MM 433-375 and 433-400

[6pt-sika]

We killed four bear this past season on the DC Permits .

I got a smallish boar of about 75 pounds with my Retro 444P shooting the LBT 433-340GC bullet .



My hunting partner got a pair of a sow and a boar one day I didn't go . The sow was maybe 65 and the loar was a hair bigger then mine at about 85 . He shot both of these with jacketed bullets in a 300 SAUM .





My partner got another and the last bear we got in 2011 with his Springfield M1A shooting factory Hornady loads with the 165 SST . This one was a weighed 185 pounds on our scale !




That makes 7 bear in 3 years of doing this !

My friends longest shot of the 5 he's taken so far has been maybe 12 yards . My bear from 2010 was 9 1/2 yards and the one from 2011 was a lasered 72 yards .

[6pt-sika]

Incidently I'll have my circa 2001 ballard rifled Marlin 444 set to go with the MM 433-400GC this coming season as well !

I shot a deer this past season with that rifle shooting the BRP/RD 432-400GC and of course it did a bang up job .

I'm sure alot of folks say I'm using way overkill bullets in my 444's usually , and they are correct . As a 250-325 grain cast bullet will most certainly kill any bear or deer I get at a chance at in the state of Virginia . But there's nothing wrong with trying big chunks of lead as long as you can put uhm were you need them

[6pt-sika]

May get the oppurtunity this coming season to shoot a Cow Elk in Montana .

If so I'll take the Retro 444P loaded with the Ranch Dog 432-300GC or the MM/RD 432-325GC . As the shots will be 150 yards or less (supposedly)

[mtngun]

Thank you for the pics, 6pt. Hope you left a few bear in the woods for future hunts.

[6pt-sika]

Thank you for the pics, 6pt. Hope you left a few bear in the woods for future hunts.

The game commission has given us 5 bear permits each year so far .

This orchard is in a "holler" off the Shennadoah National Park and the bear migrate down there for the peaches aplles and the grapes across the road .

I dare say we'll ever hurt the bear population .

There were several others still coming in after killing the 4 we got this year but they'd gone nocturnal and I don't really wanna use a light to kill them . As it is perfectly legal according to the game commission to shoot them at night . However that just doesn't sit to well with me .

[jwp]

Meant to ask before and forgot... Those all seem kind of small to me. Are they about average size for Virginia bears?

[6pt-sika]

Meant to ask before and forgot... Those all seem kind of small to me. Are they about average size for Virginia bears?

They are smallish I think !

We've gotten one that was over 300 pounds and two more that were 150-160 . A decent bear in Virginia is about 125-150 . During actual hunting season Legal is 100 pounds live weight or 75 field dressed .

We're hunting damage control permits which means anything goes and the landowner says shoot uhm as you see uhm .

Incidently we got only one this year and that was a sow of 150 pounds .

This was our forth year DCP hunting this place and we've taken 8 bear total !

My buddies killed 6 and I've taken 2 .

[6pt-sika]

Well I've had these two molds for a few years now and I've yet to kill anything other then paper with the 433-400GC bullet . Killed my first bear with the 433-375GC about 3 years ago . So I now have my circa 2001 Marlin 444 set up with my MM 433-400GC so hopefully I'll smite a deer with it Saturday or next week !

[6pt-sika]

Well I keep trying to "field test" the MM 433-400GC bullet in my 2001 Marlin 444 but the deer are not cooperating !

[6pt-sika]

Once again I have my restocked and cross bolt safety replaced circa 2001 Marlin 444 sighted in with the MM 433-400GC I had you cut 4 or 5 years ago in hopes of finally taking something with this bullet !



I've killed deer with this rifle before shooting 400 grain or better bullets I cast , although the MM 433-400GC was the first of that size I obtained . It got pushed aside when I had BRP cut the BRP/RD 432-400GC and a I plunked a fat 5 pointer at a wooping 42 yards . Then later it was pushed aside as I used Mt Sourdoughs MM 433-425GC and I got a fat doe during the DC hunting .

This year my plan is to use this rifle with the MM bullet first and then perhaps move on to a pair of others I've not killed with "yet" !