I found some of these at Widener's and bought them. They have been discontinued for some time (not sure how long). Has anyone ever used them in a 444? If anyone is interested they still have 300 grain Barnes originals there as well. Thanks for any comments. Dave

I found some of these at Widener's and bought them. They have been discontinued for some time (not sure how long). Has anyone ever used them in a 444? If anyone is interested they still have 300 grain Barnes originals there as well. Thanks for any comments. Dave


Most anything Barnes makes is top quality stuff, I have no experience with the specific bullet you mentioned, but wouldn't doubt it would perform well.

I took some moose with the 300 gr Barnes Original in the early -90 's.
The bullet performed very well, and stayed in the moose 70% of the time.
I like harder bullets, so I jumped over to Speers 300 gr Uni-Core bullet, and I think that it is the best bullet for big game.

I took some moose with the 300 gr Barnes Original in the early -90 's.
The bullet performed very well, and stayed in the moose 70% of the time.
I like harder bullets, so I jumped over to Speers 300 gr Uni-Core bullet, and I think that it is the best bullet for big game.


405, Did the animals you shot run very far?

Did the Barnes Originals stay together?

Do you get complete penetration with the Speer 300 grainers?

Thanks for your help, Dave.

After what I remember, the Barnes bullets made the job very well.
I think that the bullets stayed toghter, but I remember that it was a little to soft for me.

I have killed a lot of moose with the Speer bullet, and you will have 100 % penetration on side shoots on big game, like moose.

I load my 300 gr Speer to 2150 - 2180 fps.

405,
What load are you using to get that velocity? Also, what rifle are you shooting? That sounds like a pretty stiff load for 300 Grain bullet. That load should do well on elk as well.

Most of the time, I load my ammo with Vihtavuori powder.
I have been at 2300 fps with Speers 300 gr bullet, but I dont know the pressure of that load.
Wihtavuori dont list any 300 gr loads in their manual, but I have talked to them, and they will have it in their next manual.

For 2150 fps I load with 47 gr N130, and for 2180 fps I load 48 gr N130.
That is out of a 22 in barrel.
Speer list 55.5 gr Hodgdon H335 for 2211 fps.
I have tried this load with Hodgdon H335, and that is a great load and a great powder, but Hodgdons powder is very expensive here in Sweden.

Forgot to say that I have an old 1/38 Micro-Groove Marlin, with a 22 in barrel.

Here is a 300 grain old Barnes, that was going 2100fps.

http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL564/777751/1527241/58943817.jpg

It dropped this bear in it's tracks, when it was shot down between the shoulders from tree stand at 20'.

http://pic14.picturetrail.com/VOL564/777751/1527241/29379125.jpg

The bullet was found just under the skin in the bears' chest.

My local dealer just got me two Boxes of Barnes Originals . One box are 300 grainers for the 45-70 and the other box is 250 grainers for the 40-65 . They set me back a little over $60 .
The 300's in the 45-70 work well as I've used them before . The 40-65's I do not know about , but I'd be willing to bet they will do well also ;)
Might even have to invest in a box of 255 grain originals for the 38-55 :D

Hawk Bullets makes bullets for the 444 in wts from 200-300 gr. The jackets are pure copper annealed and bonded to pure lead cores. Jacket thicknesses are 0.025 and 0.035. The 0.035 jacketed 275 gr and 300 gr should penetrate better than the Barnes Originals and are in current production.
http://www.hawkbullets.com/Pricelist.htm