Can you use.........

[KnotRight]

Thinking about order a Marlin 45-70 in the next couple of weeks. Will be ordering a set of reloading dies. I know that the caliber started out as a black powder round. Can you shot black powder out of the Marlin? Not saying that I will but wondering can you.

Also, I most likely will be reloading lead bullets. When ordering a set of dies, should I be looking at a regular set of dies or cowboy dies?

[country gent]

You can shoot blackin it but need to cleanit thourgholy afterwards. A pull thru cleaning cable ( otis type cable, bore snakes) will allow cleaning from the breech pulling fouling out the muzzle and not pushing it back into the action. A good case seal in the chamber will help with this also. clean rifle upside down will help keep crud from running into the action also. As to dies Yes I would definitly consider the rcbs cowboy dies as they are set up for cast bullets. A couple items to consider if shooting black powder is a drop tube and a powder compression die.

[wv109323]

Yes, the Marlin is much stronger than vintage arms of that era. Of course you must clean the rifle after firing the BP.
The cowboy dies have the advantage of a larger neck sizer,which is better for the lead bullets. Traditional neck sizing dies are usually .001 to .003 smaller than the cowboy dies. The difference may squeeze the lead bullets undersize(when seated). The Micro-groove barrels usually ran large and needed bullets of .460 or .461". The new Marlins Have the Ballard Rifling and may not need bullets that large but the cowboy dies are a safe bet.

[runfiverun]

the marlins have the advantage of being pretty simple to field strip and pull the bolt out so you can clean them from the back.
shooting black powder out of one is sure nuff easy to do and clean up afterwards.