Marlin grizzly bullet

[Goshawk]

Just got a Marlin GBL 45-70. My hunting partner and I are applying for Grizzly tags for spring 2015. Just want some recomendations for a cast bullet to load myself for my grizzly hunt. Weight, hardness, gas check or no and maybe some powder types. These are the interior bears, not the big costal bears. Thanks, Goshawk

[starmac]

Where are you hunting that you have to apply for a tag??

[osteodoc08]

I think he mentioned Grizzly. I would recommend a 400-420gr flat point gas checked design that is driven as fast as possible.

[Goshawk]

Starmac, hunting in central BC. All grizzly hunting is by Limited entry tags in BC now. Fortunately its not too hard to draw a tag. Goshawk

[starmac]

OK, I gotcha now. For some reason I didn't even think about Canada.

[seaboltm]

I have used H4895, 53 grains of it, to drive a Lee 405 grain WW to just over 1800fps. No signs of pressure. Recoil was stiff to say the least. 54 grains of H335 pushed the same bullet to 1753 fps. This is out of a 1895.

[sharpsguy]

You want a 480 grain flat nosed bullet at 1200 to 1300 fps. The bullet of choice is the Lyman 457121PH at 50/50 ACWW and pure lead. No gas check is needed. Your powder charge is 36.5 grains of 3031.

This will shoot through and through any grizzly that walks from any angle, and the recoil won't kick you silly. The 1800 fps 400 grain bullets will not penetrate as well as this load and give recoil that is so severe that you won't want to shoot the rifle enough to get comfortable with it. I use this load in my Cowboy Marlin 1895 45-70, and it feeds with no problem. A friend of mine guides in Alaska and uses it in his 1886 Winchester as his back up in the thick stuff and loves it. This seems to me to be the perfect load for this rifle, and sometimes I wonder why I shoot anything else.

[seaboltm]

You want a 480 grain flat nosed bullet at 1200 to 1300 fps. The bullet of choice is the Lyman 457121PH at 50/50 ACWW and pure lead. No gas check is needed. Your powder charge is 36.5 grains of 3031.

This will shoot through and through any grizzly that walks from any angle, and the recoil won't kick you silly. The 1800 fps 400 grain bullets will not penetrate as well as this load and give recoil that is so severe that you won't want to shoot the rifle enough to get comfortable with it. I use this load in my Cowboy Marlin 1895 45-70, and it feeds with no problem. A friend of mine guides in Alaska and uses it in his 1886 Winchester as his back up in the thick stuff and loves it. This seems to me to be the perfect load for this rifle, and sometimes I wonder why I shoot anything else.

I would not disagree with this statement at all. My favorite load is the Lee 405 grain behind 45 grains of H4895 for about 1470 fps. Recoil is not bad at all, and it should penetrate just fine. Of course a bullet in the 500 grain range at 1300 fps would probably penetrate better, but I would bet many a grizz met his end with a 45-405-70 projectile.

[Goshawk]

Thanks guys, any more?

[Doc Highwall]

Don't just look at bullet weight when loading for a lever gun chambered in 45-70. The crimp groove to the flat nose should not exceed .450" or you will not be able to feed them reliably.

The heaviest bullet that I have that will feed in a Marlin 1895 is the RCBS 45-500-FN.

[starmac]

I would think if a 405 gr wouldn't get the job done, it would be better to hide.

[sharpsguy]

Powder Inc. has a hardcast flatnosed bullet that weighs 502 grains that feeds through three 1895 Marlins of my acquaintance. It is accurate and has a generous meplat and hits like a freight train. I don't know what the mold is that it comes from, but I saw one zip through both shoulders of a 5x6 elk at just over 100 yards a couple of years ago. Velocity was about 1320 fps. The elk took three steps and went straight down.

[Bullshop]

I have killed two interior grizzly with a Marlin 45/70. One was with a 500gn PP at 1550 fps. The other was with the heaviest of the trio from RCBS that are designed for the Marlin. This boolit comes in at about 525gn in COWW alloy. This one was also loaded to the same 1550 fps.
I wouldn't feel under gunned using the mid weight RCBS design at 425gn but with that one I run about 1800 fps from old B00.
Something that will be just as important as horse power is flawless feeding. Before you set your mind on a boolit design make sure it feeds from your gun without a hitch.

[starmac]

Extremely good point, no hitches allowed when grizzly is the target.

[Bullshop]

I had one other almost grizzly kill with a 45/70 but this one was with a ruger #1. I was out glassing for caribou when about 5 or 600 yards away I spotted a real nice blond bear. He was slowly working the edge of a cut bank eating blue berries. I looked over the terrain and figured if I made a bee line I could cut him off and set up an ambush. As I made my way just over the hill from where I was I spotted a small back pack tent set up but didn't see anyone around so kept with my plan. I got into position and all was looking good when suddenly the bear stood on his haunches and sniffed the air. With that he dropped to all fours and headed straight for the tent which was now a 45% to my left. I moved fast for the tent to get between it and the bear but that put me up wind of him. He was about 75 yards or so and still coming so I dropped into a shallow depression and waited for him. Had he continued to come he would have been withing a few yards when I popped over the edge of the depression I was in.
I was counting the seconds and it was taking too long so I popped up in time to see him turn and bee line straight away. He was moving fast and maybe 150 yards so I got him in the scope and let rip. The shot went just over him and it was over and no other shots. I knew I should have hit him so looked over my rifle and sure enough found that the bolt the clamps the ring to the receiver was missing from the rear ring. This caused the ring to raise up off the receiver a wee bit and is why the shot went high.

After I shot I looked toward the tent and saw a young girl peeping out so went to have a chat with her. I told her what had just happened and as politely as I could asked if maybe she was having her female time.

She got real pail and said she worked for the forest service and they had learned about that in training. She packed up real quick and hightailed it out. She don't know how close she came to becoming bear poop. If I had not showed up there at that moment all I would have found would have been the remains of a young female forest service worker.
Dang I did want that bear though as it was a large bore with long fall hair and all blond.

[Roosters]

Can’t kill any kind of bear with nothing that isn’t mounted in a turret and on tracks.... :-( Source --- The Internet....
You guys need to get out more often. [smilie=1: