BARNES-X 200/ 225 FOR 444

[dave hall]

HAS ANYONE RELOADED THE BARNES-X 200 OR THE 225 GR'ERS FOR THE 444,AND HAS ANYONE SHOT A DEER OR SOMETHING BIGGER WITH THEM.THANKS :wink:

[Mikey]

dave:  due to the velocities attainable with the 200/225 gn bullets in 444, the use of lightweight bullets is not usually found.  One of our posters shoots the 180 grainers for varmit loads.  

If you have the lighter weight bullets and want to play, have fun but many feel they are too light in weight to penetrate sufficiently and you may lose an animal if you hunt with them.  Mikey.

[Flashole]

When I first got my 444 winne about 2 years ago, I sent e-mails to just about every bullet maker.  Barnes did reply and I thought I saved it but can not find it.  In general they said it was possible to load those rounds in 444 but they had not done any themselves.  Others had sent back more useful information.  I can only say one bad thing about the 444. There are just to many pistol rounds that can be used and most will not hold up to the velocities the 444 can produce.  This does not mean all the loads have to be max loads.  Barnes is known tomake quality bullets and you may be the one that can prove that it works well.  I would hate to hear that a lot of game was lost do to bullet failure.. I think there was a penetration test run on the Beartooth site.   From what I can recall the Nosler 250 Partition gave the most penetration of bullets tested and I think there were some very heavy hard cast in the test.  I used them in 44, 445 supermag and 444.
I have taken game in 44 and 445 and they worked great but did not group well in the 444 so I will stick with heavy hardcast loads.

=Flash=

[Redhawk1]

I agree with Flashole. Stick with the heavier bullets. A longer bullet will shoot more accurate in the 444. At least in mine it does. I shot the 240 Remington bullets made for the 444 MArlin. I also shoot the 300 and 320 gr. cast peformance bullets in my 444. My gun likes the 240 gr. and 300 gr. the most.