Good Whitetail Bullet in the 444

[flabbydan]

Has anyone used this bullet on whitetails.  I just bought some 270-grain Speers for my 444 Marlin.  I've heard overall good reviews of this bullet, but was wondering if anyone has tried the lighter 240gr GDSP.  On a different note... are the Barnes 200 or 225 grain X bullets worth the price (~$13.00 for 20)?

[Joel W.]

This will probably be no help at all, because I have never owned a .444, but I have been close more than once, and I have already made up my mind as to what bullet I would load for it.  The very first thing I would try to make shoot would be the 300 grain Hornady XTP.  If that didn't work to suit me, I would load the 265 grain Hornady that they made especially for the .444.  Your Gold Dot should work fine, though, and choices are what makes this country great.

[Mikey]

flabbydan:  for Whitetail the factory 240 gn soft point works very, very well and you will often get complete pass throughs out beyond 100 yds.  The 444 is a powerful cartridge.  If you handload, the 265 grain Hornaday soft nose is an excellent bullet for heavier game, or for whitetail as well.  They can easily be handloaded to 2300'/sec and in 43 bore often give complete penetration (through and through).  Cor-Bon cartridge company will tell ya that their 265/270 grainer from a contender at about 2200'/sec will take the African big five, so it is more than enough for Whitetail.  The 300 grainer is really overkill, unless you're looking for firewood from the tree behind the whitetail you're aiming at.  In my 3 Winchester 444s, the only 240 grain load more accurate than the Remington factory, uses the Speer 240 grain sp with either Hodgedon's 4831 (?) or Vitha Vohoury Oy powders for propellants.  The 265s group beyond expectation; the 300 grainers are monster mashers and are very accurate, the 330s a friend sent are about the most awesome bullet I've ever fired outta those 444s.  

The 200 or 225s are too light and probably cost too much to consider using them in the 444.  They may go very fast, but they are not a good bullet for use in the 444 - too light.  Good vermit bullet though.  HTH.  Mikey.

[markc]

Rem 240gr factory load all that is needed for whitetail deer.  Even big whitetail are thin skinned animals and the Rem factory is plenty.  It works well on feral hogs too!
markc

[Lloyd Smale]

about the only bullet I shoot in mine anymore is the 340lfngc ballisticast.

[Marlin444]

I use both the 270 gd and 265 gr. bullets in my .444 for deer.I shot a nice 6pt. 2yrs. ago at around 60 yrds.I hit lower than I wanted, (heart) I used the 270 gd. it was a complete pass through.The deer ran 50-60 yrds, fairly good blood trail.I load both bullets over n120, I'm getting over 2300fps, with good groups at 100 yrds.

[Arrroman]

My Marlin .444 shoots MOA with a 265grain Hornady round nose and 44grains of IMR-4198. Some manual list the load as being @2000Fps and some as high as 2300Fps. Judging by the bark the gun makes I'd go along with the higher number. Good luck hunting!

[BoarHunter]

This is my third year drive hunting wild boar and roebuck deer with a Win94 (classic 20inch barrel) in 444M.
I have stopped using the Rem factory for reloads with a 265gr Hornady bullet on top of N130 powder (max load from Vithavuori tables)
I get the same speed with these reloads than the Rem factory (680m/s, 2300fps in the Win 94) so 10% more energy as the bullet is that much heavier.
Roebuck are rather small and light (20-30Kg, ~65lbs) so anything will drop them. Nevertheless, I noticed on the few I shot with the Rem, expansion was dramatic and starting immediately. The entry hole was almost as big as the exit.

Whitetail are a tad bigger and stronger  but for sure the Rem factory will be fine.

Wild boars are an other story. They are very strong and I would not use either the Rem factory or any reloads with pistol bullets or even the 270 Speer. I tried the 270 Speer but the jacket is very thin and they expand too early and violently.

Sofar I dropped 3 small boars (50kg, 110lbs), two in the heart area, bullet went throug and in one case broke the shoulder and one this weekend in the neck, massive damage inside but a small bullet size exit hole with almost no blood while the entry hole was bleeding.
I came to the conclusion that even the Hornady bullet expands too early.
I could try heavier bullet but OAL in the Win is limited and I would not like a bullet that is too slow and therfore to have to give more lead.
I wonder what would happen with a very big boar hit in the shoulder area and really think a tougher bullet would be needed. I am even considering FMJ used for silhouette.
From a stand or stalking, I use a Sako in 300W and this summer had to finish one (110kg, 240lbs) that was still alive after having been hit in the shoulder that was smashed by a 180gr Nosler partition I recovered against the backbone it failed to break.

I you know stronger bullet than the Hornady, let me know. I wrote them asking if they plan to manufacture 44 bullets using their Interbond process but did not get an anwer yet.

I wish to share info with anyone hunting big wild boar too.

[BoarHunter]

This is my third year drive hunting wild boar and roebuck deer with a Win94 (classic 20inch barrel) in 444M.
I have stopped using the Rem factory for reloads with a 265gr Hornady bullet on top of N130 powder (max load from Vithavuori tables)
I get the same speed with these reloads than the Rem factory (680m/s, 2300fps in the Win 94) so 10% more energy as the bullet is that much heavier.
Roebuck are rather small and light (20-30Kg, ~65lbs) so anything will drop them. Nevertheless, I noticed on the few I shot with the Rem, expansion was dramatic and starting immediately. The entry hole was almost as big as the exit.

Whitetail are a tad bigger and stronger  but for sure the Rem factory will be fine.

Wild boars are an other story. They are very strong and I would not use either the Rem factory or any reloads with pistol bullets or even the 270 Speer. I tried the 270 Speer but the jacket is very thin and they expand too early and violently.

Sofar I dropped 3 small boars (50kg, 110lbs), two in the heart area, bullet went throug and in one case broke the shoulder and one this weekend in the neck, massive damage inside but a small bullet size exit hole with almost no blood while the entry hole was bleeding.
I came to the conclusion that even the Hornady bullet expands too early.
I could try heavier bullet but OAL in the Win is limited and I would not like a bullet that is too slow and therfore to have to give more lead.
I wonder what would happen with a very big boar hit in the shoulder area and really think a tougher bullet would be needed. I am even considering FMJ used for silhouette.
From a stand or stalking, I use a Sako in 300W and this summer had to finish one (110kg, 240lbs) that was still alive after having been hit in the shoulder that was smashed by a 180gr Nosler partition I recovered against the backbone it failed to break.

I you know stronger bullet than the Hornady, let me know. I wrote them asking if they plan to manufacture 44 bullets using their Interbond process but did not get an anwer yet.

I wish to share info with anyone hunting big wild boar too.

[Triple4]

Boarhunter,
                  You need to play with some good .432 HardCast bullets
that have a wide metplate in the 325gr range at around 2200fps, it sure makes that 444 something different to shoot.

[BoarHunter]

I tend not to favor too heavy bullets as my Win 94 has the slow twist plus case capacity would be reduced so the powder charge. Hunting regulations in Belgium, Germany specify a minimum  kinetic energy at 100 m of at least 2200 Joule (1600 lbs), 2500 J (1800 lbs). My reloads are above this while the factory Rem is just marginal.
In additon the short barrel(20) of the Win94 plus a heavy bullet may lead to a too slow bullet requiring to give more lead on running critters.
 Indeed I am using the lever for drive hunting and often they run at top speed. For example, I aim 40cm in front of the chest for deer crossing at 40 paces and just in front of the head for russian boar.
It is a matter of compromising, a heavy big bore bullet is the best choice for drive hunting (standard in europe is the 9.3mm in bolt or double) but you also need the speed  because of the lead even if the average shooting range is only 40 paces.
I just made up a tool to make a small hole in 44 250 FPJ Sierra bullet intended for silhouette and will try this. A better weight would be 265, 270 as it seems to be the optimal for the twist rate of the Win 94.

[Triple4]

I think your wrong on the Hard Cast bullets, you can run a 280gr Hardcast as fast as the factory Remingtons go, I use a Beartooth 290gr LFNGC@.432 and it runs over 2300fps and is very very accurate.
Check out there website: http://www.beartoothbullets.com/
look on the left and click on teck notes and read the three parts on the 444
from Marshall Stanton, you may be surprized.
If a jacketed bullet is all you want then look into the Nosler 250gr partition
they hold up well and can be pushed to around 2350fps.

[BoarHunter]

Sad but beartooth bullets are not imported in Europe. I reckon it would be worth a try.
I disregarded Nosler HG because they expand far too violently at 444 speed and lose all their front section. For tough russian boar you need deep penetration first.
Sometimes we find 12 g slugs (like brenneke) lodged in the skin or fat at the level of what is called the armor plate of big boars, 300 Win Mag often fail to pass throuh.

[Triple4]

Has anyone tried Swifts 280gr or 300gr bullets in the 444?