Marlin 1895 CB 45/70 ?

[blaser.306]

I just bought myself a gently used 1895 CB in 45/70 . It has the JM marking on the 26" octagon BBL so this would put it as a Marlin manufactured gun, My question to any and all is what would be a good starting point for a "medeiumish" target and general plinking load? I bought one of NOE's 460378 boolit moulds and want to get some brass filled up for when the snow melts and is a little more hospitible out at the range. Thanks in advance.

[dubber123]

My 1895 CB liked 30.0 Grs. of H4198 with a 405 gr. plain base boolit It should be in the 1,300-1,400 fps. range, and shot right at an inch at 50 yds. with the issue sights, which is about as good as it will do so far.

[TXGunNut]

Congrats! My Guide Gun like 3031 and RL7 but the longer barrel may like a powder a tad bit slower. Nice thing about the 45-70 is that most medium powders seem to do well. Some do very well. Question is, what powders do you have sitting on the shelf?

[zuke]

16gr of Trail Boss under a 330gr HP PP boolit

[Westwindmike]

I use 25gr of 5744 with a Lee 340gr FP at 1250fps in my 1895SS Marlin. Good deer load.

[blaser.306]

Congrats! My Guide Gun like 3031 and RL7 but the longer barrel may like a powder a tad bit slower. Nice thing about the 45-70 is that most medium powders seem to do well. Some do very well. Question is, what powders do you have sitting on the shelf?

I currently have WC 735 ( 5% faster than H 335 ) IMR 3031 , Tac , Exterminator, IMR 4198,H 4895, AA1680, WW 680, a fresh 12 lb keg of 4759 and a bunch of new old stock 4227. And likely a few in the burn range that I have fogotten about! This is why I was enquiering, I could be all spring summer at the range just making noise , burnin powder and having a blast without actually accomplishing any valuable load data. Or I could do a couple of ladder tests and hit the sweet spot right off as well.

[gon2shoot]

Mine likes 32/35gr of 4198 under the 405gr boolit.

[bigted]

lets see ... mildish ... here are a couple loads i like very much in the my cowboy.

34 grains of RL-7 gets it done very nicely behind a 400ish grain boolit.

40 grains IMR 3031 behind a 350 grain boolit is a good and a bit hotter then the previous load.

the ultimate and best load tho is as old as the hills and twice the fun ... 70 grains GOEX 2 F or Cartridge powder behind a 405 grain boolit lubed with SPG and primed with a CCI large rifle primer. for hunting i also compress it enough to install a lube cookie under the boolit with card wads between the boolit n cookie and powder n cookie. this gives 8 or 10 shots in a row without the need to clean for accuracy.

yer gonna have a ball with your rifle ... those CB rifles are good and gonna do nothing but go up in value from this time on.

[Jailer]

My 1895 CB liked 30.0 Grs. of H4198 with a 405 gr. plain base boolit It should be in the 1,300-1,400 fps. range, and shot right at an inch at 50 yds. with the issue sights, which is about as good as it will do so far.

My SBL likes this same load. 28gr H4198 with a tuft of dacron will give the same velocity and slightly better accuracy.

[Vulcan Bob]

I'm using 26 gr of 5744 with a Lee 457-405 that drops at 412 gr with my alloy. Accurate and mild out of my 1895CB.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I tend to start at the bottom and work up... It seems to be a more prudent method of learning a gun and how to load it.

If I were you I'd start out with a 300 gr boolit like a RCBS 45-300FN and 25 gr of 5744 and work up from there. These guns are relatively light and the recoil of a bare Marlin stock will get your attention, even at that light a loading. That way you can figure out how much you can take from the gun, and load accordingly. If you start out big it will simply hurt you.

Shooting and hunting are two completely different things. I can shoot 40 of the loads listed above in a Cowboy Silhouette Match.

For hunting you only have to suffer thru one or two shots so they can be loaded much heavier.

However there is little to be gained by loading this cartridge to "Big Game" intensities if you are going to shoot a 125lb deer or a 100lb pig, and the only thing that will happen is the recoil will induce flinching.

If you are going to hunt Big Bears or Elk or Moose then maybe a 400+ gr boolit at 1600 fps is in order. For anything smaller a 300 gr boolit at 12-1300 fps is more than enough.

A 250 gr SWC at 900fps from a 44 Special will go clean thru an Elk in any direction. So how far into the dirt beyond the target do you want the boolit to go?

My .02

Randy

[Mumblypeg]

30grs. of H4198 with a 360gr Ranch dog. Mild and accurate. sized to.459. Shoots clean for me.

[blaser.306]

Thanks for all the info, I am going to try a few of these ideas as well as a couple of loads that I have in manuals as well. The general use for this is going to be sillhouettes , and perhaps whitetail deer this fall. So as mentioned I do not need to start off by beating myself up , even though I do not consider myself to be recoil sensitive . Now likely isn't the time to start either. Thanks for the replies.

[FergusonTO35]

My standard 1895 likes 45 grains of IMR 4895 under a 300 grain boolit. Very accurate out to at least 75 yards (longest I've tried it) and .308 level recoil.

[TXGunNut]

...Or I could do a couple of ladder tests and hit the sweet spot right off as well. -blaser.306

Quite likely. Seems the 45-70 is a very forgiving powder, could probably get good results with at least 3 or 4 of the powders you listed and decent results with a couple more.

[Alan]

I picked up a minty one about 18 months or so ago for $550. Guess I did ok.

[hicard]

Just look up a near max trapdoor load for that 1895 and you will be happy with it.

[Scharfschuetze]

My best target and plinking load with my Marlin 1895 duplicates the original "carbine" load of the US Army with its velocity and boolit weight. I developed it for Trapdoor Springfields, but it shoots quite well with my 1895.

405 grain Lyman 457193 PB with NRA 50/50 lube or a commercially cast 405 grain boolit
WW cases with a moderate crimp
RWS primers
25 grains of IMR 4198 with no filler

Velocity: 1115fps
SD: 20, ES 50

While the SD seems a bit high, the accuracy through 200 yards is quite good with some groups at 1 1/2 MOA and others up to 2 MOA. You can shoot the load all day in a Marlin without loosing your fillings.

[Iowa Fox]

In my 1895 CB I shoot an old Ideal 456192 sized to 460 with 13 grains of Unique. I hope you enjoy your CB as much as I do mine. There is something special about pulling that hammer back as you pull the rifle to your shoulder and sighting down that 26 inch octagon barrel. The only thing that can top it would be to have an old Winchester with a long octagon barrel in 45/70 or larger.

[blaser.306]

I picked up a minty one about 18 months or so ago for $550. Guess I did ok.

I did pretty well on this one as well! I traded $500.00 Canadian dollars for it!So that would be roughly $450.00 US!!! There are a couple of very minor safe kisses and not much else in the way of wear, I will enjoy this pea shooter to it's fullest ( once the snow goes away )

[Dave Bulla]

13 to 15 grains of unique under about any cast boolit you want.

[MT Chambers]

I did pretty well on this one as well! I traded $500.00 Canadian dollars for it!So that would be roughly $450.00 US!!! There are a couple of very minor safe kisses and not much else in the way of wear, I will enjoy this pea shooter to it's fullest ( once the snow goes away )
Yup, just 4 more months!!!!!....Ben

[Nrut]

2.5 months or less here in the B.C. interior Ben..
I'll be shooting long before then..

blaser,
you might PM sharpsguy as he has one of these rifles and did load work on another for a friends wife this last fall..
I don't remember his loads other than he used 3031 and a heavy bullet IIRC but he had some loads that beat all others as far as I have seen..
He is a big fan of ladder sights also and almost has me talked into a $170.00 Smith ladder site..
If I had a CB like yours instead of a GG I would surely have one by now..