Levergun loads: the .444 Marlin

Guns Magazine, June, 2004 by John Taffin

As with all similarly tapered sixgun and rifle cases, I normally use a spray on type lube such as offered by Midway. After placing 50 to 75 or more cartridges in a shallow cardboard tray, I spray, shake, and spray the cartridges again. After this operation any of these cases are ready to size and load.

Just Three Will Do It

All my reloading chores for the .444 Marlin are accomplished with just three powders, Hodgdon's H322 and H4895, and Alliant's Reloder 7. Excellent jacketed bullets for the .444 abound. The lightest bullet I use is Hornady's 265-grain JFP, followed by Speer's 270-grain Gold Dot, Barnes" 275-grain offering, and the 280-grain FP from Northern Precision. With heavy 300-grain bullets the choices are the Barnes JFP, Hornady's XTP, and Sierra's and Speer's 300-grain JFPs.

Favorite cast bullet loads include three levels using the BRP 295-grain Keith. This is a gas cheek bullet with the typical Keith shoulder and all loads must be crimped over the shoulder. These are full power loads and shoot superbly in my early Micro-Groove barreled Model 444. For just over 1,800 fps I go with 49.5 grains of H4895, move up to 1,900 fps with 51.5 grains of the same powder, and then my top load at 2,050 fps is assembled with 48.0 grains of H322. All loads use Remington brass and the CCI No. 200 Large Rifle Primer.

My best load with the RCBS No. 44300 FNGC is 49.5 grains of H4895 for just over 1,900 fps. With the heavier bullets, I use 45.0 grains of Reloder 7 with the CPBC 320-grain LBT for 2,065 fps; and with the 310-grain SSK bullet a charge of 51.3 grains H4895 is a slightly less recoiling load with a muzzle velocity of 1,906 fps. One of these loads will tackle any chore I am likely to expect to be handled properly with the .444 Marlin.

Any of these loads will also shoot well in the relatively new Outfitter from Marlin. When this factory brush gun first arrived it was baptized with several of my favorite jacketed bullet loads. A real winner was Hornady's 300-grain XTP over 48.0 grains of 11322, which clocks out at 1,974 tips from the 181/2" barrel and groups three shots into one-half inch at 50 yards. Excellent accuracy for a brush gun cartridge!

The Hornady is not the only heavy bullet that shoots welL Northern Precision's 280-grain JFP over 47.5 grains of H322 for 1,920 fps yields a three-quarter inch group, and the same bullet over 50.5 grains of H4895 clocks out at a slightly milder 1,846 fps with three shots going into seven-eighths of an inch. Speer's 300-grain JFP over 49.6 grains of H4895 clocks out at slightly under 1,800 fps, is very easy on the shoulder and gives a one-inch group.

If I were forced to choose only one big bore levergun for any game it would be a .45-70. If I simply wanted to put together a big bore levergun/sixgun combination the choice would probably be .44 Magnum. However, if simply looking for a big bore levergun cartridge that would readily handle anything in North America short of the big bears, the choice would be a .444 Marlin. Come to think of it, even with the big bears included this would not be such a bad choice.