444 Marlin Bullet Test - Heavyweight Championship

[mt_sourdough]

I am about 25 ft from jugs with my chrony halfway between. Like I said, loads are intended to give impact velocities roughly equal to velocities at 50 yards from full power loads. I pretty much hit the impact velocities I was aiming for. Except for the RD 432-350 and the Hornady 265 FN, there was less than a 100 fps spread on impact velocities.

[Flat Top]

mt_ sourdough; Excellent so far!!! I am going to predict and most of the others here will most likely agree, that the cast bullets will be the stars of the show!!! I am expecting them to penetrate at least twice as much as the jacketed. Only your test will give us the answer.......I await your results with baited breath!!!

[mt_sourdough]

5th Place Hornady 265 Flat Nose

Velocity - 2096 fps
Penetration - 5 Jugs
Retained Weight - 245.5 gr
Expansion - 0.807"
Energy Transfer/ Jugs Exploded - 3 Jugs




I have to begin with stating that this ranking might change soon. I did not anchor the jugs when I test the Hornady 265 FN and therefor the jugs all slid backwards when bullet struck. Energy spent moving jugs, robs energy otherwise used to push a bullet deeper.
I will test this bullet again. For now, I a have an impressive slug to look at. The Hornady 265 FN retained a little over 90% of it's original weight and looks to hold together well despite the fact that it had the highest impact velocity in this test. The mushroom is an impressive 0.807". I suspect that when I test this bullet again, the penetration will increase. I would not hesitate to put one of these into an elks shoulder or raking hits, but that is assuming better penetration in next test.

12/13/10 I retested this bullet and results were similar, but impressive. Penetration actually remained the same at 5 Jugs. First difference was in energy transfer where 4 and 5 Jugs were exploded(on second test of two today, the 5th jug was laying on the ground with the slug in it and jugs seam split from top to bottom). The most impressive part of todays test is the retained weight. One weighed 262 gr and the other weighed 262.8. The max expanded diameter is 0.795 and 0.821.

[Con]

mt_ sourdough; Excellent so far!!! I am going to predict and most of the others here will most likely agree, that the cast bullets will be the stars of the show!!! I am expecting them to penetrate at least twice as much as the jacketed. Only your test will give us the answer.......I await your results with baited breath!!!

Not a fair comparison unless the cast pills expand. Throw a 300gr Barnes Buster in against the cast pills. :P
Cheers...
Con

[Flat Top]

Con; or, a Belt Mountain Punch! Dont get me wrong, I do use jacketed bullets in my small and medium bore rifle loads...but, those 444's are so big to start with, I just dont see the point in using them in a big bore....same with my 44 Mag handguns.....and, the way I look at it, two holes are better than one.

[mt_sourdough]

4th Place Speer 300 gr Unicor

Velocity - 2023 fps
Penetration - 6 Jugs
Retained Weight - 252.8 gr (290.2 in previous test)
Expansion - 0.812" (0.950")
Energy Transfer/ Jugs Exploded - 4 Jugs






The Speer 300 Unicor is very closely matched with Hornady 265 FN depite the fact that they are two completely different bullets. I will call the Speer 300 gr Unicor the unofficial "Bang-for-your-buck" Champion among commercial bullets. If the Hornady 265 FN overtakes the Speer 300 Unicor in future testing, than the "bfyb" belt may go to the Hornady. This bullet has very impressive energy transfer throughout its path through the jugs. The construction is very tough and bullet has exceptional weight retention.

[Flat Top]

mt; What alloy are your cast bullets made of?

[dpe.ahoy]

Do ya still have enough of the 265 Hornady's? DP

[mt_sourdough]

I have plenty of the Hornady 265 FN for all my testing purposes. I thank you DP. Without having the "standard" for the 444 Marlin, I would not have a proper test/comparison. I have the Hornady 265's loaded and ready to go. Where I shoot, it is crawling with ATV users on the weekend, so I'll try to get my final testing done on Tuesday morning if everything works out.

My cast bullets are simple wheel weight alloy and are water quenched. I did some testing with same bullets with annealed noses to make a soft expanding nose. Those bullets were never recovered, so it is something that I am still working on.

[Flat Top]

mt; Thanks. Most home casters like the water quenched WW for hunting....they work very well in revolvers as well. Looking forward to Tuesday evening and the results of your tests.