Has Marlin Started Making the .444 Again
Marlin Model 1895-.444 Marlin
If you're looking for a handy, powerful burglarize capable of taking downwards elk, moose, hogs, blackness acquit and deer, in a unique cartridge, the Model 1895–.444 Marlin just might be your gun.
Several years ago at a author seminar, Marlin announced the return of the Marlin 444, which had been out of product since 2011. Unfortunately, during early production and testing, the company realized the rifle wasn't set for prime time. Now it is.
Introduced in 1965 with the .444 Marlin cartridge, the Model 444 was the most powerful lever action of its day. It originally had a 24-inch barrel, directly-grip Monte Carlo stock and double barrel ring, but past 1976 those features had been changed to what we see today in what Marlin is calling the Model 1895–.444 Marlin: 22-inch butt, pistol-grip stock and steel fore-cease cap. The current version retains the maligned merely easily ignored crossbolt safety that was inflicted on the rifle in 1988.
The most significant change, the one that acquired the terminate-and-start reintroduction, involved the Ballard rifling. Designers decided to change it to a 1:xx twist to better accuracy with current loads.
When the directly-wall .444 Marlin round made its debut, it offered a huge advantage over the .45-70 Gov't due to its much higher pressure ceiling. And according to William S. Brophy'south book Marlin Firearms, the business firm made a big deal out of this power in the proclamation for rifle and round: "The mighty Marlin .444 has a higher Knock-Out value than even the .338 Winchester Magnum at ranges beyond 100 yards! At 150 yards, its K-O score dwarfs even the .300 H&H and the .xxx-06."
Whether or not you subscribe to John Taylor's Thousand-O values, at that place's no denying the .444'due south power. Using the velocities I recorded with Hornady's 265-grain flatpoint Superformance load, I calculated 3,239 ft.-lbs. of muzzle energy. Hornady'southward volume values for this load promise 2,300 ft.-lbs. at 100 yards and i,500 ft.-lbs. at 200 yards.
That'southward serious medicine for the largest game in North America—save chocolate-brown and polar bears. And information technology accomplishes this with relatively mild recoil. Granted, information technology's not a lot of fun to shoot at the demote, but from field positions it's actually pleasant. You get a good shove, sure, but information technology'due south not a sharp shot to the shoulder.
I've used straight-grip centerfire lever actions all my life, but I found I really like the pistol-grip style, and the .444's grip is nicely hand-filling—as is the fore-stop. Both are of American black walnut and feature point checkering with a diamond in the centre of the pattern. The buttstock is fitted with a thin, blood-red rubber buttpad, which looks nice but doesn't practice much to tame recoil. The underside of the stock features the Marlin "bullseye," and the grip is tastefully adorned with a plain black cap.
I'd intended to do the accuracy testing with the iron sights, but I discovered I simply can't shoot semi-buckhorns anymore. I idea I'd hedged my bets correctly by ordering a Lyman 66 aperture receiver sight for the gun, only I discovered when it arrived that the .444's receiver is not drilled and tapped for such a sight.
That surprised me, so I contacted Marlin fan Layne Simpson. He told me both of his older Marlin 444s are drilled and tapped, and then obviously Marlin decided this extra machining step wasn't worth the expense anymore. I have to disagree, but I understand the reasoning.
I bought an EGM rail for the receiver height and mounted my trusty Nikon Monarch 3 ii-8X for the accurateness test. Depending on where and how y'all hunt, this would be a great combo. But I was thinking about elk in nighttime timber, and when I was done shooting groups, I removed the scope and installed an Aimpoint Micro H-2.
I shot it at fifty and 75 yards from offhand and sitting, and, man, is that the ticket. The red dot is super-fast to acquire and easy to hit with, and it doesn't add together weight. Plus, information technology allows me to carry the rifle in one manus, which is indispensable when maneuvering in tight cover. I can grip the rifle only at the front of the receiver, where it balances perfectly.
Fifty-fifty brand-new the Marlin's lever works relatively effortlessly, although the trigger pull at 5 pounds, 14 ounces is heavy. That's to be expected, but judging from the groups I got, information technology didn't touch accuracy much.
When the Marlin folks told the states concluding year the rifle would shoot an inch at 100 yards, I was skeptical. But they weren't blowing smoke. Yes, this particular rifle didn't care for the Remington Core-Lokts, but both Hornady loads shot well. I had a one-inch group with Superformance and ii one-inchers with LeverEvolution, and the averages were better than I expected.
If you're looking for a handy, powerful burglarize capable of taking downwardly elk, moose, hogs, black deport and deer, in a unique cartridge, the Model 1895–.444 Marlin just might exist your gun.
Has Marlin Started Making the .444 Again
Source: https://www.rifleshootermag.com/editorial/marlin-model-1895-444-marlin/361031