Rossi--good post. BMT, also nicely done. I've flattened enough deer/black bear to highly respect the 444 and what it can do. I realize we're talking big bears here though. My current favorite loading for deer/blackies uses a 270gr gold dot. A load I read about in a Brian Pearce article in Rifle/Handloader. He tested it out on diseased cattle and stated that the wound channels it caused were "nothing short of devastating". With the right bullet, (cast--not the Remmy 240gr handgun crap) I'm sure it would take big bears, as is Mr. Pearce. 2 years ago I absolutely bang-flopped a nice black bear in upper Michigan (da U.P.) with my 444 270gr gold-dot loading. Another guy in camp shot one with a 450 Marlin factory XTP load. I'm not saying that the 444 is any better than the 450, but the guy who skinned the bears(he's done hundereds) was asking me, and not the other guy, what in the hell I'd shot that thing with!---2MG
