Marlin 45-70 Where to start?

[horsesoldier]

I just picked up a 1978 model 1895 in 45-70 today.Its been used pretty well but with a williams peepsight and a 350 dollar price tag I could not pass it up.I have casted for black powder before but this will be my first casting for a modern rifle. I was thinking about a woods hunting load with a 405 grain flat nose boolit.I have read that unique is a good place to start.1200 to 1400 fps with a 405 grain projectile seems pretty formidable to me. Has anyone here used this load on deer?

[mroliver77]

I used a Lee 330 gr at 1100 - 1200fps on a deer. Boolit went right through and is still going somewhere I think. The deer run about 50 yards and was bled out and down. Very mild!
J

[horsesoldier]

Thats what I like to hear. I have in the past been overly concerned with velocity.I might want a flatter trajectory out 150 yards or so though. I will have to run the numbers and see what it looks like.

[Guido4198]

Where I hunt, 75 yds is a long shot and 100+ almost never happens.
With my 45/70 Guide Gun, I used a flat nose, hard cast Lee 400 over IMR 3031 running closer to 1500fps to kill a Whitetail from 30 yds. Entry through the brisket....full body penetration. Deer still ran 50 yds or so before falling over dead.

[Dean2]

400 grain bullet over 3031 doesn't kick a lot and will easily do 1500 fps. You may see a little leading at that speed with soft lead, which is what you want to use in hunting loads. It is more than enough to take deer, bear, moose and even buffalo cleanly. If you want faster and flatter I would suggest the 350 Hornady Round nose over 3031. It is an excellent performer at 45-70 velocities and will kill from small game to moose and the big bears very well. You can get that one really going, as high as 2200 fps out of a modern Marlin, or 2100 fps using Varget at much lower pressures, but at 1800 fps it is good to 200+ yards, doesn't kick too bad and kills quickly.

Flat shooting and 45-70 is kind of an oxymoron. Velocity doesn't really make a 45-70 all that much flatter shooting, recoil goes up noticeably as speed increases, recovery time back on target gets worse, and the 45-70 doesn't rely on speed to kill. The big hole that goes all the way through everything you shoot is what does the job. All you have to do is put the hole in the right place, and that is a lot easier with low recoil loads.

I shot a pile of bears with a 45-70 and found that 1500 fps per second kills as fast as 2100 fps at 250 yards and under, so your cast load using pure, or close, lead bullets should be a real good choice on deer.

[Nobade]

I would probably lean toward IMR4198 with a little dacron on top of it for loads like this for a more complete burn and less powder used, but agree with everything else. 45-70 just plain works for hunting.

-Nobade

[longbow]

I used to shoot a lot of Lyman 457124's out of mine ~ 385 gr. round nose. Never shot any critters with it though. I liked the 385 gr. better than 405 gr. Not sure why but it just seemed to shoot well and even with heavy loads recoil wasn't bad.

If I was doing it again, I think I would get a mould like the Lyman 330 gr. Gould HP. It was a popular hunting boolit in days gone by and being that light, recoil should be light and trajectory a little flatter for a ways than with heavy boolits.

I miss my old Marlin 1895 (1970's vintage). Sold it to help pay for college and never replaced it.

Longbow

[Skipper]

Pick up a mold, or buy some RanchDog 360's or the Lyman 330. Run them at about 1500' and never look back. They're murder on deer.

RanchDog:

Attachment 80188

Lyman:

Attachment 80189

[TXGunNut]

Pick up a mold, or buy some RanchDog 360's or the Lyman 330. Run them at about 1500' and never look back. They're murder on deer.

RanchDog:

Attachment 80188

Lyman:

Attachment 80189

+1 on the RD, still working on the Lyman. My loads are pretty tame as well, much over 1600 and my Guide Gun jams my thumb into my nose, rather distracting.

[bigted]

pet load for just putterin round.

1- rem cases 2.068 long.
2- cci 200 large rifle primers.
3- 34 grains RL-7 powder.
4- buffalo arms mold number 460400 throws a 409 grain .460 inch diameter flatnose boolit. that diameter is what werks best in my marlin.
5- SPG lube.
6- Lee factory crimp.
7- if you desire a full case and eeking out the most in accuracy ... I fill the case to a little over the spot where the base of a loaded boolit is going to set with cornmeal so as to compress the cornmeal just around a 16th or so when loaded to the crimp groove. this step is not required for every rifle so experiment with and without the cornmeal.

these are the shis nis for bumping around and they will prolly kill anything running or crawling in America. easy on shooter and rifle both.

[monge]

350-360gr sized to .460 26-27 gr of 2400 a tuffed of Dacron around 1600fps soft shooting and accurate! PM me and Ill give you my exact data

[aspangler]

I use the Lee 405 gr fn over 25 gr 2400 with a tuft of dacron and standard LR primer. 1450 chronographed and mild recoil about like a 20 ga. with light field load. Accurate to well over 200 and abut as flat shooting as you could want with the "old" 45-70.

[unclogum bill]

I have shot my fair share of 45-70 rounds . I may be wrong but isn't that the one they put out with "micro rifling "?. When I shot 405 cast they flew every where. A 405 jacketed bullet worked well. As you build hotter loads the recoil made it less fun to shoot. Newer version had well, normal barrel rifling and thus shooting cast should be easier.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I was going to comment on the Micro Groove Rifling. Gas checks might be a good idea.

If I was you I would start out with 300gr boolits and 25 gr of 5744. This should be about 1200fps Then work up in speed until it gets uncomfortable.

When you step up to 400gr class boolits I would start t 25 gr of 5744 and work up until you can't stand any more.

The Marlins are all in the 7-7.5lb range empty. Shooting a gun like this with loads in the 1600 fps range will get your attention. It is very comparable to shooting a 1 oz slug from a 12 ga shotgun.

I did this two weeks ago with my Mossberg 500 and some Federal slugs at 1610 fps. I just got back from my Chiropractor yesterday for the second time to put my right shoulder and ribs back in place! No Ship! I was not prepared in any way for as violent a recoil impulse as was generated.

A slug like this is capable of taking any game animal in NA ! A one oz. slug weighs 437 gr. So a 45-70 with a 400-435 gr boolit at 1600 fps is exactly the same except will exhibit better penetration which makes it suitable for any thing on Planet Earth.

I could take a hit from my shotgun with one of those slugs if I was standing and there was a really good reason to shoot one. However I couldn't shoot 3-4 and be able to hit anything. It is just too much. I hit the target with my first shot and missed the second and called time! (3 gun shoot)

When you consider that the .45-70 had taken every game animal on earth with factory loads in the 1100-1300fps range before the turn of the 20th century, it makes you wonder why we now need to go faster.

More power doesn't do the job, the big hole all the way thru does the job.

Randy

[unclogum bill]

Spoken true and to the point, I sold mine off because the recoil was making me run backwards when I set it off. I do think the name Guide Gun fit, but for anything else , well there's better. And if I needed a guy to back me up a 12 gauge pump would be a better choice. Surprising what one can do with one with rifle sights and slug, double ought , slug.

[Rick Hodges]

Ranch Dog 350 (or Hornady 350FP or RN) over H322 for 1800 fps. or a Rem. 300 JHP over the same powder at 1880. Both shoot flat enough to be point blank to 150 yds. (never more than 3" high or 3" low) Both are like "Thor's Hammer" on whitetail deer. Size the cast to .460" Boollits over 405 gr. can be problematic in a Marlin. They don't want to feed.

I recently picked up a Ranch Dog 300 but have not developed a load yet. I find the relatively lighter projectiles easier on the shoulder while trying to maintain reasonably flat trajectory to 150 yds. or so. I have never felt the need for anything heavier.

[Randy C]

[Rick R]

300 - 405 grain boolits loaded with Unique or 2400 are capable on deer and recoil like a 20 gauge. 350 - 430gr boolits over IMR4198, Varget or RL-7 will help send your Dentist's kid to college.

I bought an NOE mold that drops a copy of Ranch Dog's 350gr boolit and that may be the only thing my GG ever sees again...

It's all in what you want to do with that Marlin.

[maglvr]

Always keep in mind........ the .45 COLT came to be, because the army requested a pistol that would "shoot THROUGH a horse at
100 yards"
and that was a 255-260gr soft lead bullet at a mere 900fps.
Go UNIQUE and never look back!

[horsesoldier]

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I am meeting up with a friend this week and we are going to do some loading. Once I start casting for it I imagine I will stick to a low and slow load with unique.Another friend found a box of factory loads for it today and we shot it a few times. Factory remington 300 grainers.Not a whole lot to them.I would prefer a flat point over a hollow point any day. This rifle does have micro-groove rifling, what are you guys sizing too? I do not have a lubersizer yet and was hoping to slide by with a lee sizing die.