[scott fisher]

So I went down to my friends ranch to do some long range shooting and check some reloads. He had some clients going on a pig hunt in the morning so I decided to tag a long. So I grab my 30-06 and my 444 Marlin. Loaded both guns on front rack of the Polaris ranger. Were glassing on top of this small hill and see a really big pig. We get down their and get one of the clients a pig. Her rifle jams up but we finally manage to get it loaded up and she takes a shot. She hits the pig but he keeps on running so the husband takes two shots and hits it but still doesn't go down. My friend the outfitter yells to me to finish it off before it gets over on the other side of the fence into the neighbors ranch. I'm using his brand new 300 ultra mag Christsen carbon barrel rifle. I shoot and knock it down right in front of the fence. So were cleaning the hog and taking pictures when my buddy looks up and sees another monster boar about 75 yards from us on the neighbors ranch. He says to the husband do you want to shoot it. He says no. He looks at me. I grab my 444 and try and load some shells into it. For some reason the shells wont load. I'm trying and trying to get some shells loaded into the magazine but no deal. My friend yells at me " Forget about John Wayne and grab your 30-06". He calls my 444 John Wayne. He started calling my 444 Marlin John Wayne after I was on a pig hunt with him and three other clients. I hit a pig running at about 80 yards with no scope when two of his clients missed that pig with scoped rifles. He looked at me and said "who do you think you are John Wayne". He talked some trash about my rifle before that and so did the clients but guess you got the first pig. So I grab my 30-06 which I haven't used in a long while. We jump in the ranger and drove down to the road and waited for the pig to come into our ranch. I take the shot and hit him. Still standing so I shoot again and miss. Shoot again and hit him. He spins around a few times and just stands their. I'm thinking he is done. We get into the ranger and drive up to him. He is still alive so I pull out my 44 pistol and shoot. He is still kicking around and around. Shoot again. Still kicking around. I'm about to shoot again and he pops up and charges me. I shoot again and knock him down again. Still kicking around. Shoot again and miss. Shoot again and finally he dies. Man that was one tuff pig. Two shoulder shots with 30-06 and five .44 mag shots to the chest. Recovered four of the five .44 225 Barnes bullets from rear of pig. Both 30-06 passed threw both shoulders. First time I've been charged. Get back to my truck and was trying to figure out what the deal was with my 444. I messed around with it for awhile and finally realize that I grabbed my 35 Remington in the dark out of my truck. Both rifles have no scope. I had brought my 35 to mount a scope on it that day. Now the 35 has a scope on it. I cant believe I did that. Well I wont have that problem again.

Scott

 

[VTDW]

My story isn't like yours but my buddy and I grabbed each other's rifles out of the Polaris when they dropped us off for a hawg hunt. There I was with his 450 and him with my .444 but (don't tell anyone) we had loaded both rifles before getting into the Polaris just in case so we were good to go.

 

[picketpin]

One of the many side effects of active Marlinitis. Great story and definitely one tough hog.

james

 

[scott fisher]

I wonder could you load 444 ammo into a 450 Marlin and what if you fired it.

 

[Halwg]

I only did this once with a shotgun. I took my 20 ga shotgun and only had 16 ga shells. I had to drive to the nearest country store and they did carry 20 ga shells, so the day wasn't a complete loss.

 

[1895Gunner]

I wonder could you load 444 ammo into a 450 Marlin and what if you fired it.

I can tell you I loaded 444 into my 45/70 and tried to fire it. Thankfully it didn't go off, firing pin didn't strike the primer hard enough. Valuable lesson learned on that one! No longer would I have more than one type of round out on shooting bench at a time. Somebody had stopped by to shoot the bull while I was shooting my 1895G, long story short, they wanted to see the 444 cartridge next to the 45/70. I never put the 444 back in the box and loaded it after discussion. :

 

[Halwg]

Just a year ago, I loaded a 16 ga. shell into my 12 ga. Ithaca pump. Evidently I still had one in my coat from hunting with my 16 ga. When I went to shoot at a squirrel it just went click. I tried to eject it and it wouldn't eject. It had lodged in the chamber. Luckily the barrel comes off and I was able to cut off a branch from a tree and push it out. First time in over 46 years of hunting with 12, 16, and 20 gauge guns that that happened. I like the older Federal shells that were color coded...Red, 12 ga, Purple, 16 ga. and yellow, 20 ga. When the hulls are all red, it's easy to mix up gauges.

 

[1895Gunner]

Halwg, same here - the 444 wouldn't eject so I had to take my 45/70 home that day with a 444 round in the chamber! Got home, drove a wooden dowel down the barrel (by hand) and it came out.

 

[Dr. A]

Those are funny yarns!

 

[Jayhawker]

Funny until it happens to you. I've fired a 444 cartridge in my 45-70, and, yeah, it did fire. I was shooting both a 45-70 and a 444 and had both ammo boxes out on the table. I put one rifle up and brought the other back to the bench and just dropped a cartridge in the chamber. It sounded a little soft at the shot and I caught the bullet at the periphery of my vision hitting the dirt at about 80 yards downrange and about 15 yards to the left of my firing line. The brass ejected just fine and I had a perfectly fireformed 45-70 cartridge with a 444 rebated rim. I thought about doing it again and just naming it the 45-444 Jayhawker or something like that. Unfortunately, my shooting companions had been watching all this with great amusement and weren't about to let me get away with it.

I still have that misshapen memorial on my reloading bench as a reminder to take my time and think about what I'm doing.

 

[375Win]

so I'm at the range last summer blasting away with the .444 Marlin. The barrel gets hot.

I switch over to the .375 Marlin and blast away. The barrel gets hot.

I switch back to the .444 Marlin. The first 4 shots sorta go "poof" without much recoil or noise.

amazing it should take me 4 shots to figure out the obvious ......

Cheers,

Carl

 

[scott fisher]

Glad to know I'm not the only knucklehead out their. ;D

Scott

 

[camerjam]

Thank goodness no one was hurt in any of those mishaps. The tough lessons in life are those kind. You will be double checking ammo from now on. I did the same thing with a 22 magnum and a 22 long rifle a friend had.

 

[Lakota]

My one and only to date mis-match wasnt with a Marlin but with my Ruger Deer-field carbine 44 mag. , back in 1999 i bought a blackhawk 41 mag. and when i let it go i had a box and half of shells that i toted around for the next 6 or 7 years ( determined that i would again have another 41 mag. to use them up) , Yes I am a Ammo Pack Rat heh ;D

Anywho flash forward 6-7 years and me and a few good friends were out for a day of shooting and we have brought out an aresenal of weapons including the 44 mag and mistakenly a box of 41s' with the other boxs of 44s' .

This was the tube fed Ruger from the 60s and it only took me 2 shots with alot of powder? brass fragments? in the face and no accuracy to speak of to figure out what the hell was going on with one of my most accurate and reliable rifles.

The two spent cases were split from the mouth to the rim I quickly figured out what was going on and felt like a complete dumb arse and a lucky one at that.

Also I shoot lefty , I have wondered if I were still able to shoot righty if I would have figured it out as fast without all the " In your face " frag'n that happened.

On another note , I wanted a Blackhawk to combo with an H&R 45 long colt to start playing with some of the higher end loads for that cartridge.

In antisapation of those coming into the house I sold my Uberti ( brass reciever ) Golden boy lever to my Father and traded the Uberti Cattlemen single action I had for my 444 Marlin, To make damn sure and well that a HOT loaded 45 colt would never make it into those firearms by accident .... Lessons Learned

 

[stubbygun]

i saw a skunk one evening out back and the first gun i grabbed was my old model 12 win 2 3/4". grabbed a couple shells out of my change drawer, loaded them and walked out back. as i was walking across the yard i thought, "are these shells 2 3/4 or 3"? i ejected them and they were 3". still not sure what would have happened to grandpaps model 12 if i shot that. btw, skunk was nice enough to wait for me to go back in the house and get the proper ammo.

 

[Flinch]

....Umm..... .44 magnum shoots well in .444 Marlins too.. :-[ Flinch

 

[mt101]

I've done this with 270 and 30-06 shells. I was hunting with a friend that had a 270 and some how over the course of the hunt I ended up with some of his ammo. I actually shot twice at a deer and missed completely. I couldn't figure it out because I had just checked the gun and it was shooting spot on. The only clue was the slide was really hard to open. It was a Rem 7600. It was raining so I chauked it up to the wheather. Anyway a while later my Dad was reloading some shells and asked why I had some 270 shells in my box. That's when I put it together. S.