What is the biggest boolit that can be chambered in the 1895 GG

[Jeff Davis]

I am curious as to how big a boolit I can safely chamber into the 45/70 Guide Gun.

this would be without any special mods to the gun itself. I have the Lee 340 gr FN, and the Lee 405 gr FN at my disposal. Would like to get something heavier with a flat nose/ wider meplat, but I am worried about the chamber length and the seating depth for a bigger boolit.

Would also appreciate any references to load data as well.

Thank you all in advance.

Jeff

[454PB]

I use the Lee 500 grain GC boolit in my Marlin GS.

[Bullshop]

I use that big honkin Lyman 462whatever. Mine is a HP and works good in the Marlin. You have to crimp up on the nose a bit though to get an OAL that will function through the action.
BIC/BS

[HCL]

I have used the 45-500 and works really well. It is the same boolit as the 45-405 but longer..
Mike

[NickSS]

You can get bullets of around 500 gr to chamber and shoot in a Marlin but to what purpose? I have killed two elk and several deer to say nothing of wild hogs etc with bullets of 350 to 400 gr. All were one shot kills at ranges from 30 to 150 yards. None of my bullets remained in the animal penetrating through and through. So I personally see no need for a heavier slug.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive used the 500 rcbs and the ballistic cast 540 wfngc.

[dsmjon]

I read the title wrong. I thought you wanted to ream the chamber to get a bigger caliber in there. I was about to call you nuts! I've shot a handfull of 425gr out of mine. I promise you, that is all you're going to need for ANYTHING on this continent!

[BABore]

You can load any weight you want til you run out of powder capacity in which to drive it out of the case. You can hang about 0.400 to 0.450 out the front end, depending on meplat, and still get it to feed. How much you stuff in the case is up to you.

That said, I have used the JB Young, 550 gr crater in both my 450 Marlin and 45-70's. More of a novelty boolit than a useful one. No need for that kind of weight and penetration for anything in the US and much of Africa even if it was legal. Boolits disigned for the leverguns (i.e. those with a FP or meplat) are real ballistic turds when you get real heavy. I was driving a 550 gr at 1,550 out of my 450 Marlin GG. In a 22" bbl'd 45-70 you would likely get 1,650 fps. The heavies don't really kick the begezzers out of you either. More of a shotgun push to them. Unless you only want to impress friends and family, you get the most bang for your buck with boolits in the 400-465 grain range. The 420-425 gr boolits seem to work the best for most everything. Brian Pearce shot through one cape buffalo bull and also killed a cow standing behind it. He was using his 45-70 Marlin and a 420 grain boolit at 1,800-1,900 fps.

[Lloyd Smale]

I agree with babore except to me anyway the recoil. I loaded the 540 to about 1600 and i can honestly say the recoil was noticeable ;) buddy shot a 2000 lb bison bull with it and it made for a pretty big wound channel and put a hurt on that buffalo real quickly.

[use enough gun]

I have a Hock nose pore PP mold I had made for my Hi-Wall in 45/120, the bullet weighs 604 grains and I have shot more than a few through my 1895. Dave

[pietro]

[I personally see no need for a heavier slug. ]

I won't use anything heavier than 300-350gr in my .45-70's anymore.

JMO, but those heavy's are only good for putting that silly grin on a newbie's face, after they kick the snot outta him. :mrgreen:

.

[Vance in Ak]

Brian Pearce shot through one cape buffalo bull and also killed a cow standing behind it. He was using his 45-70 Marlin and a 420 grain boolit at 1,800-1,900 fps.

Any place I could read that story???

[HCL]

Handloader, August 2007??
If I remember correctly there was an article about 45-70 loads for Africa. Will try and dig through my pile and find it.
Mike

[largom]

A 405gr. FN at 1800fps will kill ANYTHING this side of the big waters so I see no need for anything else unless you just gotta do it.
Larry

[Three44s]

Any place I could read that story???

Maybe try this:

http://www.riflemagazine.com/backissues/index.cfm?type=0

Scroll down to August 2007 and you should zero in on it (the sample pdf only goes part way through that issue and Brian's piece is farther along ........... so you'd have to buy in ........ go figure!

Three 44s

[Nazgul]

I used the 540gr Lyman 462540. The nose diameter fits into the throat without problem. Has to be seated deep into the case.

Don

[SciFiJim]

JMO, but those heavy's are only good for putting that silly grin on a newbie's face, after they kick the snot outta him.:mrgreen:

:drinks: Here's to putting silly grins on a newbie's face. That is one sure way to get someone interested in shooting and casting.

[dsmjon]

:drinks: Here's to putting silly grins on a newbie's face. That is one sure way to get someone interested in shooting and casting.



+1. I did this to the RSO last time (1st time I took my 1895G to the range) after he inquired about the recoil from it. [smilie=l:

That alone makes me want to find some 500+, rather than these whimpy 425gr I was throwing downrange. :groner: :smile:

[JesterGrin_1]

:drinks: Here's to putting silly grins on a newbie's face. That is one sure way to get someone interested in shooting and casting.

I tend to like the 350Gr class of BOOLITS. I feel at that weight going 1900 to 2000 FPS I would not need anything else. So anything larger is just a waste of lead.

But I will say that I did let a newbie shoot my 1895 Marlin GS in 45-70 with my normal hunting load. He shot it one time and said he would never shoot it again lol. And he was used to a 7mm STW lol.

[Gunlaker]

Any place I could read that story???


Handloader magazine. Aug 2007, issue 248.

It's definitely an issue worth reading for the Marlin 1895 .45-70 shooters, as it has a nice article on the Marlin 1895 with a fair bit of load data to boot.

Edit: a while back I picked up an RCBS 500gr mould that'll work with the 1895. For what reason? Nothing practical, just for grins :-). I haven't cast any yet, but the loadbooks book for .45-70 has a some data for that bullet.

Chris.

[beagle]

I can use either the 457125 Lyman, the 462560 Lyman or the RCBS 45-500-FN in my M1895 all right and it feeds and shoots well.

As has been pointed out, you may have to seat deeper to acheive functioning and as a result, powder space is reduced and velocity as a result.

In reality, I don't think you gain a lot by using bullets much over 400 grains in the .45/70. Paul Matthews once said that 350 grains in the .45/70 was pretty much optimum for hunting and he's more knowledgeable than I am on the subject but I'll have to agree with his theory./beagle