Casting info for Marlin 1895 GS 45-70?

[jld_in_IA]

Hi all,

There is probably a sticky somewhere, but I don't see it, so if you have any references or suggestions, please send them my way.

I'm looking for information on casting for the microgroove barrel in my 45-70. I'll probably apply this later to my 336 in 30-30, but for now, lets concentrate on the big boy. In particular, I'm looking for recomendation about lead hardness and molds that works well, or are particularly bad for this rifle. Any other information, tips or tricks you've picked up would also be helpful.

Thanks,

jld_in_IA

[Montana Ron]

457122............10 gr unique, large pistol primers and start here or you might be surprised how nice this load is and a 20 to 1 bullet mushrooms perfectly..........

[JJC]

Micro groove never bothered me till I read it should. Get a .458 expander. Mine is from RCBS they sent it to me no charge. In comparison shooting the larger expander was more accurate, atleast for me. I asume you slugged your barrel? The RCBS 45 405 is a good mold. There are a bunch of mold makers around here also that turn out some quality. I have a brass Accurate mold modeled after the RCBS mentioned just with a bigger meplat and the gas check fitts tight. I use H4895 for powder and keep loads around 28,00 psi, for 1730 fps. I use clip on ww air cooled for general shooting and felix lube. Do some reading and you will see what guys alloying for different applications. John

[jld_in_IA]

Micro groove never bothered me till I read it should. Get a .458 expander. Mine is from RCBS they sent it to me no charge. In comparison shooting the larger expander was more accurate, atleast for me. I asume you slugged your barrel? The RCBS 45 405 is a good mold. There are a bunch of mold makers around here also that turn out some quality. I have a brass Accurate mold modeled after the RCBS mentioned just with a bigger meplat and the gas check fitts tight. I use H4895 for powder and keep loads around 28,00 psi, for 1730 fps. I use clip on ww air cooled for general shooting and felix lube. Do some reading and you will see what guys alloying for different applications. John

That's exactly what I'm thinking - Micro groove should not be a problem. I just don't have any experience with it yet, so thought I would see if there was additional wisdom to be had.

So the air cooled clip on ww's should be roughly 12 BHN (roughly as in 10-15 based on local WW quality, alloying, fluxing, and if Jupiter is in line with Venus :) ) This sounds about right from what else I've read. So if you are using gas checks at 1730 fps, is this just because your mold is a GC mold, or did you try it with and without, then determine that GC's are necessary?

I really need to chrony my J-word bullets to see what they are doing - according to the load data the 350's I shoot should be running around 2100-2200 fps, but that's probably a 24" or 26" bbl. Bit of a difference out of an 18" bbl.

jld_in_IA

[jld_in_IA]

457122............10 gr unique, large pistol primers and start here or you might be surprised how nice this load is and a 20 to 1 bullet mushrooms perfectly..........

Ok, I'm currious. Is 10 gr accurate? I'm asking because I don't see anything on Alliant's site for using Unique in 45-70, so I don't have any info to sanity check this against. It just sounds alwful light considering that most loads run in the 40-60 gr range. If you could provide a refrence this was derived from, that would help.

Thanks again for the suggestion,

jld_in_IA

[JJC]

Yup bhn 11-12 is what my ww are. The mold is a GC. I tried them with out a gc at that velocity and accuracy was poor, not much of a suprise. I have taken plain base to 1600 fps with #2 alloy. Keep on looking around I think a few grains of a certain powder (unique?) is a good lower end loading in many cartridges. If you are hunting with cast you don't need high velocity as with jacketed. Bullet weight and meplat get it done. Alloys help to depending on what you want out of it. John

[Scharfschuetze]

I checked the loading log for my Marlin 1895. The rifle has a 26" barrel with Ballard style cut rifling and has a Lyman Model 66 peep sight mounted with a blade front sight for a service rifle sight picture.

350 grain plain base commercial cast bullet (Grier) over 12 grains of Unique powder seated in WW cases with a moderate crimp. Velocity average for a 10 shot group: 1080 fps
Standard Deveation: 9
Extreme Spread: 27

Accuracy at 50 yards for 10 shots was .84 of an inch. MOA wise that's near 1.68

405 grain plain base (Oregon Trail) bullet over 25 grains of IMR 4198 in a WW case, RWS primers and a moderate crimp:

5 shot average velocity: 1115
Extreme Spread: 54
Standard Deviation: 20

Accuracy was .81 of and inch at 50 yards or about 1.62 moa

Shooting at small objects out at 200 yards was quite satisfying with this load and recoil is hardly felt.

While not hunting loads, they are all quite fun to shoot at the range or out in the woods or desert and as noted above, accuracy holds up well out to 200 yards of so.

[crabo]

I shoot the 460420 plain based boolit. 40 grains of 3031, a tuft of dacron, in Starline brass, Winchester large primer, and CRed lube, sized .460. That combination goes 1500 fps.

I have shot it a lot in 3 different guide guns. (a MG, a SS Ballard and a blue Ballard) It will shoot an inch at 100. I have not cleaned my gun in the last 100 rounds or so, and still don't need to. Recoil is fine.

[Westwindmike]

In my 1895SS, I'm loading a Lee 340gr boolit over 25.5gr of 5744. That gives me 1250fps. It is accurate, mild and deadly on Tennessee sized deer.

[monge]

slug your barrel you want to be 1-2 thou over if your using a lee sizer you can hone it out a bit! Ive tumble lube boolits with great success stay on the low to mid side of your recipes, 45-70s love cast boolits!

[gon2shoot]

Casting for the 45-70, I use WWs plus just a touch of sweetner to get me to about 16 BHN (just for ease of casting).
I run the 405gr about 1400fps and have no complaints.
I use the RCBS cowboy dies, and size boolits to .459.

[brnomauser]

I'm just about to start casting for my 1895 microgroove. I got an Accurate brass mould (462350) and a 462 sizer off Buckshot here (very good experience dealing with him). Obviously I intend to size to .462 as my barrel slugs at .460, but I'm now a little nervous my chamber might be too small for these and remington brass. Does anyone else size to 462 and use remington brass in a MG barrel?

Someone's sending my a couple of jacketed pills so I can get some fired brass to see if they're a slip fit.

If I were you I'd slug the bore, then fire a few factory or J bullets for some once fired cases before getting a sizer.