Lee mold for Marlin 45-70?

[oscarflytyer]

Just picked up a Marlin 1895 in 45-70 w/ microgroove bbl. Would like to use the Lee 340 gr and Lee 405 gr (not hollow base) molds in it.

Anyone use these in a Marlin 45-70? Results? Loads? Thanx

[TXGunNut]

No experience with those moulds, RD 460-350 seems to be what my my Guide Gun likes best so far. I like Lee TL boolits tho, as a rule. My GG likes boolits in the 405 class but I like the lighter boolit for our TX deer and hogs. Are you sure it's a MicroGroove? Thought 1895's all had Ballard rifling, I know the Guide Guns do, pretty sure same is true of the Cowboy and the standard 1895.

[220]

I've had reasonable success with the 340 in my marlin but it is ballard rifled.
Feed fine, about 2.5" groups at 100 and seem to kill our smaller deer well enough.

[Keyston44]

I use the Lee 457-405-F. It drops out of the mold at .459 so I shoot it as cast. I tumble lube it in 45-45-10 and use 14 gr of Unique.

Key

[Sensai]

Like Keyston44, I use the Lee 457-405-F for most of my 45/70 needs. It feeds and shoots well in my '95CB. I really don't enjoy the snap of the lighter boolits in the 45/70 if you load them to hunting levels. The 400 grain range gives, what seems to me anyway, more of a push than the lighter boolits.

[oscarflytyer]

Has to be a microgroove. 1978 manuf. bbl doesn't say MG, but it is... tons of small shallow lands and grooves. I have 2x 336s w/ MG. Didn't compare last night, but... Not that that bothers me. As long as the bullet drops big enough, should be fine.

[groovy mike]

I just worked up a good moose load for my 45-70. I tried a bunch of different bullets and found two that my rifle likes. Now I don’t have much use for the rest of them.
I havesome 390 grain and 500 grain cast bullets ready to load and some jacketed Hornaday 350 grain (partial boxes). Plus a Herters single cavity mold (#.456300) and nearly 3,000 - 45 caliber copper gas checks.
If you buy the mold and gas checks for $100, I’ll throw in the couple dozen bullets. If you need them shipped I’ll use the $13 medium flat rate box.

[Elkins45]

I used to have one with the micro groove barrel and it loved the Lee 405. This was years before I owned a lubrisizer so I used the Lee tumble lube and a push thru .458 sizer. Accuracy was super and no leading all the way up to as fast as I was willing to endure.

[oscarflytyer]

I used to have one with the micro groove barrel and it loved the Lee 405. This was years before I owned a lubrisizer so I used the Lee tumble lube and a push thru .458 sizer. Accuracy was super and no leading all the way up to as fast as I was willing to endure.

Thanx. that is music to my ears. Hopefully I will be as lucky with mine. Not even going to waste the $ on a sizer die. Figure I will want it as cast, and going to tumble lube.

[Duckiller]

Shoot both in my 1895. Carnuba red for a lube. Minimum loads of Trailboss for powder. Great plinking loads. If you are going to use full power loads you are going to want a GOOD recoil pad.

[aspangler]

Try 25 gr 2400 under the Lee 405 PB for 1450 fps. As good a deer killer as any and mild recoil too.

[oscarflytyer]

Shoot both in my 1895. Carnuba red for a lube. Minimum loads of Trailboss for powder. Great plinking loads. If you are going to use full power loads you are going to want a GOOD recoil pad.

For paper and Southern (big dog-sized) whitetail, I am CERTAIN a 405 at Trapdoor level will slobber knock anything I am going to shoot at inside of 100 yards. Avg prob be more like 20-60 yds. Would expect bang-flop. I will put together some level II/low level III loads if/when I might run into hogs. But would not hesitate to shoot a hog with the Trapdoor 405 load inside 100 yds either.

[oscarflytyer]

Try 25 gr 2400 under the Lee 405 PB for 1450 fps. As good a deer killer as any and mild recoil too.

Looking at my new copy of Waters Pet Loads. Prob going to stay away from pistol powders - at least at first. But def going to work with Trapdoor loads until/unless I absolutely need something else. Fully expect Trapdoor 405 loads to handle my deer hunting around here, and hog too in a pinch. Dedicated hog hunt I will go up to level II loads to hunt with.

May later look at Unique - 12.5- 15 grns - for paper punching. Maybe 2400 too. Just a BIG LONG 45 Colt!

[bigted]

funny thing about the 45-70's. they have taken the biggest and meanest in north America and done so with ease. deer of any size should never be a problem in the least with a vintage load in a 45-70. the 70 grain loads with blackpowder did all these things and will continue to do so. think a 405 grain soft boolit at around 1300 feet per second. these are blackpowder velocity and these will do all that is required.

there is much halabaloo about loads that are much more then these velocity's. they sure nough are huntin killers and the midrange trajectory is much flatter but ... the killing power is NOT dependent on the upper velocity's . make life easy on yourself with the punishment. this is a easy shootin round if in a reasonable weight rifle. have fun and know that your killin can be easy or not on your shoulder.

either of these boolits should be great if the diameter is large enough for your barrel. try from 30 to 34 grains RL-7 in your loads. maybe 35 to 38 grains of IMR 3031 powder but the 3031 is a bit dirty shooting but gives great shooting. another GREAT load is with GOEX 2f black powder sparked with a cci 200 large rifle primer. this bp load will need compression so do it with a compression stem and not the boolit.

have fun with your 45-70 and report back with your results in a fine rifle.

[groovy mike]

My 1895G and Baikal side by side BOTH like 40 grains of 3031 under either of those projectiles (Lee 340 grain and Lee 405 grain)!

[oscarflytyer]

bigted - you mention the IF of the bullet dropping large enough for the Marlin microgroove bbl - they like them about .002" over normal size. I talked to a tech at Lee. he said that if I need the mold to drop slightly larger, do the following:

Stick a piece of cigarette rolling paper to the mold face farthest away from the handles, using a piece of beeswax. Said this will gain you the .001-.002" extra you need, 'melt' into the surface of the mold, and because of where it is placed, the bullet will remain round.

Very neat trick - yet to try it. But I have never heard of this for "Marlinizing" a mold for a microgroove mold.

[MBTcustom]

It's called "beagling". Very old trick.

[bigted]

all Marlins im familiar with really like .460 inch boolits. I have heard of others using smaller diameter boolits but in my personal experience they really cook with the .460 inch size.

that is called Beageling a mold if im not mistaken. I had not heard of the cigarette paper trick but it makes sense as you can do the same with the sticky back tinfoil or aluminum foil. try for the larger size and im bettin you will be amazed with the accuracy gotten with such. sounds like a trick id like to try with a couple of my molds tho so thanks for sharing.

maybe do a slug of your barrel and measure it to find out what your micro groove measures in the groove and bore. also take a fired shell that was fired in the rifle and after belling the mouth ... measure the case neck to get a glimpse of what the throat wants/needs. this will dictate how long the cases last and the final size that your rifle wants to perform the very best for sure.

[oscarflytyer]

It's called "beagling". Very old trick.

OK - Just DUH! I have heard of 'beagling.' I knew it was making the mold drop bigger, but just never knew the exact 'science' or trick to it.

[oscarflytyer]

I am lazy these days. Bet i don't slug - just take it on authority that it will want a .459-.460 bullet. And WW so an extra .001 and won't matter, I am sure, espec at Trapdoor or level II loads - which is prob about all I am going to use. And yes, have heard of using tin foil, guess I didn't exactly put 2 and 2 together, but I thought the cig paper trick was pretty neat and unique. It will def go into my tool bag...

[FergusonTO35]

I like the idea of using magnum pistol powder in the .45-70. I've seen Unique and 2400 mentioned. I wonder how well Hodgdon 110 would work with a 300 grain boolit and what kind of charge would be ideal? My rifle powders are getting low but I have a full can of 110. My gun is a 70's 1895 with unnamed Micro Groove.

[OnHoPr]

I like the idea of using magnum pistol powder in the .45-70. I've seen Unique and 2400 mentioned. I wonder how well Hodgdon 110 would work with a 300 grain boolit and what kind of charge would be ideal? My rifle powders are getting low but I have a full can of 110. My gun is a 70's 1895 with unnamed Micro Groove.

Just for the heck of it I seen this a cautious "I'm not sure about this one" flew across the noodle. H110 or I'm pretty sure 296 of hand is the same and like to be fully charged or close to it so I hope someone else weighs in on the ????? Kind doing some canning prep so I'm a little busy to confirm one way or the other.

[FergusonTO35]

After researching it more looks like 110/296 in .45-70 ain't such a good idea. I suppose I'll try Blue Dot instead. Where might I start with that one?

[Rooster59]

Haven't tried the Lee 405 but I do have the 340. Sized at .459 and lubed with a friend's secret blend lube it shoots very well with 12gr of Unique from my 1895CB. Gives me 1100fps.

[rugersworld]

I have an 1895 marlin that I purchased new in 96 - It has micro groove. Friend bought one in 04 I think with the ballard type rifling, so the change over could have been around 2000. I heard that the MC doesnt shoot PB as well as jacketed, though I havent seen it in mine. PB and jacketed shoot about the same.

[MtGun44]

I have had excellent results with RCBS 405 GC over 57 gr of W748. This is a low pressure load
and pushed the boolit to 1750 fps in my GG. About 1-2" at 100 if I do my part. This is a
slow powder for .45-70, with it's extremely high expansion ratio.

Bill

[TXGunNut]

As you've figured out by now, OP, there are probably at least a dozen boolits and probably as many powders that work quite well in a Marlin 45-70. From 300 to 405 (or bigger) grns, from 1200 to 2200 fps and most places in between. I don't think there's a more versatile or forgiving cartridge once you get the reloading process down.