First Day Rifle Seaon 2012 in Virginia USA

I hunted our property in the morning and evening and a friend was hunting another friends property !
In the AM I didn't see anything . But my buddy popped a 8 pointer with his 280 at about 8 AM .
Davids8pointer.jpg

Later about 1PM I got a text message from him that he got another and this one was a rather decent 10 pointer .
Davids10Pointer.jpg


This evening behind my house on our property I got a couple slicks right at last legal shooting time . Shot them with my Marlin "Retro 444P" shooting my MM/RD 432-325GC bullet pushed with XMR2015 and set off with a CCI200 primer !
Also had the new to me Weaver V4.5 scope on top !
First deer for that bullet and first deer using the new to me Weaver !
Deer11-10-12001.jpg

Deer11-10-12003.jpg
 
Here's a picture of my Marlin "Retro 444P" just after I had chopped the barrel , reblued the metal and refinished the wood . It also has a nice old Weaver K3 on top where as now it's wearing a Weaver V4.5 .

Retro444PandSW629002.jpg


The mold I had Mountain Molds cut loosely based on Ranch Dog's designs as far as the nose is concerned and using conventional lube grooves .

MM-RD432-325GCMold001.jpg


MM-RD432-325GCMold002.jpg


The bullet as cast and as sized and lubed with the gas check attached !

MM-RD432-325GCMold003.jpg


And the bullet on my old powder scale .

MM-RD432-325GCMold004.jpg



My friend shot both his bucks with his old Remington 700 Mountain Rifle in 280 REM gun has a old Leupold Vari XII 2-7 on top . He shoots handloads I make for him using the Nosler 140 Ballistic Tip and IMR4350 set off with a CCI200 primer . Sorry to say I don't have any pics of his rifle . The pics of the two bucks were sent to me vis his phone .
 
My friend bought his 280 used about 30 years ago and bought the scope used at about the same time .

If you notice on the scale my bullet lubed sized and ready to load weighs 324.5 grains , I was aiming for a bullet of 325 grains plus or minus two grains . I'd say the folks at Mountain Molds are right on time when you ask them to cut a mold !

This is the third mold I've had them cut for me . They did my first set of 44 cal 375 and 400 grain gas check molds !
 
Last edited:
Thanks for sharing i find it fascinating how others hunt around the world with different cals . looks fantastic ,atb wayne
 
My friend bought his 280 used about 30 years ago and bought the scope used at about the same time .

If you notice on the scale my bullet lubed sized and ready to load weighs 324.5 grains , I was aiming for a bullet of 325 grains plus or minus two grains . I'd say the folks at Mountain Molds are right on time when you ask them to cut a mold !

This is the third mold I've had them cut for me . They did my first set of 44 cal 375 and 400 grain gas check molds !

That is some sized bullet! Over here I would guess that most deer are shot with bullets under 160grain. What distance do you zero the scope at and at what distance are you shooting the deer at?
 
That is some sized bullet! Over here I would guess that most deer are shot with bullets under 160grain. What distance do you zero the scope at and at what distance are you shooting the deer at?

Over here I expect the majority are killed with bullets of 160 grains or less also .

And if I am hunting with one of my single shot Ruger's or some bolt action in all likelyhood my bullets will follow the same thing . However I have a number of these 444's and I try different cast bulets just for the heck of it . In the 444 I've used home cast bullets from 207 grains up to 420 grains . Certainly not a need for it just something I like to do from time to time .

As to sight in they all get sighted in dead on at 100 yards . The typical long shot where I hunt on my property behind our home and where we Damage Control hunt for black bear is about 75 yards .
 
Last year I christened my circa 2001 Marlin 444 . This one has a Ballard rifled barrel with a 1-20 twist , I got this one to shoot 390 grain plus bullets exclusively !

And when I shot this buck I was using a bullet cast from a mold I had BRP cut a year before . It was also a design take off of the Ranch Dog line of bullets and is a 432-400GC .

11-23-11004.jpg


My 2001 rifle after we resticked it and put in the crossbar safety delete kit .

Newdesafetyon2001444003.jpg


Here's the bullet mold for the BRP/RD 432-400GC .

BRPMolds003.jpg


And the finished product !

400grainbullets003.jpg


400grainbullets006.jpg
 
And before you say it , no there is no practical "need" for bullets of this weight where I live . But "need" left the equation many years ago . No one "needs" to hunt to survive anylonger . Hunting now is almost 100% because a person "wants to" .
 
While on the subject of heavy bullets for the 444 , here are some that a friend sent me , made from a mold Mountain Molds cut and then I lubed and sized them .

MM434-420GCDocHolliday003.jpg


MM434-420GCDocHolliday002.jpg


MM434-420GCDocHolliday004.jpg


And a group I fired with it at 50 yards .

RangeDay7-11-12withDocHolliday434-420GCbullet007.jpg


The day I fred the group I had changed the scope to a vintage Weaver V9 .

RangeDay7-11-12withDocHolliday434-420GCbullet005.jpg


RangeDay7-11-12withDocHolliday434-420GCbullet006.jpg


Earlier I had a vintage Weaver V7 that had come off a SKS and was kinda banged up the V7 didn't take it to long before giving up the ghost . After that I installed one of the new Redfield Revolution 3-9's and it worked great no problems . But someone came in the shop with the Weaver V9 and I got it for $50 . So when I got it home I swapped for the older Weaver and it's still going fine .
 
Wow, sounds like a fantastic day, congrats!

I have an itch for a lever action to add to my collection :D
 
Back
Top