I'ma Thinkin 1895 . . .

[TCLouis]

that I really do need one of the Marlin 1895s with 22" barrel.
Anyone here shooting one and what diameter boolits am I going to have to use, realizing the typical variations?
I guess I am wondering if they are known to need boolit diameter over .460"?

Now some things have to leave the safe to finance the deal if the barrels are not typically oversize.

[Maineboy]

I have an 1895SS that I think I bought about 20 years ago that looks like the current production photo. My barrel slugs .4575 and I size boolits .459 with a Lee push through sizer when installing gas checks. On plain based boolits, specifically the Lee 405 and 340 moulds, I load as cast, but both around drop boolits .458 in diameter. My rifle shoots everything well, except the smaller Lee boolit. For some reason, I can't get it to shoot.

[Norske]

I load a 400gr .458" diameter cast bullet over 38.5 gr IMR 3031 and they group inside Remington factory ammo in my Marlin 1895.

[Winger Ed.]

I shoot a fairly soft, water dropped, cast RCBS 405GC, in a 2002 issue, long barrel CB with middle of the road,
or more towards the left side of 'Springfield' charges of 3031 or 4198 sized to .458 & lubed with Lyman orange magic.

On a good day, I can consistently hold a 2" group with open sights at 100 yards.

With full house lever gun charges--- those little black paper dots were just as dead,
but it took some shoulder rubbing and head scratching to figure out which end of it was more dangerous than the other.

[Harter66]

I had a 2010 1895G . I guess I got lucky . Anyway it's pretty happy with the 457193 whether it's Trapdoor Unique loads or the modern lever H322 loads . Those drop about .458 out of a 2016 mould and have never had fouling . I shot some paper patched 350s , MM 453-350 RNFP , with about equal success to the 193 . I have a 457-340 also but haven't shot it yet in that rifle . I have loads pending to shoot with a Rapine 459201 which looks to have been a 45 Colts bullet for fat first/second gen SSAs . While I was at it I paper patched a few other pistol bullets more for grins than anything else . I saw where a 250 solid copper was pushed 2800 fps so I thought maybe a paper patched might go close to that .

[44Blam]

I have one - it's awesome. I took the buckhorn sights off and put on a skinner sight.
I have a load that is a 405 grain boolit going about 1850 fps - it is VERY accurate.
With those skinner sights, I can consistently hit a 2' plate at 400 yards. I'm going to buy a vernier or ladder sight for this gun because I am sure that it is a 1000 yard gun...

EDIT:
The thing I kind of wish I would have done is got the CB model because of the 9 round mag and 26" barrel...

And then there is this:
https://www.henryusa.com/rifles/lever-action-x-model-45-70/

I WANT it....

[rototerrier]

I'm with you in this! Took me a week to recover from my last tangle with full house loads. It's just brutal.

[Shawlerbrook]

Yes, the big bore leverguns are not fun to shoot unless you really need them.

[TCLouis]

These reactions are the reasons I am hesitant to order.
Seems those expressing great satisfaction are pre Remington damage.
How about those POST Remington owners?
Main goal is BOOLIT only hunting to 100 yards or so and plink and play to as far as it and I can precisely lay down lead.
If they are truly buckhorn sights then that has to be the first thing to go, I can not use them.

[Duckiller]

Get it! I have a CB with a 26" barrel. Load it with Lee 330 and 405 gr. use minimum loads of Trail Boss. Minimal recoil and fun too shoot. With a little more powder I can get it to trap door velocities. If it can kill a buffalo it can kill anything I may run into.

[Gray Fox]

I have two of the guide guns and a Browning 1885 in that caliber, and for my shots that are not going to be over 100 yards around here I see no need to beat myself up with loads hotter than loads for a trapdoor Springfield. I also have a nicely sporterized Siamese Mauser with a medium weight sporter barrel. It has about a half pound of lead in the fore end and butt stock and weighs in at 10.2 pounds if I want to try heavy loads. It has a receiver aperture sight on it and I wish I had access to a range with over 100 yards so I cold see what it would do out to 300 yards or so. I size my boolits for all four rifles at .459 or .460 and they shoot just fine. The Marlins seem to prefer the .460s. I lube all of them with 45-45-10. GF

[koger]

I had one about 6 months old I picked it up at LGS. It shot everything I put in it well, from mild to wild. It loved the 15gs of Unique and a 350gr .458, and every jacketed bullet I shot in it. My best friends son shot it really well, and wanted to buy it, so I sold it to him for what I had in it. I have shot about 30 new Marlin centerfire levers in the past 2 years, lining up scopes, etc., for folks, and have had good accuracy out of them all, and no dogs in the looks department. I could find no issues with them every one, and I looked them over hard.

[.45colt]

I bought an 1895 SS 22" twelve years ago. put a Williams foolproof on it . with federal 300grn loads it will hit a postage stamp at 75 yards. light and handy enough to hunt with and carry. due to health concerns I haven't shot My big guns in some time but the Marlin is a nice rifle. I wish they had been legal to hunt with in Ohio forty years ago like they are now.

[samari46]

Might be a little OT so here goes.Ruger #1 in 45/70 with the 300 jhp factory loads fairly pleasant to shoot. 300 gr bullet at 1800 fps. Start to go much over that and recoil does become a factor. 2000 fps like shooting a 458 win mag. Even the 405 grain soft point at around 1300-1400 fps gets very uncomfortable. Have to get a bullet mold as the bullet barely makes .459 and what throat it has is .459. Will probably need close to .462 to shoot better. No fancy alloys just wheel weights with 2%. I fired 5 rounds of a buddy's handloads through a 1895 and was the most brutal beating I have ever experienced in such a light rifle. Frank

[Gimmebakmyboolits]

I just picked up a new 1895CB with the 26" barrel and use the 300gr/405gr low velocity lead pistol powder loads from gmdr.com and it's a blast to shoot. Low recoil and rings the 100 yard steel like you used a sledge hammer. Super happy with it but I did have to do some clean up work with 400 grit sandpaper on some of the action parts.

[Bigslug]

My father's is a fairly early Remington-built gun - probably purchased around 2012-2013.

Accuracy was NEVER an issue with that gun. Right out of the box without much load tinkering, it was holding about 1-MOA - maybe a touch over. If not necessarily leverguns, Remington at least does know how to make a barrel. I am reasonably sure he's running .459" diameter slugs for groove diameter in the .457"-.458" range. At any rate, I recall nothing mysterious or excessively tinkery with that rifle when compared with the actual antiques he plays with, and he's using the RCBS 405 grain GCFP factory mold with no challenges.

There were some serious mechanical issues with it that necessitated a trip to Remington's regional repair center. This amounted to increasing frequency of "CLICK" instead of "BANG", culminating in the gun totally locking up. Also, the stock developed a hairline crack at the wrist. The gunsmith/regional repair center was quite apologetic for Remington having jumped into the lever action game while retaining none of the personnel making the original gun and set us up in fine style with nicer wood, basic repairs, and a complimentary lapping in of the locking surfaces.

Sooooo. . .they had a bit of a learning curve. They're still making them, and no one seems to be railing from the rooftops about ongoing Q.C. issues, so one hopes they've figured it out. That rifle has since been "retroed" and upgraded with deletion of the cross-bolt safety, installation of a one-piece firing pin, and Bear Proof ejector, and bedding of the forend. For what it is, it's an astonishingly accurate rifle, consistently shooting groups of the RCBS 405GCFP into an inch. At about 1900fps, that bullet killed his 2014 deer dead. . .really dead.:bigsmyl2:

As to the sights. . .I do not think they are using the buckhorns on the 22" 1895 - pretty sure that's more of a Cowboy Model variation. In Pop's case, the gun got a Leupold 1.5-5 shortly after leaving the box, so that never got much of an examination.

Final analysis - family heirlooms aside, it's one of his favorite modern, utilitarian guns.

[1989toddm]

I really like the Trailboss / 340 or 405 gr Lee loads. Both are accurate in my JM 1895, and easy on the shoulder.

[TCLouis]

Good or bad . . .
Right or Wrong . . .
I dropped a dime and put one on order today.

Guess I had better get to digging and see what I have in the way of boolits.
Pretty sure I am out of Lee 340s, but should have some of Ranch Dog's 350s (378 in my alloy) and I think I have a passel of 405s that I bought that need to be sized and lubed.
Ok, where did I put that Unique and 3031?