When will Ruger/Marlin ever release .444 rifle? Looked at --
Jeff Spencer
[subject]
Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 18:38 (48 days ago)
Rossi R95 30-30 the other day, surprised at the overall quality of the rifle. Action was very smooth, and the trigger was pretty good also. Rossi quality seems to have really improved with the newer guns. Thinking about picking up R95 .444. Anyone have any first hand experience with one of these?
Sorry for the double post. What happened?
Jeff Spencer
[subject]
Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 18:39 (48 days ago) @ Jeff Spencer
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With 240-265 gr. The .444 is great.
WB
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 08:05 (48 days ago) @ Jeff Spencer
I have loaded up to 320 gr. cast bullets but it bulges a little past 300 grs. The case just gets too thick very far down inside for seating longer bullets. But really that’s all you need. The Hornady 265 gr. JSP was made exclusively for the .444 Marlin application and is about perfect. They don’t open up much at .44 revolver velocities.
.44-40 ammo shoots nice in it also.
Jim Taylor
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 12:44 (48 days ago) @ WB
I shot Paco's .444 Marlin one year at the Shootists Holiday. He was standing on the firing line and the gun sounded about like a 38 Special in a rifle.
Then he showed me what he was shooting. They were accurate.
lol, stands to reason. Base diameter is close to .45 Colt
WB
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 13:04 (48 days ago) @ Jim Taylor
And the .444 is sort of like a rimmed .308 head size. That is a hoot! I never would have made that correlation. I make .356 Win. from .444 Marlin brass. You could do .307 Win. also.
The .460 S&W is basically a long rimmed .308 sized case, just shorter. .444 Shorts?! lol
Hornady discountiued the 265gr JSP. Luckily have one box.
Jeff Spencer
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 19:39 (47 days ago) @ WB
What about the Speer 270gr SP deep curl? The Sierra 250gr tournament master looks promising also, even though its a target bullet.
Rossi and Marlin lever guns
Joepjs
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 15:40 (48 days ago) @ Jeff Spencer
I have had a few of the Marlins, in 44 mag and 45/70 and the Rossis in .357 and 45 long colt. all worked very well and the Rossis were surprisingly accurate. I had one big problem that led me to give the guns away, loading ammo using the spring loaded receiver entry point. As an older person, The blasted thing was too hard to load one bullet at a time as once I would get the bullet in it would snap back on my fingers and give me a blood blister every time. I ended up using an old tooth brush as a bullet ram, it worked but it was not great. I had to switch to front loading or have bloody fingers.
I reworked my Rossi to deal with that ..
Jim Taylor
[subject]
Thursday, September 11, 2025, 16:11 (48 days ago) @ Joepjs
From an article I wrote about the Rossi and how I modified it.
Loading Gate
The loading gate was pretty stiff making it easy to get "tired thumb" when shooting and loading the magazine a number of times during one shooting session. When the gun was torn down about the 3rd time I removed the loading gate and spring and "de-tensioned" the spring. DO THIS IN EASY STAGES! It is a flat spring and you can easily over-bend it the wrong way. A little goes a long way here.
With careful work the force required to open the loading gate was changed to where it has about half the tension that it came with, making loading the magazine a much easier chore.
The article is here if you care to read it.
https://www.leverguns.com/articles/taylor/rossi.htm