444 and the spike

todd

Well-Known Member
wednesday afternoon i went to my stand #2 to hunt deer for a couple hours. a stand is a double tree stand without the ladder, i'm disabled. and its 50 or so yards from my trail, which my polaris utv takes me on. anyway, it takes me about 10 minutes or so to go 50 yards to my stand. i get there and settle myself in. then it began to snow....alot. 30 minutes later the sun came out. 15 minutes later, it snowed. 10 minutes it was sunny.......this goes on until wee hours thursday morning. meanwhile i am just sitting and seeing and listening.....and my mind wonders off. i look at my phone and i see it is about 4pm. so i get myself a cup of coffee....if you think that 50 yards is bad, then a one armed man, trying to get a thermos cup off and pouring it is worse!!!! lol!!! then to top it all off, my glove HAS to go in the cup of coffee. i took the wet glove off while i was shaking my head. a coffee flavored glove!!! lol!!!

while i was sipping my coffee, a deer showed up(at 55 yards). i put the cup down and i slowly picked up my rifle(tc encore/23"MGM barrel in 444 marlin). i noticed that the deer had antlers and found out that it was a spike. in PA only junior hunters and disabled people are allowed to shoot them. senior hunters are not allowed. i've seen the spike on archery season, but i'm looking for the ONE. its about 2 or 3 years old, 6 or 7" spikes and he is a fat one!!! my freezer is looking empty, so...........i might as well shoot him. i thumbed back the hammer, put my crosshairs right behind his shoulder(he was broadside) and squuueeezzzed the trigger. then a 300gr fn gc with 24.0gr of 2400/dacron is out the barrel and into behind the buck's shoulder, breaks a rib, thru both lungs and goes out thru 2 ribs. then the spike ran about 20-25 yards, did a circle and fell over. i then picked up my phone and found that it was 4:10pm. i called up my neighbor and asked him if i wanted to help to drag the deer down to my utv. 10 minutes later he not only dragged the deer but he gutted it too. this morning(thursday) i was able to take it to my butcher. i don't have any pictures of the spike, its just a spike.
 
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S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Great story. I have a Marlin .444 that I've used with great effect, great gun.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I heard people call those ones 11 pointers before.
all I know is they fit in the freezer just fine and seem to cut a lot easier with a fork.
 
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S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
11 pointers, I'll have to remember that. My kind of vittles.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Congratulations on the 11 pointer.;) That sounds like a really stiff charge.
 

todd

Well-Known Member
Congratulations on the 11 pointer.;) That sounds like a really stiff charge.


yep!!! a 300gr boolit and 2400 is going 1625fps!!!! i'm lucky to be alive after shooting that!!! i mean, it kicks like a 22 and you don't want that!!!:rofl:
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
That load goes 1625? I would have expected closer to 1500.
I really need to try that load in my Marlin.

What bullet are you using?
 

dale2242

Well-Known Member
My only 444 is a 14" Contender 44 Magnum barrel that has been rechambered.
I am not very recoil sensitive as I have shot untold thousands of heavy 44 magnum loads as well as 500 S&W, 460 S&W, and 50BMG in rifles.
This thing is really brutal especially with 300+ gr bullets.....dale
 

todd

Well-Known Member
That load goes 1625? I would have expected closer to 1500.
I really need to try that load in my Marlin.

What bullet are you using?


i have tried the 300gr saeco in 22.0 - 25.5gr of 2400/tuft of dacron(about 1.1 - 1.3gr). i'd be careful of going 25.5gr and up. i've used 25.5gr but i am leery of going more. i don't have a pressure gauge, all i'm going for is split cases, primer back out or is flattened....which it hasn't done. the 22.0 -23.0gr of 2400 the cases are sooty, 23.0 - 25.5gr are not. not using dacron because 1 or 2 out 5 cartridges really splits the group up. i would measure .750" group of 4 cartridges at 100 yards while the 5th it would measure 2.5" at 100 yards. i got rid of my "fliers" because of the use of dacron fillers.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I don’t have that mould but do have a different 300 gr 44 bullet I can measure and run some QL numbers. Well, once my desktop computer is back online, having a hard drive issue currently.
Dacron can easily eliminate vertical with 2400, I have learned that the hard way on 45-70 and 30-30. 2400 is an excellent powder for cast bullets.
 

todd

Well-Known Member
I don’t have that mould but do have a different 300 gr 44 bullet I can measure and run some QL numbers. Well, once my desktop computer is back online, having a hard drive issue currently.
Dacron can easily eliminate vertical with 2400, I have learned that the hard way on 45-70 and 30-30. 2400 is an excellent powder for cast bullets.

i would like to see the QL numbers, just to see what pressure its running at.

i wonder if dacron will eliminate vertical stringing with hs-6 and the 500 linebaugh(tc encore/23" MGM barrel)? thats got me thinking now.........
 

todd

Well-Known Member
i wonder if dacron will eliminate vertical stringing with hs-6 and the 500 linebaugh(tc encore/23" MGM barrel)? thats got me thinking now.........




i found a couple of targets that i shot with my 500L. this was at 100 yards.

note: forget about the 2 on the upper right side, i was trying to get my scope on....
it was a 5 shot group(450gr lfn gc/16.5gr of hs-6), i think it was shot 3 or 4 that opened my group up.
S8j4yB3.jpg


4 shot group on the left side, note shot 3 is way up. right side is a 5 shot group is average(around 2" or so)
5IK22G3.jpg