Home Forums Lever Action Central Big Bore Levers 240 grain Hornady XTP in .444

I have around a dozen boxes of those Barnes TXS bullets on the shelf for various calibers. Just have not got to the point of really wanting to work up loads for those bullets, when I already have what works for most of my rifles.

I shoot Hornady Leverevelution ammo in the 265 grain bullet weight for my 1895 .444 Marlin lever gun. It works well and is a 200 yard gun for whitetail deer. So like my Pappy said years ago "Son, if it ain't broke leave it alone"!

I have used them in a .444 Marlin Thompson Centender, 14 inch bull barrel. I know, they don't make one in this caliber, but someone took a .44 mag barrel and rebored it. I have taken whitetail with this caliber and bullet. They went maybe twenty yards and collapsed. The bullet was through and through.

Alliant 2400 is a pistol powder. If you put the amount that you'd use for a 44 magnum load in a 444 Marlin case you will have a lot of empty space. This can cause extreme overpressure with some powders (not sure about 2400) to the point of blowing up the gun. Don't try reduced loadings with powders not designed for it!

I'd wondered about the XTP-it just seems like the normal 444 velocities are too fast for a hollowpoint. Has anyone tried it with a 300gr XTP?
I use the hornady 265gr. FP in their factory light mag loading, myself.

Hi T3,

I'm not un expert nor do i say XTP240 are bad bullets but i think from experiences, they are made for stout load of 44Special or 44mag but don't stand to the hi velocity loads of 444mag at close to very close range. Every thing is in the impact distance. When velocity has slow to 44mag one or a bit more they are really wonderful. I use them in Ruger and Browning 44mag. But in the 444 i prefer, and my other friends too, heavier bullets at reduced velocity: 250Partition, 265Hornady, 270GD Speer or 300 Hawk. I join here a rather gore picture of a big roe deer, around 70 pounds estimated, shot by dog leader in battue at around 18m: almost cut in two parts. I've seen others too even small boars to 140pounds or even red deer does whose meet around impact was totally blooded and almost black. But for sure there were'nt going far...
Then you have two pictures of a roe killed by a 250Nosler Partition going throught the tree then to his neck. It was a battue hunt, roe was very fast pushed by dogs, my friend shoot it but hit the tree first (arrives sometimes in driven hunts; I don't think the XTP would have made it. I've the same case with a 300Weatherby...


Weaver K1,5 is a good short range scope but i prefer red dot sight and use only Aimpoints from zero to more than 100m
Dom

Wow, Marseille, I was thinking about a 444 set up for driven hunts but you scared me about the meat damages ... I'd stick with my .375 clean killer if the 444 is such a destroyer.

Hi GV,

Must understand that shoot was very close range, when you use stouter bullet or hit at longer range it kill cleanly. That's driven hunt dog leader shoot on fast moving animal not well placed too, but i saw bunch of others like that at close to very close range (0 to 35meters)
Dom

So good bullet choice would allow meat respectful kills from the 444, even with game as light as roes adults and yearlings ?

I use to hunt with a 375 HH developing barely 6000 joules of ME and I have clean kills without meat damage. But African rifles aren't at their best on fast moving driven animals.

Howdy folks, im new here but I thought I would share my experience with 444 bullets.
I have been loading this caliber for about 10 years or so, and my favorite bullet for deer and elk is a gas checked cast bullet around 300 gr. I have found that cast bullets at rifle velocities(2300fps) penetrate like crazy and leave very little meat damage.
Like what many have said already, most 240 gr hollowpoints are fairly explosive at these velocities, but I have had good luck with the 300gr xtp. While I havent recovered any from a deer, they do leave a nice golfball sized wound chanel.
I think one of the best all around, good for most anything, bullets for the 444, is the Hornady 265. My Marlin rifle really likes them and I cant seem to match the accuracy of this bullet with any of my cast bullet handloads.

flinch444 - very interesting stuff. I have some 300 gr xtp that I had considered loading in the 444 but after my 240 xtp experience, decided not to. But, now you have me thinking...

Were these the xtp mags or just xtp? What kind of velocity are you getting with the 300 gr bullet (if you chrono'd)? Care to share a favorite load???

Fisher, these were just the regular ole non-magnum 300gr xtps, I was pushing them about 2200fps, and killed two deer with them at about 50 yards each. Niether required a second shot. In my opinion, the 300 xtp is an excellent deer bullet. I think it has enough weight that it stays together a little better than the lighter 240gr xtp. I cant say how they would work on tougher game, but they seem to work just fine on deer.
If I remember right, I think I was loading these with about 52gr. of H335.

guy's may be a silly ? but can I shoot my 44 remington magnum pistol loads in a 44 marlin lever action ? is the rim the same thickness /size, and at what velocity are you shooting these gun's with 265 grn loads, I am thinking of getting dual use out of this 444, pistol rounds for plinking and full power for hunting,is this doable, somthing like shooting 458 win out of a 458 lott chamber

Good rule of thumb - If it doesn't list the caliber on the barrel, don't try to fire it in the gun. There are obvious exceptions (.38/.357, /.44 spl/.44 mag, .454/.45 LC, etc)

The rim diameters of the .444 * .44 mag are virtually the same, however the base diameter of the .44 is about .0136" smaller. The rim thickness is slightly different as well. You could experience case failure, but worse is that you could damage the chamber of the .444. And, I wouldn't rule out the possibility of damaging yourself. Also, there would be an extra .94" for the .44 mag bullet to jump before reaching the rifling. That's like the grand canyon in firearm terms. I wouldn't do it in my rifle. Maybe get yourself an 1894 in .44 magnum or reload some light rounds for your .444.

that's the answer I was looking for , man I appreciate it, I new their would be a lot of freebore, but I didn't know wether the gun action could tolerate it, I looked all over the internet for that answer and thank goodness for guy's out their with the knowledge, many thanks

I use the 250 gr Nosler Parition in my Ruger Carbine. I think it would be a great bullet in the 444. They are now discontinued but Widener's has them on closeout cheap. I bought a pile of them. I would also expect the 270 gr Speer Gold Dot to do well as it has proven very tough at 44 Mag rifle velocities.

thank you, will look into them, just loaded some hardcast 275 out of a 7.5 inch redhawk and some 240 grn. xtp and shot them through a 2x 10 into some phonebooks to catch them, and to my supprise the 240 xtp held up as well as the 275 grn . hard cast bullet, that was an eye opener,I really expected it to open up, it looked like it hadn't even hit anything,a little scuffed up, it was going around 1200 fps mild load at about 10 yrd's, maybe I need to run it a little harder for it to open up,will do some more test's

It's difficult to find a test medium for hollow point bullets, with the exception of ballistic gelatin. You might have plugged up the cavity; when that happens they don't open up.

you could be right on that when I recovered the bullet , sure enough the cavity was plugged with paper, but man it acted just like a solid,I could have reloaded this thing and shot it again, it looked that good with some rifling mark's in it, I have done this with rifle rounds and bullet's came out perfectly mushroomed, will try it with wet paper next time and see if it makes a difference??

Yep, that's what happens. I learned about this from a friend who is a state trooper and did ammo tests. He said it's been a major challenge for the ammo companies to come up with a bullet that expands, to minimze over penetration and maximize knock down power, yet won't get plugged up and act like a solid. He said drywall is the worst for plugging up hollow points; they don't want collateral damage in houses/apartments next door when they have to shoot. They also don't want something that opens up too fast, as actual shootings and testing have shown that the bad guys outfit of choice - leather or denim jacket over a hoodie sweatshirt - is actually pretty good at slowing down or stopping pistol rounds...