Africa Hunting and a Marlin .444!

[hawkeyesatx]

Taken with my "old fashioned .405 WCF": 400 grain Woodleigh at 2100 fps:
View attachment 404329

I absolutely love the Winchester Model 1895’s! Another John Browning wonder of engineering!

Wish I had one!


Hawk

 

[hawkeyesatx]

Here is my beauty!
She has a 22 inch barrel, and the 1 in 20 inch Ballard rifling, and can shoot up to 400 gr + bullets without sweating!

Hawk

 

[Serbian Hunter]

I took warthog and huge waterbuck with .444 Marlin and I was delighted with the results. I used 320grs hard cast bullets (I think it was Cast Performance WFN GC). Waterbuck was particularly interesting - I was forced to take a neck shot just few inches bellow the ears since animal was hidden in long grass. Bullet impact was so hard that my friends who was 1000 meters away heard the hit loud and clear.
I love .45-70 which is probably better choice for shorter distances but .444 can easily extend shooting distance to 200m or so which is significant benefit. Issue I see is, aside of hard cast, you have to stick to .44 mag bullets whish might be too soft for .444 velocities.
With right choice you will be more than happy and successful in Africa. Good luck!

 

[BenKK]

Chris Troskie has hosted numerous lever-action rifle hunters, and after stalking along his creeks and rivers I can see why they’ve been so successful.

 

[PerH]

If i had a .444 and would look to use it for some hunts here and there,i would have looked into 280 grain Swift Aframe,if that shot where need to be, a solid and thats it.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

I took warthog and huge waterbuck with .444 Marlin and I was delighted with the results. I used 320grs hard cast bullets (I think it was Cast Performance WFN GC). Waterbuck was particularly interesting - I was forced to take a neck shot just few inches bellow the ears since animal was hidden in long grass. Bullet impact was so hard that my friends who was 1000 meters away heard the hit loud and clear.
I love .45-70 which is probably better choice for shorter distances but .444 can easily extend shooting distance to 200m or so which is significant benefit. Issue I see is, aside of hard cast, you have to stick to .44 mag bullets whish might be too soft for .444 velocities.
With right choice you will be more than happy and successful in Africa. Good luck!

@Serbian Hunter
Woodleigh makes a nice 280 grain RNSP, swift make a nice 280 grain A Frame and Barnes makes the 300 grain Barnes buster for the 444 as well.
Bob

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

A sample size of one (trip)... I plan to write a full report when I am home. I am sitting in the airport in Seattle on the way right now.

Last week I killed a nice zebra and a mature cow buffalo with my .45-70. I used Cutting Edge brass solids. It was a frontal shot at 45 yards. She went 20ish yards and died quickly, complete with death bellow.

Not sure how my .45-70 compares to what you could put together for your .444, but they are both Marlins, so....

View attachment 404195

Thats impressive

 

[Serbian Hunter]

@Serbian Hunter
Woodleigh makes a nice 280 grain RNSP, swift make a nice 280 grain A Frame and Barnes makes the 300 grain Barnes buster for the 444 as well.
Bob

Great, now I like .444 even more!

 

[CoElkHunter]

Here you go...
View attachment 404408View attachment 404409View attachment 404410

Very nice! But that looks like a standard 94 .30-30 action to me? Bob was saying the 94 in .444 was in some reinforced/enhanced type action in one of his previous posts here?

 

[CoElkHunter]

Here is my beauty!
She has a 22 inch barrel, and the 1 in 20 inch Ballard rifling, and can shoot up to 400 gr + bullets without sweating!View attachment 404432
View attachment 404433


Hawk

Very nice!

 

[Dr Ray]

My concern is that with a lever action you may have a jam.
Unlikely but more likely than a bolt action that has great cam power

 

[JimP]

Very nice! But that looks like a standard 94 .30-30 action to me? Bob was saying the 94 in .444 was in some reinforced/enhanced type action in one of his previous posts here?

The 444 came in the M94 AE or angle eject so that you could mount a scope on top of it a lot easier. That model also came in some other calibers. I had one in 7-30 Waters but sold it to a friend who wanted it more than I did.

 

[CoElkHunter]

The 444 came in the M94 AE or angle eject so that you could mount a scope on top of it a lot easier. That model also came in some other calibers. I had one in 7-30 Waters but sold it to a friend who wanted it more than I did.

Very interesting. I didn't know about the AE either. Great Idea. This is the third new thing I've learned here in two days!

 

[CoElkHunter]

My concern is that with a lever action you may have a jam.
Unlikely but more likely than a bolt action that has great cam power

Not too likely, but possible. My buddy's Browning BLR .30-06 froze up (couldn't move the bolt) once while elk hunting in single digits above 0 F. We figured out he had too much WD 40 on and in the action. Took it inside and cleaned the bolt and action and it worked fine. DON'T USE WD 40! I use Rem Lube and only a very light film on contact parts. Your better off running a rifle action dry in extremely cold weather. Off topic, but wanted to share an avoidable operator error that could cost someone a shot at game.

 

[JimP]

It really doesn't matter what you use to lube the bolt or mechanism up. If you use too much and it is cold you just may have a problem. Even bolt action rifles will have their firing pins be restrictive enough with enough oil on them that the cartridge won't fire when the trigger is pulled. It is best in cold climates to wipe everything down with a dry cloth. There will be enough lubrication left on the parts that you won't have to worry about wear.

But getting that coating of oil off is the main thing no matter what kind of oil you use.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Very nice! But that looks like a standard 94 .30-30 action to me? Bob was saying the 94 in .444 was in some reinforced/enhanced type action in one of his previous posts here?

@CoElkHunter
Ah grasshopper just because you can't see it doesn't mean it is not stronger. I tried had to be beefed up
to take the increased pressure of the 307,356, 375 big bore and the 450 marlin. The standard 94 is fine for the lower pressures but c ant take the strain of the higher intensity cartridges.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Very interesting. I didn't know about the AE either. Great Idea. This is the third new thing I've learned here in two days!

@CoElkHunter
Grasshopper the 94TE in 450 marlin is a also available in takedown. That makes 3 things in 3 days grasshopper. You are learning much. Now if we can only teach you the benefits of the Whelen.
Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

The 444 came in the M94 AE or angle eject so that you could mount a scope on top of it a lot easier. That model also came in some other calibers. I had one in 7-30 Waters but sold it to a friend who wanted it more than I did.

trouble with scopes on the 94 is that the stock is too low.
a receiver aperture sight will give enough accuracy for the 444 etc, and if you screw out the insert is very fast.
bruce.

 

[CoElkHunter]

@CoElkHunter
Ah grasshopper just because you can't see it doesn't mean it is not stronger. I tried had to be beefed up
to take the increased pressure of the 307,356, 375 big bore and the 450 marlin. The standard 94 is fine for the lower pressures but c ant take the strain of the higher intensity cartridges.
Bob

Bob,
Wikipedia states SAAMI CUP(?) pressure max for the .444 Marlin is 44k and the PSI(?) for the .30-30 Win is 42k. Don’t know the difference between CUP and PSI, but probably fairly close?
CEH

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Bob,
Wikipedia states SAAMI CUP(?) pressure max for the .444 Marlin is 44k and the PSI(?) for the .30-30 Win is 42k. Don’t know the difference between CUP and PSI, but probably fairly close?
CEH

@CoElkHunter
Ah grasshopper you are learning many things. PSI doesn't translate to CUP very well at all.
For example the 270 and 308 and quite a few others operate at around 60 to 62,000 psi.
This translates very roughly to 52,000 cup. So as you see there is very little correlation betwixt the 2.
The Whelen was loaded to around 44 to 46,000 cup. When you u up the pressure up to the modern 52,000 cup that is what accounts for the increased velocity..
You are doing well in your learning young grasshopper.
Now is the time to graduate and increase in your learning and get a Whelen.
Bob