444 Marlin

[sonofafish]

My father in law has an old 444 Marlin. He put a new 3x9 Nikon scope. Never had a bore scope down the barrel but by eye it looks OK.  Today is the first time we had a chance to shoot it. Got it on paper, but could not get it to group under 5''s.The data I used was N120,44.0gr.,Speer 270 gr. gold dot. Does anyone have any good data on this or is this the best that this old gun can do.

[LaOtto222]

The first thing I would do is make sure the barrel is absolutely clean - no leading - no copper fouling. Also check that the crown is in good shape and that the rifling is not wore out there. Many people clean their levers from the muzzle and do some damage there if not careful. I think the N120 is a little fast. You may not be pushing the bullet fast enough to stabilize, the twist rate in those old Marlins were 1-38". I would try a healthy dose of N133 or RL 7. The Speer Gold Dot is a very good bullet, I would give Hornady 265 FP some serious consideration too.

[Lloyd Smale]

Should do better then that. First id check all the scope mound and scope screws. they have a little recoil and can loosen up screws. For powders in the 444 my favorite is re7 followed by 4198 and ww748 and 335. Id also try at least one more brand of bullet in the weight range you want before i condem it. Some guns just wont shoot a particular bullet.  Im not going to be much help to you there as i dont think ive ever shot a jacketed bullet out of a 444.

[Mikey]

sonofafish:  VihtaVuori Oy lists no such load for the 444 with 44 gns of N120 and the 270 gn bullet and the data you provided indicates the load is too slow to gain effective accuracy with the Marlin twist in that caliber.  If you intend to stay with the N120 powder then you need to increase the charge to 48 gns - the load listed is 48.1 gns of N120 with the 265 gn Hornady bullet.

I have found that my Marlin micro-groove barrels prefer 52.8 gns of 3031 with the 265 gn bullet or 45.3 gns of 4198 with the same slug.  

With the 240 gn slug I prefer H4198 and the container label lists a load of 49 gns of H4198 with  the 240 gn slug and it is very accurate in my micro-groove barrels.

One thing is a must - clean that barrel.  Soak it with Hoppes #9 and scrub it with a good brass bore brush, a couple of times.  This rifle may not have been shot a lot and few people even though about giving barrels a good scrubbing way back then and copper fouling can build up quickly.  

If you and your father in law really intend to shoot this rifle then get yourself to the Beartooth Bullets website and see what the owner has written about the 444 - it has phenomenal offerings and possibilities from stock rifles.  HTH.  Mikey.

[sonofafish]

guys, Thank you for all the info I will get work on it.

[BBF]

Barnes makes a very aggressive copper remover, the patches come out blue after giving the rifle a good cleaning with Hoppe' # 9 just to give you an idea.

I havenever tried the Speer 270 Gold Dot in my 444 . In my  44 Rem Carbine and it was one of the worst groups ever. For the 444 I ended up exclusively with the Hornady 265 and a full case of IMR 4198.