New (to me) Marlin .45-70

[waksupi]

Well, a Marlin 1895 .45-70 followed me home from a trade. Need suggestions on a good bullet, and nice mild loads for play, up to a rip snorter load for serious use. Anyone got a mold for sale? I seem to recall I may have missed a group buy on this type of bullet. Usual.

[knothead]

You will love the gun. I added a Smite long range buckhorn to mine. Up front it works like a ghost ring (to the 50) after that I flip up and use the ladder to the 600. Havent been out to the gong at 800 yet, maybe this month.

I shoot the 405 lee in front of 12 gns of trailboss, in my 1895cb, thats a real easy load. An easier one is 13 of trailboss behind a saco 300 rnfp. I shoot it alongside the pistol caliber guns in our departments levergun course once a week, useually 2 rounds @ 20 shots each.

[waksupi]

I'm kind of looking for a non-GC bullet. I believe Saeco has one, in the 405 range. I also believe they are kinda spendy! Oh, well, it's only money...
I'll give the Trail Boss a try. I'm kind of suspecting that I may be able to do some of the WC860 with some kicker to fairly good advantage.

[9.3X62AL]

Ric--

The 6.0 x IMR-4198 underneath 46.0 x WC-860 with the Lee 405 plain base is providing 1300 FPS out of the Ruger's 22" barrel. This is about what the 1873-era 405's did using BP and 32" rifle barrels in the Trapdoors. It's a clean-burning load with sufficient compression to hold the ingredients in place.

[threett1]

I have both the Lee flatbase and hollowbase 405s. Both cast of about 420 with WW. My favorite is the Lyman 457122. Its the Gould hollowpoint and it does work well on deer.:mrgreen: It casts out about 340 with WW. 12gr Unique with any of these makes for a fun light load. Also the AA 2230C powder works great under the Gould bullet.

[Ranch Dog]

Well, a Marlin 1895 .45-70 followed me home from a trade. Need suggestions on a good bullet, and nice mild loads for play, up to a rip snorter load for serious use. Anyone got a mold for sale? I seem to recall I may have missed a group buy on this type of bullet. Usual.

waksupi... got a group buy going on a Lee TLC460-425-RF, both in 2 and 6-cavity. The main thing to consider with a Marlin is that you are going to need a .460" bullet. You can always lap the cataloged Lee's out a bit.

The TLC460 is going with the 45.2.1 modified Micro Bands, so whether you tumble lube or use a luber it should be a good bullet. I'm shooting the original Micro Band boolit and it is a real tumper out of my 1895G and 1895MR.

[45 2.1]

Ric-
As RanchDog said, you will need larger boolits. Anything between 0.460" and 0.462" will work fine and give excellent accuracy. Smaller diameter boolits in the Marlin will be an excersize in futility. Try SR4759 as your main powder and it will do very well for you. Check out Ranchdogs group buys or the 360 gr. 45 rifle boolit GB, that one is a PB useable with BP also.

[Edward429451]

Yeah, as ranchdog said, don't use undersized bullets foe the Marlin. They will fill that barrel full of lead. Ask me how I know...

My son got me a Lyman 457643 400gr FP mould for last christmas. PB double cav and intended for the LA rifles. It has a nice crimp groove too. I'm not done working up a load for it but preliminary results are indicating that this is a fine bullet which will serve me fine for years to come. I haven't decided if I'll use this bullet or the Lee 405 for hunting this year yet as it works pretty well also.

Its worth a look see. You pick up the postage and I'll send ytou some to try if you like. I'm sizing to .460 with red hard lube or will send them unsized/lubed if you want.

[fourarmed]

Ditto the Gould hollowpoint, unsized (mine drops a little over .460), over 24 grains of 4759. Very accurate, and won't get you to shying at shadows. Somebody else on here mentioned going up to 30 grains for hunting, but I've never gone past 24.

[Char-Gar]

I shoot the RCBS 405 GC over 25/4759. The bullets cast .460 and I lube and crimp the gas theck in a .460 die. Accuracy is outstanding. Velocity is in the 1.3K fps area and plenty of gun for most uses.

[felix]

45Colt? 300 grainer with case full of RL7 or 680, which equals 25 and 28 grains respectively. Should be doing 1500+ in 20 inch barrel or so. ... felix

[Maineboy]

Does your Marlin have a micro-groove barrel? I understand they need the fat boolits others are mentioning. Mine is a newer "Ballard" version and the barrel is a bit over .457. Boolits sized .458 or .459 work well in it. I've had very good results with the 405 grain Lee over 50 grains of 3031 for 1625 fps. They put big holes through the 2 deer I've shot with that gun. I do get a bit of leading with the Lee though so I broke down and bought an RCBS 405 gas checked mould. Those boolits weigh almost the same as the Lee, 425gr.(RCBS) vs.419gr.(Lee) and seem to shoot a tiny bit better, using the same charge of 3031 and with 45 grains of milsurp CMR100. At 1625 fps, those are stout hunting loads and are no fun to shoot from the bench. Light loads of Unique, 5744, Red Dot and 4759 are usually what I shoot. I've had the Lee up to 1900+ fps with Re7...I'm not going there again.

[SharpsShooter]

Waksupi,

I load 43gr of IMR 4064 behind a 405gr PBFN and set it off with Federal 215 primers. I get 1400fps and it is my go to load for my 1895 (1960 Ballard Cut) I'm using a receiver type sight and see groups of 2"-3" at 100yds when I do my part. Recoil is not too bad and it is a clean burning load that doesn't leave a bit of unburned powder hanging around to foul things up. Also you can substitute 65gr (by weight) of Goex Cartridge Grade Black and a .030 veggie wad for the 4064 and do just as well. I use Bullshop's #2, so my 45-70 stuff can be loaded with either choice of powder.

[waksupi]

This one has Ballard rifleing, so I consider that a good start.
I believe I will get one of the ongoing group buys for the .45 bullet. Light bullet, so should be good for my main purposes of plinking. I have more serious rifles if needed, although I can imagine this being a bit handier than dad's old M37 Ithica, for recovering game.

[Abert Rim]

Had some good times with the simple little Lee 340 and 17 grains Unique.