Marlin 1895 CB 45-70??

[69daytona]

Im buying a new Marlin CB in 45-70 and would like to know what cast bullets will work well in it?

I have read here on this site that it has trouble feeding certain boolits.

I have a Lee 405gr mold and an rcbs 500gr postal style mold, can the 500s be fead one at a time?

[jh45gun]

Is the Lee the Hollow Base .459 one? if so it works great in the Marlin lever guns it shoots very well in my Guide Gun. I have heard the other plain base does not work as well. I never could figure out why Lee made the rest of their molds sized to drop .457??? No idea about the 500 one as far as clearance goes. It could be feed one at a time but you may have to shorten it up depending on the throat size.

[jlchucker]

The Lee plain-base flatnose 405 grain boolit, propelled by AA5744 works well in my 22 inch Marlin (microgroove and all). For that matter, so do the 300 and 405 RCBS boolits.

[Dale53]

I have an early (modern) Marlin 1895 in 45/70. I get excellent results with the Lee 340 gr FN and a moderate charge of RL-7. It regularly shoots in 1½" at 100 yards with a low powered scope.

I believe that the 45/70 in the Marlin represents the best cast bullet hunting rifle available.

FWIW
Dale53

[6pt-sika]

When I got an 1895CB back about 2001 or 2002 I used the Lee 340 and 405 exclusively . I also tumble lubed and didn't size them .

They shot quite well in that rifle !

Later on I got a copy of the Gould 330 grain HP and I would size that one at .459" and they did very well also .

Now I'm pretty much only using the Ranch Dog 460-350GC and 460-425GC as well as the Gould some .

[Dale53]

You and I must follow the same game plan. I have a Lyman Gould 457322 hollow point bullet mould also. I also purchased one of Ranch Dog's six cavity 350 gr GC mould. A good friend loaned me a Lyman four cavity mould for the 457322 solid bullet (apparently Lyman made this when they still catered to their customers). It makes a neat combination - fast casting solids for practice and the slow casting hollow points for game. I ran off a thousand or so of the solids - that ought to keep me busy for a while. I cast the Gould out of 30/1 lead/tin - that ought to expand very well and still hold together. Should be just the ticket for deer, hogs, and black bear (if you are a hunter).

The Gould bullet should work very well in the Marlin (although I haven't tried it, as yet). I really bought it for my Ruger #3. I believe that a good duplex load (10% RL-7 next to the primer and 90% Swiss 1½F) will do all I need to do in that light weight rifle. I cannot imagine a better woods rifle combination than either the Ruger or the Marlin in 45/70 with appropriate cast bullets.

Both of these rifles can be very punishing, as issued. I had the stocks shortened and a good recoil pad installed on both. That makes a WORLD of difference.

FWIW
Dale53

[shdwlkr]

I have both of ranch dogs molds and right I have a group buy going for a 330 hp 45-70 mold which will be all the bullets I need for my 45-70.

[pdawg_shooter]

1895g Load for everything

After five years of trying I have finally found THE load for my Marlin 1895g. Does everything I want done and is still shootable. I started with new Remington brass, annealed the first ¾ inch using the melted lead method, belled with a Lee expander and primed with CCI 200. The powder charge is 52gr AA 2495. I started with 48 and worked up with no signs of pressure. This is a compressed load, even using a 16 inch drop tube. The magic bullet is cast in a Lyman 451114 mould. The alloy is 17 parts pure lead, 2 ½ parts linotype, and ½ part tin. The bullet drops from the mould .451 and is ready for patching. I make my patches from 16lb green bar computer paper, cut 2.750 long on a 60* angle 1.500 high. I dip in water and wrap twice around the bullet. They are left to dry overnight, then lubed with BAC. The next day the tails are clipped and the bullet is run through a .459 Lee sizing die. I seat them to an OCL of 2.580. These shoot clover leaf groups at 25 yards and into 1.75 at 100. This is with a Lyman 66 rear sight and factory front sight. Not bad for 58 year old eyes. Bullet performance on game is all one could ask for. I’ll not quit experimenting, but how does one improve on perfection?

[6pt-sika]

You and I must follow the same game plan. I have a Lyman Gould 457322 hollow point bullet mould also. I also purchased one of Ranch Dog's six cavity 350 gr GC mould. A good friend loaned me a Lyman four cavity mould for the 457322 solid bullet (apparently Lyman made this when they still catered to their customers). It makes a neat combination - fast casting solids for practice and the slow casting hollow points for game. I ran off a thousand or so of the solids - that ought to keep me busy for a while. I cast the Gould out of 30/1 lead/tin - that ought to expand very well and still hold together. Should be just the ticket for deer, hogs, and black bear (if you are a hunter).

The Gould bullet should work very well in the Marlin (although I haven't tried it, as yet). I really bought it for my Ruger #3. I believe that a good duplex load (10% RL-7 next to the primer and 90% Swiss 1½F) will do all I need to do in that light weight rifle. I cannot imagine a better woods rifle combination than either the Ruger or the Marlin in 45/70 with appropriate cast bullets.

Both of these rifles can be very punishing, as issued. I had the stocks shortened and a good recoil pad installed on both. That makes a WORLD of difference.

FWIW
Dale53

While I no longer own the 1895CB I now have a pair of the early "New Model 1895's" one from 72 and the other from 78 . I have the 1978 rifle set up shooting the RD 350 grainer and it does nicely . The 1972 rifle is set up with the RD 425 and let me tell you , it is NOT a bench gun with that semi curved buttplate . While I do not wish to add the recoil pad I am giving seriouse thought to a slip on pad .

A few months ago I had thoughts of getting NOE to make the RD bullet in 450 , 475 and 500 grain offerings . But then my peanut brain kicked in !

If the 425 grainer thumps a good lick when you pull the trigger , heavier bullets are only gonne get WORSE [smilie=b:

[NickSS]

I mostly shoot the RCBS 45-325-FN in my Marlins I have tried bullets all the way up to 500 gr with lots of different powders and found that the lighter slug works very well for game that I hunt. I load it up to around 1500 fps and it drops deer and wild pigs with fine and quick results. When I go after Elk I use the Lyman 405 gr FP at around 1450 fps. This load when cast from 30-1 goes right through elk and comes out the other side.

[shdwlkr]

One of the things I have learned with my 45-70 and it is a winchester not a marlin is that with the heavy bullets that the 45-70 throws you do not need to be the fastest bullet out the barrel to knock something down for good. I like the cast bullets much better than the jacketed ones because I can make my own and they just seem to be the better bullet for the old 45-70.

[gon2shoot]

My CB uses Lee or RCBS 405 sized to 458 equally well. Mine is the 26" and shoots better than I can see with plain base boolits as long as I keep the vel. under 1500 ish.

I bought the Lee 340 mold but havent seen the need to use it yet. I dont shoot for groups, I shoot for effect.

[WHITETAIL]

You will get many opinons on
the right boolet for any cal.
And here goes mine.
RCBS 405gc.
I have tested these with 4198
powder and got results of 3 tuching
at 100yds.:holysheep