Marlin 1895 CB .45-70

[Grapeshot]

I just acquired aa Marlin 1895 Cowboy in .45-70. It is used and I haven't had the time to really pull it apart and detail inspect and clean it.

I did buy 100rds of Magtech 405 grain .45-70 rounds built on new Starline brass.

My question is this, after I fire these rounds off should I anneal the cases before I reload them? I've seen enough on this forum to know that it is my best interest to anneal brand new Starline cases prior to loading.

It will be interesting to see if this rifle will be as accurate as my older 1895 that had micro-groove rifling compared to this one's ballard style rifling.

[NickSS]

In my experience starline 45-70 brass is hard from the factory. Per Starline they intentionally make it that way so that people who like to load 40,000 and 50,000 PSI loads can do so. For more normal loads and Black powder especially you shoot anneal them. Otherwise you will get a lot of gas blow back in the chamber. I generally anneal all 45-70 brass for the first load then after every 5 reloads after that. I have some brass that has been loaded 50 times and it is still going strong.

[Nobade]

My 1895 CB has a fairly tight chamber, and works OK with smokeless loads if I don't anneal. But it does work better if I anneal them, so I do. It is worth your time, and the cases will last longer.

[August]

After firing 100 rounds of factory ammo in that rifle, it will be your shoulder that needs attention rather than the brass.

If you are planning to use the brass in that gun, I would not bother to anneal it. The main reason I anneal 45-70 is to achieve uniform bullet tension in precision, single shot rifles (i.e. no crimp). In the Marlin, you are relying on even crimping to get consistent bullet pull.

However, if you want to have that brass for the rest of your life (!), then annealing will facilitate that.

[Jon K]

Levergun or Single Shot....it still works better annealled.

Jon