These threads always crack me up. There are some loads out there in cast and jacketed that take the 444 Marlin up quite a few notches in capability. Ammo such as CorBon, Buffalo Bore, and Grizzly all offer jacketed and cast loads up to 330 grains all between 2050 fps and 2300 fps. Beartooth, as already stated, offers 355 and 405 grain cast bullets.
The twist is much faster today with 1-20 in Marlins. Some Winchester Black Shadow Big Bores were offered with 1-12 in the 444 Marlin. I have one of the latter.
What gets me somewhat chuckling is the fact that any of the loads above absolutely smoke a 454 Casull load at any range, and we know what the Casull is capable of. The reason I compare this is that many hunters take the great bears of the Northwest with the Casull, yet many think the 444 Marlin is only slightly more powerful than the 44 Remington Mag. One could not be more mistaken. If you use the heavy bullets (330-355 grains) loaded at the high end, you will generate 3500-3700 ft-lbs and open up a hole with starting diameter of .430-inches. I point this out because the great 375 H&H starts a 300 grainer at 2550 fps and 4200 ft-lbs with a .375 diameter. Out to 100 yards the 444 Marlin is every bit the equal in knocking down thin skin game as the 375 H&H is.
Obviously the 45-70 can generate more muscle and therefore is a more viable choice for guide gunning; however, for the hunter using the loads above, the 444 Marlin is plenty capable of taking all the large bears of North America and would certainly do fine on all the antelope running through the African Continent.
Consider again Brian Pearce shooting through two cape buffalo at 80 yards broadside with a 45-70 loaded with the CorBon 405 Penetrator solid flat nose ammunition. The second shot went in the high hammy and penetrated 6-ft to the chest. This load left the lever gun at 1680 fps, the PH was amazed that this load went completely through the bull and completely through the matriarc behind him. The reason this is interesting to me is that the same bullet is available in the 444 Marlin 305 grain ammunition. The only difference is the muzzle velocity of the 305 grain Penetrator load comes out at 2150 fps in short levers (20 inch-22 inch barrels).
I'm not advocating the use of a 444 Marlin on the likes of cape buffalo, although I do believe you could take one with that load. You can rest assured that the CorBon 280 soft point at 2300 fps backed up by the solids would cut a bear to pieces and take all the antelope Africa has to offer with little fuss.
The 444 Marlin is much better than all the negative b.s. the phoney gun writers ever penned about it. None who wrote of it ever took it to the limits it was meant for. Today, it is a different story and one really cannot discount its power. Like so many other cartridges, its paper ballistics do not match its killing power. But the same is said of the 375 H&H and 358 Winchester.
