much powder space. My 444Marlin has been shortened to 18.5", so the 280gr was viewed as a compromise between staying heavy and maintaining enough velocity to allow a longer shot if it crops up. Also helped that locally a Swift 280gr is a $2 pill, where the Woodleigh is a $1.20 projectile. For fun I run a soft generic 240gr with Alliant 2400.

Regarding the FTX projectiles, a friend is using them in a Ruger 44Mag rebarrelled and rechambered to 357/44B&D. For whatever reason, when the tip is ground flat to allow feeding through the rotary magazine, the projectile seems to 'harden'. That litle pill has end to ended pigs and goats and been devestating.
Cheers...
Con