The 444 Marlin cartridge was introduced to the public in 1964 in a collaboration between Remington and Marlin. The 444 Marlin cartridge is a semi-rimmed, tapered, straight-walled cartridge that is an excellent short to medium range rifle round that is capable of taking all of the north-American game animals within its big bore range capabilities.
Marlin introduced this new cartridge in their ever popular model 336 lever action rifle design which featured a 24″ barrel and a very slow 1 in 38″ rifling twist rate.
The Marlin model 444 rifles today have a twist rate of 1 in 20″ to better stabilize heavy bullets. 444 Marlins are notorious for their outstanding accuracy potential, allowing shooters to try a whole host of different bullet weights and designs till they find one to their desire.
Remington originally factory loaded the 444 Marlin with a 240 grain soft point bullet to 2,400 feet per second with 3,070 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle of a 24 inch barrel.
Today Remington offers a soft point bullet with a ballistic coefficient of .146 loaded to a velocity of 2,350 feet per second with 2,942 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle of a 24″ rifle barrel. Either load gives good ballistics for the 444 Marlin out to 150 yards for hunting in north America with a remaining bullet energy of 1,334 foot pounds.
Hornady has been making ammunition that boosts the performance level of many old favored cartridges and the 444 Marlin is no exception.
Hornady’s 444 Marlin 265 grain flex-tip bullet in their LeverEvolution ammunition line sports a ballistic coefficient of .225 and is loaded to a velocity of 2,325 feet per second with 3,180 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle of a 24″ rifle barrel.
This gives excellent ballistics for the 444 Marlin out to 250 yards for hunting in north America with a remaining bullet energy of 1,344 foot pounds.
Note: Hornady’s patented Flex Tip (FTX) bullets are safe to shoot in tubular magazines rifles.
To see a comparison of the 444 Marlin and the .45-70 Government, read our recent post here.
444 Marlin Ballistics:
| This is a ballistics chart for the 444 Marlin rifle: | |||||||
| Rifle barrel length: 24 Inches. Ammunition: Remington 240 grain Soft Point bullet. Bullet diameter: .430 inch. Bullet weight: 240 grains. Bullet ballistic coefficient: .146. Rifle zero: 150 yards, 2″ mid-range rise. |
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| Range | Muzzle | 25 yds. | 50 yds. | 75 yds. | 100 yds. | 150 yds. | 200 yds. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullet Velocity: | 2,350 fps. | 2,208 fps. | 2,072 fps. | 1,941 fps. | 1,815 fps. | 1,582 fps. | 1,378 fps. |
| Bullet Energy: | 2,943 ft.lbs. | 2,598 ft.lbs. | 2,288 ft.lbs. | 2,008 ft.lbs. | 1,756 ft.lbs. | 1,334 ft.lbs. | 1,011 ft.lbs. |
| Bullet Drop: | – 1.5″ | + 0.1″ | + 1.3″ | + 1.9″ | + 2.0″ | 0 | – 5.4″ |
| This is a ballistics chart for the 444 Marlin rifle: | |||||||
| Rifle barrel length: 24 Inches. Ammunition: Hornady 265 grain FTX bullet. Bullet diameter: .430 inch. Bullet weight: 265 grains. Bullet ballistic coefficient: .225. Rifle zero: 160 yards, 2″ mid-range rise. |
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| Range | Muzzle | 25 yds. | 50 yds. | 75 yds. | 100 yds. | 150 yds. | 200 yds. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bullet Velocity: | 2,325 fps. | 2,233 fps. | 2,144 fps. | 2,056 fps. | 1,971 fps. | 1,807 fps. | 1,654 fps. |
| Bullet Energy: | 3,181 ft.lbs. | 2,934 ft.lbs. | 2,704 ft.lbs. | 2,488 ft.lbs. | 2,286 ft.lbs. | 1,922 ft.lbs. | 1,609 ft.lbs. |
| Bullet Drop: | – 1.5″ | + 0.1″ | + 1.2″ | + 1.9″ | + 2.0″ | + 0.6″ | – 3.5″ |
Good stuff