# 35 Whelen v. 444Marlin



## Keatts

I been thinking of buying a large bore rifle. Thinking of the 35 Whelen or a 444 Marlin. Anyone have any suggestion on either of the calibre?


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## youngdon

444 marlin, you'll still be able to find data and ammo for it at a somewhat reasonable price


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## Keatts

Thanks Don. I was only thinking of the 35 Whelen cause the case can be fire formed from a 30-06 case.


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## youngdon

What are you planning to hunt with it ?


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## Scotty D.

I own an Encore .444 Marlin (in a handgun configuration) that I use for deer in OH....Had it for about 12 yrs now....Love it!!!! :teeth:

I never have any trouble finding brass--You'd be surprised at how many cartridges are based on .444 brass,,,,,, :teeth:


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## knapper

Unless you like reloading and not shooting then go with the 35 Whelen I have done the brass forming and worked with it quite a bit. If you are looking to buy something new get a 45/70 there is lots of ammo for it and in all kind of pressure ranges. I have a SSK hand canon in 45/70 as well as a Marlin and both are over 25 years old and they are what I use when I am getting meat.


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## Keatts

Youngdon Hogs and deer. Really just want something bigger than my 30-06. I have a Ruger 10/22 heavy barrel ,Remington 700vs 22-250, Remington 700bdl 243 and a Savage 110 in 30-06. Need something bigger .lol


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## youngdon

I'll agree with Knapper that the 45-70 is a viable alternative, it's got power and availability, but the 338WinMag has all that too.


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## Keatts

Stonegod that would put the excitement back into the hunt for sure. Heck might as well just buy a good knife and leave the gun at home. Lol


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## eddeb3

Howdy Keatts..I have a 35 Whelen, .338 Win Mag and a 45-70 H&R Buffalo Classic. Any of those 3 will 'bout let the air out of anything in this hemisphere. The .444 probably would too. For me, the ole 45-70 is the most fun to hunt with. Easy to hand load for too! Lob a big ole 460 grain cast boolet down the way at ~1500 fps and get the skinning knife out! Good luck and have fun choosing!


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## knapper

I have gone to using the rem. corlok in 300 gr. and it is easy to shoot and will bring them down. Muzzel velocity is up there pretty good for the mariln.


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## HunterGatherer

Not sure if this helps, but what everyone else said about the .338 Mag and .45-70 are true. I have seen big hogs put down with those.


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## Dialed_In

I never owned a 444 but had a 35 Whelan for ten or so years. It's a heck of a deer gun with a 200- 225 grain bullet. Like one fellow said, it'll take anything in North America with the right bullet. A 225 grain bullet will run up to 2600 - 2650 fps. That's about all I could stand on the back end!


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## hunter5567

Get a 35 whelen if you need a flatter shooting rifle out to 400 yards. You can get Hornady 200gr loads that are advertised at 2900fps. Its easy to make brass for it also out of 270, 280, 30-06, etc.

If you figure 250 yards is tops for the long end of things, the 444 will do the trick as will the 45-70.

You can load 300gr bullets as fast the 444 shoots 240gr bullets in the 45-70.

Here is LA., we can use .35 and larger calibers in singleshot hammered rifles for primitive weapon season. It all started when MS. allowed the use of .38 and larger calivers for hunting and LA followed suit to keep up with them. Later MS went to .35 and larger and last year LA followed suit.

The 35 Whelen is popular for it now and I played with one for a while.

Now I have a 35 Remington and like it a lot and in a singleshot H&R Handirifle you can juice the loads up to around 2400fps with a 200gr bullet but you can't shoot them in a Marlin. You can get 2200fps in the Marlin. I had a Winchester 356 rifle and the factory loads would do around 2350fps in a 20" barrel and the 35 can duplicate that.

If you want a real big bore, get a 500 S&W Handirifle but it won't do anymore than a 45-70 but make a bigger hole going when using 45-70 loads for an 1895 Marlin.


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