444 Marlin?

[Scorch]

And now for something completely different.

I have always liked the idea of the 444 Marlin, ever since I first heard of it. It's just a neat cartridge. Always wanted a 444 rifle.

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I know, I know. You opened this expecting to see a Marlin lever rifle. Too bad. Never wanted a Marlin lever gun.

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I have a penchant for rifles, particularly Mauser bolt rifles. So here is my latest project. It all started when someone gave me a 1906 Brazilian Mauser that had a bad case of the pits. Not much good for building rifles for customers, it got relegated to the project bin. I really wanted to replace the 375 H&H I sold off years ago, but not with a standard-length Mauser, just not feasible. Since this rifle had really bad acne, it was not going to become something pretty, so it became my experiment rifle.

A few years ago, I barreled a Mauser 98 in 450 Marlin for a customer. Nice compact bear banger. Just not my style. I wanted something a bit different. So here we go, I bought a 44 caliber barrel, ordered a reamer, and away we go. A spare Leupold 2-7X, a spare fiberglass stock that has been sitting around, and an idea. A few months later, it's finished. And it shoots great, under 1" at 100 yds. So, from what was once a mass of parts and rust, may I present a refined man-about-town.

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[SARuger]

Love it!

I had a Marlin in 444 and it was a great shooter but hard on the shoulder....

 

[Jimro]

Very nice. Reminds me of some of the older 458x2inch American rifles I've seen. The folks that had them loved them, gave them great terminal ballistics on game.

Jimro

 

[Guv]

Sweet!
I used to load a 300 gr Barnes copper jacketed lead core hollow point over a big charge of H335! What rate a twist do you have? Mine was an old 444 Marlin with I believe 1:38"? Pretty slow but it shoot those Barnes and the Hornady 265 SP very well.

 

[Scorch]

Twist is 1:22". Works well with the 265s. Should be a great 250-ish yds point and click hunting rifle. A look at the ballistics says it's not too shabby out to 700-ish yds.

 

[treg]

Nice project!

I've always had a thing for the .444.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[reynolds357]

So, you going to run it at lever pressure or cook up some hot stuff for it?

 

[tdoyka]

nice!!! that triple 4 is all you will ever need! mine is a tc encore with 23" MGM barrel and a 275gr ranch dog.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Love it.

With a 1:22" barrel, at I'm guessing 24"(?), in a bolt gun...
You should be able to launch pretty much anything you want.

I believe I calculated that 1:20" was good for in excess of 600 gr in my 20" barrels, so long as I could achieve at least 1,200 fps; and I know 2,000+ fps is possible with 425-480 gr bullets**. So, I'd say the sky's the limit.

Did you cut a standard .444 Marlin chamber with the nearly nonexistent throat? Or did you throat it to take advantage of the longer possible COAL?




**(Several members of MarlinOwners that have gotten serious with the 'heavies' have reached in excess of 2,200 fps with bullets up to 480 gr, without going over pressure [one of the members paid to have his loads pressure tested]. I, personally, managed to reach 1,955 fps with a 437 gr bullet before the rifle and shooter couldn't handle the recoil any longer [6.3 lb Handi-Rifle] - the rifle complained more than the shooter(s). )

 

[Scorch]

Good questions, good questions!

OK, yes, I will run it at standard pressures, no need for much more (even though the action could take it), or maybe warm them up a bit a little later.

The rifle is throated to take advantage of longer, heavier bullets. With the 1:22" I should be able to launch just about anything I darn well please (no sticking to 240 grainers!!). I was particularly looking at 300 grainers, and seriously considering a 300-350 gr semi-spitzer mold and gas checking them.

Yes, 24" barrel. Supposedly launching Hornady factory 265gr Leverevolutions at about 2,200fps (according to other 444 shooters, but they have 22" barrels). The Hornady manual says I can hit 2,200 fps with most powders, Lyman says 2,100 out of a 18" barrel. Haven't chronoed it yet, so we will see. I am betting on 2,400 fps. That would give me 3,200 ft-lbs of energy. Not quite 375 H&H level, but satisfactory. Talking with a friend about a pig hunt in the spring to test it out.

The best part is the ballistics: MPBR is 285 yds, and at 700 yds it still has 600+ ft-lbs of energy (well, yeah, and 14' of drop, so I probably won't try that), but it will be a 250-ish yds point-and-click shooter that can be stretched to maybe 350-ish with holdover.

Next time I take it to the range I will take a few pics of the targets. It absolutely amazed me when I could see the bullet holes in the target with the naked eye at 100 yds! Sure made it easy to sight in!

 

[Guv]

Makes me wonder how a 375JDJ would do in a bolt gun like yours! Also, the 357Max in a compact bolt action would be pretty cool, especially with the variety of 358 bullets out there. The 444 has always seemed a little under appreciated to me. It also seems to maintain a pretty good following though.

 

[g.willikers]

If the venerated .44 Magnum is a great caliber, how could a .444 not be even better?
Great choice for sure, whatever the choice of action.

 

[MarkCO]

Very Cool. I really like my .444Marlin as well.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Next time I take it to the range I will take a few pics of the targets. It absolutely amazed me when I could see the bullet holes in the target with the naked eye at 100 yds! Sure made it easy to sight in!

That's one of my favorite things about taking the big bores to the range. (.44, .45, and .48 caliber.)
There's no question about where the bullet impacted, unless it went through another hole.


And... sounds like you had/have a good plan. Thanks for answering the questions.
I've been curious about .444 Marlin in a bolt gun for a few years, but I don't think I'll ever build one unless my disposable income grows by several orders of magnitude. There are dozens of other projects that would come first. But... I already have two .444s, so there's still plenty of love.


For anyone that wants to look at some other .444 Marlin bolt guns, just to kill some time, or out of curiosity...
Here's an Enfield No 4 Mk II that was converted to .444 Marlin: Frankenfield
And a subtly patriotic Mauser that was converted to .444 Marlin: "Old Glory"

 

[oldscot3]

Very nice, count me a fan as well, of old mausers and the 444. I'm not surprised it shoots well. A friend of mine has a Marlin 444 levergun, I once shot a three shot group at 100 that was a perfect cloverleaf with the petals all touching. I told him "yeah I can do that all day" then I put the gun back in the case . He's so proud of that piece of paper... he drags it out all the time to show it off. I'll probably never shoot it again because it would most likely be a let down, but you know the potential is likely there.

The magic load for that rifle was 265 gr. Hornadys over 4895 I believe, but don't make me swear to it.

I have several old mauser actions lying around including a really nice Arg.`09. I wish I were a smith; I'd like to see it built into something nice. I also have a good P14 action that I figured would make a good 405 Winchester.

 

[natman]

Neat project. What did you have to do to get rimmed rounds to feed properly from the magazine?

 

[FrankenMauser]

The magic load for that rifle was 265 gr. Hornadys over 4895 I believe, but don't make me swear to it.

4895 works, but it's probably one of the 4198s that he's using.
It's the go-to powder for .444 Marlin with 'standard' weight bullets (240-300 gr), and really shines with the Hornady 265 FPs (not quite as much with the FTXs ...but they have to be deep-seated or used in short brass). Only when you started edging past about 330-350 gr bullet weights, does RL-7 surpass 4198 (H4198 in particular) as the better powder.

.444 Marlin shooters survive by using a distribution that seems like it's roughly 95% 4198, 3% RL-7, 1% H335, and 1% everything else.

 

[hooligan1]

Scorch is there anything an old mauser won't do??
I think it's the most versatile action ever designed...cool build man, let's see some targets or some hogs down!!

 

[oldscot3]

Frankenmauser - I do believe you are correct. I don't have the data notes but I did look at my Hornady manual and 4895 isn't listed while 4198, both of them, is. My friend would have most likely used a recipe right out of the manual.

 

[Scorch]

For anyone that wants to look at some other .444 Marlin bolt guns, just to kill some time, or out of curiosity...

I am not surprised that someone else has done this. It was fun to design and fab up, and it shoots great.

Scorch is there anything an old mauser won't do??

If there is, I haven't found it yet. I have seen old 98s converted to feed 222 Rem, 225 Win, 30-30, 30 Rem, 7.62X39, 9.3X62mm, 375 H&H, 404 Jeffrey, 416 Rigby, 44 Mag, 45 Win Mag, you name it. If you have the patience and skill, you can make it work.

What did you have to do to get rimmed rounds to feed properly from the magazine?

No problem getting it to feed once I had the extractor properly fitted. Actually, 444 Marlin is a semi-rimmed cartridge, kind of like the 220 Swift (rim diameter .504", head size .470", so just .017" sticking out on each side). Had to open the bolt face, fit the extractor, set up a headspacing device for the breech, and modify the follower, but no other mods. Gotta look out for rim lock, but there's a fix for that, too.

I also have a good P14 action that I figured would make a good 405 Winchester.

405 Winchester was what got me going on this big bore project originally. I was trying to get a No4 MkII to work, but somebody wanted it and I sold it. A P14 would be a snap!