For 444 Marlin Fans (the cartridge) - Page 3

bamaranger · March 13, 2025, 09:32 PM

Somewhere in the archives I have an article clipped from a late 60's-70's "Rifleman" article where a 'smith created a .44 wildcat he named the .44 Alpen (short for Alaska to PA). As I recall he took a .300 Win mag belted case, trimmed it to a length that would feed and function thru a Mauser action and screwed on a custom .44 barrel. In thinking about the article, he did have a discussion addressing his choice of barrel twist rate....faster than 1-38', but I do not recall exactly.

Pumpkin · March 14, 2025, 01:05 AM

Almost sounds like a member of the “Whelen” family or an elongated AutoMag.
My biggest concern would be having to headspace the cartridge with the mouth.
Be hard to keep those big slugs in place under recoil without a solid crimp, I would think.
Maybe a tapper crimp would work?

FrankenMauser · March 14, 2025, 03:18 AM

Quote:

444 Rimless

I saw on gunbroker a few years back a bolt action rifle sold in what they listed as 444 Rimless caliber. Which come to find out was a 30/06 cartridge with the shoulder and neck blown out straight walled then trimmed to 2.225'', 444 Marlin length. Then I presume ran through a 444 Marlin sizing die. I thought that was very interesting. Do any of you have any experience with or seen a rifle such as this?

Quote:

Somewhere in the archives I have an article clipped from a late 60's-70's "Rifleman" article where a 'smith created a .44 wildcat he named the .44 Alpen (short for Alaska to PA). As I recall he took a .300 Win mag belted case, trimmed it to a length that would feed and function thru a Mauser action and screwed on a custom .44 barrel. In thinking about the article, he did have a discussion addressing his choice of barrel twist rate....faster than 1-38', but I do not recall exactly.

If you look at the dimensions of each cartridge, it doesn't quite match up.
But .444 Marlin was based on straight-tapered .30-06.
The Marlin engineers and ballisticians wanted the strength of the .30-06 web, and the case was close enough when straight-walled. In the end, the external body and base dimensions were changed a bit; but it started as straight-tapered .30-06 with a rim.

bluetopper · March 16, 2025, 12:59 PM

Great, enjoyable to read thread!

Blue Duck · April 28, 2025, 06:04 PM

I had a Marlin 444 back in the 1980's for a while. It shot good with the factory 240 grain Remington loads. I remember one very large-bodied buck I shot that was running flat out, at a range of only about 30 yards. I missed it the first 2 or 3 shots and figured I must be shooting high, so held lower and hit it on the next shot in the top of the back, and the deer dropped it's horns into the dirt and did a summersault, and I hit it again while it was mid summersault through the belly, and it exited out the top of the back, in the same area as where the first shot hit. I lost probably 12 inches of backstrap, as the deer had a huge hole in it's back. One bullet blew up, and the jacket separated from the core, and I recovered both pieces which had slid down the opposing rib bone. Anyway the wound was impressive to say the least.

Later on, I tried some of those Hornady 265 grain bullets and I couldn't make them shoot worth a darn. And point of impact was way off from the 240 grain factory loads. Sometimes, I wished I had kept it, but it went down the gun trader road, for something else.

March 13, 2025, 09:32 PM	#51
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,800	.44 Alpen Somewhere in the archives I have an article clipped from a late 60's-70's "Rifleman" article where a 'smith created a .44 wildcat he named the .44 Alpen (short for Alaska to PA). As I recall he took a .300 Win mag belted case, trimmed it to a length that would feed and function thru a Mauser action and screwed on a custom .44 barrel. In thinking about the article, he did have a discussion addressing his choice of barrel twist rate....faster than 1-38', but I do not recall exactly.

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March 14, 2025, 01:05 AM	#52
Pumpkin Senior Member Join Date: October 18, 2020 Location: Seguin Texas Posts: 994	Almost sounds like a member of the “Whelen” family or an elongated AutoMag. My biggest concern would be having to headspace the cartridge with the mouth. Be hard to keep those big slugs in place under recoil without a solid crimp, I would think. Maybe a tapper crimp would work?

March 16, 2025, 12:59 PM	#54
bluetopper Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 2005 Location: Northeast TX Posts: 1,214	Great, enjoyable to read thread!

April 28, 2025, 06:04 PM	#55
Blue Duck Senior Member Join Date: October 15, 2006 Posts: 412	I had a Marlin 444 back in the 1980's for a while. It shot good with the factory 240 grain Remington loads. I remember one very large-bodied buck I shot that was running flat out, at a range of only about 30 yards. I missed it the first 2 or 3 shots and figured I must be shooting high, so held lower and hit it on the next shot in the top of the back, and the deer dropped it's horns into the dirt and did a summersault, and I hit it again while it was mid summersault through the belly, and it exited out the top of the back, in the same area as where the first shot hit. I lost probably 12 inches of backstrap, as the deer had a huge hole in it's back. One bullet blew up, and the jacket separated from the core, and I recovered both pieces which had slid down the opposing rib bone. Anyway the wound was impressive to say the least. Later on, I tried some of those Hornady 265 grain bullets and I couldn't make them shoot worth a darn. And point of impact was way off from the 240 grain factory loads. Sometimes, I wished I had kept it, but it went down the gun trader road, for something else.