A friend figured he owed me a rifle and had just come by a new Marlin 444 which he presented to me.It looked like it ought to do well as a pickup rifle , being short and all.

I've now shot up two boxes of factory loads and have reloaded about 20 of them , 3 or 4 at a time.I've got the third scope on it now and I know that's not the problem.

Up until today I have been shooting it at about forty yards or so out of the pickup window.The factory rounds were used in zeroing the scopes and busting jugs just to get used to it.I wasn't impressed with the accuracy , but laid it off to operator error for the most part.

The 240 gr. cast [KEAD] bullets I had on hand for my Blackhawk delivered about 6 in. groups at 40 yards with 4198 or plinking loads with LILGUN.

So I read on here what some of you liked and ordered 100 Cast Performance 320 gr. I started with 40 gr of 4198 - still shooting out of the pickup at 40 or so yards.POI was 6 inches to the right and about that low.Group size was 5 in.

So I loaded some with 41 gr and shot off my bench at 100 yards.DISMAL!I know I wasn't flinching because this rifle-unlike my old 1895 - has a safety button which I forgot to push off 2 or 3 times.[That maybe the only use for the damn thing!]

I could be charitable and claim a three shot group size of 5 inches at 100 yards with 41 gr of 4198 and the 320 gr.CP bullet.

I know some stuff to do to make a Ruger No. 1 or a bolt action shoot better,but this Marlin just seems to have "loser" engraved on it.

My old 1895 , even after I had the barrel cut down to 20 inches will still put 3 of the 350 gr Hornady[or just about anything else for that matter] into 2 or 2 1/2 inches at 100 yards.

BTW Both of these rifles wear Loopies.

Any use trying jacketed bullets ?

Bullets might be TOO hard. Is it microgroove?? SIZING critical for performance from microgroove barrels.

You say "new" as in brand new latest production run or just a new older rifle? I had an old one in the late 70's [Micro groove] which shot very well even with cast bullets 250gr Keith to be exact.My newer one which has a Ballard barrel shoots lights out with anything I've run through it so far.Try a Hornady 265gr SP and 45 grs of 4198./.just can't believe this won't work for you.Maybe bench shooting would be a tad better and more accurate than out the window of the truck..you might try that.

Well, there IS that!!

Try the Hornandy LE's.

So I loaded some with 41 gr and shot off my bench at 100 yards.DISMAL!

It appears to be pretty new manufacture.It's ported , has the @#^#$@! safety button and is NOT microgroove.

If it shot the Rem factory loads reasonably well , and since this is my first attempt with cast bullets in a RIFLE ,I might have more confidence in trying jacketed bullets.With freight added in , I've got 50 bucks in these CP 320 gr. and I don't look forward to shooting them all up in my Bisley.

I'm going to load a few more and see what they do from a cold bore tomorrow morning.

Check the twist rate. The older 444s were 1/38, the newer are 1/20. The 1/38 might be too slow for a 320gr.

Also if the bore was coppered up, it will soak lead and wreak havoc with accuracy. And slug diameter might not be a great fit to the bore. Might want to slug it and measure.

Usually jacketed bullets are more forgiving than lead regarding good bore fit.

My 45-70 Marlin bore was really rough, and was rasping off so muuch lead my bullets were sideways at 100 yards. I fire-lapped it and all is well now.

Usually the .444s are highly accurate. Buy a box of Remington 240 grain ammo. I hate ported guns but that shouldn't matter. Don't waste your money on the Hornady LEs.

Just shot this last week..175 yds off the bench open sights while zeroing my son's Encore.Just for grins and accuracy purposes we're going to Lead Sled it sometime soon.This was the Hornady 265 gr SP and 45 gr/4198

That Lead Sled will break your stock.