I have a couple boxes of Speer 240 JSP deep curl bullets and thinkin about loading a few in my 444 Marlin to see how they shoot? I know Remington used to make a load for the 444 with a 240 gr JSP, I’m not sure how they’d hold up against a deer or bear at 444 velocities.
240 gr bullets for 444 Marlin
- Thread starter tecumseh
- Start date
With the Speer Deep Curl bullet being a rebadged Federal Fusion bullet, which is bonded, I would think that it would stand up better for the increased velocities of the 444 than a regular cup and core bullet.
Load a few up and try for performance (expansion and penetration) in a water jug test to see how they do.
Let us know your results!
Of all of the Federal Fusion ammo I saw sold in the stores over 4 years working there, I never heard anyone complain that they could not get at least acceptable accuracy from that reasonably priced ammo. On the same note, never heard any complaints about on-game perfromance either.
Load a few up and try for performance (expansion and penetration) in a water jug test to see how they do.
Let us know your results!
Of all of the Federal Fusion ammo I saw sold in the stores over 4 years working there, I never heard anyone complain that they could not get at least acceptable accuracy from that reasonably priced ammo. On the same note, never heard any complaints about on-game perfromance either.
They may work OK on smallish deer but I don't think I would be poking a bear with one. Even though they are a bonded bullet they are designed to work at 44 mag velocities. They will probably expand to a very large diameter and not penetrate a great deal at 444 Marlin velocities. Lots of 44 and 45 cal. pistol bullets are used out of 50 cal. muzzle loaders in sabots and when you start getting velocities in the 100 gr and above powder range penetration starts to suffer because of the excess of expansion even if it holds together that wide disk slows down quickly. The Speer deep curl is what used to be called Gold Dot. They changed the name of the heaver .357 and .429s to Deep Curl for some reason.
- Oct 30, 2004
- 24,042
- 2,515
They should do OK. I Usually use 265's flex tip and flat point and 300 grains
- Thread starter
- #5
- Oct 30, 2004
- 24,042
- 2,515
My biggest mule deer doe was harvested 2 years ago with a 265 Flex at 88 yards. Immediate drop!
I saw a friend, back in the early 70s, use the 444 and 240SP factory loads on deer and hogs. They opened up big and still gave complete penetration. He especially liked the way it would shoot through young saplings and kill the deer right behind it, ha. Not "brush shooting", it was just thick in that part of East, Texas. Yes, the deer were small but the hogs were solid!
