44 Magnum Shotshells.

[justin22885]

im going to experiment a bit when i get my new marlin 44 magnum.. should be next week or the week after... im going to trim .444 shells to the overall length of a loaded 44 magnum cartridge, and see what i can get for patterns using bird and buck shot.. just a test for curiosity...

also, ive seen some self defensive .410 loads that used a series of discs that would catch rifling, and be more accurate... i was curious to try that out too... just to see what happens

on a last note, i was wondering if anyones tried .44 magnum flares yet? i was wondering how bright and effective those are?

[Malamute]

I'v used the comercial shot loads in 44 mag, and built shot loads and multi-ball loads in 45-70, as well as used .410 shells in 45-70. Shot loads in a rifled barrel mostly just spread very fast and give very poor patterns beyond about 15 feet. They are fun to fool around with, but don't have much practical application other than as snake loads at very close range in my experience. The multi-ball loads in 45-70 kept the balls pretty close together, but I never could figure out what they would be useful for. Regular loads are more accurate and effective.

A single round ball in the 44 makes a good small game and close range practice load if you can work out a load that is accurate in your gun. I load round ball loads in 45-70, 30-30 and 348. They make excellent grouse and small game loads. I've found them to be much more useful than shot or multi-ball loads. Load very light for best results.

[Pisgah]

At very close range, feet out to a few yards, you'll get a pattern useable for many small critters. Much beyond about 5 yards, the "pattern" is a "doughnut", with a hole in the middle big enough to drive Grandma's Buick through and shot in the outer ring dispersed about as widely as supernovae in the cosmos. Rifling and shot just don't go well together.

[Buck Elliott]

Sorry to bust your bubble, but....

The diameter of .444 Marlin cases makes them too large to fit into a normal .44 Mag chamber... No matter how short you cut them, they're still too FAT to fit. you can't swage down the solid head enough -- with normal equipment -- to make them work. IF you find they DO fit, your chamber is WAAAYYY oversize...

If you can find them, the SPEER .44 shot capsules and/or loaded shot cartridges are by far your best bet... I have had great success with the capsules, loaded with anything from #7 1/2 to #9 shot, in the .45 Colt. Kills snakes and such CLEAN out to 12 feet, though I prefer to get closer -- say within 2 - 3 ft., before cutting loose. I just get the GUN that close --- not the rest of me...

[Chas.]

Here's a couple of link to folks who did it their way.

http://www.jamescalhoon.com/

http://www.gunblast.com/Snake_Stopper.htm

[justin22885]

malamute, you gave me an interesting idea.. of stacking about 3 lead 45 caliber balls smoothed down the .430... stack them inside the case... wonder if a 410 wad would fit inside to hold them all stacked behind the mouth of a standard 44 magnum case... wonder what id get for a pattern with that and if i could legally use it here for small game or even birds

[Malamute]

I doubt you can get 3 balls in a 44 mag case, tho with the ends flattened it may be possible. I just don't feel its practical. I loaded some 3 ball loads in 45-70. The patterns were fairly close, but not really useful for small game. A single ball is much more useful in my experience.

Speer makes .433" round balls. I've loaded a few in 44 mags for plinking and small game loads, but havent killed anything with them.

[justin22885]

i should try a .433 ball then, any idea how many grains weight in a .433 ball?

[Buck Elliott]

Don't mean to sound ornery about this, but is it unreasonable to expect you to do some of the homework on this topic yourself???

[O.S.O.K.]

Don't mean to sound ornery about this, but is it unreasonable to expect you to do some of the homework on this topic yourself???

About 130 grains aren't they?

Two is all that I would load myself.

[justin22885]

i think im going to try a single .433 ball in a .44 special and see how that works out for small game

[1otter2]

Anyone had any experience with stacking 3 round balls ~.375" dia. in a 444 marlin? I know it was done by a friend in his 45-70 about 20 years ago, using patches and a wad I believe. I remember it was a lot of fun pinking at 50 yds and it shot a pretty tight 10" group. No idea how much power they had, but it sure was fun.