Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters JB - Serious .444 Marlin bullets

JB,
Do you know of any serious .444 Marlin bullets whose weight falls between 200gr-240gr and would be suitable for effective defense against North American Dangerous Game? From what I can find, the .444 Marlin has no such bullet but rather is confined to revolver bullets which blow up but do not penetrate sufficiently or heavy for caliber bullets with rainbow trajectories that negate the .444 Marlins flatter trajectory. If the bullet companies are looking for a problem to fix, lets see if they can fix this. Maybe a 200gr-240gr Solid? Thanks for any info you might be able to pass along.

Flower Child

The "problem" with the .444 from it's beginning has been the use of light-for-caliber bullets. While it's true that the current bullets normally used are a bit too lightly constructed (designed mostly for pistol use)....even with tougher bullets the fact remains that when you give up bullet weight, you also give up penetration.

The key to the success of any of the big bore, moderate velosity rounds is the use of heavier bullets to give penetration and "killing power" without hyper velosity. This DEOES result in a bit more arching trajectory, but at the ranges such roiunds are intended for (under 250 yards) this is not significant.

The "idea" of light weight bullets at relatively higher velosity to "flatten" trajectory was tried as far back as the late 1800's with the so-called "Express" loadings loaded with black powder... such as the .45-70 with 270-300 grain bullets at 1800-2000 fps.

These loads DID flatten trajectory a bit, but not a significant amount at "normal" ranges, and gave up a LOT in killing power and penetration. They soon disappeared and "failed".....with hunters going back to what had always worked (heavy bullets at reasonable velosity.....and shooters learning the trajectory of their weapon). Some pretty fancy "long-range" shooting was done with those old 450-500 grain bullets at 1300-1500 fps despite their "rainbow" trajectories.....and they killed well when they arrived.

The .444 marlin has always been hadicaped by the use of light bullets at high (relatively) velosity. Where the .444 really begins to shine is with 325-400 grain bullets at a more sedate 1600-1800 fps. With those loads the .444 becomes a powerhouse killer very close to the .45-70. The shooter must learn his rifle and trajectory, but once again, at under 250 yards (where a big bore, moderate velosity round should be used) this isn't a big problem.

If you "must" shoot lighter bullets at higher velosity, you must accept that it will NEVER perform as well as a heavier bullet loading. It WILL work on lighter game and with very good shot placement, but never a good as a heavier bullet for all-around use. Better bullets CAN help, but not really solve the problem (a sow's ear is still a sow's ear.....even with lace around the edge).

The 300 grain .45-70 loadings suffer the same fate. They WILL work if properly placed and with good bullets, but never equal a 400-500 grain bullet for all-around use.

I don't see ANY problems with the trajectory or killing power of a 300 gr. WFNGC hardcast out of a full house .444 marlin.

It's some serious chit..

Doesn't Barnes make make a mono expanding .429 bullet for the .44 mag?

That said, I'm not sure I'd chose it over the .429 300gr NPT.

Expat

I also ran the 300 gr. speer uni-cors, and man did those blow some holes through pigs.

I still don't see any downside to the 300 grain hardcasts when shooting at anything.

Flower Child,
In the 200-240gr weight, try the Swift 240gr as it's bonded and should not blow apart no matter the speed but will expand. If you took the bullet weight up a little, ther is also a Swift 280gr and Woodleigh has released a 280gr projectile which I'm just waiting for to try in my Marlin.

The Barnes Buster at 300gr weight is another option, but the box says 1:20" twist, though they told me it will stabilise in a 1:38".

Regarding Woodleigh, I've spoken with Geoff McDonald on two occasions to try and get a 225gr Hydrostatic released by the projectile maker. The design is interesting as its a non-expanding solid monolithic, however its nose design does seem to produce wider wound channels, and it penetrates dead straight! Exits are often much larger than a conventional solid. Drop Woodleigh an email as I spoke with him last week and whilst interested, he doesn't seem to believe the demand would be there, though he did recognise the popularity of large big bore handgun use in the United States. If you wanted the email of the guy that actually makes the projectiles, I could probably dig that up too.
Cheers...
Con

Expat,

Nosler doesn't make any of the Partition handgun bullets anymore.

The heaviest Barnes .44 is 225 grains. Speer doesn't make the 300-gain Unicor either, but does make 240- and 270-grain DeepCurls. The Swift bullets Con mentions are a good choice too.

Between this and the Hornady thread, you are raining all kinds of bad news down on me! Seriously, thank you. I'd rather know than not.

Expat

If you are interested in the heavier .444 bullets (or standard even lighter 250-300 grain bullets) for reloading.....I'd suggest Beartooth.

These are hard-cast (BN21) bullets with very wide noses and a variety of different sizes. One real key to getting accurate loads from the Micro-Groove Marlins is to order (or size) bullets to .432-.433" rather than the "standard" .430" most use. The Micro-Groove requires that the bullet MUST fill the grooves to obtain good accuracy.

With proper sized bullets (.432" for my rifle) from Beartooth, I get 1 1/2-1 3/4" groups consistantly. I shoot the Beartooth 325 Gr WLNGC and 330 Gr. LFNGC (prefer the 325) at 2150 fps. For me, the powder of choice is H335. With the Beartooth 355 Gr. WLNGC I get 2050 fps with RL-7 powder. All of these are excellent bullets for penetration and MUCH better than any jacketed 240-300 grain bullets I've tried.

Go to Marlinowners forum, under 444 you can get all the info you need. I used the 265 Hornaday for a dozen elk and twice that many deer. It worked great but is not in production right now.

To answer your specifc question, the 250 gr Nosler Partition is the answer and Widener's has had them on clearance for quite a while at just $22/box, a bargain for a very fine bullet. I bought a pile of them for my old Ruger Carbine that cannot shoot cast.

????
http://www.hornady.com/store/44-Cal-.430-265-gr-FP/
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=605468

I was never impressed with the 240's for deer or elk. I found the 265's in 68 and stayed with it. Per Midway Hornady will make a run of the 265 FP "someday'

WHAT?!?!

Man, I was seriously looking forward to doing some heavy loads with that bullet this Spring. Talk about a bummer. Poor sales the reason for the drop or just not bothering to carry over to the deep curl tech?

I used the 300 grain barnes soft point with the thicker jacket for many years with complete satisfaction. I once put one right through a good size black bear and into a 45 gal drum of gas that was about 10 feet behind it. I used this gun mostly as a backup gun and just to have around camp for protection. Killed a black bear at 10 ft with it only after the bear came after me. The only time I ever had trouble with a black bear and after hundreds of encounters. My dad also used this rifle and bullet to hunt with and killed two bull moose in about 5 seconds one fall at around 120 yards. I still have one of the old style boxes of these 300 grainers but have no idea if they are still made.

I run the 300 grain XTP out of my 444... anything that gets in the bullets way, has a big hole coming out the other side...

If you're not opposed to running hard cast bullets go to beartoothbullets.com. They have some interesting bullets that would make the 444 shine from 300 gr up to and including a 405 grain. They have a wide frontal area (meplat) that will put the smack down on critters. I am loading up some of their 458/350 gr slugs for my 45-70 deer loads. Good folks and good looking boolits.

Here are links to Sierras 220 and 250 grain FMJ bullets:

http://www.sierrabullets.com/index....e=bc&stock_num=8605&bullettype=1

http://www.sierrabullets.com/index....e=bc&stock_num=8615&bullettype=1

These are named "Tournament Master" by Sierra, which leads me to believe they are targeted (pun intended) for target shooting. I don't know how they would work on game, but they seem to match what you are looking for. In the '70s I used 240 grain FMJ bullets for handgun metallic silhouette, and they knocked the 200 meter rams over quite well if they were hit well. I suspect they will kill game too.

Good luck!

Watch out with he FMJs in tube mags could go kaboom.I like the Speer 270 GD so does Marlin.

The 300 grain Swift A-Frame is by far the best jacketed bullet to use in the 444 Marlin.I would assume the lighter ones would be good also.And as mentioned before,don't rule out a good Cast bullet with a wide Meplat or even the 300 grain Barnes Buster.

Jayco