[ninjatoth]

My brother gave me his gun because he don't hunt anymore.He got it from our grandfather.I researched it and found out it is a 1971 444S 22".I took it whitetail hunting last November and it had no problem dropping a big doe to the ground from 40 yards away with Leverevolution ammo.I would love a new .450 Marlin,but the .444 is quite the gun in it's own right,I just love it.

 

[jodum]

Your brother must be a good guy. I too enjoy my 444 Marlin. It is definately a deer killer.

 

[Lever Minded]

Ninjatoth:

Did you know that the bullet from your rifle after traveling out to the 200 yard line hits a deer with the same velocity as a 44 magnum does at point blank range.

Such a gun as your 444 Marlin could just as easily drop an elk at 200 yards with no problem.

Thats not to say the 450 Marlin isn't a very fine round in it's own right.

My personal choise is the 45/70, but none the less all three of these rounds are up to the challenge of what ever their capable of. Which by the way is a whole lot....

 

[Tnhunter]

Congrats on getting a fine rifle! The .444 is a fine cartridge and for me, only made better by the LE load. Some claim that the old Micro Groove barrels will not shoot the LE ammunition well, but mine shoots it like a house afire. The only way to know is to just try it out. There are lots of fans of the old Hornady LM 265gr FN load, but they are just about impossible to find anymore, as are those 265gr FN bullets from Hornady for handloading. It remains to be seen if Hornady will reintroduce that FN round in it's Superperformance line, or simply stick with the LE load. I haven't even bothered trying the old 240gr load in mine as well as that 265 FTX shoots.

 

[ninjatoth]

Ninjatoth:

Did you know that the bullet from your rifle after traveling out to the 200 yard line hits a deer with the same velocity as a 44 magnum does at point blank range.

Such a gun as your 444 Marlin could just as easily drop an elk at 200 yards with no problem.

Thats not to say the 450 Marlin isn't a very fine round in it's own right.

My personal choise is the 45/70, but none the less all three of these rounds are up to the challenge of what ever their capable of. Which by the way is a whole lot....

My brother dropped a deer without tracking,and I too have not had to track,and when I sat down and thought about it,I know why.Alot of people use 30-06's from 200 yards,and by that distance,the bullet maybe has 2,000 ft lbs energy.I take 30 yard shots,so my initial energy of 3,180ft lbs is somewhere still around 3,000 ft lbs of energy when it hits-plus a huge hole!I guess it's no wonder why the deer don't go anywhere.I am new to hunting and rifle talk,but it does seem that the 45/70 is still and will always be the most popular.As for me knowing nothing about handloading,I am better off with my .444,but a handloader could probably easily load thier 45/70s in thier modern rifles to better performance than a .444 or .450 marlin.

 

[Griz]

The 45/70 can take anything on the continent with the box stock 405g jfp. The 444 probably can also with its standard load. It's a fine firearm and you have a fine brother.

Grizz

 

[broom_jm]

My brother dropped a deer without tracking,and I too have not had to track,and when I sat down and thought about it,I know why.Alot of people use 30-06's from 200 yards,and by that distance,the bullet maybe has 2,000 ft lbs energy.I take 30 yard shots,so my initial energy of 3,180ft lbs is somewhere still around 3,000 ft lbs of energy when it hits-plus a huge hole!I guess it's no wonder why the deer don't go anywhere.I am new to hunting and rifle talk,but it does seem that the 45/70 is still and will always be the most popular.As for me knowing nothing about handloading,I am better off with my .444,but a handloader could probably easily load thier 45/70s in thier modern rifles to better performance than a .444 or .450 marlin.

One thing old-timers will tell you about what it takes to harvest a deer is to forget all those silly "numbers". You keep putting those big bullets where they're supposed to go and from your stand out to 200 yards or more, you have nothing in the world to worry about. The bullets from your 444 Marlin leave a mighty big hole and it doesn't matter how fast they're going or how much energy they have, so long as they hit right behind the shoulder.

 

[mattsbox99]

Most "old-timers" I know wouldn't even think of the 444 for deer hunting, its way too much for deer. It does a fantastic job, but a 30-30 or 243 is all that is 'needed'.

I like my .444 a lot, its the same gun as you have pictured and its pretty accurate with the Hornady 265 FNSP.

 

[Griz]

Hey, I shot a lot of deer with .338. It is waaaaaaay more gun than you need for deer, but I was in the brown bear's lair and they scare me spitless.

Turns out the .338 isn't a particularly good idea for close in bear stopping, but that's another topic entirely. It's a great deer gun as long as you don't allow the bullet to get anywhere the meat.


Sometimes you carry the rifle for what might get you rather than for what you might get.

Grizz

 

[2Bits]

Ninjatoth...........Yep, the "Triple 4" can just about handle any big game in the USA with the proper weight bullet in the chamber. I took mine out this week to check the iron sights for zero. I was shooting some of those Hornady Leverevolution ammo and I got a nice group at 75 yards. They printed 1.5 inches high on bulls eye and that put a smile on my face. The group measured less than 2 inches. I have a 45/70 but the 444 is the one I take out most of the time.

 

[Dan 444]

Check out the technical articles that Marshall Stanton (site owner) has posted....terrific artcles on the triple-4.
Dan

 

[ninjatoth]

I am reading how my gun has a micro-groove as where a new .444 has regular rifling.I have no idea what the difference is and what micro-grooving isCan someone explain to me what micro-groove is and how it's different and why it was used?

 

[MikeG]

A whole bunch of lands and grooves. Say anywhere from 12 to 20. Marlin has used several different configurations over the years. Also the lands aren't as tall.

It was a Marlin-only feature, as far as I know. At least in this country. It seems that a few years back Marlin got new tooling for making rifle barrels and has gone back to conventional rifling.

Both can work well, and the savvy cast bullet shooter knows how to make Micro-groove work very, very well. See some of the results in Ranch Dog's postal matches.

 

[Tnhunter]

I am reading how my gun has a micro-groove as where a new .444 has regular rifling.I have no idea what the difference is and what micro-grooving isCan someone explain to me what micro-groove is and how it's different and why it was used?

No gunsmith here, but one major difference between the older Micro-Groove rifling and the newer Ballard type rifling is the twist rate in the barrels. The newer Ballard rifling has a much faster ROT, 1:20" and the older Micro-Groove rate for the .444 is 1:38" I believe. The ROT being faster normally means better accuracy with heavier bullets than the older, slower rate.

Many shooters like heavy all lead (mostly lead) bullets noted for their excellent penetration. Again, the faster ROT may help with their accuracy. Older Marlin .444s (like your and mine) may not shoot the newer heavier bullet loads as accurately as a newer rifle. Many bemoan the accuracy of the 265 FTX bullet in their micro-groove barrels. Mine happens to shoot them very well.

Here's a good introduction/explanation of the different rifling used by Marlin:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/microgrove-barrels.htm

 

[mattsbox99]

Marshall was shooting .5" groups with his slow twist 444 and 330 grain bullets, good enough for me!

Read those tech articles, they are great!

 

[ninjatoth]

I think for me,in not being a handloader,hunting shots less than 50 yards and no game over a 200lb deer means that buying the standard 265 grain Hornady ammo and heading off into the woods is all I really need to do.If I hunted bigger game out west and had a newer 45/70 and handloaded,I might feel sad having only a .444,but for me here in MI,it's about as good as it gets with a .444.

 

[MikeG]

No gunsmith here, but one major difference between the older Micro-Groove rifling and the newer Ballard type rifling is the twist rate in the barrels. The newer Ballard rifling has a much faster ROT, 1:20" and the older Micro-Groove rate for the .444 is 1:38" I believe. The ROT being faster normally means better accuracy with heavier bullets than the older, slower rate.

Many shooters like heavy all lead (mostly lead) bullets noted for their excellent penetration. Again, the faster ROT may help with their accuracy. Older Marlin .444s (like your and mine) may not shoot the newer heavier bullet loads as accurately as a newer rifle. Many bemoan the accuracy of the 265 FTX bullet in their micro-groove barrels. Mine happens to shoot them very well.

Here's a good introduction/explanation of the different rifling used by Marlin:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/fryxell/microgrove-barrels.htm

Micro-groove has been used in a variety of chamberings and twist rates. The .44 cal twist was 1-38", true, but not every micro-groove barrel has that twist rate. Example, I have .30-30, .35 Rem, and .22 LR micro-groove barrels with a variety of twist rates.....

 

[Tnhunter]

Micro-groove has been used in a variety of chamberings and twist rates. The .44 cal twist was 1-38", true, but not every micro-groove barrel has that twist rate. Example, I have .30-30, .35 Rem, and .22 LR micro-groove barrels with a variety of twist rates.....

Well, we were talking about the .444 after all. And the link explained the rest....

 

[MikeG]

Yep. Just adding a little clarification, for those who might not dig through all the linked pages.