Marlin 1895 cowboy

[Jedediah]

I am having trouble get loads to shoot to point of aim at 100 yds. 28 hrs, of 5744 sent 405's 18" high no adjustment left to get them zeroed. 325 and 350 grain are better , on at 50yds but expect they will be high at 100. Any ideas on load modifications so I have adjustment to shoot long range?

[pietro]

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Welcome to the forum !

I would opine that your boolit's traveling too slow, staying too long inside the bore while the rifle's muzzle is lifting upward under recoil.

If you don't want to experience the attendant harder recoil from that heavy a boolit faster, then you're going to need a much taller front sight blade - like a globe sight in a riser block.


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[Jedediah]

Thanks, So more powder should generally bring them down? 34 grs 5744 with the 325 was 10" high no movement on sights left. Nice group though.

[Blackwater]

Pietro gives good advice. Another possibility, perhaps, is how you hold the gun. Rifles with much recoil often need to be held a bit more firmly than light kicking ones. Shooting an elephant rifle with a loose grip will almost surely produce higher POI than if held firmly. From there on down, it varies as to how much it matters, but it could at least be one contributing factor in your POI problem. Be careful as to how high a front sight you get, though. It won't solve anything if you get one that's TOO high.

I just did some quick, rough calculations and I calculate that your front sight needs to be about 0.100" higher than the one you have now. I'm assuming you're using the standard open barrel sight in that, though, so if you're using a peep near the rear of the receiver, it'll need to be a bit taller than that. Hope this helps?

[Jedediah]

I have a Marbles tang and Lyman globe front. Height is .404 and other options are .494 or.584 Sounds like it is believed to be recoil or sight height related rather than load issues?

[pietro]

I have a Marbles tang and Lyman globe front.

Height is .404 and other options are .494 or.584

Sounds like it is believed to be recoil or sight height related rather than load issues ?




IDK where your measurements were taken, but the important sight measurements are those that indicate the front/rear(& tang) sight's sighting notch/spot above the bore C/L.

I've had excellent results from using both a rear barrel sight & a tang peep sight with the issue height front sight blade, to develop dual zeroes for the rifle (after 1st switching out the rear barrel sight for a folder).

The barrel sights can be zeroed for a relatively short range (say, 75-100yds), and the tang sight for a somewhat longer range (say, 200-300yds).

In use, the rear barrel sight is folded & the tanger raised for (longer) tang sight shots; the tanger folded & the rear barrel sight raised for closer open sight shots.



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[Jedediah]

Thanks for the info. I ordered a new (shorter) upright for the tang. The standard upright appeared to be 1/4" higher than it should be lowered all the way. Funny thing is it shot way high with original sights also. Thats why I originally asked about loads. Would heavier or lighter bullets, more or less powder have dramatic effect lowering or raising impact?

[Scharfschuetze]

Changing front or rear sight heights is a good solution to such a problem while varying bullet weight can help to some extent. In reality though, you shouldn't have to go to extremes to zero a properly built rifle.

If your rifle was shooting too high with the factory sights, then you may have an issue better addressed by checking your crown, if the barrel was bored straight through or if possibly the receiver was threaded off center. All of these can affect zero and induce a difficulty in zeroing. Over the years I have see a few barrels suffering these issues as well as one on an H&R 45/70 and one on a Rossi lever gun where the barrels were actually bent or warped.

I have a circa 2000 Marlin 1895 special issue rifle that suffered an incorrectly bored barrel causing it to shoot far to the left. A trip back to the factory cured the issue with a new barrel and the rifle is now zeroed with the front and rear sights dead center over the center line of the barrel and with adequate elevation for zeros from 50 yards to over 400 yards.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have an 1895CB as well and mine performs well with RCBS .45-300 RFNGC at 325 gr with 33 gr of 5744.

I am using an XS White Line Front Sight that is .450 high with a Lyman 66LA Receiver Sight on the rear.

This combination has yielded two 3 shot groups at 1 3/4 and 1 7/8" at 100 yards of a rest.

There are a lot of factors contributing to the accuracy of a Levergun. One important one with the Marlins is that the fore end needs to be slightly loose so that it doesn't influence the barrel in any way. Mine was deliberately sanded on the back edge that contacts the Receiver to yield about a .030 gap. It moves slightly fore and aft.

When shooting the gun off a rest I hold onto the fore end and set my hand on the rest, then the whole gun is pulled back into my shoulder using my support hand.

Anyway that's what I do.

Randy