Hunting House » Bear Hunting » .444 Marlin
.444 Marlin
Question:
I have owned a 444 for 17 years now. I traded my dad after a deer hunt in mo. I was using a 300 savage and I shot several deer with it. The reason for the trade was the last deer I shot with the 300 savage was 75 yards away. I hit it in the shoulder 4 out of 5 times yet the deer still traveled more than 2 miles before dieing. My dad was using this 444 marlin that same year and shot a nice deer and it droped almost imediately. Since the trade I have killed at least 1 deer a year with it an none have gone more than 50 yards from the initial impact. I also had a friend borrow it to go bear hunting in Canada and he shot a beer and said the bear traveled about 75 yards before dieing. It is a great gun for shots under 150 yards.
Response:
> I have owned a 444 for 17 years now. I traded my dad after a deer hunt in > mo. I was using a 300 savage and I shot several deer with it. The reason > for the trade was the last deer I shot with the 300 savage was 75 yards > away. I hit it in the shoulder 4 out of 5 times yet the deer still > traveled more than 2 miles before dieing….
If it stood there long enough for you to shoot it four times, and then went more than 2 miles, it must have been a John Deere. I’ll bet the farmer was mad as hell.
Response:
> > I have owned a 444 for 17 years now. I traded my dad after a deer hunt in > mo. I was using a 300 savage and I shot several deer with it. The reason > for the trade was the last deer I shot with the 300 savage was 75 yards > away. I hit it in the shoulder 4 out of 5 times yet the deer still > traveled more than 2 miles before dieing…. > If it stood there long enough for you to shoot it four times, and then > went more than 2 miles, it must have been a John Deere. I’ll bet the > farmer was mad as hell.
Hank, Best chuckle I had all day! Superb! Note to "sgcjr" — I have a 10" Contender pistol rechambered to .444 that does a GREAT job on boar. When people start telling me about their "roarin’ forty-fours" I pull out the T/C and say "Try this!" :-) Rick — It’s not that I can’t be bought…. I’m just very, very expensive!
Response:
> I also had > a friend borrow it to go bear hunting in Canada and he shot a beer
Obviously, your friend knew that beer is always in season Up North. (Anybody know what the bag limit is?) However, I’d have to say that a .444 is a bit much for beer, most especially if the hunter plans on consuming the quarry he takes. 
Chris Murphy
Response:
>Note to "sgcjr" — I have a 10" Contender pistol rechambered to .444 >that does a GREAT job on boar. When people start telling me about their >"roarin’ forty-fours" I pull out the T/C and say "Try this!" :-) >Rick
Rick, what load do you shoot. I also have a 444 marlin TC. I shoot the LBT Cor-Bon untill they stopped selling bullets to handloaders. Bellum did mine. C.H. Do it today, for it maybe illegal tomorrow NRA Life, HHI, TCA,