444 Marlin or 460 S&W, Which and Why?

[bootsmcguire]

I went with the 1:20" twist. Kinda figured in this case faster twist is better.

[GaCop]

I went with the 1:20" twist. Kinda figured in this case faster twist is better. Good call. Excellent twist to take advantage of the heavier bullets.

[bootsmcguire]

Barrel arrived today. Going to go down stairs and get it mounted up on the Striker and see how things go.

[sav250]

I'd go .444 in rifle anytime alongside taking .45-70. I have no misunderstandings of either caliber as far as I know and I have had both but now only the .45-70. If there is a .460 out there it's gotta be the Weatherby or I lose my sight and forget what we are doing here.

The .444 is first of all cultic as cutic as its followers. I am a follower and believer in the .444 in situations I would rather not have a Government .45 70. Most of those situations have been testified to by the members of the .444 and I have no need to elaborate.

The .460 SW is not the .460 Wby. It is a recent cartridge. Perhaps it has value.

I am a bit older than the years when the newest seemed the best.

It is not so any longer. The classic cartridges (even the .444 Marlin is classic) do all the so called new do better but the old actually is better for longevity and reliability and availability.

[sav250]

Just embarrassed myself by realizing you went .444 beyond your original post.
I am new here. I try to respond to the OP without reading any further and sometimes it would look more sharp for me to read ahead.

[bootsmcguire]

No embarrassment due. It happens to us all.

Like you said, 444 is what it is and has great potential in the use I am trying it for. I am really looking forward to seeing what this setup will do. Nothing wrong with classic, I like my fair share of "classics" and a good share of new stuff too. It all has its place and if nothing else it gives us shooters a variety to choose from and play with.

[snowgetter1]

Did you get that Striker shooting yet?

[bootsmcguire]

Well it is built, and I just built the brake for it today. Haven't made any ammo yet other than a couple of dummies for feed testing. If I can get time this weekend I am planning to make up some ammo and hopefully get out to shoot it this week or next weekend. Fingers crossed. Had a bit of a set back with my bolt head (completely my fault). I did some tweaking that wasn't really needed and am going to have to replace it, so I have a WTB thread going looking for a new one, but I will probably rob the one out of my 6WSM or 7 Mag to get me shooting.

I'll see if I can't get some pics and start another thread in the proper board showing the build so far.

[sav250]

Most of the time the .444 Marlin easily (in Winchester souped up 94 to Timberline .444 too with the .444 Marlin from New Haven and not Remington) was the accurate big bore. I'd read the .444s v the .45-70s over the last decade and more years fighting each other. I always had the .444 on hand shooting better than any .45-70 Marlin (the 1895 ported or unported or whatnot) and sort of laughed as if I was superior in understanding--at the .45-70 Clan dissing the .444.

Okay so I did pick up a Miroku Winchester 1886 Short Rifle (24" Barrel really so the short rifle name escapes me) and took it to the range back in 2008 using the irons and shot under one inch regularly from a table without sandbags or support (just my elbows of a table and me sitting) at 50 yards.

I looked at my gun as it ejected straight up and over my head while I was using the iron sights over this rickety table and the action itself felt so smart and tight and vault like and then I knew why in the movie The Edge with Anthony Hopkins he had an 1886 Winchester in that cabin in Alaska with two shots out of a magazine loaded to 8 shots (my Miro 1886 holds EIGHT in the tube!) to deal with the climax of The Edge with Elle.

My wife's sister asked me the other day out of all my guns which one is the funnest and I pulled out the Miro Win 1886 Short Rifle and explained....\\

Ellle I mentioned but her name is Elle Mcpherson or something. She's a swimsuit model from the past and in this movie she is the wife of Anthony Hopkins.
Anthony shows his finesse working the action of an 1886 Winchester in .45-70 Gov. True to the date and film and stuff. One film that was real about a gun which happened to be the 1886 Short Rifle in .45-70 Government. Just like my Miroku!

[GaCop]

Late last year I found a bolt action 444 in a LGS. I spotted it sitting in the corner behind the counter because of the stock being painted like the American flag. The action is a Mauser 98 and the bolt face and extractor was expertly opened up for the rimmed case. The frame rails were also worked over to feed the fatter case. The barrel is an unknown brand at 24 inches and is varmint weight. I suspect the rifle was originally built back in the 60's as it has the early 1 in 38" twist which I don't like because it forces me to use bullets no heavier than 300 grains. On the plus side, it's Ballard style rifling rather than Marlin's "Micro-groove". To date, I can regularly hit the steel pigs at 300 yards using the Hornady 300 grain XTP pushed by 50 grains of IMR 4895 giving me a velocity of 2289 fps. I'd post a picture of the rifle but for some odd reason I'm not being allowed to post pictures?

[Hotolds442]

If you aren't able to get it feeding properly, the .444 rim can be turned down to .473 and used with a standard bolt face.
I had a stub chambered in .444 and turned down some brass for testing, it all passed with flying colors....

[bootsmcguire]

Good to hear, I may have to give that a try also, I wanted very much to do this with all factory parts (sans the barrel of course) but the magnum bolt heads are just too much oversized and letting the brass slop around in there and come off the extractor way too early. I will give your idea a try, I am also going to open up a 308 sized bolt head just a touch for the rim and see if that will do it for me. It was working ok with the magnum head, but the unreliable extraction was not going to cut it. Hopefully tomorrow with the new bolt head opened up, all will be solved.

[bootsmcguire]

Well I opened up a 308 sized head just a bit to handle the 444 rim. I also went ahead and installed a SSS ejector and spring while the bolt was apart. Now she is cycling my dummy rounds perfectly and ejecting and extracting like she should. Now I can start making some rounds and planning a day to head to the range. Finally!

I wanted to make this with all as is factory parts (sans the barrel) but unfortunately I had to modify a bolt head to get it done. Simple mod, but still I just wanted to keep it simple for others who may want to build one. It is what it is, and I have some pics on my phone, if I can get them over to the comp, I'll start the build thread and post a link in this thread.

Thanks to all who gave input and followed.

[Hotolds442]

If you decide to turn the rims down, turn them to .480 for a little more extractor bite. The 6.5x55 is .4803 and feeds and extracts well from the standard bolt face. When I build mine, I will go that route for the additional meat that the extractor will have to work with. I only turned 5 down for testing so I'm not out much, but my preference would be for more material left on the rim.

[bootsmcguire]

Here is a link to the build thread I started.......with some pics! Finally right. ;)

http://www.savageshooters.com/showthread.php?37308-My-Savage-Striker-in-444-Marlin&p=273121#post273121