45-70 Leading

[Red Sky]

It's possible, but seemingly unlikely as I have the leading down to some thin "streaking" which is of obvious color and texture difference to the barrel steel, and still cannot plainly see the rifling bands on about a 3rd of the barrel at the muzzle. However, the streaks of leading do seem to have a bit of a rifling pattern to them - I just assumed this was from the rifling engagement of the bullet in the first half of the barrel.

I also think this may have caused a good portion of the excessive leading that I'm still struggling to get completely out of the barrel using methods that most have described as being relatively quick and easy. I plan to call them tomorrow to see about returning it. Does anyone think I should wait and do something else first to see if it isn't leading ironed in? I'm not entirely sure what to look for, and image searching has not yielded a good example. I'd hate to send them back a perfectly good rifle, especially since I know the thing was shooting fine. However, when I shot the jacketed rounds to clean leading yesterday, it was also seemingly as accurate as before, if not only slightly less (could have been me, as always). Any advice appreciated, thanks!

[btroj]

Lack of rifling would cause some bad leading. The rifling would create a groove in the bullet. Once the land goes away you hve a defect in the bullet which would allow gas leakage.

I would have someone take a look at the rifle and see what the status of the lands is. It would take some significant lead buildup to make the rifling disappear.

[Bluehawk]

I have reloaded for more than 18 45/70s in the past . I would certainly reduce the 5744 load as it is not really needed that high 28.5 works for me with that bullet. MOst of the 45/70s I have loaded for USING PLAIN BASE BULLETS have improved accuracy and lessened leading by adding a card or fiber wad in front of the powder charge . Some will caution about a RINGED CHAMBER IF the wad is not up tight against the bullet base and there is an air gap in between the bullet and the powder. I have NOT Had this problem loading the wad and bullet together with a slightly over sized wad . WORKS FOR ME .
That said I now shoot the Ranch Dog molds ( 350 and 425 ) IN My Marlin ( both GC bullets ) and I have no problem at all . ( down to one Marlin now )

[Red Sky]

Once I get the rifle back I may pick up one or more of the Ranch Dog molds and some gas checks just to try it out. I want to try to perfect this plain base load first as I it is quite inexpensive (somewhere around $0.35/shot) and will be the bulk of my shooting.

I may get the 350gr or even the 300gr Ranch Dog for longer ranges - I'm going to put a Nikon 2-8x on it with BDC which will get me out to 300-400yds, further than I'd probably want to hunt but good fun nonetheless. I like the added challenge of the 45-70 trajectory and want to see how far out I can go with the rifle.

Shipped the Marlin back to Remington yesterday. Service was good so far and seemed concerned - we will see how it goes when I get it back.