Wasted a good rifle

[Walking Bear 1954]

I live in Indiana and until recently the law for deer hunting rifle was crazy and still are. I sent a perfectly good Marlin 30/30 to a smith and had it converted to 445 super mag. It shoots great but after thinking it over did not gain much.

[hunter63]

Live and learn...
Are you allowed to use a 30-30?

I know .357 max are popular.

[kyratshooter]

Indiana cartridge laws seem to be created at the whim of some witch doctor looking at the liver of a dead sheep.

Bottleneck cartridges are restricted to either 6mm or .30 caliber, nothing in between. There is a long list of exactly what you can use on the DNR website.

Straight wall cases are basically limited to your imagination and money.

The .445 supermag is the result of that situation where a state that had been "shotgun only" for 100 years decided to allow straight wall cases first, then opened the flood gates to "a limited number" of bottleneck rifle cartridges as if they were a new invention and might cause the chain reaction meltdown of the universe.

In 2020 the DNR will have a big meeting and decide what the result of the use of such cartridges has been. Guess what??? They can check with Kentucky, right across the River, and they will find that it is management of the deer heard and not the caliber rifle used to harvest them that matters. We can shoot deer with about anything that is not rimfire and our heard is stable.

I see no "waste" of a rifle, just a lot of money spent for very little improvement over the standard pistol cartridges and no gain at all over the 30 caliber bottle neck rifle cartridges now in use in Indiana.

If you made this change to the rifle several years ago and have used it when all other options were less powerful you got your money's worth some time way back when.

If you did the conversion yesterday you did waste a good bit of money for no real improvement other than pushing a .44 bullet 400 fps faster than a .44 Magnum when you could have had a 30-30, or even a 30-06.

Besides, you can still shoot .44 magnums from it and it is a nice conversation piece. The conversation starts with one word,,,,WHY ?

[hunter63]

Yeah....LOL
I hope the way wasn't a interweb shinny nickel...."Oh lookie and 445 SUPER mag...."

You can still inpress your friends....sometimes that is reason enough.

Cool rifle.....Maybe I'll get my Handi 44 mag reamed out?......
Naw...already have a Hindi Rifle carbine in 45lc....454 casull ...and .460 S&W mag......